View in browser

   November 18, 2025

   Vol. 6, No. 11       

A publication from the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor

Dear Colleagues, 

In challenging times, it can be helpful to reflect on the great academic purpose that brings us together to serve the people of the state of California and, likewise, on the principles that guide our work. UC San Diego remains firmly dedicated to academic excellence, and as guided by the university's Strategic Plan, we are committed to building a university that welcomes all people and encourages open dialogue.  

As members of this academic community, we are safeguarded by a robust framework of policies and principles that support the rights of faculty, students and staff to explore, question and express ideas. For instance, the opening lines of APM-010 remind us of the nature and purpose of academic freedom and the accompanying responsibilities it carries:  

The principles of academic freedom protect freedom of inquiry and research, freedom of teaching, and freedom of expression and publication. These freedoms enable the University to advance knowledge and to transmit it effectively to its students and to the public. The University also seeks to foster in its students a mature independence of mind, and this purpose cannot be achieved unless students and faculty are free within the classroom to express the widest range of viewpoints in accord with the standards of scholarly inquiry and professional ethics. The exercise of academic freedom entails correlative duties of professional care when teaching, conducting research, or otherwise acting as a member of the faculty. 

Similarly, Appendix B of APM-010 explains the following regarding students’ rights and duties: 

For students to develop a mature independence of mind, they must be free in the classroom to express a wide range of viewpoints in accord with standards of scholarly inquiry and relevance to the topic at hand. No student can abridge the rights of other students when exercising their right to differ. Students should be free to take civil and reasoned exception to the data or views offered in any course of study and to reserve judgment about matters of opinion, but they are responsible for learning the content of any course of study for which they are enrolled.

Freedom to explore, research and learn, while respecting and supporting the rights of others to do likewise, is truly the cornerstone of our academic mission. 

I encourage all members of our community to review our university’s guiding documents on academic freedom and free expression, including Regents Policies, Senate Bylaws, and the Academic Personnel Manual.

The following websites contain useful resources:

So long as we work together in this spirit, our university can continue to be an academic environment where wide-ranging discoveries and diverse perspectives are protected and welcomed in our continuous pursuit of excellence. 

With much gratitude, 

Elizabeth H. Simmons 

Just a reminder that the easiest way for us to talk is to schedule time during my office hours. Click the button below to find out about ways we can chat! 

Every November, the Intertribal Resource Center leads a campus committee in recognizing the achievements and contributions of Native American people and tribes. The committee is comprised of students, faculty, and staff, all committed to increasing the Native American presence on campus, supporting Native American students and honoring our local tribal communities. 

Photographs and campus publications from UC San Diego Library's Special Collections & Archives illustrate 65 years of UC San Diego history. The Welcome to UC San Diego Exhibit is on view in Geisel Library (2nd Floor West) until December 19, 2025, during the building’s open hours. 

Thursday, November 20, 1:30 – 7:30 p.m. 
Design and Innovation Building 

UC San Diego Space Day: Forging Stronger Ties Between Universities and the Space Industry 

Join UC San Diego and top space industry leaders for an afternoon of idea exchange and collaboration, followed by a star-studded networking mixer. 

See the full agenda and Register

Friday, Nov. 21 | Opens at 4 p.m. with formal program at 5 p.m. 
Arts and Humanities Building 

Faculty and student representatives from all six departments in the school and the Institute of Arts and Humanities will be featured, highlighting a breadth of activity, including individual research and collaborative activities to broad-based community partnerships. 

The event will include both a formal program and an open-house showcase of select participants. Free event open to the entire community. Light refreshments will be served. 

Thursday, December 4,  1 - 3 p.m. 
Price Center Ballroom West 

Seventh College's annual Synthesis Program SYNposium showcases student projects completed in the Synthesis Program, including interdisciplinary and multi-medium student projects spanning across SYN 100 sections. This free event is open to all UC San Diego students, alumni, staff, and faculty. 

