<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">Dear Colleagues:</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">In some places, fall means cooler
weather. But at UCR, this is when things heat up.</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">As many of you saw in <a href="https://youtu.be/J8p0okA6HnY?si=Q7W5KN82MtSrGJL2" style=""><b><i>Hot Scots</i>,
our student welcome video</b></a>, I recently joined UCR student Brooke
Jamieson to eat increasingly hot chicken wings while having a conversation
about some of the things we want every Highlander to know: stay open to
learning in new ways, find your community, experience all that UCR has to
offer, and ask for help when you need it.</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">With classes beginning tomorrow, you
can feel that energy on campus. And we begin the year with new reasons to
celebrate.</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><b><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">What’s new for Fall 2026</font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">Yesterday, <a href="https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2026/09/22/uc-riverside-again-no-1-us-social-mobility" style=""><b>U.S.
News & World Report released its 2027 college rankings</b></a>, naming UCR
the No. 37 public university and, for the sixth time in eight years, the No. 1
university in the nation for social mobility.</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">Last year, when UC President James
B. Milliken spoke at my inauguration, he noted that if a sports team were
champion five of seven years, we would call it a dynasty. Now we can update the
record: six of eight.</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">Student success remains one of our
most important challenges. We must keep looking for ways to help more students
thrive at UCR and graduate.</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">That work takes many forms,
including creating spaces that support how students learn. </font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">This fall, our new <a href="https://insideucr.ucr.edu/index%2ephp/stories/2026/08/31/new-instructional-building-gears-opening" style=""><b>Undergraduate
Teaching and Learning Facility opens its doors</b></a>, adding much-needed
classroom and studio space. On <b>October 13, from 10-11 a.m., we will
celebrate this major addition to campus with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.</b> We
invite you to attend. <a href="https://us.list-manage.com/jMj9OIuMHRQ?e=0b391ccb07&c2id=ba242e8bad88e6738bde7b22dd9140f6&m=YV9gJfRURJoZmEGO0LFCOsB4lExFehz-HWL07KgWomQS0lLlcmbIrDi_9UQ=" style=""><b>Please
RSVP by October 6</b></a>.</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><b><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">AI Conference</font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">Over the last few months, the
stakes around artificial intelligence have become harder to ignore. Leaders and
former employees of major AI companies called for slowing development of the
most advanced models. The debate over how, or whether, to put guardrails around
AI has grown more urgent.</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">While the technology industry
wrestles with breaches, successes, and disagreements about regulation, one
thing is clear: we must keep elevating conversations about AI on our own
campus.<br>
<br>
</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">On Thursday, October 15, the
RAISE@UCR Institute and UCR AI Council will host a day-long summit exploring
the future of artificial intelligence in academia. Researchers, industry
leaders, staff, and students will examine UCR’s AI in teaching and learning,
research and discovery, emerging challenges, and opportunities for
cross-disciplinary work. </font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">Few technologies will raise more
consequential questions for universities in the years ahead. Want to attend? <b>Register
</b><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSePavwyhNB3shfVCurlyUEcpYFz81Bg65ONHDYFHeNPLmkgfw/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=102819682601804997744" style=""><b>here</b></a>.<span style="background:yellow"></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><b><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">Research Spotlight: Mikeal
Roose, Lifetime Achievement Award</font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">Mikeal Roose, professor emeritus
of genetics, recently received an inaugural <b>UC Regents Distinguished
Lifetime Achievement Award</b> for innovations with lasting impact. Over more
than four decades at UCR, Roose has used plant genetics to improve citrus and
other crops. </font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">His best-known achievement is the
virtually seedless Tango mandarin, developed with longtime UCR citrus breeder
Timothy Williams. Roose’s career includes 11 plant patents and plant-variety
protections spanning mandarins and asparagus.</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">Roose’s work carries forward a
tradition that began with UCR’s roots as the Citrus Experiment Station, turning
foundational agricultural research into innovations with modern, global,
economic impact.</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">Tango changed the citrus industry.
It now accounts for nearly one-third of California’s mandarin acreage, is grown
in more than 20 countries, and is marketed in more than 50. The variety has
generated more than $70 million for UCR and helped turn mandarins from a specialty
fruit into a grocery-store staple. </font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">In the application for the award,
Ana Cano, CEO of Eurosemillas, S.A., which holds the commercialization and
management rights for the fruit, noted that “by utilizing breeding techniques
to produce seedless varieties, (Roose) ended the agricultural battles between
citrus growers and beekeepers. This has had a significant impact on the citrus
industry, demonstrating that his innovations offer as much societal value as
they do economic profit.”</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">Congratulations and thank you to
Professor Roose for his valuable contributions to UCR, California, and the
world.</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000"><b style="">As we begin this new academic
year</b>, we have much to celebrate and many exciting opportunities ahead.
Thank you for all of the work you are doing to make UCR special and the new
academic year a success. I look forward to the continued progress we will make
together.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000"><br></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">Sincerely,</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">S. Jack Hu, Ph.D. </font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" color="#000000">Chancellor</font></p></div></div>