Dear Colleagues,
How time flies! Another semester is almost over and soon we will be saying our goodbyes to graduating students.
We will be having two commencement ceremonies this year as a consequence of the steadily increasing number of graduates. We will also be holding these ceremonies in the morning to reduce exposure to heat and reduce costs by eliminating the lighting required for evening ceremonies. If you haven’t done so already, I invite you to visit the commencement website for more detailed information about the ceremonies and volunteer opportunities.
Executive-Level Searches
As you know, there have been some significant changes in my administrative leadership team. We welcomed Kyle Hoffman, our new vice chancellor for Development and Alumni Relations about this time last year, and Tom Peterson, provost and executive vice chancellor, arrived in December. Both have brought fresh vision and new expertise to their roles.
I am pleased to announce that the search for our first vice chancellor for Planning and Budget is now completed. With strong support from the search advisory committee and campus constituencies, Dan Feitelberg will assume this role on a permanent, long-term basis pending the approval of UC President Yudof. Many of you have already met Dan, who has been serving as acting vice chancellor for the Office of Planning and Budget since early December. Dan brings strong banking and public-finance expertise to this position, and we are fortunate to have him with us during this critical and challenging phase of campus development.
Given the pending retirement of Mary Miller, vice chancellor for Administration, I will soon launch a national search for her replacement. Mary has capably and energetically served the campus for six years during some very challenging times, and I know she will enjoy spending more time with her family and grandchildren. Sam Traina will chair the search advisory committee for Mary’s replacement. With only a few months left until Mary retires, it is likely that her position will need to be filled on an interim basis until the national search is completed. No decision has been made at this time as to who will serve in this interim role, but I am working with colleagues systemwide to identify options.
Internal Budget-Request Process
UC Merced’s evolving internal budget-request process is now underway. Schools and divisions have completed their new funding request submissions, and the campus budget committee will begin meeting soon to review these requests. This will be the first year in UC Merced’s history that budget requests have been made available to the campus for review, and you can do so by visiting UCMCROPS.
The budget requests submitted far exceed the total of new funding that will be available, and hence I have asked the Budget Committee to identify those requests that are the most critical for funding during the upcoming fiscal year. Our goal will be to begin the process of building multiple-year funding plans that will help the planning efforts within our various divisions and units.
On the Legislative Front
Efforts are underway in the State Capitol to garner support for the Classroom and Academic Office Building construction funding. The April letter from the Department of Finance included support for the $45.1 million necessary to construct CAOB. The entire San Joaquin Valley senate delegation sent a letter of support to Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, and another was sent to Speaker John A. Pérez from the valley assembly delegation, indicating strong regional and bipartisan support in both houses for the CAOB project and UC Merced’s continued growth. These letters have also been sent to the appropriate budget committee and subcommittee chairs in the senate and assembly in anticipation of subcommittee hearings this week to consider the UC budget. Vice President Patrick Lenz will testify at these hearings on behalf of UC. Our work to secure the CAOB funding will continue as we near the release of the Governor’s Budget Revision in mid-May, and, eventually, the final budget which must be enacted by July 1.
In another legislative development, you may have heard Gov. Jerry Brown will release next month a spending blueprint that will tie some state funding for California’s public universities to a host of new requirements. For example, his plan will call for a four-year freeze on tuition and fees for undergraduate and graduate students. If either university system hikes costs, that system would forfeit $511 million in state funding — a roughly 20 percent increase — over the life of the governor’s plan. In addition, the plan calls for a 10 percent increase in the number of transfer student from community colleges and an increase in the percentage of freshmen graduating within four years.
We can expect to hear more in the coming months about these proposals, and some of them are clearly worrisome for the University of California. For example, UC’s retention and graduation rates are among the highest in the nation for public universities, and any reasonable targets for improvement must be realistic and take into account our past achievements.
Next Board of Regents Meeting
The UC Board of Regents meeting will be held next month in Sacramento and combined with visits of lawmakers by regents and UCOP and campus leadership. That meeting will include an important action item for UC Merced—an amendment to our long-range development plan, which is the first important step in the approval process for Project 2020. The amendment will create a framework for greater land-use flexibility and realize efficiencies (time and cost) from a master-planned and phased delivery of the academic, research and student-support space needed to support our growth to 10,000 students.
Something to Celebrate
In case you haven’t done so already, I invite you to read the article about UC Merced that recently appeared in on the front-page of the San Francisco Chronicle. (A copy is posted on my website.) Thanks to the work of so many of you, more and more Californians are recognizing the remarkable success of our still very young university. You should be proud of this accomplishment.
Wishing you all the best during the final weeks of the semester!
Sincerely,
Dorothy Leland
