Dear Colleagues and Friends:
As my term as Senate Chair closes on August 31, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to each of you for your support and trust over the past year. Serving in this role has been a profound honor, one I made every effort to approach with humility, determination, and a deep respect for the shared responsibility we carry as stewards of this institution. Together, we have navigated challenges, engaged in meaningful dialogue, and worked to uphold the values and principles that define our Senate’s mission. This has been a collective effort, and I am grateful for the integrity and thoughtfulness each of you brought to the table. From the everyday work of listening, questioning, and building consensus, your commitment has made all the difference.
As I pass the gavel to my successor, Professor Rebecca Jo Plant, I do so with full confidence in the future of the Academic Senate and shared governance. Thank you for the opportunity to serve, and for making this experience both meaningful and memorable. I look forward to supporting the Senate in new ways, and I remain committed to the values we have worked so hard to uphold. UC San Diego is such a special place, one where for decades we have been able to openly share perspectives. It is my hope that we will continue to do so, far into the future.
I want to express my sincerest thanks for making me feel welcome at every department faculty meeting I attended, for respecting my voice at every Representative Assembly meeting, for engaging in conversation at every coffee chat, at every lunch, at every Silent Tree Dialogue. I have felt truly appreciated, and I have felt useful. Thank you!
On the other hand, I am very much looking forward to returning full time to my own Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and I am excited to be able to immerse myself in my research activities and teaching. Honestly, it will be like a vacation! This year has been exhausting. Nonetheless, I know I will miss the engagement I had with you all and the connectivity built over this past year. Of course, I am not disappearing. If you ever need my support in the future, you can reach me directly at ograeve@ucsd.edu. I will always be available to listen and to serve.
The Work of the Senate
In this past year, we have established several critical Senate-Administration workgroups in collaboration with Executive Vice Chancellor Elizabeth Simmons, including one on admissions that will finish its work this fall under the leadership of Vice Chair-elect Professor Akos Rona-Tas, and another on the faculty review process under the leadership of Professor Philip G. Roeder, which will also complete its work this coming year and will publish what I would like to start calling the "Roeder Report". We also concluded reports on student Math Preparation and on the Impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence on Education. This latter report motivated us to establish a complementary workgroup to study the impact of generative artificial intelligence on research, in collaboration with Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation Corinne Peek-Asa, and with Professor David Danks as the Senate lead.
Furthermore, we collaborated with the administration in renewing our policies for expressive activities, acknowledging the concerns of the faculty and working collaboratively to address them. We also strengthened shared governance by establishing a new Committee on Crisis Mitigation (CCM) with Professor William Mobley as the founding Chair.
These outcomes were not inevitable, they were the result of persistent, often difficult conversations, where diverse perspectives were welcomed and tough questions encouraged. I am especially proud of the way we maintained a spirit of collaboration throughout, even when the path forward was not clear. We had so many Town Halls and Special Representative Assembly meetings that the Senate staff now joke that we could run them in our sleep. But seriously, the Senate staff are outstanding, and I want to express my deepest gratitude to all of them, from the Senate Executive Director Lori Hullings (the most organized person I have ever met), to Trevor Buchanan, Daniel Carrillo, Brandy Cheshire, Linda George, Jenna Coomer, Chrystal Randler, Ashley Hill, Darlene Salmon, and Kayla Gonzalez. You are all outstanding! Thank you!
I also wish to express my gratitude to Chancellor Khosla and the campus administrators [Vice Chancellors, Associate Vice Chancellors, Deans, Chairs (and specifically the co-conveners of the Council of Chairs, Professor Marc Muendler and Professor Oleg Shpyrko)] for your openness. I am convinced that the model of shared governance we espoused this year, grounded in trust and purpose, was a powerful force for positive change. While my role as Senate Chair is ending, my belief in this institution—and in what we can achieve together—remains stronger than ever. Thank you for making this work not only possible, but meaningful. It has been enlightening to lead the Senate during difficult times, in which the very survival of academia is in question, and your partnership has been instrumental for moving our institution forward.
Important to note that coming to us this fall is the review of proposed revisions to APM-015, The Faculty Code of Conduct and APM-016, University Policy on Faculty Conduct and the Administration of Discipline. The revisions to these policies have been in the works since last fall as part of the deliberations of our systemwide Senate’s Academic Council, per request from the UC Regents. The proposed revisions and related guidance documents are posted on the San Diego Senate’s website. Incoming Chair Plant will soon send a request for review to the relevant Senate standing committees. You are invited to submit comments to the Senate for consideration and we can all provide comments and feedback directly to policy@ucsd.edu.
