UC Davis - Office of the Chancellor - Communications
Communications
Chancellor Vanderhoef Letter to the Editor of Dateline - "People are at the heart of campus's growth planning"
5/11/01
Dear members of the campus community:
With Tuesday's (May 8, 2001) 10:30-noon growth forum presentation running a bit longer than anticipated, I had a tough choice - eliminate my closing comments or cut short the time for questions.
The first question touched on what I would have said. But my abbreviated response didn't do the topic justice. So here's what I'd intended to say had the clock not run out:
People are at the heart of our growth planning. We're not just building physical structures - we're building community.
And that means ensuring:
- that we have provided adequately for the staff needed to accommodate an increase in enrollment;
- that we ensure opportunities for training and promotion;
- that our personnel policies for faculty and staff are family-friendly;
- that we promote a healthy balance between work and personal life;
- that we foster opportunities for an increasingly diverse student body to explore their differences without conflict;
- that we sustain the treasured sense of community that has always distinguished UC Davis from other universities.
Several efforts are under way to help us to do that:
- from the Administrative Support Plans currently in development that require each dean and vice chancellor to identify support priorities to complement their academic plans
- to the Senior Advisors Group appointed by the provost and me to counsel us (and, by extension, the deans and vice chancellors) on matters of staff workload and compensation - this group, in fact, was created to keep these topics on the front burner and to ensure that actions are taken
- to the recently-named faculty committee on work-life balance that is advising on how to make our policies better enable faculty to integrate work and family responsibilities; their work will benefit staff, as well, as we collectively strive to be a more family-friendly campus
- to the new work-life balance Web site created to assist us all in achieving a healthy balance between the demands of work and the requirements of a fulfilled life.
- to such initiatives as the May 18 "Call to Community" that will launch a hate-free campaign and is one of several initiatives to address issues of campus climate following this past year's incidents of violence and bias, incivility and tensions over the contested student election. This "call to community" reminds us that, like all education, we have to work at making it happen. Nothing comes automatically.
So as we plan our future - as we tend to our physical growth but more importantly to sustaining our sense of community - we are clearly aiming to make UC Davis a better place for the many to come, long after we're gone.
If we're to do this right - to the very best of our ability - we will need your help, your wisdom, your commitment. I have great faith that, together, we will secure the brightest of futures for the campus.
Larry Vanderhoef
Chancellor
