October 2005

Dear Friends:

Welcome to the new academic year. I hope your summer was a refreshing one and that you are as excited as I am to begin tackling the challenges of a new year.

One of the things we will be pursuing throughout the University this year is a long-range planning process to envision and prepare for UC’s future. From its earliest days as a land-grant institution, UC has made a rich contribution to the economy, health, and quality of life of California. Today, as we emerge from the budget cuts of the last four years, we have an important opportunity to look to the longer term. In an ever-changing global economy, how can UC preserve and enhance its contribution to California? More specifically, what will the University of California need to look like to serve the needs of the people of California 20 years from now, in 2025?

To help think through these questions, I have asked a team of representatives from across the University to consider what challenges the next 20 years may pose for California and to discuss ways in which UC may begin preparing itself to address those challenges. Rather than produce a detailed academic or business plan, the team will give me input on what broad issues and overarching strategies we need to be thinking about today in order to position UC to make its maximum contribution to California and the world in the year 2025.

For this vital process, I also need your ideas and suggestions. There will be a number of ways for you to share your comments in the coming months – through webchats, campus and regional visits, email submissions, and a variety of other mechanisms. To help kick off this effort, we have launched a new UC 2025 web site at www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/uc2025/. I hope you will take a moment to visit it and become part of the long-range planning effort. And, as always, feel free to email me your comments on any matter at the University by visiting www.universityofcalifornia.edu/president/desk.html.

Sincerely,

 Robert C. Dynes
 President

UC Merced opens

With a stirring tribute to its 137-year history and a message of hope for the future, the University of California on Labor Day officially opened its first new campus in 40 years – UC Merced – and welcomed the campus’ inaugural class of nearly 1,000 students.  More than 4,500 people gathered at the UC Merced campus for the historic event.

UC Merced becomes the 10th campus in the UC system, the first UC campus in the fast-growing San Joaquin Valley, and the first American research university campus to be built in the 21st century. Details here.

UC achievements making news

• UC Riverside alumnus Richard R. Schrock won the 2005 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Schrock, who holds an undergraduate degree in chemistry from UCR, won the Nobel for the development of a chemical reaction now used daily in the chemical industry for the efficient and more environmentally friendly production of pharmaceuticals, fuels, synthetic fibers and other products. Details: www.newsroom.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/display.cgi?id=1173. In addition, UC Berkeley alumnus Thomas C. Schelling was awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize in economics for his work extending game theory to politics and business. Details: http://nobelprize.org/economics/laureates/2005/press.html

• The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has named 25 new MacArthur Fellows for 2005, four of whom are affiliated with the University of California. The MacArthur Foundation "genius" awardees are selected for their creativity, originality, and potential. Three awardees — Lu Chen, Michael Manga and Nicole King — are members of the UC Berkeley faculty and one — Emily Thompson — is a faculty member at UC San Diego. Details: www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/09/20_award.shtml and http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/arts/Thompson_MacArthur.asp

UC contributions to hurricane relief

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the UC campuses, medical centers, and national laboratories have worked to identify all possible means of assisting victims of the disaster and contributing to the Gulf Coast’s recovery.

UC campuses made more than 500 offers of accommodation to students displaced by the hurricane, and more than 280 of these students have enrolled on a temporary basis at UC campuses this fall. All five of the UC medical centers registered to supply personnel, supplies, equipment for the recovery effort. And the UC system has made a wide variety of other contributions, ranging from UC Davis’ telemedicine support for patients in the disaster region to the efforts of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory employees who have gone to New Orleans to help set up emergency communications and wireless networks.

A summary of UC resources and contributions to hurricane recovery is available at www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/katrina-relief/.

Faculty diversity task force begins work

The University of California President's Task Force on Faculty Diversity has formally launched its program review of faculty diversity efforts at each UC campus. The task force met Sept. 16 at the Office of the President in Oakland to begin its review.

