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Berkeley
has hard work to do to strengthen infrastructure
by
Robert M. Berdahl, Chancellor
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 UC
Berkeley, and indeed all institutions of higher education, face
unprecedented challenges and opportunities in this new millennium.
Never before has the university's educational, research and
public service mission been more fundamental to human welfare,
and never before has our obligation to the state, nation and
world been clearer. Our capabilities to serve society are enormous,
and to maximize our potential, we must do some hard work to
strengthen our infrastructure and renew our foundations of excellence.
Our excellence
is grounded above all in the people who teach, work and study
here, but also in the quality of the infrastructure that accommodates
our various needs, in the very effectiveness of our organization,
and in our ability to carry out our mission. Renewal for Cal,
therefore, requires many kinds of actions. The construction
of new buildings that will allow our world-class faculty to
conduct research in modern facilities - research that will among
other things, solve the most serious health problems of our
times. Renewal requires building more housing and classroom
space so that we do our fair share to educate the increasing
number of qualified Californian young people who seek a University
of California degree. It means completing large-scale seismic
and preservation projects that ensure a safe and historically
rich work environment for staff, faculty, students and visitors.
It means administrative reorganization so that our faculty are
more fully supported, and it requires improvements in our human
resources department so that all members of our campus community
feel valued and recognized for their contributions to this university.
It is time
to meet the challenges that a renewal of such magnitude means
for all of us. As I stated in my inaugural address three years
ago, "The future research capacity of this university, which
we take so easily for granted, is neither inevitable nor assured.
But it must be ..." I know our work will not be easy, and we
will listen carefully to the concerns of those who have them.
But these actions, I believe, are the ones the university must
take to see excellence flourish and to fulfill our obligations
to Californians of the 21st century.
Renewing
the Foundations of Excellence home
Source:
Berkeleyan
Special Issue, Fall 2000
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