OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE VICE CHANCELLOR

October 29, 2025

ALL ACADEMICS AT UC SAN DIEGO

Colleagues,

Please read this important communication below from UC Provost Newman, Systemwide Academic Senate Chair Palazoglu and Council of Executive Vice Chancellors (COVC) Convener Stern. Information on the UCAD Plus Charge and Task Force Roster can be found on the UC Academic Senate webpage for the UCAD Plus.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth H. Simmons
Executive Vice Chancellor

Dear UC faculty colleagues,

We write to initiate a systemwide conversation with our academic community about how to position the University of California for future success in an era when we must balance limitations on available resources with our commitment to longstanding values and ambitions.

In spring 2025, the Academic Senate announced the formation of its Task Force on UC Adaptation to Disruptions (UCAD) to examine how the University can maintain its teaching, research, and public service missions during major external disruptions. UCAD was charged with analyzing and developing strategies that would ensure institutional resilience amid changing federal and state landscapes. The task force’s interim report was completed in July 2025.

As noted in that report, the University is facing a wide array of disruptions. Ongoing and proposed changes to the way that federal grants and contracts are funded and administered threaten the foundations of UC’s scholarly research activity. International students, who represent more than 10 percent of our student community and a substantial funding source for the University, are facing an increasingly uncertain environment. Recent changes to student loan programs, including tighter borrowing limits and reductions in repayment flexibility, are likely to increase costs for many students at UC.

The report of the Academic Planning Council (APC) Workgroup on Faculty Work and Recovery Post-Pandemic, and the systemwide Senate’s recent Faculty and Instructor Experience Survey, highlight many of the same challenges and call for meaningful institutional reforms with an emphasis on stronger collaboration among various constituents.

These and other factors led UCAD and the systemwide administration to identify five areas in need of immediate, focused attention: 

Because these issues are institutional priorities, we have formed UCAD Plus – a joint Senate-Administration task force. UCAD Plus will include balanced representation of faculty and administrative leaders, with members representing divisional Senate leadership and key systemwide Senate committee chairs, all executive vice chancellors/provosts, and research and academic personnel leaders. With the support of administrative and Senate staff, the task force will consist of a plenary committee of its principal members and five working groups convened to study the focus areas above.

Between now and the end of February 2026, these groups will develop recommendations for consideration by UC President James B. Milliken and the UC chancellors. The recommendations will then proceed through systemwide review beginning in March 2026.

As the UCAD interim report undergoes a systemwide Academic Senate review this fall, the feedback received both by the October 31, 2025 Senate review deadline and beyond will help shape the work of the UCAD Plus task force and working groups.

The UCAD Plus task force is not intended to substitute for the important work already underway on related topics at each location. We recognize that each campus is unique and, to that end, several campuses have already formed local UCAD committees. However, many potential solutions – such as those involving intercampus programs, international student enrollment, and reforms to the academic personnel process – would require coordinated systemwide action. In these areas, UCAD Plus will play a complementary role.

A corresponding effort to identify administrative efficiencies, enhance productivity, and improve organizational effectiveness across the system is also underway. This effort is being co-led by Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Rachael Nava and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Nathan Brostrom at UC Office of the President, along with their campus counterparts. Their work includes developing organizational adaptations to support the implementation of the objectives UCAD seeks to achieve.

As the steering committee of UCAD Plus, we commit to providing regular updates to the faculty about how task force deliberations are proceeding. Information on this work will also be made available on the UCAD Plus task force website. Once systemwide review of UCAD Plus recommendations has commenced, we will explore additional forums for feedback and discussion, including campus brown bag lunches or town halls, systemwide gatherings, Senate Assembly meetings, and other events.

For now, we wanted to share with you that this effort is underway and that we are committed to keeping the UC community informed and engaged in the work of this important joint task force.

Cordially, 

Katherine S. Newman
UC System Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Sociology & Public Policy 

Ahmet Palazoglu
Systemwide Academic Senate Chair (2025-26) 

Hal Stern
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, UC Irvine
Convener, Council of Executive Vice Chancellors (COVC)