Dear Staff Members:
Welcome to the 2011-12 academic year. I am excited to be back in my home state and serving at the helm of this fine institution. I'd like to extend a special welcome to new staff and faculty who are joining the university. This year promises to be filled with opportunities as well as challenges, and I'm eager to help our campus progress to its next level of development.
Since my term began on July 1, I've spent much of my time meeting with key stakeholders, getting up to speed on the inner workings of campus operations, learning about our academic and research programs, and identifying the campus' most pressing priorities. The process has given me even more respect for what you have accomplished during the six years since the campus opened. I sincerely congratulate you.
During UC Merced's initial years, the campus' goals centered on building a solid foundation, increasing student enrollment, attracting strong faculty and staff, and strengthening baseline programs and operations.
As the campus begins its seventh year, I consider UC Merced well positioned to move forward with building depth in programs already established, growing graduate enrollment and building greater external awareness of research themes that will differentiate UC Merced from our sister campuses and other research universities. We are a young institution that has managed to get off to a very good start — a commendable accomplishment given the economic difficulties facing the state and nation. Equally important, we are a rapidly emerging force for change at a critical time in California's history — a message I will deliver repeatedly up and down the state, and in our nation's capital, in the coming months.
I firmly believe our campus' future is secure and promising. Commitments from the UC Office of the President and Board of Regents combined with strong backing by the Valley's legislative leaders ensure the campus will continue to mature at a steady pace despite the difficult economic environment. Even so, we cannot assume our needs will continue to be met without considerable effort to build awareness and secure additional funding. Accordingly, I am spending a great deal of time meeting with University of California leadership, key legislators, corporations, private donors and others whose support will be vital to our growth and research programs.
At the town hall meeting sponsored by the Staff Assembly last month, we discussed several issues that are at the top of most everyone's minds here at the university, including staff salaries, professional development, process improvement and the allocation of space on campus.
While some of those matters will require ongoing attention, I am pleased that the topic of salaries was at least partially addressed within days of the town hall meeting when UC President Mark Yudof announced plans to implement merit-based salary increases across the university system for faculty members at all levels and non-represented staff members who earn less than $200,000 per year. Human Resources is now working on implementation details based on UCOP guidelines. For represented employees whose contracts and raises are still being negotiated between UCOP and their unions, we remain hopeful that the bargaining process will soon come to a satisfactory conclusion. All of our employees, represented or not, have worked incredibly hard and contributed to the success of UC Merced.
Increasing the efficiency of administrative processes was also a main theme heard from the staff at the recent town hall meeting. Attendees made it clear that they're frustrated with what seems to be overcomplicated and time-consuming processes in a number of areas. As a young institution, we have had to put processes into place without the luxury of time to review and assess their effectiveness; but now, as UC Merced matures, it will be important to include process review and improvement as part of our institutional culture. Thus, I am pleased to report that we will soon launch a new process-improvement initiative under the guidance of an expert in the area. The initial processes selected for review will be based on input from you. Stay tuned for further information about this in the next month or so.
As our student population continues to grow (5,000 expected this year), so have our faculty and staff. We now have 144 ladder-rank professors, including 18 new professors this academic year, and 120 lecturers. Total staff is now approximately 1,100.
Even as we welcome enrollment and workforce growth, we remain keenly aware of the space shortage on campus and continue to explore possible solutions. As we move forward, it will be important to develop a clear, transparent process and accompanying criteria to help leadership strategically decide the allocation of administrative and support staff space both on and off campus. And we will aggressively seek creative ways for financing the continued capital development of the campus. None of this will be easy but I am committed to working diligently to address our current space challenges and future campus development needs.
Meanwhile, the new Social Sciences and Management Building will provide some relief from space constraints. The 101,000-square-foot structure houses teaching lab space, art studio spaces, seminar rooms, general classrooms, research lab offices and an entrepreneurship center. The addition more than doubles the physical space for the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts. In addition, plans continue to progress regarding the Science & Engineering 2 Building, and we are waiting for the state to confirm a lease revenue bond sale, which is expected to occur this fall. If the state provides construction funding this fall for the building, we anticipate occupancy in late 2014. Lastly, we expect to receive funding this fall for a proposed student services building, which could be ready for use by fall 2013.
In my effort to keep you apprised on other significant university matters, I want to advise you that Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Keith Alley has shared with me his plans to retire at the end of the 2011-12 academic year. I am extremely grateful for his close collaboration during my initial months as chancellor and for his willingness to remain throughout the year to ensure a smooth transition at the executive leadership level. I will soon seek nominations for a search committee that will include representation from the faculties of each of our schools. We will be assisted in this national search by Isaacson Miller — a firm that knows our campus and its challenges quite well and whose consultants will help us build a robust pool of qualified candidates.
One of my initial priorities as chancellor is to encourage more open communication at all levels. In that vein, I hope you will join me during the "Lunch with the Chancellor" events that will take place each month from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. in the Garden Dining Room at the Yablokoff-Wallace Dining Center. The first lunch was held today, but from now on they will occur regularly on the last Tuesday of each month. These informal meetings are open to faculty and staff. Beverages will be provided, and participants may either bring their own lunch or purchase a boxed lunch from Dining Services. Boxed lunches need to be purchased in advance and can be ordered through Epay using an online form that can be accessed here.
Finally, I encourage you to continue to develop your connection with the campus and surrounding community by attending academic lectures, performances, sports, and art and cultural events throughout the year. The best way to learn about upcoming activities and to promote your own events is by visiting the UC Merced Events Calendar.
You can also keep abreast of campus news and information by regularly checking the campus' social media offerings including:
- Panorama, a publication for faculty and staff
- Campus gateway website
- Happenings channel on MyUCMerced campus portal
Thank you for all you've done and will continue to do to make UC Merced a beacon of hope and opportunity for so many.
I wish you a successful and productive year, and I look forward to meeting and working closely with all of you.
Sincerely,
Dorothy Leland
Chancellor
