Editor’s note: Chancellor Linda Katehi sent the following letter to the campus community on Dec. 8:

Dear UC Davis Community:

This past summer, a little more than a month after I joined the campus and in the face of rapidly eroding state support for our university, we made two major announcements that I believe are critical to fulfilling UC Davis’ mission as a land-grant university. Both actions are intended to identify efficiencies and build on our strengths as we continue to develop a vision for our future that is both bold and sustainable:

The merger of the Office of Administration and the Office of Resource Management and Planning into a new Office of Administrative and Resource Management — Under the leadership of Vice Chancellor John Meyer, the consolidation is expected to save an estimated $900,000 annually and, at the same time, better leverage related services and improve the working environment for our valued staff, empowering them to more effectively address current challenges and embrace future opportunities.

The launch of the Administrative Process Redesign Initiative — Under the leadership of former Vice Chancellor Stan Nosek, the new initiative will study and recommend ways to streamline and consolidate the campus’s administrative infrastructure in ways that cut costs, simplify our organization and improve efficiencies, to support and strengthen the campus’s academic mission.

The initiative will first look for ways to eliminate unnecessary functions and establish, when practical, shared service centers in areas such as human resources, information technology, finance, payroll and purchasing throughout administrative units. Eventually, if the process proves fruitful, academic units would be called on to participate.

Throughout this process, we will look for ways to equip our employees with the training and tools they need to perform at a best-practices level of service for our faculty, staff and students.

Looking forward, if we are to continue to thrive as a public research university, more must be done. It is vital that we all continue identifying and taking whatever steps are necessary to better equip our university and contribute to its success and vitality. In the long term, our commitment to targeted restructuring, streamlining of operations and focused investments will do more than improve the quality of living, learning and public service for the UC Davis community; it will boost our university’s prestige and reputation across the nation and around the world.

Today, I am announcing additional changes to the UC Davis executive team that will be implemented as part of a planned and coordinated transition over the next year. As we solidify our leadership and move forward, we will be better positioned to strengthen our administrative services, expand our research enterprise and broaden our revenues by publicly launching our first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign.

With this e-mail, I would like to inform you of the following changes:

Office of the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor

In the spring of 2008, and in view of early signs of the state’s worsening financial condition, Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef asked Enrique Lavernia, then dean of the College of Engineering, to serve as the provost and executive vice chancellor for up to a three-year term. Dean Lavernia responded to the call. He accepted the appointment to serve the campus during this challenging time of financial instability and uncertainty. Provost Lavernia started his term in January 2009. At the same time, Professor Bruce White was appointed to a similar term of up to three years as dean of the College of Engineering.

Today, as UC Davis continues its efforts to navigate these choppy financial waters, and as our leadership shapes an aggressive strategic plan, it has become clear that the provost’s office and the College of Engineering would be best served by long-term, permanent appointments. To move this process forward, Provost Lavernia has decided to return to his position as dean of the College of Engineering, a role he first assumed on Sept. 1, 2002, as soon as his successor is appointed. Dean White, in turn, will continue to serve as dean until the provost search is completed. Meanwhile, Dean White is looking forward to engaging with the campus and the College of Engineering as the transition moves forward.

Provost Lavernia deserves our gratitude and praise for his superb efforts at bringing administrative and financial stability to the university throughout the past calendar year, for his great service as a member of the campus’s leadership team, for his collegiality and for his indefatigable spirit and commitment to consensus-building.

I am confident that his strengths as provost and executive vice chancellor will bring great promise and vitality to the College of Engineering as he leads the college forward with the goal of transforming it into one of the nation’s top engineering schools. And we thank Dean White, too, for stepping up to serve the campus during these difficult times. Under his leadership, the College of Engineering has continued to grow in excellence and visibility: a number of important appointments have been made; he was key to the renaming of the Engineering III building as Mohamed S. Ghausi Engineering Hall; and he led the formation of a new corporate relations office in the College of Engineering.

Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research

After nine years of service with dedication and distinction, Vice Chancellor for Research Barry Klein has decided to complete his term on June 30, 2010. Vice Chancellor Klein plans to take an earned year of paid administrative leave, to help prepare himself for his return to a faculty position in the Department of Physics.

He deserves our thanks for serving UC Davis with deep commitment and great energy as vice chancellor for research for nine years, as vice provost for academic affairs for three years before that and for serving as chair of the Department of Physics before that. During his term as vice chancellor for research, the campus has benefited from an unprecedented explosion in research funding, from $298 million in 2000-01 to nearly $622 million in 2008-09, and interdisciplinary research also has flourished under his leadership.

Comprehensive Campaign

Our campus has been working for more than three years on the development of UC Davis’ first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign. I plan to announce the public phase of the campaign in the fall of 2010. As we move into the public phase of what will be an ambitious and aggressive fundraising effort, it is critical that we have a fortified structure in place that will allow our campus and our dedicated development staff to meet the fundraising goals I plan to establish and present to the UC Board of Regents next year for its required approval.

After considerable consultation, I have decided to create a new position of executive director for the comprehensive campaign that will report directly to the chancellor.

The selection and appointment of the executive director post will trigger a reorganization that will affect the Offices of the Chancellor and Provost and the Office of University Relations:

As I’ve already indicated, the new executive director will report directly to the chancellor. Under the reorganization, three units now in University Relations — Advancement Services, Foundation Accounting and University Development — will be reassigned to report to this new position.

Vice Chancellor Beverly “Babs” Sandeen, who currently oversees these units, will continue to lead University Relations’ remaining units: Alumni Relations, Ceremonies and Special Events, Government and Community Relations and University Communications. I expect Vice Chancellor Sandeen and our new executive director for the comprehensive campaign to work together closely to coordinate all external relations activities. As chancellor, I will take an active role in personally monitoring our fundraising efforts, and I have high expectations for success in this increasingly important area.

I would like to commend Vice Chancellor Sandeen for her oversight and leadership in launching our first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign and for her success at the helm, raising an unprecedented $100 million-plus per year for the past three years for the first time in our history. I will seek Vice Chancellor Sandeen and her team’s guidance as we continue to enhance our engagement efforts and our university’s visibility nationally and internationally.

In January 2010, we will launch our three searches for the next provost, the next vice chancellor for research and the new executive director of the comprehensive campaign.

I will soon begin consulting with the Academic Senate, Academic Federation, Council of Deans and Vice Chancellors, Staff Assembly, student representatives, alumni and others to request nominations for members of each of the respective search committees and to launch the process. A new “Recruitments” section will be added to the chancellor’s Web site (chancellor.ucdavis.edu) to provide updates to the community and an opportunity for feedback from faculty, staff, students and other members of the UC Davis family.

I want to thank those executive team members who are transitioning from their leadership roles, and also every member of the UC Davis community for your commitment and contributions to the achievement of our academic goals. I would like to ask for your continued support during this critical time and I am looking forward to your comments and suggestions as we move forward.

I am confident that, building upon the success that our campus has already achieved, a united UC Davis working together will be in an even stronger position to reach our aspirations, pursue our vision and accomplish our goals as one of America’s leading research universities.

Sincerely,

Linda P.B. Katehi

Chancellor