Dr. Grauer's Column - Insights from UCSD Chancellor Khosla’s Forum

UCSD Chancellor Pradeep Khosla’s Talk at the CEO Forum
Harvard Business School’s Monthly Meeting, San Diego
By Stuart Grauer

On September 12, 2024, I attended UCSD Chancellor Pradeep Khosla’s presentation to the Harvard Business School Club of San Diego. Grauer School alumni father Edward Hughes has been the president of the Harvard Business School Club of San Diego since 2008, and he ably moderated the event.

I tuned in this month because I could not imagine any educational leadership challenge more distinct from The Grauer School, a campus with a cap of up to 200 combined teachers and students, compared to a sprawling research-driven institute with the goal of fast growth. After all these years studying small school organizations, finance, and governance, this was, for me, a quick master class and eye-opener about leading a very large organization.

The Grauer School has regularly placed students in UC schools. I have personally enjoyed meandering around the UCSD campus for many years, appreciating the open space, the tree groves, the public art, and people watching. I’ve enjoyed teaching education classes there in the past.

These days, however, the size, scope, and constant construction can be dizzying—their building programs are ambitious. I wanted to hear what Chancellor Khosla had to say about where UCSD is heading. After all these years developing and managing a six-acre campus, I was excited to learn about the real situations Khosla faces on a campus of 1,976 acres!

Here are my reflections:
Chancellor Pradeep Khosla, the eighth chancellor of UCSD, began by sharing his view of some of the university's most impressive achievements during his tenure. Much of Khosla’s plan rests on growth. He emphasized that the university needs to grow in a manageable way to sustain its progress. He understandably expressed concerns about accommodating the growing student population while maintaining the quality of education. A key element of his vision is ensuring that UCSD remains student-centered, research-focused, and service-oriented, continuing as a prominent public university. Can a university remain student-centered with 47,000 students? To me, this means each student must find a major, clubs, and activities that help them "find their people." I know that certain high school grads are ready for this, while others benefit from a smaller campus where they can find themselves.

While it’s impressive that UCSD has grown in both size and revenue, he seemed to assume that increasing access directly correlates with increased social mobility. However, bigger campuses often struggle to provide personalized support, financial aid, mentoring, and the sense of belonging that first-generation or low-income students need to thrive. I wanted to explore this more.

Social mobility is a critical issue in education today. It comes from a combination of access, quality resources, and opportunities for personal and academic growth—things that may not scale effectively with sheer numbers. Smaller, more intentional programs might have a greater impact on upward mobility than simply increasing student enrollment without addressing these deeper needs. Adding more students does not inherently lead to more mobility if the infrastructure supporting students isn’t strengthened.

At the same time, I understand that access to UCSD is a lifetime achievement for many students. I had a few key questions in mind:

1. Inclusion as Key to Mobility: Is simply increasing student numbers enough to ensure students feel connected and supported?
2. Resources: Will there be sufficient places for students to live on campus?
3. Larger Class Sizes: Will larger class sizes impact social mobility, and will there be enough resources for students needing academic support? (Khosla was about to address this through AI.)
4. Community Impact: How does adding 7,000 new students affect their sense of belonging?

Khosla is rightly proud of the university’s huge role in the local bio and tech industries, attributing UCSD’s research and development to San Diego’s rise as a major hub in these fields. (UCSD is the largest civilian employer in San Diego.) He discussed the new science research park and the ongoing development of UCSD’s reputation in the medical field, specifically noting the potential to position the Moores Cancer Center as a top destination. Importantly, he covered UCSD’s strategic plan, which has led to $3 billion in fundraising and positioned the university as a leader in areas like life sciences, engineering, and medicine.

Growth and Strategic Vision: 
Chancellor Khosla discussed UCSD’s strategic goals. I found this especially fascinating, given that The Grauer School’s board is developing our own strategic plan this year. Grauer’s last strategic plan made us a leader in small schools education, grew our endowment funding (now approaching four million dollars), and completed our campus. We also implemented social emotional learning-based surveys, which showed that we reached the 99th percentile nationally in key areas like engagement and belonging. Our last strategic plan put us on the map. Would a large university’s strategic plan have commonalities?

The Chancellor stressed that their focus on excellence in engineering, art, music, and medicine—despite not having law or architectural schools—allowed them to compete globally with top institutions.

One burning question for me: How can a public institution, which charges one-third the price of the “Ivies,” compete with them? The Chancellor’s solution: make class sizes three times as large as those of the competition to stretch the budget.