To assess the status of faculty diversity, UC President Robert C. Dynes appointed an 11-member systemwide task force, chaired by UCLA Associate Vice Chancellor Rosina Becerra, to review faculty diversity. The task force review will include an in-depth analysis of faculty demographic data, campus visits, and an examination of existing reports and studies of gender equity and faculty diversity at the University of California and peer institutions.
 
A Web site on the history and progress of the task force can be found at www.universityofcalifornia.edu/facultydiversity.

Compensation issues

Thanks to the compact and a revived state budget, the University this year is able to resume a normal program of salary increases for faculty and staff this fall. This year’s salary increases will not make up for all of the sacrifices faculty and staff have made over the last several years, but they are intended to stop the erosion in UC’s competitive stance and begin moving back toward a market-competitive position.

Health costs continue to rise for all employers, and the University’s 2006 health plan rates – which employees will see as part of the November open enrollment period – do include some increases in premiums for UC employees. However, the University has increased its contribution to employee health care coverage this year in order to minimize the financial impact on employees, and the University has continued an income-indexed approach that allows those who earn less to also pay less for their health care. Overall, UC’s negotiations with the health plans this year produced an outcome for UC employees that is favorable given the market situation. (Health care costs for employees in clerical, nurse, and research support and technical bargaining units will be subject to negotiations currently underway). More details will be available soon at http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/.

Finally, the Board of Regents has begun a discussion of a number of compensation issues at the University. An advisory group led by Regents has spent approximately two years looking at possible modifications to compensation policies at UC, and this group brought the Regents’ Committee on Finance a set of three proposals last month.

The first is a proposal for the Regents to adopt a specific goal of bringing all employees, across the University, up to market-competitive salaries within 10 years. On average, UC salaries currently lag the market by about 15 percent. The 10-year goal was suggested in recognition of the size of the UC payroll and, thus, the magnitude of the resources that will have to be identified – beyond the compact – in order to achieve market competitiveness.

The second is a proposal for the Regents to have more information, more context, and more of a role in setting salary ranges for senior leaders in the University. And the third is a proposal for the University to see if private funds could become available to cover a portion of the salaries of certain senior leaders at the University. This was not proposed as an effort to raise senior-level salaries exclusively, but rather to see if – as all salaries rise in the coming years – it may be possible to find other sources of funding for some senior salaries so that these salaries become less of a drag on the University’s state funding.

The Regents’ Committee on Finance endorsed the first two proposals. Committee members expressed a variety of opinions, and ultimately did not forward a recommendation, on the third proposal, regarding private funds. The Board of Regents will continue its discussion of these issues at its November meeting.

Comings and goings

• UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale announced that he will step down as chancellor effective June 30, 2006, and return to teaching, scholarship, and engagement in international affairs and national security policy issues. A national search for a successor to Chancellor Carnesale will be launched as quickly as possible. Details: www.newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=6426

• Wyatt R. (Rory) Hume has been appointed executive vice provost and vice president for academic affairs at the Office of the President.  Hume, a veteran faculty member, clinician, and academic administrator at UCLA, UCSF, and Australian universities, will also assume the title of vice president for health affairs -- a position previously held by Michael Drake, now chancellor at UC Irvine. Details: www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/2005/sep19.html

• After more than four decades as an attorney for the University of California, James E. Holst has announced that he will be stepping down as UC's general counsel and vice president for legal affairs effective June 2006. Board of Regents Chairman Gerald Parsky and President Dynes will announce an advisory committee and details about the process for selecting a new general counsel in the coming weeks. Details:
  www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/2005/oct04.html

Other news

• The UC libraries announced their participation in a partnership to build a freely accessible digital library with materials drawn from across the world. The UC libraries will contribute books and resources in order to build a collection of out-of-copyright American literature that will include works by many great American authors.
  
