UCI Aiming for Ranks of Top Research Schools : Education: Chancellor Laurel L. Wilkening unveils her long-awaited vision for university’s place in 21st Century.

COSTA MESA —  In a long-anticipated restatement of UC Irvine’s academic mission, Chancellor Laurel L. Wilkening unveiled a sweeping plan Friday to propel the young campus into the ranks of the nation’s top 50 research institutions by the year 2000.

To cope with ever-looming state budget constraints that have dramatically sliced university funds in recent years, Wilkening will challenge her faculty to sharpen its focus on obtaining research grants from government and the private sector.

“I want UCI to be the university of the 21st Century, and I don’t think one exists right now,” Wilkening said in a discussion with Times editors and reporters Friday. “We can get a jump on our competitors.”

Wilkening contended that the rededication to research will not come at the expense of the university’s 15,000 students, who already complain that faculty members are spending less and less time in the classroom.

UCI cannot provide the attention of a small liberal arts college, Wilkening said, but “the undergraduate program is a very strong program.” However, she said that the issue of how to keep faculty members in the classroom teaching while also increasing research has not been resolved.

Wilkening said that few of her recommendations are controversial, adding that a UCI dean called them “all motherhood and apple pie.” But some programs are likely to be reshaped or reviewed at the 29-year-old university. Among them:

* Wilkening ordered the elimination of the comparative culture program.

* Wilkening will consider closing the physical education department.

* She recommended that interdisciplinary programs, such as Asian American studies and Chicano/Latino studies, be placed within other departments.

* Campus officials will consider making a project--either independent research or a senior thesis--mandatory for seniors.

* Officials will also decide if communication skills, cultural diversity issues and computer researching skills should be injected into every major on campus.

* Deans will be asked to review the cost and benefits of keeping open departments that have fewer than seven full-time faculty members.

Her announcement about the future of the campus, and which departments will grow, ended a long summer of anticipation for members of the UCI community. Many have been looking to her for direction on restructuring the university nestled in the grassy hills of Irvine.

Two panels of UCI professors and administrators suggested in reports released earlier this year ways to make vast cuts in academic and non-academic programs. They concluded that several departments, including the education department, physical education department and comparative culture program, should be closed.

UCI’s education department was spared the knife in Wilkening’s plan Friday. “The department’s emphasis on the use of technology in the classroom is progressive and is well-received by educators in the K-12 schools,” Wilkening said in her report, adding that abolishing the department would be a great error.

She also noted the potential for the education department to obtain national grants for work with Orange County children.

“What the chancellor wants is for the departments to come up with some innovative ways to go about our business, which is hard to do when there isn’t any money,” said Juan Bruce-Novoa, head of the Spanish and Portuguese department.

That lack of money from the state draws frequent sighs from members of the UCI community.

Students talk about taking full-time jobs to pay for fees that have been increasing about 10% each year. This quarter, they’re up to $1,444 at UCI--a far cry from the state Legislature’s command 125 years ago that admission and tuition for UC schools be free to all California residents.

Some staff members are losing jobs as departments slowly pare expenses. About $10 million was slashed from UCI’s budget this summer.

And faculty members note that their salaries were restored this year after a 5% pay cut last year, but that they haven’t seen cost-of-living raises in four years.

Wilkening said that during her first 14 months, she felt compelled to stay out of the debates about the campus’ future in order to encourage discussion.

“I share a lot of the concerns the faculty has had, and I share some of the gripes about administration,” Wilkening said. “That’s why we’re making moves toward streamlining.”

UC President Jack Peltason--Wilkening’s predecessor at UCI--praised her vision for the campus.

“We’ve all had to re-establish priorities, think about our goals and what we want to do,” Peltason said. “This is a very thoughtful report, one that makes it very clear the campus has gone through a lot of consulting and thinking about the future.”

On the whole, Wilkening avoided the controversial closures of several graduate schools that had characterized the painful contraction process a year ago at UCLA. Those who expected a major restructuring of UCI were left wondering what Wilkening’s vision means in the long run.

