The UC Office of the President would see its annual spending cut 20 percent and its work force reduced 23 percent under a proposal presented to the Regents on March 19 by Provost and Executive Vice President Wyatt R. Hume. The proposal is one part of an aggressive restructuring effort to make the University’s central administrative organization smaller and more focused in its mission.

Roughly half of the savings would be achieved by cutting budgets and positions within UCOP. The other half would be achieved by moving certain academic and public service programs out of the UCOP organizational structure and onto campuses or other locations where their functions would be more appropriately housed, according to the proposed restructuring.

The reductions in 2008-09 at UCOP would amount to a cut of 404 full-time-equivalent (FTE) positions and $52 million in spending. The proposal identifies additional likely savings from a voluntary employee severance program and from one-time unexpended funds that could take the total reduction to $56.7 million.

Because of attrition, hiring controls on vacant positions, the voluntary employee separation program, and the effort to identify programs better located outside of UCOP, the savings would cause fewer than two dozen layoffs. Affected employees will be offered assistance with job search activities.

The restructuring effort is being led by Hume and Executive Vice President Katherine N. Lapp, who have convened work teams to fundamentally re-examine what operations should be housed at UCOP and how they should be re-organized.

“This budget for UCOP is a critical milestone in our effort to completely re-think the organization and functions of the Office of the President,” Hume said. “Our work is not yet complete, but the savings proposed in this budget are dramatic, and they put us on an even faster track to achieving a leaner and more effective central administrative organization.

“The employees in the Office of the President are hard-working and dedicated to the cause of public higher education, and their work already saves the system in many areas where activities otherwise would be performed redundantly,” he added.

The savings from UCOP also will help as the University confronts the possibility of significant budget cuts due to a $16 billion state budget deficit.

UCOP today includes a wide variety of functions. Some teaching, research, and public service activities that are non-administrative in nature are part of the current UCOP organization. For instance, 197 FTE positions are part of the Continuing Education of the Bar program; another 100 FTE positions are part of the Education Abroad Program based in Santa Barbara; another 120 FTE positions perform benefits administration activities for UC retirees.

Excluding positions reporting to the Regents or Academic Senate and those in non-UCOP programs that receive “pass-through” funding through UCOP, the organization has 1,749 full-time-equivalent employees. However, only about 20 percent—or 350 FTE—are involved in direct support of the UC president.

—Brad Hayward/UCOP