2016-2017 Annual Report

Dean's Message / The 2016-17 Trifecta

I can’t prove it, but this past year may have been the first time in CED’s history that all three of our professional graduate programs were ranked the No. 1 public university programs in the country. Moreover, all three programs were among the top six programs, private as well as public. In this select group are Harvard, MIT, and other private universities whose wealth far outstrips that of UC Berkeley.

Rankings are fickle things. They can fluctuate from year to year. But this past year’s ranking “trifecta” indicates that the College of Environmental Design’s flagship professional programs are thriving and their quality is widely recognized: our undergraduates are highly sought after by other top graduate programs, and our doctoral graduates are landing positions at prestigious universities, think tanks, private firms, NGOs, and government agencies.

All CED alumni, as well as our faculty, staff, and students, can be rightfully proud. Educational excellence is a collaborative project that takes extraordinaryteachers and dedicated staff, as well as students who are energetic and creative and who constantly push the boundaries of their chosen fields. Leadership matters too, and our talented department chairs, associate deans, and assistant deans are essential to moving everyone forward together.

Maintaining not only our rankings but our academic prestige, while ensuring that students of modest means can obtain a CED education, is my major task as dean. As state funds grow scarcer, we look to a wide variety of resources — particularly philanthropy and alumni contributions — to ensure that we can adequately support our students and offer an intellectually exciting, high caliber education. This past year’s trifecta is thus also a testament to the generous support of the College of Environmental Design by our alumni and friends, for which our entire community is deeply grateful.

Fiat Lux!

Jennifer Wolch, William W. Wurster Dean,
Professor of City & Regional Planning