University of California
Office of the President

A.  ACADEMIC PLANNING AND PROGRAMS

1.  Master of Advanced Study

These degrees are offered by the University, in a program launched and administered by Academic Initiatives, to encourage programs that aid working adults in advanced career education. One new M.A.S.  program has been approved by the Senate and President. UC San Diego will offer a M.A.S. in Clinical Research in addition to its M.A.S. in Leadership in Healthcare Organizations. UC Irvine's M.A.S. in Criminology, Law and Society is the first fully web-based Masters program to be offered in the University of California. In addition, UC San Francisco offers a M.A.S. in Clinical Research.  These four are the first M.A.S. programs to be offered. UC San Diego has developed a proposal for a new M.A.S. in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, and UC Davis is proposing a new M.A.S. in Maternal and Child Nutrition.  Both are under review by CCGA.

2.   Program Review

While the majority of systemwide review processes described in the program review Compendium, Universitywide Review Processes for Academic Programs, Academic Units, and Research Units, continue to work well, Academic Initiatives took the lead in re-examining the value-added of the current review process described in Section I for review of the Five-Year Perspectives.  As a result, the Academic Council asked the key Senate review committees for comments on the 2003 Five-Year Perspectives report and conveyed them to Academic Initiatives.  Based on those comments, Academic Initiatives will draft a revised and simplified Section I for Senate consideration during 2003-04.

3.  Joint Doctoral Programs

Academic Initiatives staffs UC’s participation on the Joint Graduate Board.  The Joint Graduate Board retains responsibility for all joint degrees other than the Ed.D., including the Ph.D. in education.  With the departure of San Jose State University President Robert Caret and the request from Chancellor MRC Greenwood to step down, two new co-chairs have been appointed to lead the Joint Graduate Board: Chancellor France Cordova and CSU San Bernardino President Al Karnig.  It is expected that an important item on the 2003-04 Board agenda will be assessment of areas of labor force need that could be effectively met through joint doctoral programs.

One new joint doctoral program outside the Ed.D. was approved during 2002-03:  the joint Au.D. program in Audiology between UC San Diego and San Diego State University, making this the first doctorate program in Audiology for the U.S.  This clinical doctorate and an upcoming one in Physical Therapy (D.P.T.) for UC San Francisco and San Francisco State University respond to recent decisions by the respective professional associations to make the clinical doctorate the entry level degree for the profession.   

4.  Educational Leadership

Joint Doctoral Degree Programs in Education

Academic Initiatives was instrumental in the CSU/UC agreement to develop new Joint Ed.D. programs in Educational Leadership and staffs UC’s participation on the Joint Ed.D. Board.  Three new joint Ed.D. programs have been approved and have enrolled their first students this fall, with the support of Joint Ed.D. Board Implementation Grants.  They are:

• the UC Berkeley Joint Ed.D. in Leadership in Educational Equity with CSU Hayward, San Francisco State University and San Jose State University;
• the UC Irvine Joint Ed.D. in Educational Administration and Leadership, with CSU Long Beach, CSU Los Angeles, Cal Poly Pomona and  CSU Fullerton is currently under review by CCGA); and
• the UC Santa Barbara Joint Ed.D. in Educational Leadership with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

UC Berkeley enrolled its first cohort of 12 students in Fall 2003.  UC Irvine enrolled the first cohort of 20 for the July 2003 summer session.  Of those students, six each are affiliated with CSU Long Beach and CSU Los Angeles, four are affiliated with Cal Poly Pomona and four are affiliated with CSU Fullerton.  UC Santa Barbara enrolled 7 students for the Fall 2003 quarter, citing delay of advertising owing to late CCGA approval as the reason for not attracting the planned cohort of 15. 

Four additional joint Ed.D. program initiatives have received Program Development Grants and are in the review phase, with the expectation that they will be approved to enroll students by Fall 2004.  The UC Davis Joint Ed.D. in Teacher Education Research with CSU Sacramento and CSU Sonoma is under campus review.  The UC San Diego Joint Ed.D. in Educational Leadership with San Diego State University and CSU San Marcos is currently under review by the UCSD Graduate Council.  The UC Santa Cruz Joint Ed.D. in Collaborative Leadership for Teaching and Learning with San Jose State University and CSU Monterey Bay is at various review stages on the three cooperating campuses. It is understood that the UC Riverside Joint Ed.D. in Leadership for Education with CSU Dominguez Hills, CSU Long Beach, CSU Los Angles, and CSU San Bernardino will also be undergoing campus review shortly with a target of submission to CCGA in February 2003.

Three additional new programs are in various stages of discussion.  UC Los Angeles is in on-going discussions with CSU Northridge regarding a Joint Ed.D. in Entrepreneurial Leadership for Community College Leaders.  UC San Diego has permission to negotiate with San Diego State University to create an Ed.D. in Special Education.  UC Merced and CSU Stanislaus received a planning grant for a Joint Ed.D. in Science and Mathematics Education.  The first planning workshop was held and included, in addition to faculty from the proposing institutions, faculty from CSU Fresno, with CSU Bakersfield faculty also invited.  Subsequently, the Legislature reduced the UC Merced funding for 2004-05, with the intent that opening be delayed until Fall 2005.  As a result, anticipated implementation date for the program has also been delayed to Fall 2006.

