President Dynes Video Letter
October 2007
Hi, it’s about the end of October as I deliver this video message to you.
We’re well into the academic year and I’d like to highlight a few positive things that have happened this academic year. The first is that Moody’s financial services has re-rated our bond rating. They’ve gone from AA2 to AA1. That might not mean a lot to you. What it does mean is we pay less for money we borrow, and that should mean a lot to you. That means we save lots of money. In the process, Moody’s looked at our financial practices and came back and rate our financial practices as very, very high. It’s something that we should be proud of – the fact that our business and financial operations are regarded by Moody’s as very strong.
The second thing I’d like to talk about is the Nobel Peace Prize that was recently awarded. As you know, it was awarded to former Vice President Al Gore and it was shared with Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This panel on climate change, we have four of our campuses and two national labs are members of this panel and we had a substantial part to play in the awareness that has happened over the last while of environmental change. For this we should be extremely proud.
At the same time, Sierra Magazine has ranked the University of California as the number one public university in the country in terms of green practices and sustainability practices. In this regard, I’d like to cite especially the students who raised our attention and raised our awareness to green practices sometime ago. I remember it very well. They spoke – we listened. And I’d like to congratulate the students for having raised our attention to the point where we are recognized by Sierra Magazine.
The third point I’d like to make is that my visits to the campuses continue. As I talk to the faculty and others about my view of the university and the future of the university. Our strength is in one university, ten campuses or the Power of 10 as we call it. I have visited now six campuses and over the next weeks and months I will visit Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Davis and Merced and at each of those campuses that I’ve already visited, it’s been a very stimulating conversation. I’ve learned a lot, you’ve told me a lot and as we go forward, I will continue to learn a lot. When I’ve finished these visits, I will write a report, I will report back to you what I have learned.
Finally, many of you have asked how do I have input into who the next president of the University of California will be. Well, my answer to that is the Regents have asked a broad constituency, they’ve asked the entire family to feed back to them what you think the president should look like. What characteristics the next president of the University of California should have. I’ve already responded to their requests and I will continue to input to them what I think the next president should look like. I urge you to do the same. I care about this; I intend to continue to be part of the UC family and so who the next president is, is something that’s important to me, should be important to you and I urge you to express yourself.
With that, I will thank you for tuning in and I’ll be back and report to you soon. Thank you.