Artificial Intelligence (AI): 
Chancellor Khosla also discussed integrating AI into education. He highlighted that UCSD is advancing AI integration in both teaching and management, which could eventually allow one professor to teach an unlimited number of students through AI-generated projections. “We’re 80% there,” he said. What a concept: AI teachers! I wondered how Grauer students would respond. I’d love to try a class like that, as an optional experiment, of course.

Khosla clarified that physical classroom interactions would remain irreplaceable, indicating a mixed vision for the role of AI in education. He seemed to suggest that AI-generated teachers could provide more students with the experience of interacting with a teacher. This concept amazed me, as I had no prior experience tackling a problem like this.

Social Enterprise and Community Engagement: 
Khosla shared UCSD’s inspiring efforts to contribute to the broader community, particularly through initiatives like Park and Market, which aims to bring UCSD resources to underserved communities. (If you haven’t been to this downtown venue for music and performance, I recommend it! I’ve seen some great folk music there.) He also mentioned the revival of the Craft Center, a creative space designed to promote mental health and stress relief through hands-on activities like ceramics, woodworking, and culinary arts.

I know the UCSD Extended Studies programs and events do great work fostering social change and engaging the community.

I wondered if these efforts align with the university's goal of fostering holistic student experiences: How do these ancillary programs serve their 47,000 students? I wanted to know more about the inclusivity, belonging, and sense of safety on campus, especially for UCSD undergraduates.

Most importantly for me, I’ve noticed that Grauer students seem happy at UCSD, and I’d love to learn more about their well-being. I will recommend that our alumni office include this in their next alumni survey. I believe that much of UC San Diego’s wellness ratings reflect their admissions program. And I also believe that the proliferation and refinement of wellness surveys represent the most important future direction for both secondary and tertiary education.

Tracking student well-being is crucial at universities. Happiness, mental health, and intrinsic motivation are critical components of student success. I’d love to attend the next UCSD Chancellor discussion to delve into that. Chancellor Khosla is understandably proud of his $9 billion endowment and the science park under construction, but I’m equally interested in how students feel about their interactions and the campus's growth.

Just as Grauer students cannot expect professors engaged in international research, bioengineering, neuroscience, and a vast network of internships, many UCSD students cannot expect the close mentoring from their teachers or the depth of on-campus counseling and nurturing we provide. I suppose the latter leads to the former.

At Grauer, connection is a way of life, impacting student and teacher well-being daily. It is central to the strategy of a committed university and its leadership. Connection boils down to how students and teachers interact with one another on campus. I hypothesize that this has prepared many of our students to build positive social connections when they move on to large universities.

Reflection:
To me, it all works. The launch we give our students prepares them for these next steps.
Chancellor Khosla’s talk primarily focused on quantifiable achievements—revenue growth, student population increases, research advancements, and community engagement. While student well-being is undoubtedly important, I understand that institutional success is often measured by metrics like funding, rankings, research output, financial growth, graduation rates, and infrastructure development at top universities in our nation. Given the breadth of topics covered in the forum—AI, community engagement, infrastructure development, and academic achievements—student well-being, while important, didn’t fit the focus of this business forum.

I don’t know how to run a large university, and I’m in awe of how Chancellor Khosla can harness the forces of one of the world’s great post-secondary institutions. I’m using my experience at this recent forum to contrast the goals and needs of a small high school, as I’ve seen and known them for a long time.

As a preparatory institution, The Grauer School is doing an excellent job encouraging students truly prepared for a large, research-based university to apply. The students we send to UCSD are typically very focused when they arrive, often already knowing their majors. This helps them find their niche and their people on such a sprawling campus. A conversation this week with a Grauer alumnus who transferred to UCSD from community college confirmed this belief. UCSD’s strategy is making it a global science and technology powerhouse. It’s not for everyone, but it is an amazing local resource.

When asked about his legacy after 12 years, Khosla emphasized his desire to leave UCSD more sustainable and better positioned for long-term success. I couldn’t agree more: sustainability, endowment funding, low debt, community goodwill, and rock-solid core values are everything in succession planning. In the end, I realized that Khosla and I are both focused on long-range succession. And though his responsibility appears to dwarf my own, I left his presentation not believing it does. I could see how he was a lot like me. We have both spent years deep in our causes, searching for a community to serve, however opposite their scales. I have found direct experience—stories of students, teachers and families changing before my eyes, and immediate access to those lives—the pain, fears, and aspirations, people lost and finding their way all are right at my doorstep in a way no large organizational leader could have. I haven’t had the administrative buffers or gatekeeping—or the vast endowments (unless you count them per capita)—that large university presidents have; but a creative and kindhearted community has completely enveloped me and has enriched my life.

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