Letter from the Vice Chancellor
Manuel Gomez | Sep 27, 2004 | Comments 0
Every year I’m surprised at how early fall quarter seems to arrive. It seems like we just finished commencement, and here we are, beginning a new academic year again. For those of you returning to the campus, welcome back. And to those of you who are new to the campus, I want to extend a special welcome and congratulations on all the hard work that brought you here.
As you saw during Welcome Week, there is a great deal going on here, a broad expanse of both curricular and extra-curricular opportunities in which to immerse yourself. With all the campus growth in the past few years it is getting quite difficult for students not to be drawn into a variety of projects, organizations and social events.
But before you get too deep in the social life of UCI, I do want to remind you that this is an election year, and that before long many of you will have the opportunity to vote. There is inevitably so much going on during the beginning of the quarter that this important chance to participate in ‘real world’ politics can easily be missed. Consequently, we want to make sure the process of voting is as easy as possible for you. There will be plenty of opportunities for you to register if you haven’t already. Why do we put so much emphasis on voting? In part because UCI is really a microcosm of the larger community, and although your life here is certainly more protected and perhaps single-minded than it will be once you graduate, the campus is part and parcel of the ‘real world.’
In a way, a university campus is an ideal community, a place where all of its residents share a commitment to learning and knowledge. Discovery through research, innovation through teaching and learning, and social enrichment through public service are all key to the vitality of the intellectual life of the campus.
We seek knowledge, foster learning and engage in activities of discovery, aiming to banish the prejudices of ignorance and embrace the rational contemplation of complex problems
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