UC Santa Cruz - Administrative Message

Campus Periodicals

Resources for Reporters

Selected Administrative Offices

Calendars

Administrative Message

September 28, 2004

To: UC Santa Cruz Community

From: Martin M. Chemers, Acting Chancellor

Re: Autumn Message

Thanks to the hard work of faculty and staff, prospective students and their families are increasingly aware of UCSC's academic and research achievements. This heightened appreciation for the positive impact and influence of our research and graduate education, combined with our reputation for commitment to quality undergraduate education, makes UC Santa Cruz a highly desirable destination for some of California’s best students.

In fact, UC Santa Cruz received a record number of applications for 2004 -- 23,122 freshman applications of nearly 30,000 total undergraduate applications. The 7.4 percent one-year increase in applications contrasts with a 4.1 percent average decline in freshman applications to all UC campuses. And the quality of our entering class also is exceptional -- the average GPA of frosh admitted last April was 3.81.

For graduate enrollments, we’ve also reached the highest total in campus history. We anticipate enrolling approximately 1,500 graduate students, or about 10 percent of the projected 14,550 total enrollment figure for this academic year.

As we welcome our students to a new academic year, I want to emphasize my appreciation for the ongoing hard work and dedication of faculty and staff. There are innumerable ways that individuals and teams are contributing to our campus’s progress, and I would like to use this message as an opportunity to highlight a representative few of them. My intent is to present these examples of achievement as a means to thank each campus member for her or his unique contributions -- and to encourage all of us to continue working together for our shared goal of excellence.

A significant challenge still being met is the transition to the new Academic Information Systems (AIS). With an undertaking of this magnitude, it is realistic to expect some of the gaps in service experienced to date. Corrections and improvements are being made daily, and once fully activated, the new system will be a boon to our efficiency. Even so, I acknowledge the very real frustration users may experience, and I thank most sincerely all of those staff, faculty, and students who are managing to accomplish necessary tasks, even as the system is being improved.

Other initiatives to improve efficiency also are proceeding apace. The Information Technology transformation project will result in consolidated and customer-oriented services. The members of the new ITS leadership team have been announced (http://www.ucsc.edu/news_events/messages/04-05/09-21.directors.asp), and ongoing updates are posted. (http://its.ucsc.edu/transformation)

Similarly, the five Business Transformation projects are proceeding with efforts linked by common themes of consolidation and improved use of technology to increase efficiency. The overarching goals are to address unnecessary duplication and improve efficiency through the Staff Human Resources Project; to save time and improve accuracy by changing recordkeeping to an electronic process in the Time and Attendance Project; to improve employee health and safety and reduce costs through the Workers Compensation Project; and to streamline processes and save money through the Strategic Purchasing Project and the Financial Transaction Project. An archive of the transformation projects is available at http://www.ucsc.edu/budget_update/transformation.asp

Budget planning and identifying ways to accommodate serious permanent budget cuts also engaged our campus planning last year. Now that we are implementing those plans, we will doubtless encounter the downside of more limited resources. I am hopeful that next year’s budget will improve, in light of the new compact between the University of California and Governor Schwarzenegger. (http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/compact/welcome.html) The lack of salary increases is a special concern, one the compact promises to address, and which will be reflected in the university’s proposed budget for 2005-06.

Still, I recognize that it won’t be easy to make do with less this year. I thank and commend the hundreds of campus members who engaged in the planning process last year, and I now encourage everyone to continue to hold in sight our higher goals, as we do our best with fewer resources.

Active participation of faculty, staff, and students at the annual Chancellor’s Fall Conference underscored the open communications and transparency in decision making that will characterize our administrative discourse this year. Building on the achievements of past administrations, both Interim Campus Provost Margaret Delaney and I agree that our campus’s interests are served best in an environment in which we collaborate in frequent and open consultation with the various leadership groups -- the Academic Senate, the Staff Advisory Board, the Student Union Assembly, the Graduate Student Association. We are heartily encouraged by the enthusiastic support for this approach that was evident at the fall conference. My senior administrative team and I are committed to increasing both the efficiency and the effectiveness of administrative operations, as we advance campus priorities.

An enjoyable opportunity for mutual effort is the 40th-year celebration of UC Santa Cruz. Thanks to the creativity of many campus members, and led by the initiative of members of University Relations, we will use the recognition of our achievements and reminiscences of past landmarks in campus history as a springboard for looking ahead to the next four decades. A number of special events are being singled out as part of the 40th anniversary celebration, and, using a logo designed for the purpose, many campus publications also will underscore this milestone. If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to read about upcoming lectures and other events in this week’s Currents Online (http://currents.ucsc.edu). You also are invited to contact the Public Affairs Office with ideas for items to include on the special 40th anniversary web site (http://www.ucsc.edu/40_years/).

In brief, thanks to the accomplishments of our faculty, staff, students, alumni, and many friends, UC Santa Cruz is moving forward. Certainly, I see challenges ahead. But, I also see both the capacity and the will to continue making a positive difference for our students and for society through the exemplary research, teaching, and service that characterize UC Santa Cruz.

Administrative Messages Index