With five weeks now under my belt — it feels more like five minutes — I am writing today to express my gratitude for the warm reception and insightful instruction I have received at every turn as I continue my learning journey through this wondrous public institution.
Today I will be on the Riverside campus — my seventh campus visit. Among other activities, I plan to meet with student leaders, engage in a faculty forum, converse with California's poet laureate, UC Riverside's own Juan Felipe Herrera, tour the medical school, and maybe drop in on a couple of lab sessions in progress.
The mix has been similar at each stop along the way. The conversations have been frank, substantial, and quite useful. And in every instance I have come away filled with appreciation for the depth and breadth of the University of California, and in particular its power to transform lives and shape society.
As I suggested to the Commonwealth Club in a speech last week, the long and symbiotic relationship between California and the university that shares its name is the essential ingredient in making this state a globally recognized center of intellectual vigor, innovation, and economic opportunity. The state would not be the same without the University of California. The opposite is also true. And it's our job as stewards to make sure this never changes.
Yours very truly,
Janet Napolitano
President