Letter from the Chancellor

At the University of California San Diego, we envision the role of the university as an “intellectual port.” Throughout history, ports have been bustling centers for exchanging ideas and launching exploration, and UC San Diego takes on a similar role when it comes to solving global challenges and expanding the frontiers of our knowledge.

As you will see in this annual report, we are proud to launch new intellectual expeditions to enhance our world-class education, our global research endeavors, and our positive impact on the community. With the opening of the state-of-the-art Jacobs Medical Center and the arrival of the research vessel Sally Ride, we employ cutting-edge strategies to push the frontiers of knowledge and protect the health of people and our planet. Through our Campus Community Centers and our new Teaching + Learning Commons, we explore and implement innovative ways to cement diversity, inclusion, and collaboration at the center of the educational experience.

We see these achievements as starting blocks, not finish lines. An unparalleled track record of success in the five-and-a-half decades since our founding is a mandate for even greater achievements in the future. This mindset made us the flagship we are today, best positioned to expand the boundaries of human knowledge and capability. It demands that we break things better, as today’s complex problems require imagination and inquisitiveness, well beyond traditional thinking. This is why we have embarked on the ambitious and historic Campaign for UC San Diego, to continue our excellence and expand UC San Diego as a hub for expeditions that will redefine what we think is possible.

Thank you for joining us on our journey to make the world a better place.

With kind regards,


Pradeep K. Khosla

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From the beginning, the University of California San Diego has been a student-centered, research-focused, service-oriented public university, dedicated to providing opportunity.

But what most singularly positions us to take on today’s challenges is our willingness to mine unimaginable solutions by breaking with conventional wisdom. By doing something different.

We’re setting new educational standards. Looking inside and beyond to help solve social problems. And, of course, harnessing inter-disciplinary collaboration to realize innovation that will affect everything from the environment to medicine.

Today, we’re perched on the cusp of revolutionary breakthroughs. Discoveries; technologies; cures; and inclusive, opportunity-fueling solutions that will help educate tomorrow’s innovators and address our most pressing challenges.

We often say that our most cherished tradition is challenging tradition.

In other words, while older universities may tout an adherence to historical practices, we prefer not being too bound to the past. Because overcoming today’s unique issues requires visionary solutions. It requires asking bold questions, taking risks, and taking things apart to find out what makes them tick.

The stories within these pages showcase just some of the ways in which we’re championing unparalleled changes. So we invite you to read on. Get inspired. Get involved. Become part of our next-generation band of risk-takers, innovators, and modern-day solution-makers.

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Mission-Critical Gifts

Private support soars

As a public university, we are in partnership with the community. When we architect solutions, it is not for but with our local, national, and global constituents.

Under ideal circumstances, private support is fundamental to a public university. Today, as state and federal funding dwindle, private support from individuals, corporations, and foundations is absolutely essential.

The good news? In 2015–16, our donors, again, rose to the challenge.

Defined by their extraordinary sense of both altruism and vision, UC San Diego donors gave nearly 46,000 gifts totaling $212.9 million to help ensure our campus’s position as an academic and research powerhouse. To help fund advances that will positively impact our physical environment and humanity.

The campus, which is continuously ranked one of the world’s top-15 universities, received a 20 percent increase in private support over 2014–15. To achieve the type of transformative innovation we are on the brink of making—now more than ever—these gifts are mission critical.