UCSC update
Announcements and Reminders
Our district governor will be here August 10th. Save the date!
Al’s debunking will be June 22nd at Santa Cruz Yacht Club. (Remember we will be dark next week for the regular meeting!). People should park below the club and walk thru the dry boat storage and take the tram or walk up the stairs. $35 per person and remember to tip the bartender!
John Fisher reminded us to contribute $27.50 per person to the final effort to eradicate polio (Polio Plus).
Rotarian of the week is Art Dover who went to the Atlanta convention. He gave us an update. Rotary is giving 50 million a year for 3 years (and there will be a $300 million donation match from the Gates Foundation) to eradicate polio forever. Another topic was the campaign to end human trafficking. He said it was an amazing experience!
Today our speaker was Howard Heevner Asst Vice Chancellor of Alumni Engagement and Advancement Services from UCSC. He spoke about the work of UCSC in the community including efforts such as Partners in Arts and Culture with over 100 public events including the acclaimed Dickens Project. Another popular item is the Grateful Dead Archive at the UCSC library.
More than 19.000 UCSC alumni live in the county. UCSC is the largest employer in Santa Cruz. They are a very popular campus with more applicants than ever before with a very diverse student population; 42% of the students on campus are the first in their family to go to college. There is a new housing project on campus that will house 3000 students. Their water use is down 40%.
UCSC has been instrumental in establishing the marine protected areas and is a leading force in otter research and has established the Seymour Marine Discovery Center which has 60,000 visitors every year. They are partners in sustainable agriculture. This is the 50th anniversary for the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.
They are in the process of updating their long range development plan, trying to be more involving of the community. They have a mandate to be carbon neutral by 2025 and use food they grow on campus. They are also a top tier research university ranking #8 nationally on social mobility. Research impact (based on work cited) is 4th internationally. Economically they bring $1.3 billion dollars to the community!