UC Davis has also held discussions with CSU Fresno about expanding the Joint Ed.D. in Educational Leadership between the two institutions.  With the arrival of the new Dean of Education at CSU Fresno, additional discussions will take place to determine plans for the future.

All programs are being designed to accommodate the needs of working professionals, and they are the first programs to be implemented in response to the joint Ed.D. agreement memorialized by the Legislature in SCR 93 (Alpert).  The Joint Ed.D. Board is making every effort to ensure that programs are available in all parts of the State and that particular regional needs are met.

California Institute for Educational Leadership (CIEL)

Working with the Educational Outreach Department, Academic Initiatives participated in and helped staff a faculty/administration planning group for new California Institute for Educational Leadership (CIEL).  As part of the University’s Master Plan activities surrounding issues related to K-12 educational leadership and the Ed.D. degree, UC initiated an effort to use its resources to enhance K-12 and community college educational leadership.  Chaired by UCLA Education Dean Aimée Dorr, the committee submitted its report in August for an eventual UC multicampus research unit on educational leadership.  The Institute would focus on “generating and disseminating usable knowledge that directly contributes to increasing the capacity of educational leaders to maximize the achievement of all students in California’s K-12 public schools.”  Recognizing that UC resources are constrained now, the report recommends some initial activities that can be undertaken until future funding is identified.  Specifically, the report suggests UC sponsor an annual meeting for major K-12 professional organizations, state agencies, and others interested in educational leadership would be brought together with UC doctoral students and faculty leaders in the field.  The purpose would be to generate a research agenda that would be useful to practitioners as well as help guide future dissertation research of Ed.D. students.

5.  Discussions of Incorporation of Monterey Institute for International Studies into the University of California

During Spring 2003, the University of California and the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) entered preliminary discussions regarding the possibility of the Monterey Institute becoming a part of the University of California.  If MIIS were to become part of the University of California, it would be administered as a unit of UC Santa Cruz, although its expertise and resources would be available to all UC campuses. UCOP is represented in these discussions by the Vice Provost for Academic Initiatives who is responsible for coordination of the University’s position with UC Santa Cruz.  

Established in 1955, the Monterey Institute of International Studies offers graduate programs in international policy studies, translation and interpretation, language teaching, and international business.  Approximately one-half of MIIS's 700 students come from outside the United States. Students must be proficient in at least one non-native language prior to admission.  MIIS includes the Graduate School of International Policy Studies, Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation, Fisher Graduate School of International Business, and Graduate School of Language and Educational Linguistics. It also includes the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, and Center for East Asian Studies.

Discussions between MIIS and UC proceeded under a Statement of Principles for Negotiations signed by Chancellor MRC Greenwood and President Chet Haskell of MIIS, with UCOP. Academic Initiatives briefed the Academic Senate on the discussions and received preliminary comments from the Academic Council; and also informed the California Postsecondary Education Commission that a discussion of possible incorporation had begun.  A resolution endorsing the incorporation was approved by the MIIS Board of Trustees at its June 2003 meeting.  The UC Board of Regents discussed an Information Item on incorporation at the July 2003 meeting and encouraged continuation of the discussions.  As lead campus, UC Santa Cruz has set as a long-range goal to develop a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between MIIS and UC that would be taken for action to both Boards at a future date.  Such a MOU would have to be reviewed by appropriate state officials to secure state enrollment funding, in addition to other UC and external review steps, and would be subject to approval by the MIIS Board of Trustees and the UC Board of Regents. Approval of the MOU would lead to the development of an implementation plan.

To lay the groundwork for a possible MOU, the Office of the President has taken the lead on performing a financial due diligence analysis as a basis for work on a long-term plan for financial stability.  Included in the financial due diligence has been an assessment of the MIIS physical facilities.  UC Santa Cruz will take the lead in assessing the MIIS academic programs, faculty and research centers for appropriate positioning within UC.  A number of policy issues affecting student admission and status, continued employment of current MIIS faculty, and continuation of MIIS programs and institutes within UC will be the targets of consultation with UC Santa Cruz Faculty Senate and administration, the Office of the President, the Academic Senate and appropriate State agencies.  A November 17 letter from President Dynes informed the MIIS President that incorporation of MIIS into UC depends on the willingness of the State to fund the resulting enrollment increase for UC over and above planned enrollment increases on the UC campuses.

6.  CPEC and Program Review

Academic Initiatives administers the UC systemwide program review process and is responsible for UCOP coordination with CPEC. In the program review area, nine proposals were submitted to CPEC for concurrence in 2002-03.  Programs reflect new fields such as bioinformatics, networked systems in computer science, conservation of archaeological and ethnographic materials, and digital arts or new media, as well as a new M.B.A. degree for UC San Diego.  UC Santa Barbara received approval to offer the nation’s first Ph.D. program in Chicano Studies.  CPEC criteria for program reviews include a discussion of the need for the proposed program, including quantitative evidence on employment prospects and market demand for a program; reasonable enrollment projections, and a budget plan. Academic Initiatives staff facilitate communication between the campuses and CPEC, and anticipate questions and concerns from CPEC so that campus proposals are as complete as possible.  The objective is to better assist the campuses in securing CPEC concurrence while adhering to the campus timetables for initiating the program.

