Two UC Davis professors long active in UC’s shared governance are organizing a spring seminar series, “California’s Research University: The UC System Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.”

The series is scheduled to begin Monday (March 30) as part of the First-Year Seminar Program (formerly Freshman Seminar Program), but everyone is invited to attend.

“This seminar will examine the nexus of the excellence of the University of California and its budget,” the course description states. “Our focus will be on the disinvestment by the state in UC and the measures that UC has taken to maintain its place among the greatest research universities in the world.”

Confirmed speakers include top administrators from the campus and the Office of the President on topics that will include tuition and budget, undergraduate and graduate education, research mission; and adherence to the state’s Master Plan for Higher Education.

“We hope to expose the campus to the thinking behind current discussions about the university and the state,” said one of the organizers, Bob Powell, former chair of the Academic Senate at the campus and systemwide levels.

The other organizer, Jim Chalfant, chairs the Academic Senate's Task Force on Investments and Retirement, and formerly chaired the campus and systemwide committees on Faculty Welfare, and Planning and Budget.

Powell and Chalfant are both former department chairs: Powell in chemical engineering and materials science, and Chalfant in agricultural and resource economics.

The series will meet from 6 to 8 p.m. Mondays in 1062 Bainer Hall. Here are the confirmed speakers:

• March 30 — Patrick Lenz, former vice president, Budget and Capital Resources, UC Office of the President
• April 6 — Bob Powell
• April 13 ­— Ralph J. Hexter, provost and executive vice chancellor, UC Davis
• April 20 — John Aubrey Douglass, senior research fellow, Center for Studies in Higher Education, UC Berkeley
• April 27 — UC Davis Chancellor Linda P. B. Katehi; and UC Davis Professor MRC Greenwood (Department of Nutrition), chancellor emeritus, UC Santa Cruz, and former provost of the UC system
• May 4 — Nathan Brostrom, executive vice president and chief financial officer, UC Office of the President

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