The last year marks a turning point in UC San Diego’s quest for excellence. I am pleased to report that in 2006–2007, the final year of The Campaign for UCSD, we surpassed the $1 billion target in our seven-year campaign. For a university that is not yet fifty years old, a fundraising effort of this magnitude is a lofty goal—and a spectacular achievement.
More than 100,000 donors helped us reach this milestone. This remarkable level of community support speaks to our success as a great research and teaching university and also as a public institution. As such, we have an obligation to invest our intellectual capital boldly and spend it wisely so we can meet our research, teaching, and public service goals in the best way possible.
Last year saw the creation of a Department of NanoEngineering within the Jacobs School of Engineering. As one of the first such departments in the nation, it underscores UCSD’s leadership role in the paradigm shift to interdisciplinary research and education in revolutionary new fields. Nanotechnology promises to produce advances in medical diagnostics and treatments, energy systems, electronics, and materials.
Our local impact is felt in communities across the county. UCSD teams with K–12 educators to prepare motivated low-income students for college; many of them will be the first in their families to obtain a higher education. Over the past year, scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography worked with the City of San Diego to assess which areas are most prone to flooding under a variety of climate change scenarios.
We broke ground last spring on the Conrad Prebys Music Center, thanks to a $6 million gift from local philanthropist Conrad Prebys. UC San Diego’s new state-of-the-art Music Center, which will include one of the best small concert halls in the world, is destined to become a valuable community cultural resource. A $1 million gift from Audrey S. Geisel will establish San Diego’s first librarianship, which will enhance the resources and services of the ten campus libraries used by students, staff, and San Diego residents. The 2007 opening of Otterson Hall at the Rady School was the result of private funding for construction —including a $30 million contribution from Ernest Rady and the Rady Family Foundation. The hall was specifically designed to encourage the Rady School’s interaction with the campus and with the greater San Diego community.
As an institution with strong international ties, we strive to bring the campus to the world and the world to the campus. Former Vice President Al Gore visited Scripps last May to share his thoughts on global warming. He applauded the historic role of our university’s climate scientists in defining the issue, and the recent scholarship of UCSD historian Naomi Oreskes that documents the emerging scientific consensus on climate change.
By linking New Delhi with La Jolla via a high-definition optical network, UCSD brought Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam to campus in a virtual keynote address last year for the U.S.-India Summit on Education, Research, and Technology. Another compelling journey, this one to the Copper Age some 6,000 years ago, is on display at the San Diego Museum of Man through 2008. This special exhibition, which opened in June 2007, is based on a National Geographic expedition organized by archaeologist Thomas Levy, who led a group of international scientists across the deserts of Jordan and Israel in a quest to reconstruct the ancient trade route.
This year’s annual report highlights some of the ways that UC San Diego is partnering with individuals, businesses, and organizations to enhance our region and the quality of life of our citizens. We hope you will join us on our intellectual adventure as we expand the local impact, national influence, and global reach of the region’s leading research university.
Sincerely,
Marye Anne Fox
CHANCELLOR
UC SAN DIEGO