Advocacy efforts keep our legislators, community members, and others informed and up-to-date on UC San Diego’s initiatives, achievements, and impact. Experts from across the university actively engage in collaborative and coordinated cross-campus efforts. This is integral to the success of our outreach and engagement processes. To join the UC systemwide advocacy efforts, visit the UC Advocacy Network site. 

Stand up for UC: Your opportunity to tell the world what makes our community so special and what UC means to you. 

Speak Up for Science: Your opportunity to support funding for science.

UCOP External Relations and Communications:

All campus instructors are invited to complete a brief anonymous survey to gather a snapshot of instructional practices, the challenges instructors face, and what kinds of support would make their work easier and more effective. The deadline to complete the survey is Friday, December 12th. 

January 26 through April 5, 2026: Online 
Deadline to Apply for Sponsorship: November 21, 2025 

The acclaimed Faculty Success Program (FSP) is an intensive 10-week virtual boot camp offered by NCFDD. It combines empirically-tested methods, coaching, peer support, and online tools to help academics thrive in their careers and achieve work-life balance. 

Tuesday, December 16, 10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. | Online 

The Eighth College Student Affairs + Residence Life team is working with consultant Keith Edwards, co-author of The Curricular Approach to Student Affairs and co-chair of the ACPA Institute on the Curricular Approach.

Join a 90-minute virtual session that is open to any and all interested colleagues to learn about the Foundations of a Curricular Approach. Edwards will offer a curricular approach overview and share the 10 Essential Elements and examples of components of a curricular approach. This session will also be recorded and made available for 30 days. 

The new Ridge Walk North Living and Learning Neighborhood (RWNLLN) houses 2,400 students and features suites, study lounges, wellness spaces, a café and academic classrooms. Instructors who think the new classrooms in RWNLLN might be suitable for their upcoming classes should speak with their Department Class Scheduler and let them know they’d like to request a new RWNLLN classroom for winter quarter classes or beyond. 

View the RWNLLN GA Classroom List for classroom specifications and seat counts. 

The TTC Pepper Canyon Hall location was created primarily as a resource for administering secure accommodated testing and, secondarily, for make-up tests. However, an unanticipated and growing use of the TTC seems to be allowing students to take their tests earlier than the scheduled in-class test for reasons of convenience (e.g., travel) rather than necessity, which has reduced availability for accommodated students, especially during final exam week. Therefore, starting Fall Quarter 2025 there are two new policies: 1) unaccommodated students needing to schedule a make-up exam during finals week will have to wait until week 10 to reserve a seat (to prioritize seats for accommodated students); and 2) make-up tests (finals or otherwise) can only occur after the in-class test has already taken place. Read the full memo. 

You can work with the Computer-Based Testing Facility (CBTF) in Applied Physics and Mathematics (now with more seats) to securely administer all your tests, enabling you to implement frequent mastery-based assessments, allow for flexible testing schedules, give students second chances (i.e., retakes), and/or use class time for more instruction or review. Fall 2025 is already full but reach out to the TTC to use the CBTF in a future quarter. 

Contact TTC for questions or assistance with RegisterBlast scheduling software, PrairieLearn CBTF software, or for a physical tour of TTC locations. 

View the updated Triton Testing Center website: tritontesting.ucsd.edu. 

To prepare and share the resources and information needed for these programs, the Summer Planning team is collecting preliminary information.

Submissions received after Nov. 12 are considered late, and support for Summer 2026 may be difficult, or in some cases, not possible. Late submissions will be accepted until Wednesday, January 7, 2026. 

For questions, please email Director of Summer Planning, Rocco Fragomeni. 

The structure of the Educational Innovation (EI) unit with Academic Affairs is changing in order to address budget cuts and anticipated federal funding changes, while preserving the critical faculty, students and department-facing functions of EI.  

