Dynes said he sees 2007 as a watershed year for the University of California. He said he tells his friends at the Ivy League schools that the UC system is the finest university in the world. He noted that the number of students in all of the Ivy League schools is less than half the number of students that are at the University of California. “We are 10 campuses of one university,” he said. “We are huge by comparison. We have almost 210,000 students, 160,000 employees, we’ve got three national laboratories.” He added that if they bring together the resources of all 10 campuses they are world leaders in virtually everything. “And that’s our strength,” he said.Dynes said he discovered that there are school districts in the state with no credentialed science and math teachers. He said he was shocked and called that a growing catastrophe in education in California. “And so I, without really knowing how we were going to do it, promised the governor that we were going generate for the State of California 1,000 science and math teachers a year,” he told the gathering.Dynes is the 18th UC President. He took on the position in October of 2003. He had previously served as Chancellor of UC San Diego.
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University of California President Robert Dynes spent two days in Ventura County last week, including a visit to Santa Paula High School and lunch with local agriculture leaders at Faulkner Farm. |
UC President tours Ventura County, talks to students at SPHS
February 07, 2007
Visits Faulkner Farm
Santa Paula News
By Brian D. Wilson
Santa Paula TimesUniversity of California President Robert Dynes spent two days in Ventura County last week, including a visit to Santa Paula High School and lunch with local agriculture leaders at Faulkner Farm.One of his first stops in the County was at Santa Paula High where he met with students in the Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement Program (MESA). He told the students, gathered in the auditorium, to go on to college. The following day he had lunch with area agriculture leaders at the UC Hansen Trust/Faulkner Farm, just outside Santa Paula at Briggs Road.Dynes is touring the state to see how the giant UC system can better serve the people of California. He said he is learning a lot about what the University of California can do affect people’s lives in positive ways. “I keep reminding folks that we are the University of California,” Dynes said. “That means it’s your university. We’re a public institution supported in part, not totally, by the State of California and as such we have a responsibility to inform, educate and transfer our knowledge to our society, which is you.” He told the gathering that by just listening to faculty, staff or students he doesn’t necessarily find out what’s going on. “I have to listen to everybody as much as I can,” he noted. “Listening to you gives me insight as to how we are affecting you and how we can better affect your lives.”Dynes said he had learned more about Ventura County over his two-day visit than he thought he’d ever know. He said that the Agriculture and Natural Resources Department is a really important part of the university. But, he added, it’s probably one of the least known departments. “It’s in part because the success of California agriculture has been so great that most people think that food comes from Ralph’s,” Dynes said. “They don’t understand the infrastructure, the hard work and the innovation, the creativity and the risk-taking that goes on everyday in California to deliver to people’s tables.”
