September 2024 Division Message

Monthly updates, info, events, and shoutouts from SACL at UC San Diego

Welcome to Fall Quarter, Gratitude, 2023-24 Impact Report, and more

Dear Student Affairs and Campus Life Colleagues and Friends,

Welcome to Fall Quarter 2024. Our campus is once again activated with Triton energy! The work that our team and partners have done to create meaningful opportunities for students to connect with one another, learn about campus resources, and build a sense of community for the year ahead reinforces that all of our Tritons belong at UC San Diego.

TWOW 2024 is already in full swing, and I’m looking forward to this Sunday’s ASCE Day One Festival, the inaugural Words of Welcome Faculty and New Staff Picnic on Sept. 24, our undergraduate Triton UnOlympics on Sept. 25, this year’s Meet the Beach on Sept. 28, the First Gen Welcome Social on Oct. 3rd and more over the coming weeks.

Most importantly, I also want to extend my gratitude to the many team members, colleagues and campus partners who have been preparing for this new academic year and send a special shout out to our Knock Around Camp, Summer Bridge and Outback Orientation teams for the important student-centered work they did during Summer Sessions 1 and 2. And to the SAGE Team: we see you and all you do year round.

To stay energized, the Fall 2024 All-Staff Awards ceremony will be moving to December and we will host a community breakfast for Student Affairs and Campus Life colleagues and partners with no formal meeting agenda: just breakfast burritos, music, swag, crafts, and good company. We’ll host our Fall 2024 Staff Awards celebration in December when we can also celebrate our new UC San Diego Student-Centeredness Award winners.

Before we dive into the bulk of this month’s message, I would like to take this opportunity to echo the sentiments expressed by Chancellor Khosla in yesterday’s Welcome to 2024-25 Campus Notice. In the message, he reaffirms UC San Diego’s commitment to championing the First Amendment and to supporting free expression, while encouraging peaceful debate and ensuring that UC San Diego is free from violence, vandalism, harassment, intimidation and discrimination.

To help our community navigate these rights and responsibilities, we have created an Expressive Activities Information web page that outlines commonly referenced university policies regarding expressive activity on campus. I encourage you to review this page and bookmark it as a resource for reference.

Continue to read on for a few more updates and information, as well as a link to our 2023-24 Student Affairs and Campus Life Impact Report which officially sunsets our 2019-24 Strategic Plan reporting and outlines our 2024-29 Strategic Plan pillars.

I am pleased to share the 2023-24 Student Affairs and Campus Life Impact Report, which showcases the creative, equity-driven work of the talented and dedicated Student Affairs and Campus Life professionals and many of our partners in advancing student centeredness at UC San Diego.

Please take a moment to peruse this report, and join me in celebrating the collective student-centered efforts and accomplishments of our colleagues and close campus partners.

Please join us for this year’s Student Affairs and Campus Life Fall All-Staff Community Breakfast, a special social event designed to offer a well-earned break, and an opportunity to connect with peers while enjoying a delicious breakfast.

This gathering provides the perfect opportunity to be in community, recharge, and celebrate the start of the new academic year with colleagues through food and crafting activities.

SACL Fall All-Staff Community Breakfast

Tuesday, October 29, 2024 | 8 – 10 a.m. | Price Center West Ballroom

RSVP: Fall All-Staff Community Breakfast Form

We are deeply grateful for the dedication and hard work of our staff throughout last year and over the summer. Stop by, enjoy breakfast, and reconnect with your colleagues as we kick off a new chapter together!

Please note: The annual Student Affairs and Campus Life Staff Awards, traditionally held during the Fall All-Staff Meeting, will take place in December. This will allow us to fully recognize both the SACL Staff Awards and the inaugural campus-wide Student Centeredness Awards during a dedicated celebration. And, we thought everyone would need a community breakfast and breakfast burritos at this time in the quarter.

This year marks the debut of Words of Welcome at UC San Diego – a unique initiative designed to inspire, ignite curiosity, and unite our Triton community by celebrating our shared strength and diversity.

As the inaugural event for Words of Welcome’s Common Read initiative, we've selected a book for the Triton community to read, listen to, or watch together, centered around a common theme. The aim is to inspire a shared campus-wide experience throughout the coming year. Visit WordsofWelcome.ucsd.edu to explore this year’s Common Read selection, pick up your free book, and discover how you can join the conversation all year long.

