UC President Drake – Opening Remarks UC Board of Regents Meeting

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Thank you very much, Janet and everyone. I appreciate the kind comments and have a few things to share.

I was thinking that it’s my 123rd scheduled Regents meeting. If I add in the Health Services meetings that were off cycle and non-scheduled meetings, it’s then over 150. So – not getting used to it – but it’s been quite a number of meetings to be here, and it’s great to actually look across the room. My first meeting was November in 1994 – and it’s great to look across the room and see Henry, who was there at that meeting as well. And knowing that here we still are Henry, in the same place.

Let me begin though, in comments today, by celebrating our graduates and their families. It’s a wonderful time of year. So I wanted to start with a congratulations to our 2025 graduates. All of you have worked really hard to reach this milestone, and we’re really excited in the springtime every year to see what the future has in store for all of you. 

I’d also like to call to the attention of everyone some of the exciting research-related items that are on the agenda today and tomorrow. The Academic and Student Affairs Committee has an item on quantum computing. The University leads the world in this field, with research and development happening across our campuses and at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Tomorrow morning, the focus of UC Inspires is Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. If you recall, scientists from the lab made history in 2022 by achieving fusion ignition for the first time in human history – and this has happened now seven additional times since then.

Both of these items demonstrate the positive and profound impact of the University’s research enterprise.

We’ve been talking a lot about the importance of university research in recent months, especially given recent cuts to our grant funding. The research that happens across the University and the discoveries we make benefit individuals and communities across the state and country in very profound ways. I’m very happy to see these research efforts being highlighted.

Next, I want to update the Board on budget matters at the state and federal levels.

Today, Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to release his May revision to the state budget. I am personally very grateful to the Governor for our partnership in developing the budget and the budget Compact and the resulting years of stable funding that we’ve had. We know the Governor and the Legislature care deeply about higher education and supporting student success. They’ve been very, very strong partners to us in recent years, and that has allowed us to make great progress in expanding access and opportunity. So, thank you Governor Newsom – much appreciated. Thank you, members of the Legislature.  

I want to thank the Board for your continued advocacy on state budget matters. We are still facing a tough road, but your conversations with state leaders help us convey our contributions to the state, and how important it is to continue to support our students, our research, our health care enterprise, and so much more.

I also want to thank AVP and Director Kathleen Fullerton and the State Governmental Relations team for all the work they’ve been doing with our State Legislature behind the scenes, really every day doing that work.

As you will hear later today, the team has been preparing for how state funding reductions might affect the University and will continue working with the State Legislature and with the Governor in the weeks ahead to finalize a state budget that sustains the University’s mission. Today we will learn the Governor’s proposal for the University for the future, and we look forward very much to that.

We are also closely monitoring the federal administration’s budget process to analyze the potential impacts on our University and to respond appropriately. As Chair Reilly mentioned, we have all been working across the University and with our higher education associations and other partners to advocate for the University’s mission. AVP for Federal Governmental Relations Chris Harrington and his team have devoted countless hours to these efforts and that work continues. Thank you.

The federal administration released its fiscal year 2026 so-called “skinny” budget proposal, which would cut $163 billion in non-defense discretionary spending. The proposal of course would further cut funds to higher education – including programs that support financial aid and academic advising. It would also make significant cuts to many of the University’s critical research partners, including the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. This is the first step in the federal budget process, and we will continue to advocate for the programs that support our students, researchers, and the University as the budget takes shape.

I’d also like to thank everyone across the University who responded quickly to support our international community last month when the federal administration abruptly revoked some student visas and terminated their records in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System — or SEVIS. The federal government has now restored the majority of those records. In fact, for our students, it was 157 of the 159 records were restored – and the other two had issues that were outside the normal scope of the process. So really, all 157 that were revoked arbitrarily were in fact restored.

Teams on our campuses quickly reached out to impacted students through the International Student Service directors to offer support through the UC Immigrant Legal Services Center. And the Office of the President provided funding to help students with questions about their visa status and to access legal resources.

The Academic Senate – I want to thank – also issued guidance to help campus and faculty leaders support students who are unable to complete – or might be unable to complete – their UC degree on their home campus. We appreciate the Senate’s active support in that realm.

And we continue and will continue to do all we can to support our international students, scholars and faculty. They do so much to enrich our research, teaching, patient care, and public service. Our international community is integral to the University and vital to breakthroughs that we have been able to achieve that have benefitted our community, broader country, and the world.

Like Chair Reilly, I want to recognize our outgoing Board members, Student-Regent Josiah Beharry and Alumni-Regents Geoff Pack and Alfonso Salazar. Thank you all very much. I really have appreciated getting to know you and working with you – and look forward to continue to know you over the years.

