FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 8, 2003

Contact Information:
Patti Waid Istas
Office of Communications
(209) 724-4483 or (209) 658-4483
pistas@ucmerced.edu

University of California President To Visit UC Merced Campus

Events include fitness run with students and tour of campus construction

Merced – As part of a statewide inaugural tour of University of California campuses launched last month, UC President Robert C. Dynes will visit UC Merced today and tomorrow, Tuesday, December 9. His two-day visit will include an evening reception for about 250 alumni and community members, and a morning three-mile run along Merced’s Bear Creek with high school cross-country runners.

Dyne has regularly expressed his support for the newest UC campus and its role in ensuring continued access to higher education for all California students.

"UC Merced is critical to expanding educational opportunity and economic development in the San Joaquin Valley,” he said. “It also is critical to the University's ability to meet the needs of growing numbers of students from throughout California.”

“If you look at the demographics of the state of California, we need UC Merced to meet our responsibilities, to meet the Master Plan of Higher Education and to educate young people throughout the state.”

Dynes, former Chancellor at UC San Diego, took over leadership of the 10-campus university system on October 2, 2003. He is the 18th UC President of what is acknowledged as the preeminent public university system in the world.

In place of a formal inauguration, Dynes chose to schedule a series of inaugural visits to campuses, national laboratories and the communities around them that will help him shape and share his vision for the future of the system.

In addition to the reception and early morning run, Dynes will tour the Merced campus construction site on Tuesday morning and meet with local reporters. He will also visit the newly constructed research laboratory facilities at the University’s current location in Atwater where faculty, student researchers and staff are housed.

During his statewide tour, Dynes continues to underscore the importance of the University of California to the state’s economic, educational and cultural health.

“I truly believe that all Californians are touched by the work of the University of California – through our teaching, our medical care, the new products and jobs created by our research, and our work in the schools and agricultural fields,” Dynes said. “We want to preserve and enhance all the things we do for California. But we need to make clear that doing so requires continued support from the state. We need to be telling the story of what UC accomplishes for California and why that contribution is too valuable to lose.”

UC Merced is planning to accept a limited number of graduate students in fall 2004, emulating UC San Diego, which in the 1960s started with graduate students only. Most of these students are doctoral candidates who will transfer as their faculty mentors join the UC Merced founding faculty. Faculty recruitment will continue this year toward the hiring of additional faculty in 2004-05 and 2005-06. Sixty full-time faculty members must be on board by fall 2005 to serve the initial student population.

Related Links:

Dynes’ biography, photos and comments about UC Merced
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/president/
Schedule of other stops on inaugural tour
lhttp://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/president/events.html


UC Merced, the 10th campus of the UC system and the first major research university to be built in the United States during the 21st century, is scheduled to open in fall 2005 with 1,000 students, ultimately growing to a student population of 25,000. The university has a special mission to serve the educational needs of San Joaquin Valley residents, and is already serving area students through a concurrent admissions program at three Valley community colleges and by offering UC summer session courses in Fresno, Bakersfield and Atwater. UC Merced currently employs approximately 165 educators and other professionals who are working on developing the physical and academic infrastructure of the campus.

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Editors/Reporters:

To obtain access to the campus site for President Dynes’ tour of construction, please call Patti Istas at (209) 658-4483. Reporters planning to participate are encouraged to meet at 9:45 a.m. at the entrance to the campus site. Please confirm your attendance at this event by the afternoon of December 8, if possible.
Note: The campus site is a hard-hat construction area, and all reporters and photographers must wear hard-soled, low-heeled, closed-toe shoes. Hard hats will be provided as needed.