Seven UCSC resource centers collaborated to produce an event on Wednesday promoting just that--collaboration.
The "Building a Culture of Collaboration" resource centers cluster fair featured speakers including Chancellor George Blumenthal and Paul Ortiz, associate professor of community studies; skits; roundtable discussions; and workshops.
The aim of the event was to increase collaboration between the resource centers and the campus as a way to support the university's intersecting student populations. It was also meant to increase the centers' visibility.
"Collaboration is a key part of UC Santa Cruz," said Blumenthal in his remarks to the event participants. "Much of the work we do here is collaborative in one form or another."
The campus cares about issues of diversity and inclusiveness and wants to improve in those areas, said Blumenthal. To that end, he said he planned to establish a Chancellor's Council on Diversity, representing faculty, staff, students, and others.
Diversity on campus is more than just a moral obligation, said keynote speaker Ortiz.
"Supporting diversity in a research university is important not because it's the right thing to do," said Ortiz, "but because it's the only way we can fulfill our charter to serve the people of California."
The resource centers that organized the event were the African American Resource and Cultural Center, the American Indian Resource Center, the Asian American/Pacific Islander Resource Center, the Chicano/Latino Resource Center, the Cultural Arts & Diversity Center, the Lionel Cantú Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex Resource Center, and the Women's Center.
