[Ucrea] Chancellor’s year-end message

[Cristina Otegui]

Dear Colleagues,


As we near the end of the year, I’ve been thinking about a word that
defined 2025 for me.


New.


New job. New home. New campus. New office.



My favorite “new” was new people. For the last five months, much of my work
has been focused on getting to know you, UC Riverside, and the broader
communities, to listen, learn, and define how I can best contribute.


I’ve shared our vision and priorities with local, state, and national
elected officials; donors; the UCR Foundation Board of Trustees; the
Faculty Senate and selected groups of faculty; the Staff Assembly;
community organizations; alumni; students; and retirees and emeriti. This
week, I recorded a video for new employees to ensure everyone at UCR
understands how they contribute to our mission and support our priorities.
These meetings enhanced my understanding of the proud history of UCR and my
appreciation of the uniqueness and the tremendous potential of the
University.


“New” might be the word that defines 2026 for me as well. We have launched
four searches and plan to welcome new leaders to UCR. New Chancellor and
Provost lecture series are in development, providing an opportunity to
expand our public service mission. I’ll do a deep dive into the budget with
campus leaders while representing our needs in discussions with system and
state leaders for a new academic year. After that, I’ll participate in
student recruiting and yield events before arriving at commencement, where
I'll have the opportunity to congratulate our new graduates.


UC Riverside continues to demonstrate what it means to thrive at the
intersection of excellence and access with a series of achievements.


Rankings from the Wall Street Journal and Washington Monthly placed UCR in
the top 25 among public universities. This fall, we set a new enrollment
record of 27,633 students. Some of those students moved into a new dorm to
live and study side by side with students from the RCCD community colleges.


Gubernatorial candidates visited the campus to engage in a health care
forum. Two faculty members were elected to the National Academy of
Sciences, while a student was named a Marshall Scholar, a UCR first.


Researchers made discoveries to treat people living with multiple
sclerosis, to conserve water on land and in our bodies, to reduce pollution
from AI processing, and to explore the universe more deeply, among many
other significant findings.


Whether you support special events or daily operations, prepare classrooms
or teach in them, discover in a wet lab or through computation—your work
this year made UCR’s achievements possible.


Thank you for welcoming me into this community and helping me learn what
powers this amazing place. Thank you for the ways you support our mission
and one another. As we end one year and look toward the next, I am
optimistic about what lies ahead.


Happy holidays and happy new year.



Sincerely,

S. Jack Hu, Ph.D.

Chancellor


P.S. Be sure to check out the Bold & Brilliant Moments of 2025 video
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhOnh8UvNpY> on our YouTube channel.
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