Chancellor Hopes to End Furloughs in 2010
By Tim Neagle
Staff Writer
UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann told an overflow crowd at a Town Hall meeting on October 26 that she hopes to end employee furloughs by summer of 2010.
In a wide-ranging talk that included taking questions from the audience, Desmond-Hellmann listed her priorities as chancellor:
- Patients/Health
- Discovery
- People (Management/Diversity)
- Business (Efficiency/Resources)
The new chancellor’s enthusiasm and optimism were on display throughout her appearance at Cole Hall (the event was simulcast at UCSF’s various venues). She repeatedly cited the “excellence” of “this amazing place” and made clear her determination to keep UCSF at the forefront of health science campuses.
She admitted, however, that it would not be easy in the current economic climate. Shortfalls in the UC budget have led to a steady diet of fee increases for students and furloughs for faculty and staff members. Desmond-Hellmann underlined her unhappiness with both.
She said she is fighting the idea of continued furloughs at UC: “We cannot tolerate furloughs for a second year.” If UC adopts a furlough policy next year, she said she would try to see if UCSF could somehow avoid furloughs on its own. “I am absolutely committed to ending furloughs in the summer of 2010,” she declared.
In an interview with Synapse and UCSF Today after her talk, the chancellor also made clear her opposition to continuing fee increases for UCSF students. She cited two reasons for her opposition: Debt and diversity.
“We’re supposed to be advancing health worldwide, and that can’t happen if students leave here under a staggering burden of debt,” she said. “The debt affects the career choice of students, and we have to change that. Student debt also hurts our diversity. Fee increases drive people away.”
In giving her thoughts about UCSF after 85 days as chancellor, Desmond-Hellmann showed some slides that defined UCSF’s mission and vision. The she got down to brass tacks, listing the four priorities given above.
Elaborating on each of them, the chancellor said patients must be at the top of UCSF’s agenda. She urged everyone at UCSF to make certain that every patient “has an excellent experience at UCSF.” She said the university must be committed to keeping people healthy, to move “from a sickness-based to a health-based culture.”
Desmond-Hellmann was enthusiastic about UCSF’s cutting edge reputation in research, and her second priority, Discovery, was aimed at maintaining and expanding on that reputation.
“Excellence in basic discovery will be a high priority for me,” she said.
Her third priority, People, emphasized the need for good management practices at UCSF. She repeated her mantra from her Genentech days: “Every employee deserves a great manager.”
She also praised UCSF efforts at promoting diversity, and pledged to continue those efforts, noting that “the Bay Area’s diversity is an asset to us at UCSF.”
Finally, she mentioned the need for smart business practices at UCSF. She called for increased efficiency at the university. She also called for more creativity in raising revenue, including more partnerships with industry, pledging to protect university values in any such ventures.
She pledged to be active in lobbying for increased funds both in Sacramento and in Washington, D.C. In her interview with Synapse afterward, Desmond-Hellmann said she would be pursuing an aggressive strategy of selling the University of California’s economic value to the state of California in hopes of getting better funding from the state Legislature. “UC is an asset for the state,” she said.
In other parts of her speech, the chancellor:
- Drew cheers when she questioned the amount of paperwork at UCSF. “I was amazed by how much paperwork I have to go through,” she said, tartly adding “and not in the good amazement category, either.”
- Praised Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn for her recent Nobel Prize in Medicine. Desmond-Hellmann jokingly gave some advice to future chancellors: “Have someone win a Nobel!”
- Praised programs to foster greater interprofessionalism at UCSF. Noting that modern medicine calls for “intense collaboration among multiple disciplines,” Desmond-Hellmann said that “teaching interprofessionalism early on at UCSF is essential.”
- Noted that tough economic times affect much of what UCSF is trying to accomplish. Saying there “is very little evidence of a rebound,” Desmond-Hellmann vowed to press ahead. In her post-meeting interview, she noted that the new medical center at Mission Bay remains “the #1 fundraising priority,” even while conceding that the current economic climate made fundraising difficult.
- Urged employees at UCSF to “focus on outcomes. Have fun and celebrate success.”
This article appeared in the October 29, 2009 issue of Synapse.
