Wednesday, March 31, 2010

UC Commission on the Future First Recommendations

Here is a summary of the first round of recommendations of the UC Commission on the Future. Links to expanded documents are appended. The big picture might be useful to see where libraries can insert themselves. The last heading "Educating Tomorrow's Innovators" seems to me like the likeliest entry point.

Matt

Vision for the future

The UC Commission on the Future just released the first round of recommendations from its five working groups. Some recommendations you likely won't find controversial. Others represent changes that we probably would not be talking about if it weren't for the fiscal crisis that inspired the birth of this commission. This is just a first step and by no means the end of the commission's work. We expect lively debate over some of these recommendations.

During the next two months, the commission is gathering feedback before presenting prioritized recommendations to the regents in July. The commission will continue working and will present final recommendations in the fall.

As a UC advocate, your voice is important to this process. You can read the first round of recommendations and submit your feedback online .

As you can see, despite our budget challenges, UC is not standing still. Here are just a few of the recent efforts to serve our students and the people of California.
Campus Climate


University leaders are taking a hard look at the issues of intolerance that have come to light on some of our campuses in recent weeks. You may have read about these incidents .

Campus leaders reported to the UC Regents (Watch video) on the steps they have taken to address those incidents. Regents also heard from students about their experiences with bigotry and about UC's need to increase diversity on all of its campuses.

As President Mark Yudof said at the meeting, "We do not shy away from examining our own problems, from acting decisively and with dispatch to address them."

We want you to know that work continues to investigate the campus incidents and appropriately discipline those responsible whenever possible. At the same time, UC Regents have pledged to take responsibility for monitoring campus climate throughout the system and for increasing the diversity of our students, faculty, staff and curriculum to better reflect the rich, multicultural environment of California.

We are confident that together we can move forward and reaffirm our commitment to tolerance, civility and inclusiveness. Those are values we embrace and that underpin the great work accomplished at the University of California.


Public service

At the governor's request, UC is exploring what role it can play in helping the state save millions of dollars in prison health costs.

Green research

Our annual sustainability report highlights all the ways we're cutting the carbon footprint of our campuses and saving money at the same time. In the growing field of green technology, UC is a national leader, and we practice what we teach.

Educating tomorrow's innovators

Our students continue to learn and apply their knowledge to the real world. Check out some of the research projects our undergrads are working on and see why it's so important that we keep advocating for UC's future. http://undergrads.universityofcalifornia.edu/

Your support makes our successes possible.

Thank you for standing with us.

Please visit http://www.ucforcalifornia.org/uc4ca/home/ if you'd like to learn more about our advocacy efforts and take action.

Visit UC Newsroom for the latest systemwide news.
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/

Sincerely,

UC Advocacy Team

The recommendations can be found at:
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/23070
full report at:
http://ucfuture.universityofcalifornia.edu/presentations/cotf_wg_first_recs.pdf