Media Contact:  Michael Dabney, (858) 342-9986 (cell), or Thomas Gilkison (760) 250-5968 (cell)

UCSD CHANCELLOR TO ADDRESS IMPERIAL VALLEY 
EDUCATORS, STUDENTS AND COMMUNITY GROUPS MAY 9

Editors:  Please note updated schedule of events.

Robert C. Dynes, Chancellor of the University of California, San Diego, will speak to Imperial Valley educators, students and community groups in a series of events Thursday, May 9 to further acquaint the community with UCSD and its outreach initiatives and partnerships designed to enhance the college-going rates of area students.

Dynes’ visit to Imperial County is the fifth in series of regional visits he is making in the UCSD community to inform and update groups and residents on matters pertaining to the university and their region.

Joined by other UCSD officials, Dynes will meet and address community members at four individual events May 9:

•  At a UCSD-sponsored Community Breakfast at the Barbara Worth Resort, 2050 Country Club Drive, Holtville, Dynes will address an estimated 75 area business and civic leaders, educators, students, and UCSD alumni currently living in Imperial Valley.  The breakfast will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., with Dynes speaking on the importance of educating and preparing gifted students from the area for their roles as future leaders of the region.

Also at the breakfast, Joseph Watson, UCSD vice chancellor, Student Affairs, will provide further updates on UCSD academic outreach efforts, and Eduardo Macagno, dean, UCSD Division of Biological Sciences, will speak on the importance of science academic and career preparation. Other guest speakers include: UCSD student Vanessa Garcia of El Centro; Ethriam Brammer, a 1994 UCSD alumnus and El Centro resident who is currently a teacher at Central Union High School, and Refugio Gonzalez, county director of the University of California-Imperial County Cooperative Extension, who will discuss University of California programs that enhance Imperial County’s agricultural economy and students’ pursuit of agricultural degrees.

• Later, at the College Going Initiative Educator’s Conference, held also at the Barbara Worth Resort, Dynes will deliver the conference’s keynote address at 1 p.m. before an estimated 350 attendees. The conference, which will explore ways to enhance college admission rates of Imperial County students, is sponsored  jointly by the UCSD Early Academic Outreach Program’s Imperial Valley office with the University of California Office of the President, and the Imperial County Office of Education. 

Other UCSD officials speaking at the event include: Joseph Watson, vice chancellor, Student Affairs; Mae Brown, director, UCSD Admissions; Rafael Hernandez, director, Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP); Thomas Gilkison, director, EAOP Imperial Valley office, and Jaime Velasco, Admissions officer. 

Another highlight of the conference will be the signing at 10 a.m. of the UniversityLink partnership agreement between UCSD, the Imperial County    Office of Education, and the Imperial Valley Community College District.

UniversityLink is intended to increase the transfer rates of educationally and socially disadvantaged students from high school to community colleges, and then to UCSD.

The agreement includes these Imperial County high schools: Brawley  Union, Calexico, Calipatria, Central Union, Southwest, Holtville, Imperial and San Pasqual.

• At 10:50 a.m. Dynes will address the 400-member student body of Holtville Middle School, 800 Beale Ave., Holtville, on the importance of preparing early for college.  

He will then visit sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade science classes at Holtville Middle school to view science projects.

• At 1:50 p.m., in a “Private Conversation with the Chancellor,” students in Brawley Union High School’s Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP) Club will meet with Dynes at Brawley High, 480 N. Imperial Avenue, Brawley, to discuss college plans, and to receive advice from him on how best to prepare.

Also at the school, Eduardo Macagno, dean, UCSD Division of Biological       Sciences, will unveil a new UCSD online science education tool known as “Science Matters” that students and teachers throughout San Diego and Imperial counties can  access to obtain the latest in science information, from human genetics to plant  biology.

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Note:  Media are invited to cover any of these events.