2020年7月6日
亲爱的太平洋同胞们:
在博彩平台网址大全正式开学的第一个星期里，我和简受到了热烈的欢迎. 信, 的帖子, 文本, 来自教员的电话和电子邮件, 工作人员, 学生, 校友, 支持者, 社区领袖和我们的董事生动地展示了是什么让太平洋如此特别:我们的人民和他们对我们大学的奉献. 这次经历再次提醒我，为什么珍和我如此兴奋地与你们一起踏上太平洋之旅的最新阶段. 谢谢大家.
Since we don’t have the ability to gather as a community right now, 借此机会，我想与大家分享一些对我校未来的看法. But before I do, please indulge me in some well-deserved recognitions.
My first day as president was Wednesday, 但在过去两个月里，我一直在与太平洋地区的领导团队密切合作. That has provided me the opportunity to watch our university in action during COVID-19. I have seen up close the strong and unflappable leadership of Maria Pallavicini, 是谁无私地担当起临时总统的角色，带领我们安全渡过了这片未知的水域. We all owe Maria a tremendous debt of gratitude. I am fortunate to have her as a partner leading our university forward.
I also am appreciative of the tremendous efforts of so many others. 我们的评议, led by past chair Kevin Huber and newly elected chair Norman Allen, 副总统, 的院长, particularly Michael Hunter Schwartz, who stepped away from his beloved McGeorge School of 法律 to serve as interim provost, 还有我们优秀的员工, 尽管COVID-19迫使我们离开校园，但他们确保太平洋地区没有遗漏一个节拍.
But perhaps most impressive has been our faculty. 我们的教员同事在3月份的几天内无缝地重新设计并将他们的现场课程转变为完全远程的体验, 确保我们的学生得到他们期望和应得的一流太平洋教育. 现在，教师们正在设计他们的秋季课程，使其可以同时在课堂上和远程授课, preparing for all contingencies.
Thanks to all of your extraordinary work and support, we are in an excellent position to take on the challenges that lie ahead. And there are significant challenges in the coming days and weeks.
我们现在根本不知道COVID-19是否能让我们下个月安全地返回校园. 我们知道, 然而, 我们的教师将随时准备为我们的学生提供最好的教育，无论如何或在哪里提供. 我们也知道，我们的员工将继续不知疲倦地工作，适应以支持我们的学生和教师. 我们知道我们的董事, 校友 and 支持者 will be there for our university and 学生, 一如既往.
与此同时, 美国黑人被警察谋杀和“黑人的命也是命”运动引发了对太平洋在社会正义问题上的角色的更广泛的重新审视. 周三，我就任校长的第一天，大部分时间都在和那些一直沉浸在这些问题中的教职员工单独交谈. From these early conversations, it is clear we have much work to do. 本月，我将在太平洋举行一系列关于“黑人的命也重要”和社会正义问题的对话, starting today with the Pacific Black 校友 Club. 对话是必不可少的第一步，但随后需要迅速采取行动. “Doing better” is no longer sufficient. 博彩平台网址大全应该在高等教育的多样性、公平性和包容性方面成为全国的领导者. 这一进程必须从现在开始.
These are historic challenges that we must face today. 但我也想在这里花点时间谈谈我们长期未来的其他方面.
大学新领导的任命通常伴随着新的使命和愿景. 有些学校需要. 我们没有.
Our greatest strengths are our unwavering principles, values and clarity of mission. 我们以一种很少有大学能与之匹敌的方式专注于学生的成功. 我们巧妙地将文科和专业教育相结合，同时为学生提供沉浸式学术研究的强大学习组合, experiential learning and service to our communities. We offer a truly distinctive educational opportunity: the personalized, 小学院关怀的学习环境与大大学的选择相结合. We know who we are and what we want to achieve.
我坚信博彩平台网址大全可以成为全国同类大学中最好的——以学生为中心的大学, small, 国家, 综合性大学. We have the ingredients: passionate and diverse 学生, 鼓舞人心的教师, 专门的人员, 博彩平台网址大全在一个国家的战略重要地区和一个真正以学生为中心的机构的传统和价值观.
