Annual report 2024-2025
Leading the Change
UC Santa Cruz is making remarkable progress in implementing Leading the Change: The UC Santa Cruz Strategic Plan, which has guided the campus since it was finalized in summer 2023.
The plan is a shared vision built around five pillars that align with the university’s overarching goals: enhancing student success; expanding research impact; fostering inclusivity; and improving operational efficiency, sustainability, and resilience.
With the support and commitment of the campus community, UC Santa Cruz made gains this past year across all five themes and is building momentum in its pursuit of new levels of excellence.
Unparalleled Undergraduate Student Education and Experience
UC Santa Cruz made significant progress on strategic student-centered initiatives to build and support community and enhance experiential learning, both of which are important elements in the overarching goal to advance student success.
Delivering on its commitment to provide additional spaces for students to meet, study and connect with each other, UC Santa Cruz opened two new “living room” spaces during the 2024-25 academic year: the Leonardo Commuter Lounge, adjacent to Kresge College, and the Services for Transfer, Re-entry and Resilient Scholars (STARRS) Commuter Lounge at the Bay Tree Building. The campus will launch a new map layer at maps.ucsc.edu in the year ahead to help students find other “living room” spaces across campus
To guide the development of future social spaces on campus, the university sought student perspectives and opinions this past year through the biennial UC Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES). More than 70 percent of survey respondents said they would like to see more social spaces in the colleges, and 50 percent said they’d like to see more of these spaces in academic buildings.
UC Santa Cruz is continuing to pursue opportunities to provide students with hands-on learning experiences. The Division of Student Affairs and Success held an Experiential Learning Summit in fall 2024, marking an important first step of this strategic initiative. The summit generated ideas to help expand undergraduate experiential learning opportunities. Additionally, all five academic divisions are developing and expanding hands-on learning opportunities that provide students with real-world experience and apply the knowledge and skills they’ve learned in the classroom to prepare them for professional success.
To support the transition to university life, all 10 UC Santa Cruz colleges in fall 2025 will introduce a new common unit in their first-year core courses, centered on the theme “The Purpose of Higher Education.”
Developed during the 2024–25 academic year by college provosts and instructors with support from the Teagle Foundation’s Cornerstone: Learning for Living initiative, this addition will bring a unified academic experience to all incoming students.
First-year students will take part in seminar-style discussions and reflect on readings from a range of authors and traditions, using those conversations to consider the values, perspectives, and goals they bring to college. This collaborative effort will strengthen each student’s academic foundation and encourage purposeful exploration as they begin their UC Santa Cruz journey.
Envisioning Graduate Education for the Future
To deliver a high-quality education that prepares graduate students for future success, UC Santa Cruz has developed new comprehensive support systems and established innovative industry partnerships to expand career opportunities. Additionally, the campus is developing new degree programs in high-demand areas.
The campus is providing targeted support to graduate students during critical phases of their education through the new Graduate Student Success Incentive Program, Summer Research Fellowship Program, and the Enhanced Mentoring Program. These programs are designed to provide resources that help graduate students complete their degrees.
The new Accelerate to Industry (A2i) program, initially funded by the National Science Foundation, includes partnerships with major technology companies such as NVIDIA and Genentech. Through A2i, graduate students and postdoctoral scholars explore the range of industry employment opportunities and develop the business, leadership, and communication skills that companies seek.
To expand educational opportunities, UC Santa Cruz is developing a range of new programs. A new Master’s of Arts in Geographic Information Systems, Spatial Technologies, Applications, and Research is launching in fall 2025. Other programs in development include an online master’s program in AI and Data Science, a Master of Arts in Anthropology, and a joint Ph.D. program in Marine and Coastal Science with San Jose State University.
Distinction in Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities
The Leading the Change series continued into its second year, highlighting the work of faculty across campus through interdisciplinary gatherings that explore important topics and highlight uniquely UCSC research impacts.
What Counts as Learning? Diversifying Scholarship and Practices of Learning included flash talks and dialogues on inclusive practices for diverse learners, including children and students who have been marginalized. Speakers shared their innovative research and practices to diversify learning and promote equitable access to education. The event was organized by the Institute for Social Transformation and the Social Sciences Division.
The Global and Community Health (GCH) program organized E-portfolio Lessons & Learnings (Part 2), an event that featured a panel of students who shared their experiences in starting their ‘GCH e-record’ to support their learning in the program’s introductory course (GCH 1) and then re-fashioning it in the capstone course (GCH 195) to communicate their learning and skills to employers and/or graduate and professional schools.
Justice & Sustainability in Higher Ed: Lessons highlighted the People of Color Sustainability Collective’s (PoCSC) past and ongoing research and community activities. PoCSC is a collaboration between the Ethnic Resource Centers, Sustainability Office, College Nine, and John R. Lewis College that aims to recognize, highlight, and institutionalize the sustainability practices of communities of color and redefine sustainability to include diverse cultural approaches.