I’m also grateful for the service of other leaders completing their last Board meeting today: Staff Advisor to the Regents Andenet Emiru, and President of the UC Graduate and Professional Council Ryan Manriquez – particularly Ryan I’ll say who I mentioned before I met as an undergraduate student, when you were serving in that role at UC Davis. and watched you as you became a graduate student and have been a great leader here for us. I’ve really appreciated our monthly conversations through these years. And actually Ryan, I appreciated being able to attend a couple attended a couple of Bear games with you and to meet your mom. It was an honor for me – and tell her I said so again.

You have represented your constituencies with great care and compassion, helping all of us better understand the perspectives of our students, our staff, and our alumni. We will miss your thoughtful comments and questions, but we know you will continue to be dedicated UC advocates. Thank you for all that you’ve done in service to the Board and the University.

I’d also like to extend my deep appreciation to my friends and colleagues Chancellor Kim Wilcox and Chancellor Henry Yang, who will both be stepping down in the weeks ahead.

It's hard to describe how all-consuming the chancellor’s job is. The job is not easy. You essentially give up your whole life to this work – seven days a week. And we really do appreciate all you have done over so many years.

I want to underscore the tremendous dedication and commitment Kim and Henry have both shown to the University.

The average chancellor spends about five to six years on the job – average nationally. Here we have Kim Wilcox – who is now the second-longest serving chancellor in the history of UC Riverside, with a dozen years of service. And they’re dog years, Kim, so they count even more than that. And Henry Yang, who we recognized last month, as the longest-serving chancellor in the history of the University; he’s been leading UC Santa Barbara for more than three decades, since 1994.

Kim has been a visionary leader, one who brings humor, empathy, and kindness to everything he does. I told a joke at dinner last night – and I could tell when Kim got the joke I’ll say. But he also improved graduation rates, spearheaded the addition of the UC Riverside School of Medicine and School of Public Policy, and oversaw the campus’s rise to No. 1 in social mobility and its membership in the Association of American Universities, two things which one might think are incompatible – what an amazing achievement.

[applause]

And then it’s hard to imagine UC Santa Barbara without Henry and Dilling Yang at the helm – so great has been their influence on the campus. Henry will soon return to the faculty in UCSB’s Mechanical Engineering department.

But over the decades, Henry led UC Santa Barbara through a trajectory of growth and excellence. He spearheaded remarkable expansion in the campus research enterprise and in student facilities. Under his watch, UC Santa Barbara became the first AAU member to receive the designation of Hispanic-Serving Institution, which requires at least 25 percent enrollment of full-time Hispanic undergraduates. UC Santa Barbara really became a model of a public research university serving and achieving top 10 status without having an academic medical center – really an amazing achievement – all under your leadership, Henry. It’s been a pleasure.

[applause]

And I know both will be honored tomorrow.

In addition to appointing new chancellors for both of these campuses in the near future, the University will welcome a new president on August 1st.

I’m thrilled with the Board’s appointment of my colleague and friend JB Milliken from the University of Texas system. I’ve known and worked with JB for approximately 20 years. We met on a bus in Israel with other university presidents during Israel and the West Bank – it was quite a meeting, and we’ve stayed in touch over these years. I think it’s fair to say that I was asked who I thought would be an appropriate leader for the University, and I mentioned three names – or three people I could think of nationally who I thought would be great in this role. And JB was one of them, and I was really pleased that the search process ended up coming to that same conclusion. I think he will be a wonderful addition to our legacy.

I’m frequently asked about the many leadership transitions we’re seeing and what it means for the future of the University of California. And deciding to step down as president or chancellor – these are weighty decisions. We’ve all given our all to these roles for many years, and it now becomes time to pass on the baton. For our campuses and the University overall, these transitions represent renewal and fresh perspectives.

I will do all that I can to set our next president up for success, and I hope we can enlist the Board’s help in setting him up for success as well. To the board, I’ll say  your input, your collaboration, and your thoughtful consideration of how to address the issues that face us is incredibly important for the success of the president. And I know you all will lean in to help him be successful in this new path that he’s undertaking.

Finally, that brings me to my own transition. This, as I mentioned, is my last planned Board meeting before I step down at the end of the academic year. I’ll take sabbatical and then return to the faculty ranks.

It’s been an incredible journey for me with the University of California over these last five decades. I began as a student, and was then a resident, and a junior faculty member, went through the ranks, worked in the Dean’s office, Vice President, and Chancellor – so it’s been interesting step by step in all these different roles.

