Budget initiatives include accelerating investment in technology for teaching and library access, expanding research targeted to critical sectors of the economy and expanding student outreach. The budget plan calls for moving ahead with planning for a 10th campus, expanding academic programs in the San Joaquin Valley and placing emphasis on repairing and renovating aging buildings. Regents will consider adopting the plan in November. Under AB 1318, a bill approved by the governor and the Legislature, undergraduate student fees for California residents will be reduced by 5 percent in 1998-99 and graduate and professional school student fees for California residents will be frozen for two years.
Efforts are underway to attract additional private and matching funds from public schools.
Richard E. Lucier, appointed this month as university librarian and executive director of the new digital library, said the system will bring together print and electronic holdings of UC's nine campuses, a collection of more than 29 million volumes. The charter collection will focus on science, technology and industry. The library will license, acquire, develop and manage materials, including books, journals, monographs and photographs. UC libraries already have digitized parts of their collections. UC also is joining with the California State Library, the California Library Association and the California Library Services Board to develop digital library services for library users throughout California.