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Berkeley has hard work to do to strengthen infrastructure

by Robert M. Berdahl, Chancellor

Renewing the Foundations of Excellence

Chancellor Robert M. BerdahlUC 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