[Faculty] Announcing the Joint Senate-Admin Task Force on UC Adaptation to Disruptions (UCAD Plus)

Mon Oct 27 16:25:51 PDT 2025

*This letter is sent on behalf of UC System Provost and Executive Vice
President Katherine S. Newman. For your convenience, the text of the letter
is below.  The signed letter and membership list are attached.*

Dear UC faculty colleagues,

We write to initiate a systemwide conversation with our academic community
about how to position the University of California for future success in an
era when we must balance limitations on available resources with our
commitment to longstanding values and ambitions.

In spring 2025, the Academic Senate announced the formation of its Task
Force on UC Adaptation to Disruptions (UCAD) to examine how the University
can maintain its teaching, research, and public service missions during
major external disruptions. UCAD was charged with analyzing and developing
strategies that would ensure institutional resilience amid changing federal
and state landscapes. The task force’s interim report
<https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/reports/council-president-provost-senate-divisions-ucad-interim-report.pdf>
was
completed in July 2025.

As noted in that report, the University is facing a wide array of
disruptions. Ongoing and proposed changes to the way that federal grants
and contracts are funded and administered threaten the foundations of UC’s
scholarly research activity. International students, who represent more
than 10 percent of our student community and a substantial funding source
for the University, are facing an increasingly uncertain environment.
Recent changes to student loan programs, including tighter borrowing limits
and reductions in repayment flexibility, are likely to increase costs for
many students at UC.

The report
<https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/reports/js-kn-report-of-apc-workgroup-faculty-work-recovery-post-pandemic.pdf>
of
the Academic Planning Council (APC
<https://www.ucop.edu/institutional-research-academic-planning/content-analysis/academic-planning/academic-planning-council.html>)
Workgroup on Faculty Work and Recovery Post-Pandemic, and the systemwide
Senate’s recent Faculty and Instructor Experience Survey
<https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/reports/report-on-2024-uc-faculty-instructor-experience-survey.pdf>,
highlight many of the same challenges and call for meaningful institutional
reforms with an emphasis on stronger collaboration among various
constituents.

These and other factors led UCAD and the systemwide administration to
identify five areas in need of immediate, focused attention:

   1. Research activities and infrastructure
   2. Academic personnel evaluations (in light of research disruptions)
   3. Academic program planning and alignment
   4. Intercampus instructional opportunities
   5. The future of graduate education (following the report
   <https://www.ucop.edu/institutional-research-academic-planning/content-analysis/academic-planning/future-of-doctoral-programs-at-the-university-of-california.pdf>
issued
   by the APC Workgroup on the Future of Doctoral Programs at the University
   of California).

Because these issues are institutional priorities, we have formed UCAD Plus
– a joint Senate-Administration task force. UCAD Plus will include balanced
representation of faculty and administrative leaders, with members
representing divisional Senate leadership and key systemwide Senate
committee chairs, all executive vice chancellors/provosts, and research and
academic personnel leaders. With the support of administrative and Senate
staff, the task force will consist of a plenary committee of its principal
members and five working groups convened to study the focus areas above.

Between now and the end of February 2026, these groups will develop
recommendations for consideration by UC President James B. Milliken and the
UC chancellors. The recommendations will then proceed through systemwide
review beginning in March 2026.

As the UCAD interim report undergoes a systemwide Academic Senate review
<https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/underreview/council-chair-systemwide-senate-review-ucad-interim-report.pdf>
this
fall, the feedback received both by the October 31, 2025 Senate review
deadline and beyond will help shape the work of the UCAD Plus task force
and working groups.

The UCAD Plus task force is not intended to substitute for the important
work already underway on related topics at each location. We recognize that
each campus is unique and, to that end, several campuses have already
formed local UCAD committees. However, many potential solutions – such as
those involving intercampus programs, international student enrollment, and
reforms to the academic personnel process – would require coordinated
systemwide action. In these areas, UCAD Plus will play a complementary role.

A corresponding effort to identify administrative efficiencies, enhance
productivity, and improve organizational effectiveness across the system is
also underway. This effort is being co-led by Executive Vice President and
Chief Operating Officer Rachael Nava and Executive Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer Nathan Brostrom at UC Office of the President, along with
their campus counterparts. Their work includes developing organizational
adaptations to support the implementation of the objectives UCAD seeks to
achieve.

As the steering committee of UCAD Plus, we commit to providing regular
updates to the faculty about how task force deliberations are proceeding.
Information on this work will also be made available on the UCAD Plus task
force website
<https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/committees/ucad-plus.html>. Once
systemwide review of UCAD Plus recommendations has commenced, we will
explore additional forums for feedback and discussion, including campus
brown bag lunches or town halls, systemwide gatherings, Senate Assembly
meetings, and other events.

For now, we wanted to share with you that this effort is underway and that
we are committed to keeping the UC community informed and engaged in the
work of this important joint task force.

Cordially,

Katherine S. Newman

UC System Provost and

Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Ahmet Palazoglu

Systemwide Academic Senate Chair (2025-26)

Hal Stern

Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, UC Irvine

Convener, Council of Executive Vice Chancellors (COVC)

*Attachment:* Task force charge and membership list
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