In Spring 2003, Executive Director Robert Moore invited the segments to discuss with CPEC whether CPEC program review could be done more effectively. Academic Initiatives participated in these discussions and promoted a mechanism that holds the promise for streamlining the CPEC individual program review process. This would involve reviving a proposal made by a now-defunct intersegmental group, the Intersegmental Program Review Committee (IPRC), which served as a discussion and advisory group to CPEC for intersecting issues in new program development and related curricular matters. The gist of the proposal is to exchange among the segments the information contained in each segment’s five-year plans for adding new academic programs and make it the basis of global discussions of future program development among the segments. It is expected that the early discussion between CPEC and the segments would then lead to much more streamlining of the CPEC individual program review process. Executive Director Moore has reconvened the intersegmental program review group and will give a full testing to this approach to program review over the coming year.



7.  The UC Washington Center completed its second year in operation in June serving approximately 1700 students in this period from all eight general campuses of the University.   The Center hosted over 20 visiting faculty and over 20 graduate student TAs to support the academic programs in addition to the campus faculty and staff on site in Washington, D.C.  The Center provides students with an experiential learning opportunity with internships, elective classes and research seminars.  Many academic forums and conferences are hosted at the Center. The Center is an 11 -story mixed-use facility with 8 floors of residential space and 3 floors of academic and administrative space.  The building houses the Office of Federal Governmental Relations and other administrative and research units in addition to the UC Washington academic programs.  The building itself has numerous teaching venues including a 90+seat auditorium, a 300-person multipurpose room that can be subdivided into three classrooms, a computer lab, a distance learning lab, four seminar rooms and three conference rooms.  All venues have access to the building’s extensive array of technologies that include multimedia, network, and high-speed Internet capabilities, as well as video-conferencing.  The Center welcomed its third academic year class in September 2003.  The UC Washington Center may also serve as a model for other off campus programs that could be developed for UC students.

In November, Academic Initiatives organized a retreat focused on developing an academic delivery plan for the Center that will be sustainable, affordable, and maintain or enhance the quality of the program. If accepted by the campuses, the recommendations emanating from the retreat could result in significant cost savings.

8.  UC Sacramento Center

A proposal for a UC academic center in Sacramento was developed by Academic Initiatives in 2002-03 and, after an intensive review, a three-year pilot program was approved. Gary Dymski, a Professor of Economics and former Associate Dean at UC Riverside, was named director of the pilot program in June 2003. An intensive planning and program-development process was initiated as of July 2003, in preparation for the arrival of the first cohort of undergraduate students in January 2004.

One particularly valuable feature of the planning and development process has been the OP UCCS Coordinating Committee organized by Academic Initiatives and  made up of staff from offices including facilities management, budget, financial planning, student academic services, research, the California Digital Library, and information resources and communication.  This team has functioned effectively to both ensure that OP units have some sense of “ownership” for the Center as a systemwide project as well as to manage the enormous number of details including several setbacks with regard to initial space for the program.  There is no doubt that the UCCS project would not have been able to move forward in a coordinated and effective way without the work of this group.

With regard to the specifics of the pilot phase of the UCCS program, beginning in January 2004 approximately 3 undergraduates per quarter or semester will come to Sacramento from each campus. (Note: 17 undergraduates are officially enrolled for the inaugural Winter 2004 term.) Participating students will have internships ranging from 24 to 32 hours per week in state governmental agencies, the State Assembly and State Senate, the executive branch, and other locations. Students will also participate in related academic course-work. A Sacramento apartment complex will provide housing during the program’s pilot phase. An academic advisory council comprised of faculty from the UC campuses has been assembled, and held its first meeting in October. The challenge of arranging for academic credits on a campus-by-campus basis for students in this program has pointed out the need to have academic policy that enables enrollment in “systemwide” courses; Academic initiatives is working with UCEP to secure appropriate changes to existing policy. Another chllenge is adjusting for the differences in the campuses’ quarter and semester calendars.

Intensive discussions are underway regarding the public service and research activities to be located in the UC Center in Sacramento. These activities will be conducted in conjunction with John Griffing, Director of Public Service at the UC Office of State Governmental Relations, with the California Policy Research Center, with UC multi-campus research units, and with appropriate entities in the California State University system.