An Inclusive and Thriving Campus Community
To create and sustain a campus climate that supports the success and well-being of all students, faculty, and staff, UC Santa Cruz launched several new educational programs and enhanced institutional practices.
The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion debuted “Histories in Progress,” a series of historically based asynchronous educational programs for faculty and staff. The modules explore the diverse stories and cultures of the many communities that make up California and the UC Santa Cruz community. Through an interactive online course format featuring instructor-led videos, podcasts, curated readings, and media excerpts, participants can learn at their speed and review specific content as needed.
Bringing together nationally renowned experts who share their work in accessible ways, this effort explores larger themes such as expansion and displacement, enslavement and emancipation, patterns of migration and family formation, and ongoing efforts to achieve equal rights.
The inaugural offerings include antisemitism awareness, the Jewish diaspora, and Holocaust education; African, Black, and Caribbean histories; Islamophobia awareness; and Cuban American migration and identity formation. New offerings are in development for 2025-2026.
A new eight-week Empowered Together certificate program launched in spring is helping to strengthen employees’ competencies and capacity in supporting efforts related to student success, classroom and workplace inclusion, and greater accessibility, all in pursuit of fostering a sense of belonging and building a connected community.
During the inaugural session, thirty-one employees participated in group discussions, self and group reflections, and readings, many sharing that the program supported their growth and development. New Empowered Together cohorts are launching in subsequent quarters. For those seeking to build on that learning, the campus plans to offer a second, more advanced certificate by spring 2026.
To better understand the extent to which students feel welcome and supported, UC Santa Cruz fielded a Student Pulse Check survey in fall 2024. Nearly 3,500 students participated, with more than 2,200 responding to the open-ended question providing input on how to make UC Santa Cruz more welcoming and supportive. Following preliminary survey analysis, the campus hosted eight listening sessions with students to explore themes related to engagement activities, campus resources, and more.
The Student Pulse Check and listening sessions are an ongoing effort to supplement the biennial UCUES data by inviting more detailed feedback on students’ campus experiences, identify successful initiatives and areas in need of improvement, and inform strategic direction. The findings from the survey and the listening sessions will be shared with the campus community to help guide additional efforts to strengthen the campus climate.
Managers have a substantial impact on their staff and the campus climate at large. To hire managers who can foster and promote a welcoming, fair, and inclusive working environment, UC Santa Cruz launched the Staff Excellence Advisors Program. The pilot program offered additional training to four current employees who are serving as recruitment advisors. The campus will assess the effectiveness of the program in the 2025-26 academic year to determine if it should be expanded.
Climate Change, Sustainability, and Resilience
In support of identifying climate resilience and adaptation solutions to counter the effects of flooding, fire, loss of groundwater, and air pollution impacts on farm workers, the Center for Coastal Climate Resilience supported more than 60 fellows at all levels, from graduate students and postdocs to senior business and indigenous leaders. These fellows include artists-in-residence, communications and policy grad students, and cross-divisional postdocs who work on a broad range of approaches for advancing adaptation.
Groups from across campus are developing innovative approaches to communicate climate risk and adaptation solutions. Campus investigators have developed immersive approaches that use game engine technology to simulate environments and experiences, and to address environmental challenges. This work is local and global, with partners including local decision-makers in Santa Cruz to international partners, as demonstrated to policymakers and worldwide leadership at the UN Oceans Conference in Nice, France.
To translate science and engineering advancements into solutions, UC Santa Cruz’s Climate Actions Solutions Catalyst Program, managed by the Innovation & Business Engagement Hub, funded 20 projects advancing climate action solutions and directly engaged close to 1,400 climate innovators. The supported projects were associated with 10 invention disclosures, 6 patent applications, 3 issued patents, 2 IP agreements, and 5 startups companies.
In support of operational continuity, UC Santa Cruz made significant progress in its long-term effort to strengthen its electrical system, both by increasing its reliability and furthering its sustainability.
The campus receives its regular power from Pacific Gas and Electric, and unexpected electrical outages significantly disrupt research, instruction, and general operations.
Building on past work, the campus completed several critical infrastructure improvements to help reduce power interruptions and enhance monitoring of core electrical systems.
The campus also reviewed all power interruptions in both 2023 and 2024 to develop a baseline assessment that will help guide future improvements and strategic planning. A power resiliency working group is systematically identifying critical research equipment, reviewing backup power needs, and developing resiliency improvements for campus leaders to consider.
To advance campus sustainability, UC Santa Cruz announced its goal to reduce fossil fuel emissions by 90% by 2045. The timeline, based on recommendations from the Decarbonization and Electrification team, is part of a UC-wide effort to maintain the university’s status as a leader in climate action by decarbonizing all 10 campuses.
UC Santa Cruz set 2045 as the target after considering current financial constraints and reviewing additional campus priorities, including additional housing, seismic retrofits, and deferred maintenance needs. All new projects incorporate strategies contributing to sustainability and resilience.