I am equally convinced that the pathway to our success is through real, bold innovation. Does that mean changing our mission, values or principles? 绝对不是! But it does mean that we need to innovate what we do and how we do it. 美国高等教育, 就像许多其他行业一样, has seen massive disruptions to its economic and structural models. 太平洋也不能幸免. We are facing the same fierce competition for 学生, 升级费用, uncertain political environments, rapidly changing job markets and wavering public confidence in higher education. 我们已经看到这些挑战是如何在我们的大学表现出来的——有时是以消极的方式. We must think and act differently or face a path downward.
好消息是，没有几所美国大学比博彩平台网址大全更擅长创新. 创新是我们的基因, 正如前教务长菲尔·吉尔伯森在他对我们大学的优秀历史中精心描述的那样, “太平洋正在崛起。.” We launched the first university in the State of California 169 years ago. We were the first California university to welcome women. 我们在密西西比河以西创建了第一所音乐学院和该州第一所医学院.
塔利knol, 我们任职时间最长的总统, led the bold effort to move Pacific from its San Jose campus 70 miles away to Stockton. During his iconic 24 years as president, 罗伯特·伯恩斯通过围绕差异化概念进行设计，极大地推动了太平洋的发展. 唐·德罗萨总裁在他非凡的14年领导太平洋公司之初就专注于创新, 25年前，他在就职演说中敦促新同事“开拓进取，勇于冒险”.
我们如何回到使太平洋既优秀又与众不同的创新之路? 开始, we must first break down the structural, psychological and cultural barriers to innovation that exist at so many U.S. 大学.
We need to constantly question the status quo. Why do we do things the way we do them? 有没有更好的方法?
We need to shed the turf-protecting, siloed-thinking territorialism that paralyzes so many 大学.
We need to streamline bureaucratic processes.
We need to eschew rigid hierarchies and hierarchical thinking.
We need to question self-imposed rules and regulations.
We need to look outward for solutions.
We need to seek and build new partnerships to grow and to reduce our reliance on tuition.
We need to think and act positively, displaying an indefatigable spirit of optimism.
We need to see ourselves once again as a 国家 university.
We need to focus on the future, not dwell on the past.
We need to act with a sense of urgency.
And – most importantly—we need to do all of this together.
Once we break down the barriers to innovation, anything is possible. 创新的货币是创意，我们有大量令人惊叹的、有创造力的头脑. Imagine unleashing the creativity of our professors, 学生, 工作人员, 校友, 支持者, regents and leaders to build on our strengths as we look towards the future. The possibilities are limitless.
最后我要补充一点. Too often, ideas start and end with finances. 我们被告知，我们没有足够的资源来抓住机会或实现一个伟大的想法, so the idea is killed before it has a chance. 有时候，大学里似乎有一场尽可能快地说“不”的竞赛. I believe that kind of thinking is a formula for failure. 我会要求大家运用我们的集体创造力来思考新的收入来源，就像我们思考新项目一样, 新市场, new audiences and new teaching methods. Like much of higher education, the traditional revenue model is becoming untenable. We rely on tuition for the overwhelming majority of our resources. Tuition, 然而, already is too high for many 学生. Together, we must find new models through creative partnerships. And, importantly, we must decide what we are going to forgo. 正如哈佛大学(Harvard)的迈克尔•波特(Michael Porter)在其1996年的开创性著作中所写，战略就是做出选择. “The essence of strategy,” he wrote “is choosing what not to do.”
Now, what happens if we fail to harness that spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship? 我相信我们会生存下来，沿着我们目前的道路前进，并在此过程中进行渐进式的改变. But I don’t believe maintaining the status quo should be our goal. 我们有机会把我们优秀的大学做得更好——成为全国同类大学中最好的——用新的思维和新的方法来规划新的道路.
But we can only do this if we do it together.
I hope you will view today as the start of the conversation.
I look forward to the journey with you.
真诚地,
克里斯托弗·卡拉汉
总统