I’m really grateful to the Board of Regents for giving me first the opportunity to do this and then your partnership over all of these years. And I’m also grateful for how thoughtfully you welcomed me as President. Brenda and I appreciated that very much.

There have been no shortage of challenges that we have tackled together – but we’ve also had wonderful opportunities for success and chances to demonstrate the support, appreciation, and love that each of us has for this University.

I’d like to thank everyone else who helped to support me during these years — with a special pause. I mentioned how difficult the jobs are and how consuming they are. It’s hard to explain actually. It helps to sit in them. But that really extends in almost double time to the partners and spouses who do this – the support that they provide to all of us on a daily basis is something that can’t be overstated.

Brenda and I hosted over 500 events – 20,000 people we entertained at the houses. And I know she made a point of preparing herself for each one of those, knowing who was coming, knowing who was vegetarian, who didn’t like red wine – the other things that were happening –which students were getting degrees. I watched that over the years as a volunteer – not required to do it – but expected to – and how she leaned into it fully and with great pride – and really setting the highest standards.

We know that when people came to see us, we would often take pictures. And we’d hear from people decades later that the pictures were in a special album or on the mantle. So we’d try to always make it – that this was going to be a memorable event – and she cared to dot every “I” and to cross every “T.” So I appreciate that very, very much.

Also know how hard the jobs weigh on you. There are times that are difficult – and how difficult that is for the partners – when you’re having a difficult time getting through the day, that there’s someone there to both feel it with you and support you. So I can’t thank her enough for all that she’s done to be supportive over all these years – and I extend to the partners of all of our colleagues, chancellors – maybe, if we could, for a moment, acknowledge them.

[applause]

Much appreciated.

I mentioned this earlier, but I want to thank Governor Newsom, and our friends in the Legislature. I met Governor Newsom at the chancellor’s house at UCSF during the 1990s. He was 29 years old, I think – had just been appointed to the Board of Supervisors – and we were seated at a small table with this new, young guy. It’s been great watching his career through the time of his service, in San Francisco, then as Lieutenant Governor, and now as the Governor. He understands who we are, cares about higher education, broadly, and has been particularly supportive of us at a time when we know we’re being challenged from the outside. So I’d like to thank the President of Board of Regents, Governor Gavin Newsom.

[applause]

And together, let me say, we’ve made real progress that we believe and hope will be felt for years to come.

We’ve worked to improve educational access, putting more California students on the path to a UC degree. In fact, the University enrolled its largest and most diverse student body in the fall of 2024.

Since 2020, the University has added more than 11,000 California resident undergraduates – the size of another small campus – with 8,300 of these students added in the last two years alone.

We made getting a university degree more affordable. We launched the Tuition Stability Plan to ensure stable and predictable costs for students and their families. We created new pathways for students to graduate and to leave campus with no debt.

We created the UC Native American Opportunity Plan, modeled after the Blue and Gold plan, to cover tuition and student services fees for undergraduate and graduate California students who are in federally recognized Native American tribes. Close to 500 awards have been made so far. Thank you, Regent Sarris, for your partnership in helping us get that started and helping to support us over these years.

We’ve also expanded the UC Health enterprise to serve more people. We’ve grown by 50 percent the number of beds that we have in California. The system is the largest provider of Medi-Cal outpatient visits among major California healthcare systems. We helped provide and improve health outcomes through health initiatives designed for diabetes and hypertension management.

And we did all of this while navigating significant challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, campus protests, social, political, technological, and economic change.

The University of California is a place like no other. For more than 150 years, the University has led the way in research and innovation that has moved the world forward – in space, in technology, in agriculture, in biotech, in AI, in the humanities, and so much more.

I mentioned earlier the historic breakthrough at Lawrence Livermore National Lab achieving fusion ignition. This wouldn’t have happened anywhere – in fact it hasn’t happened anywhere else in the world – and wouldn’t have happened without the University of California.

This is an institution that draws truly remarkable people: people who embrace boldness and integrity; who are dreamers and innovators; and who live our mission of teaching, research, and public service every day.

People of all different backgrounds and perspectives are attracted to this University. This is where you find the most brilliant and talented people doing groundbreaking and meaningful work. It’s where you find people dedicating their lives to making our communities, our state, and our nation better.

I have no words to fully express my gratitude for being able to serve this University and work alongside so many impressive, incredible people. Leading the University has been a humbling and deeply gratifying experience, and I’ll cherish it forever.

Thank you – and that concludes my remarks. Thank you, Chair Reilly.