Chancellor Marye Anne Fox's testimoney before UC Regents

UC San Diego, like our sister campuses, is struggling with the impact of the steady reductions in our budget. We have laid off 200, and have eliminated or frozen about 800, staff positions. We have halted the hiring of all faculty, freezing 100 positions. This freeze on the hiring of ladder-rank faculty will worsen our undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio from approximately 20:1 a few years ago to nearly 40:1.

We do not plan to recruit faculty in the 2009-2010 academic year, despite the exodus of faculty to retirement.  Our emphasis will be on faculty retention.

We, too, are cutting in every possible area while trying to maintain the excellence of a UC education. But rather than focus on areas for reduction, my message today is about the "brain drain" of talent from UC. Our best and brightest are leaving the Golden State.

Some examples of alarming losses of our star faculty and staff:

• The CEO of the UCSD Medical Center, is leaving for Barnes-Jewish Hospital in Missouri. Under this CEO's leadership, the UCSD Medical Center moved into the black.
• A leading professor of electrical and computer engineering is moving his lab to the University of Texas at Austin. This professor was named to a $2.5 million endowed chair, income from which will support his salary and research group.
• A top professor of biology is leaving for Columbia University, where he will be provided research support from a $20 million endowment.
• And I know that negotiations have entered the final stages with other members of our renowned faculty as the leading higher education institutions from around the world seek to hire the very best from UC.

The most important determinant of the quality of the University of California is the quality of its people. In order to retain the best and brightest, the chancellors will need the authority and flexibility to restructure their campuses and to provide competitive compensation. Institutions outside California and in other countries are targeting UC campuses to lure away top faculty and staff. While there may be little the Regents can do to reduce the magnitude of the budget cuts, the Regents can ensure that the chancellors have the flexibility that's vital to manage their campuses in these trying times.