A Message from President Dynes

The idea of the University of California is older than the state itself. At the Constitutional Convention in 1849, a year before California was admitted to the Union, Californians began planning a university that would assemble the finest minds to create knowledge and benefit the citizenry.

The convention delegates were immigrants who moved here from other places for a better life. They had no money to build a university. They had no land to put it on. But they did have a bold vision for the future of this state. And they shared a peculiar trait: They did not comprehend the meaning of the word “impossible.”

By 2008, the University of California system included 10 campuses, 5 medical centers, 220,000 students, 170,000 faculty and staff, and 1.5 million living alumni. We also play a role in managing three national laboratories for the U.S. Department of Energy. Our scholars have amassed 50 Nobel Prizes, including 18 since 1995. Our scientists create three new inventions per day and, for 13 years in a row, the University of California has developed more patents than any other university.

Since I joined the UC faculty as a professor of physics in 1990, I have taken enormous pride in its many benchmarks of distinction. But our greatest honor, in my view, has been our record of service as a public institution to the citizens of California. In fulfilling the vision of our founders, we have created new knowledge that has had a profound impact on the state, the nation, and the world. More importantly, we have educated future generations of creators to carry on the UC tradition of innovative excellence.

Sincerely,

UC 2025, long-range guidance process for UC
Diversity at UC
President's Task Force on Faculty Diversity
"The Trip of A Lifetime," UCSD Perspectives, Spring 1997
President Emeritus Atkinson Archives