COMMISSION APPOINTED TO RECOMMEND STRATEGIES FOR
THE GROWTH AND SUPPORT OF GRADUATE EDUCATION

University of California Board of Regents Chair S. Sue Johnson and UC President Richard C. Atkinson today (Dec. 6) appointed a commission of Regents, faculty, students and administrators to develop strategies to help UC meet its goal of adding at least 11,000 graduate students over the next decade.

The Commission on the Growth and Support of Graduate Education will be asked to report by next summer on steps the university should take to expand its graduate and professional enrollments and increase financial support for students at the graduate level. The commission will be co-chaired by Johnson and C. Judson King, UC provost and senior vice president for academic affairs.

Graduate education at UC plays an increasingly critical role in producing the research innovations and skilled workforce that fuel California's high-tech economy. Graduate enrollments have been virtually level for decades, however, while undergraduate enrollments have doubled over the past 30 years. As a result, the proportion of graduate students at UC has fallen from 30 percent of total enrollment in 1965 to just 17 percent today. That figure is significantly lower than the percentages for UC's public and private comparison institutions across the country.

To improve its ability to meet the 21st-century economic needs of California, UC plans to increase its graduate enrollments from 27,000 full-time-equivalent students to at least 37,900 over the next decade. This increase will require expanded financial support for UC graduate programs and the students in them. The commission will focus on developing strategies to accomplish these goals.

In addition to Johnson and King, the commission will consist of:

Regents:

• Justin Fong (student Regent)
• Joanne C. Kozberg
• Velma Montoya
• John J. Moores
• Peter Preuss

Campus representatives:

• UC Berkeley: Paul Gray, executive vice chancellor
• UC Davis: Larry Vanderhoef, chancellor
• UC Irvine: Ralph Cicerone, chancellor
• UCLA: Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, vice chancellor for academic affairs and dean of the graduate division
• UC Merced: Joseph Castro, director, academic programs
• UC Riverside: David Warren, executive vice chancellor
• UC San Diego: Richard Attiyeh, vice chancellor for research and dean of graduate studies
• UC San Francisco: Zach Hall, executive vice chancellor
• UC Santa Barbara: Charles Li, dean of the graduate division
• UC Santa Cruz: M.R.C. Greenwood, chancellor

Academic Senate representatives:

• Michael Cowan, chair of the Academic Council
• Clifford Brunk, chair of the Coordinating Committee on Graduate Affairs
• Charles Perrin, vice chair of the Coordinating Committee on Graduate Affairs

Student representatives:

• Debbie Davis, chair of the UC Student Association
• Irene Yun,vice chair of the UC Student Association

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