Last year at this time I would have envisioned a much different holiday message for 2021. I had hoped the COVID-19 pandemic would be a waning concern by now. And for many of us, despite masking and monitoring, it may be.
This fall, the campus reopened its doors to 40,000 students. Blum welcomed a brand-new cohort from around the world for its inaugural Master of Development Engineering program. The Center opened the Health Tech Co-Lab, first campus makerspace dedicated to health innovation. In September, as every year, Big Ideas crowned a Grand Prize winner, the Blackbook team.
Yet for the populations we aim to serve, normalcy is a far cry off. Worldwide, COVID-19 deaths total 5.3 million (as if most of the Bay Area just vanished). Estimates say that one in every four COVID deaths leaves behind one bereaved child, more vulnerable to poverty and its ills.
We will need these new master’s students, our GPP grads, our Big Idea makers, our Co-Lab inventors – with all their creative visions and solutions – to become inspired and equipped to harness technology to address global challenges.
Building resilience, through sustainability and innovation, to see more of us through – this is what the Blum Center is all about. I am proud to have led this effort as the Center’s director since 2007. Earlier this month, I announced that I will be stepping down as director at the end of this academic year. Starting in July, I will continue my involvement with the Blum Center as Co-chair of the Board of Trustees.
In this, my last holiday letter as director, I extend tremendous gratitude to the many students, faculty, staff, trustees, benefactors, and partner organizations I have had the great pleasure of teaching and working with over the years, who share a passion for a more just and equitable world.
Best wishes to you all for a safe and peaceful holiday season -
Fiat Lux,
S. Shankar Sastry, Faculty Director
The Blum Center for Developing Economies
University of California, Berkeley