A new Associate Vice Chancellor for Educational Innovation (AVC-EI) will not be hired, and the EI unit will not be preserved in its current configuration. All of the personnel working under the Interim AVC-EI will transition over the next several months to other units within Academic Affairs. This change is not a result of deficiencies in the current structure of EI, but rather a way to allow us to continue this important work in a more fiscally conservative way.

More specifically:  

• The Teaching + Learning Commons will shift to reporting into the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE). The same will be true for Summer Session, Summer Planning and the team working on the Student Information System (SIS) Project, including the Triton Student System. 

• Online Learning and the Digital Learning Team will shift to reporting into the Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs (GEPA). 

For more details, please see the recent campus notice.  

The Student Employment Office and the Teaching and Learning Commons’ Experiential Learning team have partnered to ensure that all UC San Diego casual/restricted student employment positions are fully represented in the Co-Curricular Record (CCR) catalogue by the end of AY 2025-2026. Academic Affairs departments are progressing well at a 60% upload rate for their student employment positions.

Contact the project managers to check your department’s participation status: Helen Stapleton or Laszlo Folks

The new REAL Portal is now live: a one-stop platform for all Commons experiential learning (EL) opportunities. The REAL Portal includes all research, experiential and applied learning opportunities from across campus, both paid and unpaid positions. UC San Diego affiliated organizations can post opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to apply to directly in the portal. Students, faculty, and staff can search by EL opportunity type or EL program (academic internships, CCR, and campus opportunities). 

Connect with the Commons EL team at upcoming staff and faculty REAL Portal info and drop-in support sessions throughout November. 

The highly anticipated Triton Student System (TSS) will go live for students in Summer 2026. Staff will gain access earlier, starting February 2026, to prepare for student registration and Fall 2026 schedule building.  

TSS will replace the long-standing Integrated Student Information System with a modern platform designed to better support students, faculty and staff. 

Explore Key Project Information: 

For questions about the project, contact esr-student@ucsd.edu

This week is Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week at UC San Diego and includes a series of events designed to increase knowledge of resources and draw attention to the challenges of poverty with a focus on immediate needs. Please refer to the campus notice sent on Monday for more specifics on dates and times of events.  

The Hub Basic Needs Center provides Food Security Resources, Housing Resources, and Financial Wellness services to undergraduate and graduate students.

Food insecurity remains a critical issue for college students nationwide and 2024 UCUES data showed that 51% of UC San Diego undergraduate students report facing food insecurity - threatening their wellbeing and academic success! But CalFresh, a state program that awards up to $298 a month for groceries, can help! More than 50% of UC San Diego students are CalFresh eligible, and ~60% of students enrolled receive more than $200 monthly. 

You can help by joining the many instructors who are including food support information in their student-facing communications, such as class syllabi, Canvas pages and slides. Use the resource downloads on the Collective Impact website. 

• USS Interactive Guidebook: On and off-campus resources

• USS Questions & Concerns from our Students

• What to Do What to Say (in English and Spanish): Quick guide on how campus employees can respond to a warrant, subpoena or request for confidential student or staff information. 

Have a student who seems distressed? For support, you can contact Triton CORE, a Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) Program.  

HOW TO REACH THEM: 
Triton CORE is available Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. – 10 p.m.

Call UC San Diego Police Department’s (UCPD) non-emergency line at 858-534-HELP (4357) and ask to speak with Triton CORE. 

To schedule a TRITON CORE presentation for your team, email tritoncore@ucsd.edu 

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) introduces Triton Lighthouse: Immersive Care Program, a new campus-based initiative providing comprehensive support for UC San Diego students navigating mental health challenges. 

This short-term program offers individualized treatment plans with a range of services: skill-based workshops, therapy, case management, community activities, psychiatric support, and digital resources. Referrals are welcome. 

• BIPOC Support Group 
• Black Community Support Group 
• First-Generation Professionals (FGPs) 
• Mindful Pause (Mindfulness Meditation Group) 
• Neurodivergent Support Groups 
• Parent and Caregiver Support Groups 
• Tritons Flourish
• Working Parents Support Groups