9.  UC Consortium for Language Learning and Teaching

The UC Consortium for Language Learning & Teaching (http://uccllt.ucdavis.edu) enters its fourth year of operation having carried out the following activities during 2003: (1) a professional development workshop on “Discourse and Culture in Language Study” held at UC Berkeley (June 23-27, 2003), partially sponsored by TIAA-CREF, (2) an outreach workshop for teachers of AP Spanish Literature held at the California Language Teachers’ Association annual convention in Sacramento (April 24-25, 2003); and (3) the awarding of several mini-grants to enhance the Chinese curriculum (placement exams, heritage materials, Web-based materials) and another to create a training handbook for heritage language instruction.  The Consortium has been awarded a three-year FIPSE award of $460,000 from the Department of Education to develop distance-learning courses in Arabic for the UC system (“Arabic Without Walls”), co-sponsored with the National Middle East Language Resource Center (BYU).  On November 14-15, 2003, the Consortium will sponsor another workshop on teaching AP Spanish Literature with support from a $15,000 grant from the UC Davis University Outreach and International Programs.  In the spring (March 26-28, 2004), the Consortium will host the second research conference on second language acquisition on the Santa Cruz campus. In addition, the Consortium will be participating in the upcoming IMPAC discussions concerning the articulation of the foreign-language curriculum.  Currently, extramural and federal support is also being pursued in support of Punjabi language instruction at a distance.

10.  Accreditation

Academic Initiatives staff continues to provide liaison to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and to the accreditation liaison officers (ALOs) on the campuses.  UC Davis completed its accreditation review in Spring 2003. Berkeley had its final visit in mid-October and WASC action on re-accreditation is expected in February 2004.  These two are the first UC campuses to use the revised standards contained in the new WASC Handbook of Accreditation.   These revisions aim to focus reviews on educational effectiveness, attune accreditation visits to the strategic planning process at each institution, and reduce review expenses.  To afford a venue for sharing recent experiences under the revised standards, Academic Initiatives convened a meeting of campus ALOs this fall.  UC Santa Cruz is the next campus slated for an accreditation review; UC Merced is applying for its initial accreditation candidacy.  Campuses continue to use the updated Policy and Data Portfolio developed by Academic Initiatives staff as a resource for the periodic reviews.

In the coming year, the department will work with the University’s Washington office to monitor closely federal discussions related to accreditation.  Regional accreditation is under particular scrutiny for its perceived failure to hold postsecondary institutions accountable for measuring student achievement.  Debates involved in the Higher Education Reauthorization Act include whether or not to maintain the link between regional accreditation and participation in federal financial aid programs.

11.  Freshman Seminars

In collaboration with Planning and Analysis, a proposal was developed to expand the freshman seminar program to a level that would allow for the enrollment of all interested students.  Consultation with the Academic Senate showed a significant resistance to a mandatory program, initiated by the Office of the President.  Nonetheless, momentum is in place for a significant expansion of freshman seminars and other small course experiences during the coming two years.

B. APPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGY

1.  Teaching, Learning and Technology

In 2003, the UC Teaching, Learning & technology Center (TLtC), located within Academic Initiatives, commenced its third year of operations, exhibiting and supporting instructional technology efforts throughout the system through its grants program and webzine. In 2003, the TLtC awarded over $325,000 in large and small grants for intercampus collaborative projects that further appropriate uses of technology in teaching and learning. Examples of the projects that have been funded by the TLtC include: UCWrite, a website dedicated to fostering communication and sharing of pedagogical resources about writing throughout the UC community; Calibrated Peer Review, a comprehensive, web-based, instructional tool that enables instructors to use frequent writing assignments in any size course without requiring additional teaching resources; and ePhysics, a web-based tool that provides instructors a way to interactively engage students in learning physics concepts.

The TLtC Webzine & Online Forum (http://www.uctltc.org/), which launched in December 2001, continues to publish news and feature stories about how educational technology is being used in the UC system. The webzine delivers its content through a monthly web publication as well as an email newsletter that goes out to almost 400 people in the UC system. The webzine also aggregates resources and services from the UC campuses and national organizations, and publishes them in one central location. In addition, the Webzine hosts a searchable database, called Who’s Doing What, that contains information about how UC instructors use technology in their teaching.

2.  UCTV: The University of California’s Television Channel

Academic Initiatives coordinated the systemwide group that developed a proposal for a new nationwide channel that was launched January 7, 2000 on the Echostar DISHTV Network (channel 9412).  Since that time, UCTV has broadcast over 1,600 original programs from all of the UC campuses and the UC-managed national labs.  This fall, UCTV launched a new UC-wide magazine-style program called “State of Minds.”  Hosted by veteran journalist George Strait, “State of Minds” is a 30-minute program that will air segments from all of the UC campuses exploring the many exciting developments, personalities, and pursuits that make the UC one of the nation's finest research universities.

UCTV is co-located with UCSD-TV and initially shared much of its content with UCSD-TV.  However, the proportion of programs coming from campuses other than San Diego has now increased substantially, with about 60 percent of the programming now originating on the other campuses.  The DISH Network now reaches over 9 million subscribers, with over 2 million in California.  UCTV is also carried on an increasing number of California cable channels reaching another 3 million California households.  The UCTV broadcast signal is streamed over the Internet [www.uctv.tv] and individual programs can be downloaded on demand.  Using new compression and Internet 2 technologies, UCTV has streamed live medical programming on topics of national interest, such as a recent program on smallpox designed to ensure that medical experts are up-to-date in face of potential bio-terrorist threats.

