President Robert C. Dynes
Video Letter Transcript, June 2006
Hi, welcome to my office.
I’m taping this on June 30, the last day of the fiscal year, and it seems appropriate to send out a message.
But the first thing I have to do is acknowledge the great tragedy that occurred less than a week ago to the university of California family and that is the death of Chancellor Denice Denton. This was a true tragedy and she will be sorely missed. Denice was a courageous woman. A woman of conviction, she worked very hard on her convictions. I was convinced that she was the right person for the Santa Cruz campus when we recruited her. All of us are really asking ourselves, “How could such a thing happen?” So, for awhile, let us think about Denice, let us think about her family and her friends, a tragedy to the UC family.
While that was happening, there was some good news out of Sacramento and that is that our budget has been settled. It’s a good budget for us. It has in it many of the things that we cared about and expressed our views pretty strongly. It has the academic preparation money in it that we had asked for. Of course, it has the bond money as we had anticipated in the governor’s compact, but it also has a 4% increase for salaries for staff and faculty. And that is good news – that’s on track with our projections for bringing salaries back to competitive salaries throughout the UC system for staff and faculty.
Finally, while I was up in Sacramento just last Monday and walking the halls talking to various legislators, I felt a real change in attitude toward the University of California. We are treated with huge respect. Everyone is asking what’s next for the University of California and I’m really energized. I’m ready to go.
Since the last regents’ meeting, I have been looking forward as to where the University is going. I hope you are looking forward with me. It’s an exciting time for us. Sacramento seems to be on our side. The budget I think is good evidence for that.
I am pushing hard to look to the future, I am very proud of this institution, I hope you are as well; and I invite you, with me, to map out the future for the University of California.
Have a good summer. Don’t take all summer off, we have too much to do. I will see you in the fall.