In Defense of Our University and Our Students
The mission of UC San Diego is to "transform California and a diverse global society by educating, generating and disseminating knowledge and creative works, providing high-quality health care and engaging in public service." Centermost in this effort lies academic freedom, a notion that must never be taken for granted. Academic freedom protects our ability to teach, research, and speak without fear of censorship, retaliation, or political interference. It protects our ability to ask difficult questions, explore new ideas, and debate diverse perspectives, even when they challenge prevailing assumptions or provoke discomfort.
I encourage us to be vigilant in safeguarding this freedom. We must endeavor to defend the autonomy of our classrooms and laboratories and ensure that institutional decisions are grounded in positive and deliberative debate, rather than external pressures. Let us also remember that with academic freedom comes great responsibility (the Spider Man principle: "With great power, comes great responsibility" . . . I am a big fan of Marvel Comics). We should engage in scholarship and discourse with rigor, integrity, balance, and most of all with respect. Only through achieving harmony between academic freedom and accountability will we be able to earn and maintain public trust.
We are not alone in our efforts to protect academic freedom. In response to the many recent attacks on academia, the systemwide Academic Senate established UCAD (University Committee on Academic Disruptions). I was a member of this committee, together with other colleagues from across the system, and we recently published an interim report. UCAD will continue its work in the upcoming academic year, and our incoming Chair Plant will now become a member. It is my hope that the interim report, and the further deliberations of UCAD can help our campus develop strategies for responding to the many attacks and disruptions we are experiencing. There are good people working to protect our University of California, and I am glad and grateful for their efforts.
I know these issues, in all their nuance and complexity, are of high concern for you all, as evidenced from the very significant faculty participation in our Academic Senate Seminars. We began this new initiative last fall, for the purpose of sharing topics of interest and concern. Not surprisingly, the subjects we covered included academic freedom, free speech, democracy, immigration, and political conflict. I found all seminars enlightening and look forward to the Senate continuing with this initiative. It proved to be a powerful mechanism to bring us together. Some of our seminars were in collaboration with Vice Chancellor Becky Petitt, as part of her Tritons Belong program, and I am grateful to her for inviting us to join.
During commencement this year, I was very inspired by the six student speakers. As I mentioned in my very first letter as your Senate Chair, I believe strongly in the mission and goals of UC San Diego, where we share a responsibility to model for our students universal truths of justice, empathy, and compassion. We are, no less, educating the future of humanity. The powerful relationships we built this year with the Associated Students (AS) and the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA), is one strong step in this direction.
The Future of Graduate Education
In a time marked by uncertainty, it is essential that we reaffirm our collective commitment to the future of graduate education. Graduate education anchors our research, innovation, teaching, and public service goals. It denominates the next generation of scholars, educators, leaders, and changemakers. The pressures we face in this domain, including rising costs, evolving workforce expectations, and political tensions, require us to think boldly, act ethically, and lead with purpose.
Difficult times challenge us, but they also clarify what matters most. We must continue to ensure that graduate education is rigorous, inclusive, and responsive to the realities of our students’ lives. This means safeguarding access and equity in graduate programs, so that opportunity is not limited by background, finances, or identity; investing in holistic support structures, including mental health, mentorship, professional development, and work-life balance; and adapting curricula and training models to reflect the changing landscape of careers beyond academia.
The challenges are real, but so is our capacity to respond with imagination, resilience, and resolve. Our responsibility is not only to protect what graduate education has been, but to shape what it must become. I am confident that, together, we can sustain and reimagine graduate education as a force for knowledge, justice, and public good. In support of these goals, the systemwide Senate prepared a report on the Future of Doctoral Programs in the University of California, which has useful recommendations for our consideration. In our own campus, we completed a report on the Future of Graduate Education, which can also inform future steps. We have much to consider as a Senate and as a campus, and I have full confidence that we can do so with tenacity. Our challenges are many, but so is our resolve to overcome them.
As we move into this next academic year, I hope that together we continue building the strength and courage to be unafraid of the unknown. This is what I learned from my immigrant mother, who is my guiding light and the bravest person I have ever known. As I think of the future, I cannot help in expressing that I will always respond to the world as my mother’s daughter.
Thank you again for your support this year. I look forward to seeing you around campus now as your former Senate Chair. I finish with a poem I wrote as part of my April letter, which seems especially relevant now:
I Am Grateful
