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UC Berkeley’s contributions to the world—its capacity to educate leaders, ignite the California economy, develop new technologies, and solve society’s most perplexing problems—are shaped one student at a time, one discovery at a time, and one deed at a time. Each time a brilliant faculty member chooses to teach and do research here, each time a new student is admitted regardless of his or her background or financial circumstances, and each time alumni give back to their communities, the whole world benefits. BUILDING EXCELLENCE AND DRIVING THE ECONOMY Industries critical to the vigor and future performance of California’s economy--from agriculture and the biosciences to computers and information technology--are some of the hallmarks of Berkeley's outstanding interdisciplinary research programs in the sciences and engineering. Berkeley has more departments ranked in the top 10 than any other university in the country, according to the prestigious National Research Council. This fall U.S. News & World Report once again ranked Berkeley as the top public university, and the awards and honors bestowed on Berkeley’s faculty continue to reaffirm Cal’s commitment to academic distinction. RECRUITING AND RETAINING TOP FACULTY Perhaps the single most important indicator of a university's health is its ability to hire its first-choice faculty candidates and retain its top faculty. Today, with the high cost of living in the Bay Area, and faculty salaries already lagging up to 27 percent behind those of our private peers, it is becoming more and more difficult to stay competitive. Major new infusions of private support coupled with healthy state allocations are essential to address the rising cost of hiring and retaining top faculty. By providing state-of-the-art research facilities and graduate fellowship funding, Cal will also be able to attract the best graduate students, who in turn attract top faculty. KEEPING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY ALIVE Berkeley undergraduates give the University high marks. In a spring 2003 survey of more than 10,000 undergraduates, 85.9 percent said they would still choose to enroll at Berkeley if they had it to do over again, 87.6 percent felt that they had made important or considerable progress in their analytical and critical thinking skills, and 73.2 percent were satisfied or very satisfied with the accessibility of faculty outside of class. This fall’s freshman class was one of the strongest ever. These incoming students generally scored higher than those in previous freshman classes on standardized tests, and they took more honors and advance placement courses in high school. CREATING A PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP Meeting Berkeley’s public mandate of excellence and opportunity was relatively easy to do 20 years ago, when the state was providing half of Cal’s budget. Beginning in the mid-1980s, it was clear that Berkeley could not rely on state funding alone and, without significant increased private support, it would take less than a generation to erode what had taken more than a century to build. Fortunately, the Cal community--the University’s alumni, parents, faculty, students, staff, and friends--has stepped in to ensure Berkeley’s preeminence. The future promise of Berkeley can only be realized through a renewed partnership between the state of California and the community of people who care deeply about Cal. The entire Cal family is invited to join in helping to shape Berkeley’s potential by participating as dvocates, volunteers, and supporters—making the many and varied contributions that will truly make a difference today and tomorrow. |
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