Academic Initiatives helps to implement and coordinate the governance structure for UCTV, much of which is done through regular meetings of a Systemwide Advisory Committee that includes faculty and campus representatives appointed by the Vice Provost.   Next steps include creation of a statewide Community Advisory Group that will include civic, community and business leaders.  Academic Initiatives remains active in attempting to bring UCTV to a wider audience, focusing most recently on negotiating with DIRECTV (more than 11 million subscribers) to add UCTV to its line-up of public interest stations.  In addition, we have assisted this year in negotiations seeking a dedicated cable channel for UCTV as part of local government cable system franchise agreements in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Academic Initiatives coordinates contract, regulatory, and systemwide budget issues on behalf of UCTV.

3.  UC College Preparation Program (UCCP)  

On-Line AP Course Enrollment, Student Services, and Teacher Support: In academic year 2002-03, UCCP enrolled 3,058 students in 6,066 semester enrollments with an 89% completion rate, representing 222 schools in 55 counties.  In 2003-04, UCCP is projected to serve 4,000 students in 7,500 enrollments in AP, honors and college prep online courses at eligible schools.  In addition, in 2002-03, 9,246 students enrolled in 20,091 UCCP-sponsored AP Exam Review sections.  Enrollments in online SAT/ACT Test Prep are expected to grow to 20,000 in 2003-04. 

Future Funding Issue: UCCP has absorbed a 53% budget reduction and faces a 50% mid-year cut and elimination of State support in 2004-05. To absorb the 53% reduction, UCCP has completed the groundwork to adopt a fee for service model for schools outside its current target area.  In addition, a partnership with Blackboard on its Course Management System is expected to allow UCCP to distribute its content beyond eligible schools, affording opportunities for cost recovery that can sustain and refresh UCCP courses. Elimination of State support for 2004-05 would likely result in closing a program that is the sole source of AP course preparation for several thousand California students.

4.  Digital California Project (DCP)

In 2000, an initiative of Governor Davis authorized $32 million to UC to make an advanced services high bandwidth electronic network available to schools across the state.  Subsequently, UC contracted the not-for-profit Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) to create this network by leveraging the Cal-REN network.  CENIC then organized the Digital California Project (DCP) to build the necessary network infrastructure to enable California's schools to take advantage of tomorrow's advances in network technology.  In essence, CENIC is developing an advanced-services network to serve the entire California K-20 education and research community.  The Vice Provost for Academic Initiatives has primary responsibility for oversight of the DCP effort within UCOP and represents the University on the DCP’s Program Steering Committee.  UC has begun using the network to deliver high quality resources, such as AP online courses to schools and digital library materials, and to collaborate with the K-12 community.

With budget cuts during the past two years DCP has had to revise some of its plans for the network; however, the project has continued with its priority to make the network available to every county in the state.  This K-20 network will, as of December 2003, be connected to all 58 counties.  An unanticipated budget cut in 2003 has further reduced the budget to $14.3 million.  The CENIC Board of Directors believes it has strategies to sustain the basic network operations through most, if not all, of this fiscal year.  However, unless a strategy for long-term fiscal stability is found and deployed soon, CENIC will not be able to continue operating the network.  A crucial issue facing DCP is whether state policy makers and the K-12 community will see the value of this network.  For this reason, DCP activities are shifting from a primary emphasis on network deployment to a focus on building support for the network and finding applications considered appropriate for California classrooms.  As part of this effort, DCP in collaboration with K-12 leadership in Sacramento has developed a website to highlight quality online learning resources considered appropriate for California classrooms: http://digitalcalifornia.net.  Some of the initially featured resources are UCCP and the California Digital Library.  In another strategy to raise awareness of the value of the K-20 DCP network for education in California, DCP collaborated with CPEC and the Superintendent of Public Instruction to host a one-day conference on Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age on December 8, 2003.  DCP will publish on the website the policy papers around issues K-12 and higher education need to address to ensure the integration of technology and the DCP network into K-12 education.  UC continues to work closely with DCP to make its resources such as UCCP available to K-12 over the DCP Network. 

C.  INTERSEGMENTAL RELATIONS AND MASTER PLAN FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

The Academic Initiatives Department is responsible for a variety of activities related to the other segments of education in California, particularly those deriving from the Master Plan for Higher Education.  Academic Initiatives coordinates University responses to reviews of the Master Plan for Higher Education, which delineates the structure and functions of the various segments of higher education in California.  The department also responds to and represents UC's interests in other state-level higher education policy reviews.  In the past, Academic Initiatives has represented UC on state entities and blue-ribbon commissions outside of the higher education arena (such as the Constitutional Revision Commission) that could affect the Master Plan or UC's ability to carry out its mission.

As part of its Master Plan responsibilities, the department staffs the President of the University in his participation as a member of the California Education Round Table and Vice Provost Zelmanowitz is one of UC's representatives to the Intersegmental Coordinating Committee (ICC), which reports to the Round Table.  The department provides liaison with the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) and the other segments of higher education - CSU, the community colleges, and the independent colleges and universities.  Recent activities in this area are detailed below.

