Input Wanted on the Future of UC Berkeley

April 25, 2018

Dear members of the campus community,

We are writing to update you on the progress we have made toward developing Berkeley’s new strategic plan—that is, the roadmap that will help us determine what the campus should look like ten years from now and chart a path to get us there. We are pleased with the work so far and grateful for the input we have received from faculty, staff, students, alumni and key external stakeholders. Here is the preliminary draft report of the steering committee which represents the thinking of the project’s four working groups. Each of those working groups examined one of the following fundamental issues:

  • Signature Initiatives — What are the critical issues and challenges facing our state, our nation, and our world that Berkeley is particularly well suited to address?

  • Student Experience —  What investments and changes in our instructional and co-curricular programs would have the greatest impact on the quality of our students’ experience?

  • Enrollment — Accepting that enrollment growth is not entirely within the campus’s control, what do we see as the preferred enrollment level for Berkeley and how should this enrollment be distributed?  

  • Financial Strategies — How can Berkeley foster a sustainable financial model with an evolving diversity of revenue sources?  

We hope you will take time to read through the draft steering committee report and share your feedback with us directly on the strategic planning website or at one of the events we will be holding over the next few weeks, including two campus town halls to be held Thursday, May 3, from 5-6 p.m. and Friday, May 4, from noon-1 p.m. at University House. The steering committee draft will be open for comment until June 1.

Your feedback is critical. The full investment of our community will be what propels the plan forward, and it will only be successful if we collectively contribute to and are invested in this plan for Berkeley’s future.

Each of the four working groups will be issuing individual draft reports next  week, which you can find on strategic planning website. They will contain a deeper level of detail and will be especially relevant as we begin planning how we will implement the reports’ recommendations this coming fall. We welcome your feedback on those reports as well.

In closing, we would like to extend deep gratitude to the faculty, staff, and students who served on the working groups, as well as to the strategic planning co-chairs Lisa Alvarez-Cohen and Rich Lyons, for their hard work and commitment to this project. Collectively, they spent the last few months in focused deliberation and examination, punctuated by lively debate and discussion, to get us to this important milestone.

We look forward  to hearing from you, and wish you the best as you enter the final weeks of the semester.

Sincerely,

Carol Christ
Chancellor

A. Paul Alivisatos
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost