Annual Report 2023-2024
Leading the Change
UC Santa Cruz began implementing its new strategic plan, Leading the Change, during this past academic year. Finalized during the 2022–23 academic year, Leading the Change is a shared vision that aligns with the university’s overarching goals, including enhancing student success; expanding research impact; fostering inclusivity; and improving operational efficiency, sustainability, and resilience.
With the support of the community, UC Santa Cruz made progress in year one across all five themes:
Unparalleled undergraduate student education and experience
To further strengthen the undergraduate student experience, UC Santa Cruz is working to provide and promote more “living room” space for students to meet, study, and connect with one another.
UC Santa Cruz will open two Commuter Lounges across campus, located at Kresge College and Cowell College. Additionally, the Division of Student Affairs and Success, in collaboration with Finance, Operations, and Administration, has collected and listed all the “living room” spaces available to students on its website and will promote their availability throughout the coming academic year.
The campus is also seeking more insight from students about enhancing their experience. Two questions on the 2024 UC Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES) were customized to assist with planning and developing future “living room” spaces, and the campus is developing a strategy to survey students in the years in which UCUES is not administered.
Another highlight in this area is the campus’s work to enhance liberal education for all students through equity-minded, high-impact practices. With support from the Teagle Foundation, the campus will lay the groundwork for a new first-year requirement organized around a common reading list of transformative texts and common
experiences, to be offered by all 10 undergraduate residential colleges. The planning team will begin work on developing general education certificates.
Envisioning graduate education for the future
To support the success of graduate students, UC Santa Cruz reimagined its approach to academic probation, transforming the system into a student success tool instead of a reprimand. The streamlined process is designed to help academic departments identify and address issues earlier so that students can receive support and resources to help them continue their studies and graduate.
The Graduate Division has also focused on efficiency improvements across many administrative functions, shifting from paper-based processes to digital forms.
Distinction in research, scholarship, and creative activities
UC Santa Cruz launched a new Leading the Change salon series to give faculty across campus the opportunity to hold interdisciplinary gatherings to discuss topics of mutual interest, build collaborations, and highlight research opportunities. Eight proposals were accepted, with two events held this past year and more events scheduled for the 2024–25 academic year.
Reclaiming the Lab Coat, a half-day symposium organized by the Genomics Institute’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, explored the white lab coat as a prominent visual symbol of science and “reclaimed” it for the diverse group of individuals that it represents.
The second event, Sustainability: Fostering a Social and Ecologically Thriving and Resilient UCSC, included discussions, lightning talks, and poster presentations. The event was organized by the People of Color Sustainability Collective and celebrated the release of Critical Campus Sustainabilities: Bridging Social Justice and the Environment in Higher Education, a book edited by Professor of Environmental Studies Flora Lu and lecturer Emily Murai that addresses how universities can promote inclusive sustainability by engaging students, staff, and faculty.
The Office of Research has also collected information on the range of seed funding and research support available across campus. There are many campus units, institutes, and divisions that have seed-funding competitions, though the opportunities are not always well advertised and coordinated. By assembling this information and developing shared best practices for distribution and selection, the campus strives to make seed funding more equitable.
An inclusive and thriving campus community
UC Santa Cruz will launch a new employee education program in fall 2024 that reconceptualizes the previous Diversity & Inclusion Certificate Program. In response to feedback from multiple stakeholder conversations, the new program will include asynchronous, synchronous, and bespoke or curated training at introductory, intermediate, and advanced levels.
Additionally, following extensive outreach to gather ideas and input from the campus community, UC Santa Cruz is expanding mental health resources, educational programming, and leadership development opportunities for students, staff, and faculty. The university will also develop new educational programming for staff and faculty to foster greater awareness of and provide tools to combat Islamophobia, antisemitism, and other forms of hate and bias. The plan is part of a systemwide effort
announced in late 2023 by UC President Michael V. Drake to offer greater support to campus communities amid global turmoil and the deep anguish felt by many students, staff, and faculty.
Climate change, sustainability, and resilience
UC Santa Cruz is focusing on strengthening its electrical system to increase its reliability and overall sustainability. The campus relies on Pacific Gas and Electric for its regular power, and electrical outages significantly disrupt research, teaching, and other operations.
To address this complex issue, UC Santa Cruz has formed a cross-campus working group that will also work with PG&E and other noncampus stakeholders to develop
solutions. The campus has also expanded its maintenance program for power generators to strengthen its backup systems when outages do occur.
In fall 2023, the Decarbonization & Electrification Task Force released a long-term campus plan to end the use of fossil fuel at UC Santa Cruz and move to 100% clean and renewable energy sources. The plan provides scenarios for achieving a 95% reduction in emissions by 2030, which is considered a rapid pace, and also provides options for 2035, 2040, and 2045.