1. The Master Plan for Higher Education and Master Plan Review

In August 2002, the Legislature completed a major review of the Master Plan for Higher Education in the context of a report recommending a new Master Plan for all levels of education—pre-kindergarten through university.  This report was the work of Joint Legislative Committee established in 1999 and chaired by Senator Dede Alpert.  Academic Initiatives worked extensively with UC State Governmental Relations staff, Master Plan committee staff, and the seven Master Plan working groups and their UC members to represent the University’s interests and develop UC positions in the development of this report.

The past year ushered in the next phase of Master Plan activities.  The Joint Committee proceeded to introduce legislation seeking to implement many of the report’s recommendations.  Academic Initiatives staff analyzed these legislative proposals and developed formal UC responses with governmental relations colleagues on Master Plan bills concerning higher education governance, student learning, and faculty issues.  Academic Initiatives also helped ensure internal UC constituencies such as the Academic Senate were aware of and consulted in the development of these positions. 

Master Plan activities should continue for at least another year and likely beyond.  The Advisory Group on accountability [see below] forwarded its recommendations to a subset of Joint Committee members.  Further discussion of and action on the framework is anticipated over the coming months.  In addition, Master Plan bills are pending in both the Assembly and Senate.  Legislators intend to work out policy concerns over the next six months and move the bills out of the respective appropriations committees.  As part of that process, the Joint Committee plans to hold a series of meetings with “stakeholders” during the current legislative recess to gather support for enacting measures to implement Master Plan report recommendations.

2.  Higher Education Accountability Framework

Academic Initiatives directed the University’s efforts on another activity emanating from the Joint Committee report.  Specifically, the unit spearheaded UC’s participation in a statewide endeavor to develop a higher education accountability framework.  Academic Initiatives staff coordinated all aspects of the process to date, including work with the project consultant, selection of Chancellor Vanderhoef as the University’s representative to the initial advisory group, and staffing the Chancellor for that group.  The assignment entailed extensive consultation with planning, budget, admissions, outreach, financial aid, and research staff within Office of the President.  Through this consultation, the department coordinated careful review and analysis of numerous iterations of a potential accountability framework.  Academic Initiatives staff developed detailed comments on each draft and proposed revisions to encourage collection of meaningful data. They researched accountability approaches used in other states as background to this work.

3.  California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC)

The Academic Initiatives Department provides liaison to CPEC, representing UC positions to the Commission, advising UC’s Regent Commissioner, preparing briefings for that representative, monitoring the work of the various CPEC advisory committees, providing UC input on CPEC reports, and facilitating CPEC review of proposed University graduate programs [see Section above on Academic Planning and Programs].  The unit prepares annual or biannual reports to the Regents on CPEC activities.  Academic Initiatives staff represent the UC President on the CPEC Statutory Advisory Committee.

A budget proposal to eliminate funding for CPEC and legislative initiative to merge its functions with those of the California Student Aid Commission ignited intense discussions regarding the future of higher education coordination in the state.  Academic Initiatives coordinated UC policy discussions and position development on AB 655, Assembly Member’s Liu’s bill to merge CPEC with the California Student Aid Commission and the Bureau of Private Postsecondary and Vocation Education.  In addition, Academic Initiatives coordinated recommendations developed by the CPEC Statutory Advisory Committee (representing all the segments of higher education) concerning the priorities the Commission should pursue given reduced resources.

Partial restoration of the Commission’s budget and delay in progress of the merger bill mean that debate will continue about how to ensure the most effective, efficient mechanism for postsecondary oversight in these times of fiscal austerity.  Accordingly, Academic Initiatives will continue to devote managerial and analytic resources to this issue.  In fact, because of staff reductions at the Commission, UC staff may need to expend greater efforts on CPEC activities, including reports such as the upcoming eligibility study.

1.  Legislative Analysis

Staff responds to requests for analysis of pending legislation, suggest or draft amendments, and recommend positions on bills that affect areas of departmental responsibility.  This year, staff worked extensively on legislation seeking to implement Master Plan recommendations and to merge state higher education agencies, as well as numerous bills related to issues as diverse as concurrent enrollment and workforce preparation.  We have also participated in discussion at the Federal level around the Higher Education Reauthorization Act, particularly with regard to issues of accountability and accreditation.

1.  California Digital Library

Since its establishment in 1997 as an additional UC library, the California Digital Library has worked in close collaboration with the campus libraries to develop the digital collections and online information services that the campus libraries require but cannot cost-effectively provide on their own. Through this effort, faculty, staff, and students at every UC campus have access to the largest and most sophisticated library collections and services available anywhere. Campus libraries are also able to tailor these collections and services so they support local research and teaching and also to economize substantially by sharing in their cost.

In 2003 the CDL continued to greatly expand the libraries’ digital collections by building them directly from the University’s own library, museum, press, and academic holdings and through licenses and purchases from scholarly publishers. It continues to pair expanding collections with a high-quality service infrastructure. 

These efforts are assisted by grants from the Mellon and Flora Hewlett foundations and from the federally funded Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Library Services and Technology Act. Current grants are seeding initial development of advanced technologies for discovering digital materials regardless of their location, integrating them into local learning and research environments, and preserving them for enduring access. The widely reported results of these grant-funded initiatives represent a direct contribution of UC leadership to research universities and their library programs worldwide.

