Chancellor’s Summer Letter

University of California, Berkeley
Summer 2002

Dear Friend:

For me, this academic year, my fifth as Chancellor at Berkeley, has brought into sharp focus what we have known all along: Berkeley is like no other place of learning. We do not operate apart from the world, but as a force within it. Our very entry point, Sather Gate, is not a gate at all. It does not have doors. It can not be locked shut. It is, rather, a permanently open, beautifully wrought passageway. Through this passageway we engage with the world. At times, this means that we are confronted by the world’s conflicts. And yet, it is our encouragement of a free flow of people and ideas that distinguishes Berkeley and sustains our excellence. And it is why UC Berkeley touches more lives in more ways than perhaps any other university in the world.

The terrorist attacks of September 11 and their ensuing consequences have changed us and challenge us still. I have included a special message inside this letter to address these challenges. First, however, let me report to you on some of the accomplishments of this past year and share with you the ambitious planning that is providing a road map for our future.

Securing our place on the frontiers of knowledge

This summer, the Association of Research Libraries named Berkeley the top-ranked library among public research universities in North America and third overall, behind only Harvard and Yale. We had slipped several places as budget troubles in the early ’90s hit our collections hard. Rebuilding the collections was one of my first priorities, and I am especially proud of this success. I truly believe that we must protect the Library because a first-class library is what ensures that our faculty and students are able to explore the frontiers of knowledge. We have also broken ground on the new Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library. And thanks to a great many generous supporters, we have nearly completed fundraising for the new East Asian Library. Architects are currently at work designing this building to be named in honor of former Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien.

We have also been upgrading and seismically strengthening classroom and laboratory buildings, working to thwart whatever Mother Nature, or at least whatever the Hayward Fault, has in store for us. Following more than $140 million in renovation, Barrows, Latimer, Hildebrand, Wurster, and Barker Halls, and the Samuel L. Silver Space Sciences Laboratory, are all now safer and better equipped places in which to work and learn. These projects are being completed on time and on budget.

The greatest transformation is underway at the northeast corner of campus. This September, the massive seismic renovation and modernization of the historic jewel of the entire UC system, the 96-year-old Hearst Memorial Mining Building, will be completed. Its neighbor, the old Stanley Hall, is soon to be demolished and replaced with a much larger, state-of-the-art, seismically safe Center for Health Sciences and Bioengineering, one of the two components of the Health Sciences Initiative.

Strategic steps to guide the future

As we have been rebuilding, we have also been planning. The campus recently completed two major planning activities, the culmination of several years’ work. One is the “UC Berkeley Strategic Academic Plan,” which outlines the principles, parameters, and plans for growth in the next decade. A joint effort between the Academic Senate and the campus administration, this plan successfully identifies how new academic initiatives will be undertaken, how existing programs will be reviewed for expansion, and what the campus must do to sustain its excellence.

The second effort is “The New Century Plan,” a strategic plan for capital investment. A companion piece to the academic plan, it outlines the physical needs of the campus. It identifies where new construction is possible, how the physical improvement of the campus can create a positive environment for academic interaction, and the architectural principles that should guide us. For example, it recommends that any construction at the center of campus be compatible with the classical core. It also recommends that we reserve the core campus for functions directly related to students while growth in activities that involve much less interaction with faculty or students be located on the periphery.

Completing these two planning projects has been extremely important. Not only have they provided a road map for future growth, but the process of developing the plans has created an extremely positive collaborative environment for ongoing discussions about Berkeley’s future.

Cornering the market on talent

We continue to work to recruit and retain faculty of great promise and prominence. With recent hires in biology, we have “cornered the market in structural biology,” said one of our most prominent biologists, positioning Berkeley to lead the nation in research on the structure of life at the cellular level. Our Department of Economics continues to receive world acclaim. Professor George Akerlof was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, the second consecutive economics prize for Berkeley and our third in seven years. In other major awards this year, physicist Marvin Cohen and chemist Gabor Somorjai received the National Medal of Science, the most prestigious award for science presented by the President of the United States. Three more faculty members were elected to the National Academy of Science this past year, two to the National Academy of Engineering, and seven to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

I also want to recognize the vital role our professional and support staff play in the success of every campus initiative and enterprise. While attention is often directed at the talents of our faculty and students, I am reminded daily that our excellence depends equally on the contributions of our talented and dedicated staff.

