April 2, 2007

UC President Dynes visits Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties

UC President Robert C. Dynes visited Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties March 22 and 23 as part of a series of tours around the state.

UC President Dynes met with Watsonville High students on his trip to the Central Coast. Photo: Scott Trugman

Dynes’s first stop was at Watsonville High School, where he met with local education, industry, and alumni leaders and joined students and parents involved in UC academic preparation programs.

Watsonville High is one of 17 partnership high schools with the Educational Partnership Center, which coordinates academic preparation efforts on behalf of the UCSC campus. (See related Currents article)

Dynes joined a roundtable discussion in Watsonville about the UCSC undergraduate health sciences major internship program, which requires that students be fluent in Spanish.

Later on March 22, Dynes met with Michael Houlemard Jr., executive director of the Fort Ord Reuse Authority, and selected board members, and toured the former Fort Ord, including UCSC’s Monterey Bay Education, Science, and Technology (MBEST) Center in Marina. Dynes also met with Naval Postgraduate School Provost and Acting President Leonard Ferrari and toured the Monterey facility.

UC involvement in agriculture and food safety was the focus of visits March 23 to Capurro Farms and the Golden State Bulb Growers in Moss Landing, and the UC Davis Strawberry Research Center in Watsonville.