On her first day of school, Linda Katehi arrived in Washington D.C. to meet Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Katehi, who began her term as chancellor last Monday, has set the stage for a new era at UC Davis. Her meeting with Clinton and the Department of Education is just one part of her vision to bring UC Davis to the top ranks among public institutions.

“It’s something we need to do more of,” Katehi said of her meeting with education leaders from around the country. “I hope that we can have more of our faculty and students go to Washington and be more central to what happens nationally.”

At the conference, Katehi discussed the role that study abroad programs play in making both students and the U.S. government a global presence. Secretary Clinton arranged the discussion to assist universities in providing the best possible opportunities abroad. The discussion sought to coordinate foreign policy with the missions of universities, as well as spark conversation on the benefits of education in foreign countries.

“It was a very interesting discussion and I think [our partnerships abroad] will become a major strategy for our campus,” said Katehi, who attested to the benefits not only of Davis students studying abroad, but also the university’s ability to attract foreign scholars.

While in D.C., Katehi also met with officials in the Department of Energy to discuss the possibility of UC Davis as the home of a DOE energy innovation hub.

The discussions began what Katehi hopes will be standard in UC Davis life. Recently ranked number 11 among public universities by U.S. News and World Report, UC Davis has the ability to rise further in those rankings, but only through creative measures and investments, Katehi said.

“In order to be in the top ten, that means we have to displace someone, and of course that university is not just sitting out there waiting to be displaced by anyone else, let me tell you,” Katehi said. “We really have to think totally different from everybody else, something that nobody else will anticipate.”

One way Katehi hopes to lead the university to the top 10, and possibly the top five, is to make small investments, even in a difficult financial environment.

“Yes, we don’t have a lot of money to make major investments but we should be able to make small, critical investments that will allow us to move forward, and to not lose our people, our students or our programs,” she said.

Her first business day marked the start of what she has called her hundred-day listening tour, in which she will spend the majority of her time listening to staff, students, faculty and lawmakers on the needs of the university. After, she will meet with university officials to develop a campus “vision” that she hopes will guide policy for up to 20 years.

Katehi has arranged for students to play an active role in the decisions she and administrators will be making in the coming months. She will meet with four student advisors to the chancellor – two undergraduates and two graduates – as well as with members of ASUCD once a month for an hour.

“She genuinely wants to know what’s on students’ minds,” said Joe Chatham, ASUCD president and senior international relations major. Chatham also met with Katehi last week along with Vice President Chris Dietrich and student advisors to the chancellors.

“She’s a decision-maker and I think she’s really going to put energy into this campus. She’s such a prominent national figure, which is going to make UC Davis a very recognizable institution,” Chatham said.

Katehi also addressed the actions of her former colleagues at the University of Illinois, acknowledging a long history of corruption which she regretted being affiliated with.

“The decisions of the trustees were not fair, and that’s what happens when you don’t have transparency – you lose integrity and you lose fairness,” she said. “I am so pleased that this institution has a very robust process in place so it can deal with admissions in a way that is fair to the students and fair to the university.”

Katehi’s predecessor, Chancellor-emeritus Larry Vanderhoef, also urged those still critical of the admissions scandal to try to look past the issue, and forward to the changes she will make on campus.

Vanderhoef, who will take a year-long sabbatical and return to Davis to teach a science class for non-science majors, expressed his utmost confidence in Katehi for the decisions he felt both challenged and privileged to have taken on as chancellor.

“She’s going to have some hard decisions to make,” he said, in reference mainly to the budget crisis. “But there are certain things that can’t be accomplished when times are good, units that should be shut down. And she’s up to it. This is a very experienced, very wise and very savvy woman. She’ll make this happen.”

LAUREN STEUSSY can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Slug: 090824_ca_colusaclinic

Edits: jso

Notes:

Headline: UC Davis Medical Group to close Colusa clinic

Layercake: Community members upset at lack of warning

By ERICA LEE

Aggie News Writer

Over 2,000 UC Davis Medical Center patients will lose their local care when the system’s Colusa clinic closes this November.

The UC Davis Medical Group recently announced the closure after years of financial challenges that had the Colusa clinic losing nearly $800,000 annually, said Kurt Slapnick, medical director of UC Davis’ network of primary-care physician practices.