Expanded Digital Collections

The University of California's scholars and students conduct their research and learning while drawing from the significant portion of the world's knowledge held in UC's library collections. Those collections grow and become more convenient to use through the California Digital Library's program to acquire and host scholarly materials in digital form. Holdings expanded in 2003 to reach more than 9,400 scholarly journals, tens of thousands of electronic books including over 1,400 from the UC Press, and more than 250 journal article and reference databases. Through the CDL’s negotiations with commercial publishers for systemwide contracts, UC has avoided over $27 million in costs compared to campuses acting independently to acquire the same content.

Meanwhile, cultural heritage materials from UC libraries and California partners hosted by the CDL have grown to cover more than 7,500 special collections and include hundreds of thousands of online images and manuscript or document pages.

A new initiative launched in 2003 adds depth to humanities resources by assembling more than 150,000 art, architecture, and museum images, and making them available through a system that searches across commercially licensed and locally created visual resources.

In 2003 the CDL worked to make a significant portion of the university’s information assets available to the public by establishing www.CaliforniaDigitalLibrary.org, which provides a single point of access for the publicly available digital collections produced or managed by UC.

Enhanced Online Library Services

The CDL supplies innovative technology so that the campuses can offer customized, locally defined services that meet library patrons’ needs. The resulting services are increasingly able to present UC’s library holdings as a single, comprehensive collection, to simplify navigation among information resources, and to integrate the supply of digital and print materials with single-click requesting of items regardless of their location in the system.  These enhancements to the experience of library users are attended by economic efficiencies because the library is saved the cost of having locally to build and maintain the deep technical infrastructure these services require.

Primary examples of the shared service infrastructure launched in 2003 include a new version of the Melvyl catalog of the UC libraries and a one-click navigation tool from citations to full content called UC-eLinks. Another service, SearchLight, allows simultaneous searches across multiple journal databases, book catalogs, and other information sources available through the CDL and the UC campuses. Additional service infrastructure that is less visible to library users is being built to protect UC’s digital collections. The CDL hosts the libraries’ Digital Preservation Program which is building systems and tools to ensure long term access to the digital scholarly information that supports and results from research and teaching at UC.  The CDL has also undertaken a very substantial new initiative to provide campus libraries with the tools to tailor information environments so they meet local users’ specific research and teaching needs. They will also enable libraries to integrate local print and digital collections into these environments, as well as third-party materials (e.g. as are available on the open Internet) thereby emphasizing campus collection strengths as well as research and teaching needs.

2.  Scholarly Communication

The economics of scholarly publishing are incontrovertibly unsustainable. Simply put, the manner in which the academy produces, reviews, distributes, and archives research publications has become unaffordable. Unless this situation is addressed immediately, universities and their academic libraries will not be able to support faculty’s research and teaching needs by providing access to the information they require. Nor will researchers be able to distribute their publications as widely as they may wish to. Given its size and influence, the University of California has a unique opportunity to effect a lasting change, and it is from this recognition that the UC libraries’ scholarly communications program was born in 1997 with continuing support largely through work conducted at the CDL and within the Office of Systemwide Library Planning.

Through this program, the UC libraries have worked aggressively to:

• stretch collections dollars by acting consortially to license online materials;
• support alternative means for publishing scholarly materials - means that make high-quality peer-reviewed publications available at an affordable price; and
• inform themselves and faculty colleagues about the dimensions and possible ways of addressing the crisis in the economics of scholarly publishing.

The work - described along with periodic updates at http://libraries.universityofcalifornia.edu - has been accelerated and expanded dramatically this past year.

With regard to support for alternative means of scholarly publications, the California Digital Library’s eScholarship program (available at http://www.escholarship.cdlib.org/) continues to evolve. Launched in July 2000 to support alternative means of scholarly publishing, the program has developed capacity with various kinds of scholarly material.

• The eScholarship Repository now includes thousands of working and conference papers and other scholarly works sponsored by more than 120 different UC research units and departments. Scholars from around the globe are accessing this work at a rate of more than 11,000 full-text downloads per week.
• The eScholarship Repository can also support UC produced electronic journals (for example, San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science released in October 2003) and peer-reviewed series (as evident, for example, in the UC International and Area Studies Digital Collection),
• eScholarship editions, meantime, demonstrates our ability to distribute monographs online.  Already more than 1,400 monograph titles have been released through a partnership with the UC Press.

Outreach activities have also ramped up. In October and November 2003, the Office of Systemwide Library Planning (SLP) and the California Digital Library, in consultation with the leadership of the Academic Council, hosted a pair of Northern and Southern California regional seminars. The success of the meetings is reflected in part by the formation of a new special committee of the Academic Senate devoted to issues and action in scholarly communication and in the libraries’ elaboration of their strategic plan for this area.

Additionally, a new UC libraries’ web site hosted by CDL and SLP includes a section devoted to communicating with faculty about influencing and reshaping scholarly communication (on the web at http://libraries.universityofcalifornia.edu/scholarly/).