Faculty-New Student Picnic on Sept. 24
Also new to TWOW for 2024, a Faculty-New Student Picnic is planned for Sept. 24, where students will have the chance to socialize with and be welcomed by our faculty in a more casual environment that is conducive to authentic conversations.

Case Management Services will again facilitate training sessions for “Creating a Culture of Care: Supporting Students in Distress” this Fall – on October 17 (in-person), November 14 (virtual) and December 12, 2024 (virtual).

These free, interactive trainings are designed to assist staff in recognizing and supporting students in distress – defined as: a student whose academic progress or functioning in the university environment is adversely affected due to a number of indicators that are impacting their well-being and/or the well-being of others.

To complete the training, individuals only need to attend one of the scheduled dates. To register for any of these sessions, visit this link on UC Learning (login required). For more information, please contact Chrystian Smith at cas014@ucsd.edu.

All UC San Diego employees are required to take online trainings via the UC Learning Center within 30 days of hire and renew them regularly, including the Cyber Security Awareness, Sexual Violence Prevention, Ethical Values and Conduct, and Abusive Conduct in the Workplace courses.

Based on individual requirements, you’ll receive automated assignment emails and reminders from the UC Learning Center with information about required courses and relevant due dates for training. If you supervise student employees, please ensure that they have also completed their mandatory trainings.

Your proactive completion of these trainings is critical in fostering a healthy, positive, and supportive workplace. To check your status on compliance courses, please login to UCLearning.ucsd.edu. If you have questions about these essential trainings or have difficulty accessing them, please email VCSACL@ucsd.edu, and we’ll get you connected to colleagues leading this important effort.

Dr. Piya Bose, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, was a guest on a recent episode of the SpeechMatters podcast – the official podcast of the University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement.

In the episode, Dr. Bose discusses free expression, activism, and lessons learned during the challenging times that campuses around the world – our included – faced last Spring.

Dr. Lelli Van Den Einde has recently been named UC San Diego’s Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR). In this role, she will help ensure institutional control of intercollegiate athletics, champion academic integrity, promote the welfare of scholar-athletes and actively engage in NCAA and conference compliance.

Dr. Van Den Einde will work with the Chancellor and the Director of Athletics to maintain appropriate university oversight of intercollegiate athletics; assist the Chancellor and Director of Athletics in determining institutional positions on proposed NCAA and conference legislation; engage in discussions regarding eligibility of scholar-athletes; remain visible and available to scholar-athletes; and partake in investigations and reports of possible NCAA violations when appropriate.

A San Diego native and former three-sport athlete at Torrey Pines High School, Dr. Van Den Einde went on to play Division I field hockey while earning her BS in Civil Engineering at the University of Michigan.

Since 1994, Van Den Einde has been part of UC San Diego, where she earned her master's and Ph.D. in Structural Engineering. After holding various research roles, including at the San Diego Supercomputer Center, she became a Teaching Professor in the Structural Engineering Department in 2008.

Sept. 24-27, 2024

In Spring Quarter of last year, the Craft Center facilitated a Tritons Belong art project centered on healing, restoration, and joy – with the Paper Cranes for Peace project serving as an opportunity to be in community through challenging times.

Now, as part of the follow-up Paper Cranes Taking Flight endeavor, you have a chance to contribute to our community art installation by expressing messages of hope and healing, which will live on and be transformed along with all of the original cranes into future community art installations on campus.

Oct. 21-25, 2024

The Triton Transfer Hub is excited to celebrate our Triton Transfers during this year’s National Transfer Student Week (NTSW) at UC San Diego from Oct. 21-25, 2024.

Information on specific events throughout the week is forthcoming, but in the meantime, teams/departments are invited to participate in the second annual NTSW Resource Fair on October 22.

The event will once again feature tabling from a variety of offices and departments, with the intention of creating a one-stop shop for all transfers to get connected with involvement opportunities and see the offerings our campus has for our transfer students. To table at the NTSW Resource fair, please complete this form by October 4.

Nov. 8-10, 2024

Tritons of UC San Diego, answer the call! Homecoming 2024 is set to be a weekend full of discovery and excitement.

From DI Athletics to groundbreaking research, the event lineup celebrates the curious and courageous spirit of UC San Diego. Witness the growth of our campus, cheer on our DI scholar-athletes, reconnect with old friends and celebrate your UC San Diego pride. Together. Tritons. Always.

Thank you for making this time of year so very special to our new and returning Tritons. Please let me know if you would like to take a walk on campus, grab a cup of coffee together, or hop on a Zoom to connect – just send me an email at VCSACL@ucsd.edu.

Be Well,