From the Chancellor

I’m not a big TV watcher. It’s mostly news, Jeopardy, documentaries on occasion, sit-coms never, and movies every once in a blue moon, and those are usually animated ones I watch with my grandchildren. The Olympics, though—that’s a whole different story. What a spectacle this summer’s Olympiad was!

Simone Biles? My goodness. What a role model for demonstrating strength, resilience, and perseverance! Katie Ledecky? I can’t imagine her standing anywhere else but atop an Olympic podium. It’s not so much the actual competition that draws me in. It’s the personal stories of these athletes—the incredible focus they have, the arduous work they put in, the personal transformations that so many of them experienced. Their stories are all so different, whether it was overcoming something deeply personal, being lucky enough to connect with a life-changing coach or mentor, or just falling in love with the hard work required to reach the pinnacle of any pursuit. It is exciting that this issue shares the profiles of two of our very own sporting Slugs—student Kate Wang and alumnus Leo Merle—who describe their own Olympic and Paralympic pursuits. 

Transformation is something that we think about a lot at UC Santa Cruz. It’s at the core of what we seek to do as a university—expanding educational opportunity and access, and providing a transformational student experience. That’s true now and it was true in our earliest days. Speaking with alumni during our recent Return to the Redwoods event, so many used the word “transformational” when I asked about their time on our campus. For some it was personal, for others professional, but in all instances the graduates spoke about shifting perspectives and a sense that a world of possibilities had suddenly opened before them. As an educator, nothing makes me happier than hearing those accounts.

Maybe it’s our location that facilitates such a transformational shift. Nestled among the redwoods and overlooking the Monterey Bay, UC Santa Cruz is a place of unmatched natural beauty that inspires and uplifts. 

Maybe it’s our community itself. I know that our students, staff, and faculty motivate me to strive to be the best version of myself. We are home to scholars who are leaders in their fields and pioneers of interdisciplinary exploration. They are also eager partners to students who are on their own quests of discovery, creative expression, and transformation. Year after year, students embrace our founders’ vision of UCSC as a special place that nurtures intellectual curiosity and encourages collaboration, all while fostering a sense of fun and community. It’s hard not to be swept up into this excitement. 

In recent years, I am proud to say, we have worked tirelessly to ensure that the opportunities we offer our students are transformational: challenging classroom experiences; robust opportunities to learn outside the classroom through research and internships; and a wide range of extracurricular activities, from arts and athletics to student government and service. 

A great example is the field research our students do with Professor of Marine Ecology Mark Carr. Earlier this summer, decked out in scuba gear and working in the waters of the Monterey Bay, undergraduate marine ecology students collaborated with graduate students to pursue research aimed at better understanding the populations of nearshore marine organisms and their ecosystems. 

Students in our Arts and Humanities divisions are working in what’s known as the Moving Image Lab, a creation of internationally acclaimed artist and filmmaker Sir Isaac Julien and renowned critic and curator Mark Nash, both UC Santa Cruz professors. The lab gives students firsthand experience in the critical practice of filmmaking, image production, curating, archiving, producing, and presenting still and moving images.

For more than 20 years, our students have participated in the University of California’s Washington Center, known as UCDC, a multi-campus residential, instructional, and research center that provides students and faculty from all UC campuses opportunities to study, research, work, and live within our nation’s capital.

Baskin Engineering’s Slugworks, a new creatorspace in the Jack Baskin Engineering building, is full of tools and machines for all types of metalworking, fabrication, woodworking, and more, and it supports an amazing variety of student clubs, allowing students to pursue their projects and passions side by side and in collaboration with others from across campus.

Through these programs and others like them, students discover what they are passionate about, and sometimes what they don’t like, and are able to hone their professional skills, expand their network, and better chart their career paths. 

The truth is, transformation looks different for each of our students. It may not end in a gold medal—though it certainly could!—but it can be as dramatic and life-altering. Maybe it’s someone discovering a career they never envisioned or establishing one they had dreamed about since childhood but didn’t know how to attain. Or it might simply be the boost of self-confidence someone needed to say, “Yes, I am going to apply to medical school” or law school or Teach for America or whatever it is that has captured their imagination. Those are the stories I love, and I feel fortunate that I get to see them unfold on our campus every day, every week, and every year.

Cindy

 

 

Cynthia Larive, Chancellor