up close and personal
Dynes dialogues with faculty, staff
BY KAREN MACK
UCLA Today Staff
University of California President Robert C. Dynes shared his vision
for the university at a forum with about 100 UCLA faculty and staff
on Dec. 2 in the Northwest Auditorium.
Moderated by Chancellor Albert Carnesale, the event provided the
first opportunity for faculty, staff and administrators from across
the campus to have a Q&A with the new president.
Dynes said he inherited from his predecessor, Richard C. Atkinson,
an “undying commitment to the quality of the institution.”
To build on that, Dynes said he plans to ask the chancellors to
identify those programs that attract the most distinguished scholars
and “grow out those programs in as interdisciplinary a way
as possible, so that [they] become the best in the world.”
In response to a question about the severe impact of state budget
cuts on K-12 outreach programs, Dynes said, “I am desperately
worried about outreach as well.” Citing the need for an effective
model for the future, Dynes made a case for maintaining commitments
to high schools and feeder schools where UC outreach programs have
been effective.
“We cannot as a system walk away [from established outreach
programs],” he said.
Dynes also called for improvements in technology-transfer so that
UC inventions and intellectual property can benefit society more
rapidly. “We cannot simply be generators of new knowledge
and research,” he asserted. “What we need is R, D and
D — research, development and delivery to the public.”
The president invited the UCLA community to make use of the “Dynes’
Desk” feature at www.universityofcalifornia.edu/president/desk.html,
which provides an electronic form for sending comments and questions
directly to him.
He pledged to read all e-mails transmitted this way “until
it’s overwhelming.”
The forum was one of several activities organized for Dynes’
visit. He started his day with a campus-perimeter run with faculty,
staff and students and interacted with UCLA students over breakfast.
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