“There’s no smoking gun anywhere in it,” said one long-term faculty member who asked not to be identified. “A lot of people around here are going to breathe great sighs of relief; it’s going to be business as usual.”

Bruce-Novoa said he didn’t expect big surprises in Wilkening’s report. “She has listened, she’s had meetings, there’s been no breakdown in communication,” he said. “People are not in a crisis mood.”

Instead of dramatic restructuring and cutting, Wilkening emphasized pulling more research dollars into UCI by encouraging contracts between campus researchers and Southern California biotechnical and biomedical companies. Her goal, published in a tabloid-size, eight-page newspaper distributed around the UCI campus Friday, is to shoot UCI into the top 50 research universities nationwide.

She stressed that there are several subjects that major foundations are interested in funding in the post-Cold War era: biomedicine, children and families, the environment and international affairs, among others.

To emphasize certain academic areas that have potential for attracting research and attaining excellence at UCI--including biological sciences, medicine, information and computer science--Wilkening said some academic disciplines might have to scale back in size.

“There may be shrinkage” in the number of faculty in some departments, she said, declining to elaborate.

In the future, some disciplines, such as classics, for example, might have to share professors with other UC campuses, and students at UCI may take televised classes, she said.

Some students were encouraged by the chancellor’s high goals for the university, but worried about the emphasis on research.

“Her goal to put UCI into the top 50 is attainable,” said Matthew Buttacavoli, an undergraduate who is active in student government. “My question is, if they can’t find funding, will she sacrifice undergraduate programs or student services or student athletics?”

Wilkening said she doesn’t expect to see the campus cut its intercollegiate athletics, but she added that decisions on cutting student services will depend on what students tell her during the upcoming year.

“What we really need is some creative thinking about how we do business here,” UCI graduate student Bryan Hannegan said. “Can we do more with less, for more students?”

Yushan Wu, 29, a doctoral student in the East Asian languages and literature department, read the plan during her lunch. She said she understood the need to put resources into sciences but was concerned about the future of her own program.

“Our program needs a lot of nurturing and I hope we won’t be neglected,” Wu said. “I think our program has a lot of potential.”

Comparative culture professor Raul Fernandez said closing his program wouldn’t bother him if it were followed with the “rational restructuring of ethnic studies.”

“It doesn’t have to mean it will be the end of ethnic studies,” Fernandez said. “It remains to be seen, but if the record is any evidence, it is going to be an uphill battle.”

Comparative culture allowed undergraduate students to take courses about Asian American studies, African American studies and other subjects, and major in a comparative study of the areas. That will no longer be the case.

Reaction to the change remains to be seen. But last year, more than 100 student protesters occupied the chancellor’s office to pressure UCI for more Asian American studies teachers.

Prof. R. Bin Wong, director of Asian American studies, is awaiting the effects of Wilkening’s plan. Because of limited money, some people worry that ethnic studies drain cash from other departments--but he disagrees.

“We have not yet achieved the level of commitment and breadth of commitment to develop these programs, and we really need that,” Wong said.

Other students said they were skeptical about UCI’s future.

Incoming freshman Alexandra Rundel, 18, of Laguna Beach said she fears the chancellor’s vision will mean bolstering research programs and neglecting classroom instruction.

“I’ve never supported this direction in the UC system,” said Rundel, who plans to apply to Columbia University after one quarter at UCI. “There’s just an overemphasis on research instead of helping students, and that’s the university’s whole reason for being.”

Some UCI faculty disputed that fear, saying that better researchers make better teachers.

“Undergraduates will profit--the quality of undergraduate education is a function of the quality of faculty,” said Dr. Michael E. Selsted, a pathology professor and the university’s top grant-getting researcher for 1993-94.

“If you want to find a faculty member who can be a superb teacher, show me a researcher,” Selsted said. “It’s someone excited about the process of discovering new knowledge and who is invested in conveying that as well.”

