Teaching stats: UC Davis faculty members more readily involve undergraduates in research and teach more interdisciplinary courses than their counterparts nationwide, according to a survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. The study, publicized on campus in December, also noted that, even with the added responsibility of research, UC Davis professors spent nearly as many hours in teaching and student advising as did their colleagues.
No vacancy: Apartment vacancy rates in Davis plummeted to .5 percent--the lowest in 11 years, according to a report released in December by the UC Davis Housing Office.
Affirmative action: In December UC President Richard Atkinson told campus chancellors to continue using race, ethnicity and gender as factors in making decisions about undergraduate admissions and financial aid for fall 1997. His comments were in response to a preliminary injunction issued in December against Proposition 209, preventing the university from implementing the measure until a trial is held on the matter. Changes in undergraduate admissions resulting from the UC Regents' elimination of affirmative action based on race and gender are not scheduled to go into effect until spring 1998.
Good budget news: Gov. Pete Wilson proposed a state budget in January that will allow UC to keep general fees for students at the same level for the fourth consecutive year. (UC Regents, however, have recommended increases in out-of-state tuition and fee increases for selected professional programs.) If the governor's budget is approved by the Legislature, it will provide funding to help restore faculty salaries to competitive levels, expand outreach to prospective college students and continue cooperative research with industry as a means of fueling the state's economic growth.
Student fee control: In January, UC President Richard Atkinson began discussions with the UC regents about a long-term student fee policy that would allow students and parents to better plan for the cost of a UC education. He proposed that a policy be developed that would tie fee increases to some reasonable index of ability to pay but that also would provide some stability for the university's budget, covering both cost increases and growth.
Retaining two: Accepting the near-unanimous advice of several groups consulted, Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef and Provost Robert Grey concluded in January that the UC Davis offices for research and for graduate studies should remain separate. The question of remerging the two offices (which had been combined until 1989) was raised during budget-cutting discussions in 1993. It was considered again recently after both positions became vacant when Dean of Graduate Studies M.R.C. Greenwood was named chancellor of UC Santa Cruz and Vice Chancellor for Research Robert Shelton was named vice provost for research of the UC system.
Chancellor's residence: Ridge Builders Group of Davis was awarded a contract in January for construction of the new chancellor's residence at 16 College Park. The new building will feature a central courtyard and 7,700 square feet of space for the chancellor's private residence and for public events. The 60-year-old home that had served as the chancellor's residence was torn down after a campus committee determined it would be more cost effective to replace than renovate the house.
Class of 2001: Applications from high school seniors for admission to UC campuses next fall reached an all-time high, the UC Office of the President announced in February. UC received 46,682 applications, up 1.6 percent from the previous year. The data showed a decline, however, in applications from underrepresented students and in transfer applications from California community college students.
Added exposure: PBS-TV announced in February that it would globally license, syndicate and distribute a one-hour feature on "The Art of the Wild," UC Davis' annual summer workshop focused on writing about nature, wilderness and the environment.
