University of California, Irvine
PAE-2: Strategic Plan

UC Irvine has identified Smart Energy and Sustainable Environment as priorities and states: “The University’s efforts in Smart Energy and the Sustainable Environment will produce cost-effective solutions to energy and environmental crises. Through cutting edge research and by collaborating with community partners, UC Irvine's interdisciplinary approach to Smart Energy and Sustainable Environment will accelerate the transfer of knowledge and drive research breakthroughs.”

Goals include:
• Innovative research: help determine causes, interventions and solutions to environmental and energy issues
• Interdisciplinary collaboration: bring together scientists from across the campus to work on projects in the areas of global change, energy and sustainable resources
• Civic and community engagement: increase professional and public awareness, and understanding of environmental and energy issues

UC Irvine is shaping future leaders for the new global community. “UC Irvine sees a great opportunity to fundamentally change the world for the better – with an interconnected global community where people are motivated by a common good. The University creates ‘Global Connections’ and is determined to pursue such a path based on inherent strengths in a multitude of academic disciplines that embrace our global society. UC Irvine is already highly recognized in the humanities, the arts, social sciences and business in many aspects of the global environment. This campus initiative is engaging the campus stakeholders to shape and support goals set out by the many participating campus units.”

Among other things, the Global Connections initiative highlights the work of the Center for Unconventional Security Affairs, which focuses the power of a major research university to address worldwide challenges from multiple aspects – political, economic, cultural, environmental, biological and medical. Other areas addressed:

• UC Irvine’s Extension boasts an extraordinarily broad set of global program Student exchange programs, from English teacher training to specialized occupational studies such as biomedicine. The program currently serves more than 3,000 international students from over 30 different countries.
• World institutes at UC Irvine number more than 20. The institutes examine Asian, Jewish, Latino, and Persian cultures and languages. They improve the interactions of countries and cultures by exploring global peace and conflicts, immigration, international law, democracy, and ethics and morality. They study and predict global trends in population, social change, and security. They look at the world with a view to build a new generation of young leaders, fully prepared for success in the global community with a full appreciation of the many facets of the peoples of the world.
• Faculty, students and community volunteers have used the resources of our campus to connect with the world through 25 unique projects. The projects sometimes are completely staffed by volunteers. Others are formal parts of the university’s curriculum, giving students the opportunity to put their education into practice in some of the most desperate parts of the world. The Africa Project, for example, is an Irvine-based all-volunteer project that supports children in one poverty and AIDS-stricken community, Nkandla in South Africa. We may not solve all the world’s problems, but we can make the world better one community at a time. This program and more than a score more, are helping UC Irvine students improve the health, the environment, and the economy for people throughout the world. They are offering a realistic hope for the future.

“Scholarships support students so they may attend UC Irvine and be our next generation of businessmen/women, engineers, artists, entrepreneurs, writers, nurses, biologists, teachers and leaders. Our scholarships help make a university education possible for UC Irvine's need-based students as well as rewarding and fostering our students who exhibit academic or creative excellence.”

“Fellowships support research done at UC Irvine and join the fight against cancer or Alzheimer's, foster groundbreaking stem cell research, help explore clean energy breakthroughs, or conquer social issues and economic pitfalls. Fellowships foster the education of scientists, academics, doctors, lawyers, executives and researchers by supporting research opportunities.”

UC Irvine’s “Shaping the Future” comprehensive fundraising campaign, begun during the 2005-2006 academic year, is strategically linked to the campus’ blueprint for achieving the long-range goals encompassed by its tripartite mission of teaching, research, and public service. The campaign represents the thinking of campus leadership, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, and the business community, and seeks to leverage UC Irvine’s strengths to shape the future of issues that ultimately affect everyone on the planet. Broadly, the campaign focuses on five key areas: (1) health and health care, (2) learning and the mind, (3) energy and the environment, (4) global connections, and (5) students, with an emphasis on access and affordability.