UCI Ties Future to Research

Chancellor Laurel L. Wilkening’s plan to lift UCI into the upper echelons of the nation’s research universities will require increased acquisition and spending of research and development funds. Five other UC campuses rate ahead of UCI.

Research Ranking

Here’s how UCI compares to other UC branches that made it into the top 100 for science and engineering grants. Figures, in millions, are for fiscal year 1992, the latest available, with national ranking:

Los Angeles (6th): $202.8

San Diego (7th): $202.5

San Francisco (8th): $195.2

Berkeley (17th): $154.7

Davis (33rd): $90.5

Irvine (52nd): $63.1

Santa Barbara (65th): $49.1

Projected Spending

Projected Spending

If UCI is to move into the top 50 universities in research expenditures it will need a 13% yearly increase in funding during the rest of the 1990s. Here is where UCI stands compared to 50th place, along with projections for the duration of the decade. Amounts are in millions of dollars; 1993-2000 are projections:

1992:

UCI: $89

50th place: $118

2000:

UCI: $237

50th place: $235

Personnel Movement

Major shifts in the UCI staff have occurred during the past few months as the university has pondered its future. Wilkening selected two new members for her administrative team and four others departed or moved to other campus jobs:

Who joined the team

Executive Vice Chancellor: Sidney H. Golub

Former position: Interim dean and provost of medical sciences, UCLA School of Medicine

Background: Expected to bring knowledge in managing biomedicine teaching and research within the UC system.

Vice Chancellor of Research and Dean of Graduate Studies: Frederic Yui-Ming Wan

Former position: Mathematics professor, University of Washington

Background: Wilkening says he’ll “help faculty direct research toward new funding sources.”

Who left the team

Vice Chancellor of Advancement: Kathleen T. Jones

Left position: July, 1994

Background: Became vice president of alumni and university relations at Georgetown University.

Vice Chancellor for Academic Programs: M. Anne Spence

Left position: May, 1994

Background: Returned to teaching and researching genetics at UCI.

Vice Chancellor of Health Sciences, dean of College of Medicine: Dr. Walter L. Henry

Left position: December, 1993

Background: Resigned, reportedly after disagreement with Wilkening over who should administer medical school, medical center and related programs.

Executive Vice Chancellor: L. Dennis Smith

Left position: November, 1993

Background: Became president at University of Nebraska.

Calendar of Change

Feb. 17: Two task forces of administrators and teachers report ways to restructure UCI by cutting some academic and non-academic departments and services.

April 15: The 19 students, faculty and staff members of the Academic Planning Council begin reviewing letters from the UCI community, in response to deep cuts proposed in the two task force reports.

April 19: Vice Chancellor for Academic Programs M. Anne Spence announces she is resigning; position is eliminated.

April 20: Vice Chancellor of Advancement Kathleen T. Jones announces she will leave for a post at Georgetown University.

June 13: Academic Planning Council gives Wilkening recommendations on cutting academics and services, tempered from recommendations given by the two original task forces.

June 22: Sidney Golub, former interim dean and provost at UCLA School of Medicine, chosen new executive vice chancellor. He is picked to strengthen UCI’s biomedical programs and increase standing among research institutions.

July 1: More than 75 professors leave full-time jobs through the University of California’s third early retirement plan. They follow about 140 UCI staffers who took early retirement the previous fall.

July 12: Frederic Yui-Ming Wan, mathematics professor at the University of Washington--where Wilkening was provost--becomes new vice chancellor of research and dean of graduate studies.

July 15: UC Board of Regents again hikes annual student fees--this time by $345. UCI students pay $1,444 for the fall quarter.

Sources: Times reports; UCI; National Science Foundation; Researched by ALICIA DI RADO / Los Angeles Times

NO SURPRISES: Those expecting a bombshell were likely disappointed. A14

REACTION: Some on campus expressed concern, others approve. A14