We are extremely fortunate to have outstandingly talented and dedicated faculty and staff. In this time of rapid enrollment growth, we strive to hire faculty and staff at a ratio that is appropriate to the workload of both groups. Although fluctuating budgets can make it difficult to realize that ideal at all times, we have maintained a high level of quality in teaching and research and in support for those missions.

The student/faculty ratio is about 19/1, which is on the high end of the range for other UC campuses, in the high part of our own historical range, and above average for other public research universities. It is probably about as high as it can get without significantly compromising the quality of instruction. During the boom years of the late 1990s, there was some hope that it would be possible to bring the ratio back closer to what it was before the budget problems of the early 1990s. With the current difficulties and rising enrollment pressure, it seems unlikely that any improvement can be expected in the near term.

UC Davis has given serious and sustained attention to matters of staff workload and work/life balance for staff. A summary of these efforts can be found here. UC Davis is a Model Employer and a "Family Friendly" university.

In 2000, the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor created the Senior Advisors Group and charged it to review staff workload issues in preparation for a sustained period of campus growth. At the same time, deans, vice chancellors, and other senior campus administrators prepared administrative service plans that identified needs and strategies for putting staff and other resources in place to support the five-year campus academic plan established in 1999. The Senior Advisors Group conducted its review in cooperation with staff constituency groups and major central adminstration units. It recommended and won approval for a number of initiatives aimed at streamlining campus work processes and addressing various staff compensation issues. The campus took advantage of the relatively good budget years of 1999-00 and 2000-01 to add staff in areas particularly hard-pressed by the pace of growth in enrollment and extramural support: human resource services, techonology support for instruction, research compliance, financial aid processing, and student services generally. Even in recent, less positive financial times, maintenance of adequate staff support for the campus's mission remains a high priority for the campus. The campus, for example, is an active participant in the Univesity of California New Business Architecture initiative, a concerted effort to bring technology and other tools to bear on the problem of making University business process easier to navigate for staff and more effective. The campus principles for budget reduction further demonstrate the administration's commitment to recognizing the critical contribution that staff make to sustaining the research, instruction, and public service missions of the campus.