“I want to surround myself with like-minded people who are going to challenge me,” explained Eden Markel as she transferred her belongings from her parent’s car to a cart during move-in day. One of UC San Diego’s newest students, she joins over 9,000 first-year and transfer students who arrived on campus this September.
“I chose UC San Diego because it is a globally prestigious institution. The professors who teach here, the students who go here, it’s a different caliber of education.”
Approximately 39,000 new and continuing students began the fall quarter on Sept. 26. More than 6,000 new first-year students and 3,000 transfer students enrolled; among the cohort, 34% are first in their family to attend a four-year university and 37% come from a low-income household. The campus continues to attract diverse students, welcoming 2.5% more underrepresented minority students than the previous year. Incoming first-year students bring an overall average GPA of 4.08 with a middle-fifty percent SAT score range of 1250 to 1470. Additionally, the average GPA for new transfers this year is 3.54.
“This fall we are pleased to welcome UC San Diego’s new and returning students,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “The campus is evolving in exciting ways to provide a dynamic student experience, from the construction of new multidisciplinary learning spaces to novel areas of study that address critical issues in our world and a greater diversity in healthy dining options.”
All students will have the chance to explore over a dozen new majors and minors that are being launched throughout the academic year. The new offerings include degrees in anthropology with a concentration in climate change and human solutions; human development sciences with a focus on healthy aging; and Latin American studies with a concentration in migration and border studies. Additionally, several minors are debuting, including political data/data analytics as well as climate change studies.
The campus celebrates a culinary renaissance
A new neighborhood eatery on campus, Soda & Swine has opened on campus located on the promenade punctuated by vintage lamp posts, Victorian steampunk-inspired décor and alluring outdoor fireplaces. The newly renovated space—formerly Porter’s Pub—is managed by University Centers in partnership with UC San Diego alumnus Arsalun Tafazoli, ’06, founder of Consortium Holdings.
Also coming to Price Center is Dirty Birds Bar and Grill in the space formerly occupied by Round Table Pizza. An outdoor patio with fire pits will unveil this fall, with plans to launch the restaurant by the end of the year. Each new restaurant is chosen by the University Centers Advisory Board, the majority of which comprises undergraduate and graduate students from across campus.
A new movement to offer healthier and more sustainable food options at campus restaurants and markets is underway. UC San Diego’s Housing, Dining and Hospitality is launching “Rooted in Flavor,” inspired by “Menus of Change,” an initiative from The Culinary Institute of America and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The transformation includes vegetarian options at all stations, more whole grain and plant-forward menu items, reduced beef entrees and greater emphasis on in-season fish. New menu items will be featured across all restaurants, including Canyon Vista, which will reopen this fall in Warren College. All restaurants will offer new innovative dishes, from vegetarian tacos to whole wheat pizza dough and fish-based pad thai.
Modern learning spaces ignite collaboration
The arrival of the UC San Diego Blue Line trolley will connect the campus to downtown and South San Diego, big changes are happening. Then on Oct. 24, the university will break ground on the Design and Innovation Building, a 74,000-square-foot multipurpose space, expected to be finished in summer of 2021. The building is intended to unite students and scholars in engineering, visual arts, and cognitive science. The collaboration between these disciplines will be deepened with additional spaces for the Office of Innovation and Commercialization and the Alumni Association.The facility will be located adjacent to the new trolley station and feature flexible spaces that can be configured to meet, collaborate and design.
In November, another synergistic space will begin to take shape in the Jacobs School of Engineering. Franklin Antonio Hall, a 200,000-square-foot building to be completed in 2021, will feature laboratories, classrooms, faculty offices, meeting spaces, an auditorium and café. It will be a hub for innovation across diverse fields of research, working together to advance critical health, energy, autonomy and security challenges facing society.
With the various construction projects underway, the campus has launched a “watch where you walk campaign” to help pedestrians navigate around impacted areas on campus. The campaign is one of several initiatives Transportation Services is rolling out this fall to help pedestrians, cyclists and e-scooter riders get around safely.
App connects open study spaces, ID cards, food
The UC San Diego app includes real-time foot traffic monitoring at concentrated locations across campus. The application feature is supported by Occuspace, which was founded by UC San Diego alumnus Nic Halverson.
The campus app also features space to digitally store student IDs and in addition, students who may be food insecure can be alerted when food from campus events is left over that might otherwise have gone to waste, made possible through a partnership between IT Services, UC San Diego Catering and the Basic Needs Initiative.
Also, a new grocery shuttle will begin running every Saturday between noon and 8 p.m. with four stops near the Balboa/Convoy area, also supported by the campus’s Basic Needs Initiative. The grocery shuttles serve undergraduate and graduate students; a UC San Diego student ID is all that is needed to board. This service, which will begin Oct. 5 from Mandeville Loop, is made possible through a partnership between the Basic Needs Initiative, Transportation Services, and Housing, Dining and Hospitality.
