President Dynes Video Letter – May 2008
Hi. As I speak to you at the beginning of May, I realize that this is the 14th and last video letter that I will be sending out to you. So, it’s time for a little memory, a little nostalgia and looking forward.
I remember when I first came on as president. In my first video, I vowed to you and vowed to the university that I would work very hard to sustain the excellence. And thanks to you and the efforts that you have all made, we have sustained the excellence of the university – even through some difficult times.
You’ll remember when I came in, we were in free fall in our budget and we managed to stabilize the budget for five years before this current budget crisis and we’re facing it again now. We were coming into three competitions for the national labs, and against all odds we won all three national labs and I have a lot of you to thank for really digging in and working hard to win those three competitions.
Most of all, I decided that we really had to set out a vision for the university. And we did, together. We set out a vision which is really one university, 10 campuses. I visited all the campuses, talked to you, listened to you and your ideas about what we could do to make the university – continue to make the university – the best university in the world under this vision of the power and promise of 10. And I thank you for all those efforts.
Finally, I thank you for your feedback to me. I thank you for your ideas, your comments. I thank you for writing at Dynes Desk. I read every one of those letters. Some of them were really thoughtful; some of them were complaining about things; some of them were whacky. I read every one and I got a lot of ideas and was stimulated by all of them.
As I leave this position and move back to UC San Diego to the faculty, my successor, Mark Yudof, has my wholehearted support. And I hope you give him support as well. He is coming in at a difficult time, as I did, and he needs our support to maintain this university.
I thank you for the support that you have given me and the support that you will give Mark. Together, I know we can continue to make this the finest university in the world.
