When conversations about the University of California happen at the highest levels, UC Davis employee Mayté Frías is there, sharing the staff perspective.
Frías spent the past year as staff advisor-designate to the UC Board of Regents, serving on committees related to finance, national labs and more, and this month started her one-year term as the full staff advisor, including time on committees related to public engagement, academic and student affairs, and more.
She doesn’t have a vote in Regents’ decisions, but has a seat at the table to weigh in on all issues.
“The idea is to advocate for staff, yes, but to take it further than that and to bring the staff perspective to all issues that come to the Regents,” she said.
In the 2024-25 academic year, Frías served as staff advisor-designate alongside Staff Advisor Andenet Emiru, a former UC Davis Health employee who is now director of external partnerships and projects at UC Health's Center for Data-driven Insights and Innovation. Effective July 1, Frías is the staff advisor and Matt Hanson, director of new ventures at UC Irvine’s Beall Applied Innovation, is the new staff advisor-designate.
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Other UC Davis representatives are:
- Charles Melton ’08, newly appointed alumni representative to the Regents. Read more about him in this article.
- Ahmet Palazoglu, UC Davis professor of chemical engineering and faculty representative to the Regents. He is 2024-25 vice chair of the systemwide Academic Senate, and said he expects his interactions with the Regents to increase this fall, when he moves into the chair position.
- Aditi Hariharan, 2024-25 president of the UC Student Association. In that role, Hariharan is given a few minutes to address the board at each regularly scheduled Board meeting.
Frías said her time with the Regents so far has taught her a lot about the bigger picture of the UC system, as well as given her opportunities to share information about areas where UC Davis is a leader, like in addressing the basic needs of students.
“I’m such an Aggie that I feel that every time that Davis comes up, it just makes me proud,” she said.
Her role on campus is in Student Affairs Assessment, where she serves as a senior research associate, measuring the effectiveness of programs like tutoring or resource centers that are meant to help students be successful.
“My work is to assess those programs, to make sure that we are meeting those gaps, to find where the new gaps are, where the gaps that we haven't addressed are, or to make sure that the solutions that we're implementing are actually closing those gaps,” Frías said.
She recalled a presentation to the Regents that included Pablo Reguerín, vice chancellor for Student Affairs, and Sheri Atkinson, associate vice chancellor for student life, campus community and retention services.
Frías said there’s a lot that can be learned from what happens at other UC campuses.
“Oftentimes the conversation is like: ‘How do different campuses go about this particular issue? Who do we have to learn from?’” she said. “‘And what are some like missteps that have happened in other campuses, and how do we make sure that others don't have to go through that again?’”
Her time with the Board of Regents has certainly come at a “heavy” time, as she called it, referring to tough conversations about how UC would respond to changes in federal policy, as well as technical discussions about how proposed changes to Medi-Cal eligibility would impact the income of the UC’s medical centers. But it has also been inspiring to work with so many people with impressive qualifications, she said. In a previous article for UCNet, Frías spoke of her admiration for Regent José Hernández and his journey from immigrant to American astronaut.
“I would do it again a thousand times,” she said. “I still don't know how I got in. I feel super grateful and privileged to be in the position that I am.”
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Cody Kitaura is the editor of Dateline UC Davis and can be reached by email or at 530-752-1932.