“The challenges stem in large part to increases in charity care and bad debt, as well as inadequate reimbursement from government payers such as Medi-Cal,” Slapnick said. “Operational losses have also stemmed from challenges recruiting and retaining physicians and providing sufficient operational support for such a remote site.”

The university’s decision has left many members of the Colusa community shocked and upset, said Dale Kirby, chief executive officer of Colusa Regional Medical Center.

“My phone has been ringing off the hook,” Kirby said. “The community has started a letter writing campaign to the governor … many people are shocked and hurt by the announcement [to close the clinic].”

Kirby said he was personally very surprised by the news and received no prior notice of the decision.

“I had no forewarning and neither did the clinic employees,” he said. “Nobody from UC Davis had bothered to talk to us about it, we found out when the public did.”

Phillip Raimondi, former medical director of the Colusa office, was unable to comment for this article but told the Colusa County Sun-Herald that although the university had considered closing the Colusa clinic for years, it intentionally did not discuss the decision with the Colusa community beforehand.

“There is no right way to do this and we decided if we talked to people ahead of time we would run the risk of starting a rumor mill, and we didn’t want that,” Raimondi said in the Sun-Herald article earlier this month.

Kirby said he believes that UC Davis should have included the community of Colusa in the discussion process.

“The ethical and moral thing would have been to sit with [the community] and talk to us about a plan,” he said. “I am confident we could have figured out something that would have worked for the community and UC Davis but [the university] did not give us the opportunity … we are stuck trying to find medical coverage for 2,000 people.”

Despite the closing of its clinic, UC Davis medical group plans to stay connected with the Colusa medical community, Slapnick said.

“UC Davis plans to continue the provision of specialty services, such as radiology and cardiology, telemedicine consultations and other programs and services,” he said.

Slapnick also said that patients who choose to switch to physicians from local providers in Colusa will receive aid from the health system in making the transition. Patients can also choose to stay with UC Davis medical group by seeking care at one of its other locations in Davis or Rocklin.

However, this is not a viable option for many members of the clinic’s patients, Kirby said.

“Many of the patients are senior citizens,” he said. “Driving 60 miles away to Rocklin or Davis to obtain health care is a real burden for many people.”

ERICA LEE can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Though fewer freshmen were admitted to UC Davis this year, more attended orientation.

Approximately 96 percent of the incoming freshman class attended the three-day long event. The number has been steadily increasing since New Student Services has partnered with admissions, said Heidi Souverville, program director of the service.

“We’re increasing our presence in the recruitment process, and letting incoming freshmen know from day one that [orientation] is the next thing they need to do,” Souverville said.

Souverville also credited the high turnout to the rising cost of tuition.

“Education is more of an investment,” she said. “Students and their families want to do everything they can to make sure this is a successful investment, so orientation is a way to secure that.“

Students who attended orientation this year belonged to a class with an average grade point average of 4.03. Incoming freshman Hillary Lawson noted the high average and admittance rate, suggesting that increased competition could perhaps be the reason why more freshmen attended.

“It’s going to be hard to compete with the students in this class,” said Lawson, who will be majoring in cell biology. “We need to stay on top of our game.“

The orientation program has made several changes in the past few years that officials hope will boost retention rate.

“We’ve restructured our program so that orientation is not just three days, rather the first year,‘ Souverville said. “We’ve created a new student handbook so that students will know the basics of the transition they will have to make.“

New Student Services has also implemented an internal academic tracking system, so that summer advisers during orientation will have access to test scores and advise students according to those scores. The comments made during orientation will then be transferred to the students‘ academic advisor and will stay with the students‘ records until he or she graduates.

Souvervill said that the changes they have made to the program use the psychological concept known as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which states that humans must first satisfy their physiological needs, then safety needs and then needs of affection and belongingness.

She said that orientation emphasizes that these needs will be met by allowing students to eat at the Dining Commons, briefing them on safety options and health tips and encouraging them to explore the various clubs and organizations available on campus.

“When students understand the services available to them throughout their four years here, they will certainly do better,” Souverville said.

Another slight change that may have helped attract more students to orientation was changing the name from “summer advising” to “freshmen orientation,” said Chris Dietrich, three-year orientation leader and ASUCD vice president.

“I think the name change made the program seem less like a helpful option and more welcoming,” he said.

Orientation leaders also assist in promoting attendance. Dietrich and other leaders call students who have indicated that they will not attend orientation, and try to persuade them to come.

