Building Our Future

June 8, 2017

This has been a banner year for UC San Diego, and that’s saying a lot since we are a community of overachievers. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of our campus members for another amazing year—from welcoming our most diverse class of students to celebrating the graduation of more than 9,000 new alumni—and all of the successes we’ve had in between. Among our grandest achievements, together we launched an ambitious fundraising initiative and embarked on the physical and intellectual transformation of our campus.

Among this year’s faculty honors:

Setting the nonstandard

This past March, we announced the public phase of the historic $2 billion Campaign for UC San Diego, which focuses on three main goals: enhancing the student experience, enriching our university and sparking research and innovation. To date, 100,000 unique donors have helped us to raise nearly $1.4 billion toward our ambitious goal.

This year’s transformative gifts include $75 million from alumnus Taner Halicioglu to establish the Halicioglu Institute for Data Science at UC San Diego and $70 million from Tata Trusts to establish the Tata Institute for Active Genetics and Society at UC San Diego, as well as a complementary research enterprise in India. These are forward-looking, solution-seeking institutes that have the potential to save and improve lives by uniting brilliant minds across disciplines to tackle the world’s greatest challenges.

The extraordinary outpouring of support we have received underscores the significance of our work, the collective commitment to our goals and vision, and the positive impact and return on investment that our campus generates.

Transforming our campus

Looking around campus, you can see that our transformation has begun. In all, we have initiated more than $1.6 billion in construction projects to be completed over the next five years. This evolution is necessary to meet the growing demands of our increasing student population and our enhanced connection with our community with the arrival of Light Rail Transit in 2021.

Work has begun on the building of the new Gilman Bridge across Interstate 5, which will significantly improve the ease of movement on campus. We’re making great progress on our Mesa Graduate and Professional Student Housing project, which advances our goal to provide guaranteed affordable housing, as well as amenities that enhance the student experience. The Biological and Physical Sciences Building will help ease impacted majors and improve time-to-degree. The Outpatient Pavilion, on track to open early next year, will streamline services in a more patient-friendly manner.

Several additional projects will soon be initiated, from the North Torrey Pines Living and Learning Neighborhood (the vibrant new home for Sixth College) and the Gateway buildings (a new entrance into the center of campus, which will house student centered, alumni and community resources) to two new stand-alone parking structures. A new engineering building will house agile multidisciplinary centers and an addition to the existing Structural and Materials Engineering building will create a home for an Innovation & Design Center that will be a physical and visible hub of creativity, collaboration and entrepreneurship. It will be one of the first buildings people see when stepping off the trolley.

There is much change ahead for our campus, and it only serves to strengthen our world-renowned institution. From the openings and groundbreakings to new programs and research centers, UC San Diego is seizing the opportunity to revision our campus to meet the growing needs of our campus and community members. Together, we are leading a new era of revolutionary ideas, life-saving discoveries and planet-changing impact.

Thank you for all that you do for UC San Diego.

With kind regards,

Pradeep K. Khosla
Chancellor