In a message to faculty, staff and students last week, Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi invited the entire campus community to participate in a broad dialogue that will envision UC Davis as the “University of the 21st Century.”

Building on the “Vision of Excellence” that was developed in 2009-10, this new effort brings the campus community together to plot the path towards fulfilling UC Davis’ full potential and aspirations as an institution.

As the starting point of the process, the chancellor drafted a visioning document that describes UC Davis’ unique capacity to lead the way in higher education in the 21st century and also presents the key questions to be answered during this dialogue, beginning with the aspirational questions that seek to define excellence at UC Davis both now and for the generations that follow.

She also laid out the goal of this effort: “We can be the first institution in the world to transform itself from the 20th century university community of scholars to the 21st century university community of learners, where all of us — faculty, students and staff — use learning as a way to achieve excellence, where the answer to every question creates a path toward a new inquiry, and where statements and demands give way to dialogue and debate.”

One of the many important questions within the “University of the 21st Century” initiative is a possible enhanced presence for UC Davis in the Sacramento region. The campus community will consider the options for expanding academic and clinical operations, and the possibility of enhancing public policy programming and other academic and research offerings closer to the state’s elected officials and other government leaders.  

The campus dialogue about the “University of the 21st Century” will involve a broad series of communications with faculty, staff, students, alumni and other external constituents. As the deliberative group to assimilate ideas about the university’s future from our stakeholders, the chancellor has formed the University of the 21st Century Committee charged with developing a forward-looking document that reflects community thinking about the future of UC Davis. The committee’s work is led by James Hildreth, dean of the College of Biological Sciences, and Steve Currall, chancellor’s senior advisor for Strategic Projects and Initiatives.

The chancellor has directed the committee to provide its formal recommendations by June 1. A comment period on the recommendations will run until fall 2015.

As an example of the campus discussions related to this initiative, a Joint Administration-Faculty Summit is scheduled for Thursday, March 12. After that, similar events will be held with staff, students and alumni as well as external constituents. 

Members of the campus community are also encouraged to submit ideas, feedback and proposals directly to the committee. Responses can be submitted via this online comment form or via this dedicated email address: chancellorsadvisor@ucdavis.edu. 

Read the chancellor’s visioning document, titled “An Invitation to Envision the University of the 21st Century.”

More information about the “University of the 21st Century” initiative is available here.

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