“There’s just a really big push toward coming to orientation,” Dietrich said. “This year’s turnout showed that students are really excited about coming to UC Davis.“

LAUREN STEUSSY can be reached at campus@theaggie.org XXX

By 2011, the Physical Sciences and Engineering Library will be vacant. The library’s books will be dispersed throughout campus and among the bookshelves of other institutions.

The plan to close the library was announced earlier this week in a staff meeting with librarians, after the Office of Resource Management and Planning recommended consolidating the collection last Friday.

“Under the current budget constraints, ORMP agrees that consolidation will be necessary and will allow the library to best provide materials and services that will meet faculty and student needs,” the recommendation said.

Library officials have decided to close the PSEL and move most of the collections to other campus libraries. The majority of PSEL’s 400,000 items will be moved to Shields Library. Some or all of the biological and agricultural sciences collections and librarians currently at Shields will be relocated to the Carlson Health Sciences Library. Other books will be stored at the Northern Regional Library Facility in Richmond, or sent to other institutions.

“This was a tough decision to make,” said Helen Henry, associate university librarian for administrative services. “But moving the PSEL to Shields will free up some space that can be used for new materials.“

Architects and engineers will be examining the space in the next several months to decide what to do with the building.

The collections being sent away are duplicate books or editions that are also available online, Henry said. She expects that the services and people who work at the PSEL location currently will be relocated; however the details of such a relocation are still in the planning process.

“One less building allows us to garner our resources,” Henry said. “We have gathered to identify the specifics of this relocation and now we’re going to see what the ripple effect will be.“

Librarians in the PSEL said they are “not thrilled” about the decision but have declined to comment.

Other UC campuses are facing similar library cuts. UCLA has decreased its library’s hours of operation and is considering closing two of its campus libraries.

LAUREN STEUSSY can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi sent her first email message to students, faculty and staff this afternoon.

She outlined the agenda for her first several days on the job – including a trip to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, D.C. – and discussed her goals for the coming months.

The full text of the message is below.

August 17, 2009

Dear UC Davis Community Members,

Today I officially join UC Davis‘ family as chancellor, honored beyond measure and eager to get to work on this university’s behalf.

Spyros and I flew to Sacramento yesterday morning, waiting for the movers to arrive today, hopefully with everything intact. It will take us a couple of days before we can find our things!

Our first day on campus started yesterday afternoon with a welcome to the law school’s alumni board, followed by a barbecue for first-year law students. Both were very exciting events. I particularly enjoyed meeting with the students because they and I have many things in common–we are both very new to the campus and eager and anxious about the days ahead. The day ended with a red-eye trip to Washington, D.C., so I can participate in an education policy dinner discussion tonight hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. While in Washington today, I will also meet with Department of Energy officials, advocating consideration of UC Davis as the home of a DOE energy innovation hub. DOE couldn’t ask for a better partner in this area, nor could the State Department find a surer bet in its priority area of science diplomacy. And I will take advantage of every opportunity to advance UC Davis‘ interests.

Most immediately, in the days ahead, we must stabilize our state budget. UC President Mark Yudof has called for shared sacrifice in the short term, and the regents have launched a commission on the long-term future of UC. They recognize that furloughs, salary reductions and steadily increasing student fees are simply not sustainable, and that ingenuity and determination are required if we are to ensure the continued long-term quality of this university. I share that view, knowing that we have difficult choices ahead to close this year’s budget gap, to resolve uncertainty, and to identify ways that will ensure financial stability and preserve our capacity to lead. We will do that together, openly, honestly, and with care because these choices have deeply personal consequences. And, at the same time, we will focus intensely on identifying and responding to new opportunities that have the potential to help us financially but also bring the academic excellence and vitality our institution strives for.

My first 100 days will continue an intense “listening tour” begun when my appointment was announced last May. This first week I am meeting with faculty, student, staff and legislative leaders, key funding partners, and our provost, deans and vice chancellors. I am planning visits to all of the colleges and schools and town hall meetings, and I’ll continue the tradition of brownbag chats at both the Davis and Sacramento campuses. As well, I plan to make good use of my Web page ( http://chancellor.ucdavis.edu ) for sharing information and for seeking your comments.

I look forward to working with you and learning from you as, together, we ensure a sustainable and transformative future for UC Davis.

Best,

Linda P.B. Katehi

Chancellor, UC Davis