We continue to attract some of the most exceptionally qualified students anywhere. Just as faculty and staff need resources to thrive, so do our students. Our new undergraduate education initiative seeks funding to expand interaction between students and faculty and to support leadership and community service opportunities for students. Our graduate student fellowships are insufficient to enable us always to compete for the very top candidates, so we have launched a major initiative to raise private support for enhanced graduate fellowships.

Feeding appetites and inquiry

Given the shortage of living space in the East Bay, all students need help in finding affordable housing. We are moving forward as rapidly as possible to add more than 1,000 spaces in student housing to the Southside. In August, the newest housing opens at the corner of Durant and College. It will house 120 students in shared apartments with living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and individual bedrooms. A modern central dining facility near the high-rise residence halls will follow in January. Our chefs promise that, with the new facility, they can once and for all put an end to dining hall "mystery meat.”

To see what makes a Berkeley education—and Berkeley students—so special, I encourage you to read “Student Journals: Summer Dispatches from the Field,” a Web site following students in their summer research. In Atlixco, Mexico, four graduate students from the Haas School of Business are helping a goat-cheese-and-soap enterprise that supports a local orphanage. Across the globe, at the ancient Olympics site in Nemea, a soon-to-be senior majoring in classics catalogues artifacts unearthed from the long-ago Greek culture. And on the California coast, one of our Ph.D. candidates investigates the plight of the marbled murrelet, an endangered bird species. (You can read these dispatches from the campus homepage, www.berkeley.edu, where you’ll also find daily updates of campus news and events.)

National champs and high hopes

Once again, Cal student athletes have excelled. Our men’s rugby and crew teams consistently perform at the very highest levels, and each again brought home a national title. We’ve been watching and celebrating as Cal swimmer and East Bay native Natalie Coughlin breaks one world record after another. This spring, the noise in Haas Pavilion was deafening when Coach Ben Braun’s basketball team secured a trip to the NCAA Tournament. The surprise success in athletics, however, came from the women’s softball team. Playing with equal measures of skill and heart, they captured the national title, Cal’s first ever for a women’s team. Football season, meanwhile, is upon us, and hopes are high with new head coach Jeff Tedford and his talented staff.

An economic engine and culture cache

An independent report on the economic impact of UC Berkeley on the Bay Area this year found that the campus is a driving force in the economy and plays a vital role in the fabric of life in the Bay Area. Among the findings are that the campus is the fifth largest employer in the Bay Area, that we generate $1.1 billion in personal income in the region, and that for every $1 million we spend, UC Berkeley generates more than 20 Bay Area jobs.

A wonderful example of our impact in the arts came in April when Cal Performances teamed up with two good friends of Cal, celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma and acclaimed dancer Mark Morris. In a unique collaboration, they presented the world premiere of Silk Road, based on Ma’s Silk Road Project, which studies the flow of cultural ideas between Europe and Asia. It was a brilliant performance that is winning acclaim throughout the United States.

Our friends come through

Despite a strong headwind generated by collapsing values of stock portfolios, we have just completed the second largest fundraising year in our history. When the final tally is completed, we will have raised somewhat in excess of $240 million. We could not be more thankful for the continuing support of our alumni and friends. In the coming year, we will continue to focus on our fundraising priorities: the Health Sciences Initiative, undergraduate education, graduate student fellowships, and wrapping up funding for the East Asian Library.

This coming year will present substantial challenges to the campus. State funding will almost certainly decline, the result of a downturn in state revenues. As I write, the Legislature is at work trying to balance the state budget. While our many supporters in Sacramento have worked hard to protect the University, some cuts are certain. And though the tight budget will affect everyone, limited salary increases will be most difficult for our lowest paid employees.

A truly remarkable place

I began this letter by stating that I believe Berkeley touches more lives in more ways than any university in the world. Let me close with one last example.

At a conference on campus this spring, scholars brought together 50 descendants of California Indian tribes whose native languages were either quickly fading or already extinct. In some cases, the languages could only be heard by playing delicate wax cylinder recordings collected at the Hearst Museum. Among those attending was a 30-year-old Wiyot tribeswoman. She came to hear and to learn the lost language of her people. “I would like to speak to my creator in my language,” she said. “Just one small prayer.”

No matter what temporal troubles come our way, as they inevitably do for a university as fully engaged with the world as Berkeley is, I am reminded again and again of what a special privilege it is to be associated with this remarkable institution. I hope that you, too, share that sense of privilege.

Sincerely,

Robert M. Berdahl
Chancellor

A Special Message


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