  With the support of Yahoo! Inc., UC library books will be digitized by the Internet Archive using a new technology that scans books at the cost of 10 cents per page. In comparison, the costs to scan archival photographs and documents typically begin at $20 per page. Details: www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/2005/oct03.html
  
  
• The University of California will develop new guidelines to advance sustainable transportation initiatives across the system. Acting on the recommendation of the Regents' Committee on Grounds and Buildings, the Board of Regents in September authorized President Dynes to develop the guidelines, building on the university's existing efforts to promote "green building" design and clean energy standards. Details: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/2005/sep22.html

• Los Alamos National Security, LLC – the new team consisting of the University of California, Bechtel National, Washington Group International, and BWX Technologies – has completed orals for the competition for the Los Alamos National Laboratory management contract. An announcement regarding the awarding of the contract by the Department of Energy is expected on or before Dec. 1.
  
  
• In September, President Dynes sat down for a Q&A with the editors of the San Francisco Chronicle’s business section and discussed the importance of UC to the state’s economy. You can read a transcript of the interview here.
  
  
  

The Board of Regents will be reviewing a 2006-07 budget and student fees proposal for the University at the November Regents’ meeting. As a preview, the Regents at their September meeting discussed a series of long-range planning indicators intended to help the Regents monitor the University’s progress on a variety of long-term objectives.

The presentation noted that higher education is more important than ever in an economically and demographically changing California; that more Californians will want and need a university education for tomorrow’s jobs; that maintaining the academic quality of UC is essential to meeting this need; and that while the compact helps stabilize UC’s funding in the short term, there are longer-term constraints on state and federal funding that are of concern to the University. The presentation also looked at UC’s current status and performance on a range of indicators, from salaries to graduation rates to support services.

The presentation is available in Power Point here.

Dynes’ Desk is a way for anyone to email a comment, idea, or suggestion to President Dynes. While he is not able to respond personally in most instances, President Dynes does read each email submitted. In each edition of “Our University,” he will respond to a couple of Dynes’ Desk emails addressing issues of broad interest to the UC community.

To submit an email to Dynes’ Desk, visit www.universityofcalifornia.edu/president/desk.html. Below are President Dynes’ responses to a few recent submissions.

Email: Since money has been appropriated for increasing staff salaries, won't you please give us something to look forward to and announce when those raises will take place. For myself and co-workers it's difficult to make ends meet!

Bob Dynes: I’m pleased to do so. In general, salary increases for non-represented employees will become effective Oct. 1 (due to payroll programming needs, increases at UCLA and UCOP will be reflected in Dec. 1 paychecks but will be retroactive to Oct. 1). Salary increases for union-represented employees are determined under the collective bargaining process. In addition, there may be some timing variations from campus to campus – check with your campus or laboratory HR office for the latest information.

Email: I hope you are as concerned with the lack of diversity in admissions as I am, especially concerning African Americans. I think that the University needs to give credit in admissions to people who overcome severe obstacles, such as poverty, or being a first generation college student…. Many people, especially in the African American community, feel that racial diversity isn't important to the UC, and this could help to address that concern.

Bob Dynes: I share your concern, and I want you to know that personal achievements such as the ones you mention are, in fact, already considered in the campus admissions processes under our system of “comprehensive review.” While academic considerations play the biggest role in the admissions decision, the UC campuses do look carefully at the context in which a student has achieved. Details on this process are available here. I should add that we have undertaken a number of initiatives to enhance the opportunity of talented students from all backgrounds in California to become prepared for college and to come to UC. Among these are our K-12 academic preparation programs, the reforms in our admissions process over the last several years, our new initiative to train more science and math teachers for California’s K-12 schools, and the opening of our new campus in Merced. While it is impossible to address this issue adequately in a short space, I want to assure you that we are always looking for new – and legal – ways of addressing it.

Email: As you develop plans for the future, I hope that they include ways to make the benefits of the University's activities felt directly by every California resident. This is not just a question of self-serving publicity, but rather an opportunity to empower people by showing them how working together can make life better for all of us.

Bob Dynes: I completely agree. One of the things I’ve done in my two years as president is travel around the state – to regions with a UC campus and to those without – and spread the word about the impact UC has on all Californians’ lives. In this process, I myself have gained a greater appreciation than ever before of the many ways the University contributes to our state’s economy, our people’s health, and our collective quality of life. I truly believe, and have said over and over in Sacramento, that if UC is ever allowed to become just another university, California will become just another state.

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