3.   Support for Continuous Strategic Planning

The Systemwide Library Planning unit (SLP) within Academic Initiatives provides ongoing leadership and support for continuous library planning, primarily through the Systemwide Library and Scholarly Information Advisory Committee (SLASIAC) and the University Librarians. SLASIAC is charged to advise the University on systemwide library policies and strategic priorities, on systemwide long term planning for the UC libraries including the ten campus libraries and the California Digital Library (CDL), and on strategies that will enhance and facilitate the transmission of scholarly and scientific communication in a digital environment. Systemwide Library Planning prepares the agendas and coordinates development of supporting materials for meetings of the University Librarians (about eight times per year).

Building on the work of an ad hoc SLASIAC subcommittee, the Scholarly Information Program Task Force, SLP is working closely with the eleven University Librarians to ensure effective continuous planning by defining and articulating a vision, goals, and strategies that build upon and will eventually supersede the 1997 Library Planning and Initiative. In early 2003, SLP produced discussion papers on collaborative collection management and the development of shared print collections that were reviewed and assessed by the library community. SLP has subsequently prepared a draft strategic plan describing the aims of the University of California’s libraries, the challenges that currently face the library system, and proposed strategic responses to those challenges, with a special focus on establishing strategic directions for a fiscally challenging environment and describing the potential consequences of budgetary decisions that affect the UC libraries individually and collectively. Preliminary results from the analytical work supporting the plan indicate that the University’s strategy of leveraging its library resources through collaboration has been remarkably successful, roughly doubling the efficiency of the library system over the last two decades.  The paper has been reviewed and discussed by the University Librarians and SLASIAC, and will be distributed to the broader University community in 2004. In addition, SLP has

worked with the California Digital Library on assessment metrics for the shared collection and on a 5-year progress report, “Advances in Resource Sharing and Systemwide Library Service at the University of California.” SLP also provided support for a November 2003 planning retreat for University Librarians that set out key implementation steps for the creation of print collections that are shared on a Universitywide basis and collectively managed by the UC Libraries.

In 2003 SLP substantially completed a study sponsored by a $670,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to explore the complex issues associated with changing archival and collection management strategies.  The objectives of the Collection Management Initiative were to:

a)  Produce objective data on a variety of factors, including characteristics of research library users and uses and characteristics of published journal literature, that influence the acceptance of journal publications in digital form as substitutes for their print equivalents; the impact on research library users of dependence on digital versions of scholarly journals;

b)  Assess the implications of these findings for institutional policies, strategies and obligations for archiving of scholarly journals in print and digital form; and

c)  Assess the implications of these findings for institutional strategies and programs to more effectively manage their print and digital collections.

The study, implemented in October 2001, involved temporarily removing selected print journals from UC libraries for which electronic access is available through the California Digital Library. During the study period (October 2001 through September 2002) researchers relied primarily on the electronic version of the journals. If a researcher needed to consult the print version, the volume could be brought back for use or a photocopy provided. Data on the use of these journals, in both print and digital format, was collected through September 2002 and a broad survey of faculty, students and staff at all campuses was conducted in spring 2003. Additional information and results of the study are available at the project Web site, <http://www.ucop.edu/cmi>.

In early 2000, to support new approaches to collection management, SLASIAC also established a Standing Committee on Universitywide Library Collection Management Planning (informally known as the Collection Management Planning Group) to advise on issues, new approaches, and policies related to management of the combined print and digital library collection within the UC system. This committee, chaired by Collection Management Initiative Principal Investigator Brian Schottlaender, has focused on identifying and exploring scenarios for systemwide shared collections, including new roles for the University’s two Regional Library Facilities. Related to the work of that committee, SLP is providing substantial support to a Regional Library Facilities Planning Task Force, commissioned by the University Librarians and charged to identify policy and administrative changes necessary to position the Facilities for new roles in an increasingly collaborative and interdependent UC library system; the report of this group should be available before the end of the calendar year.

4.   Library Budget

Working closely with the Budget Office, SLP prepared the annual budget request for libraries in the 2004-05 Regents’ Budget, including the narrative for the Libraries section of the 2004-05 budget. SLP also has taken the lead in developing and supporting detailed plans and allocations resulting from cuts to the Library Resource Sharing program.

1.      Standing Committee on Copyright

The UC Standing Committee on Copyright, chaired by UCI Executive Vice Chancellor Michael Gottfredson, and staffed by Academic Initiatives, has a broad charge to monitor copyright issues, formulate positions on copyright legislation, and make recommendations on University copyright policies. In September 2003, after extensive formal review, the Policy on Ownership of Course Materials was announced as a new Presidential policy. In addition, a revised draft of a proposed Policy on Recording of Course Presentations is undergoing UCOP internal review in preparation for distribution for formal review in the spring.

In collaboration with the Director of Intercampus Program Coordination, the SLP unit within Academic Initiatives began the development of a new Copyright Education web site to provide information and resources on copyright to the University community. The site was launched in October 2003 (see http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/copyright) as an authoritative resource for campus use in copyright education.