This is one of a series of articles on budget cuts in UC Davis' schools and colleges, including the three divisions of the College of Letters and Science.

The School of Veterinary Medicine expects to face roughly a $3 million funding gap for 2009-10, which is likely to force the loss of staff positions and programs, temporary pay cuts, work furloughs and administrative restructuring, according to Dean Bennie Osburn.

“If we as an institution are to maintain our core programs and position ourselves to move quickly forward when budgets improve, we must make changes now,” Osburn wrote in a June 4 e-mail newsletter to faculty and staff.

The school’s allotted reduction in state funds combined with the financial impact of a declining market for veterinary services has resulted in a budget reduction of $2.6 million for the coming year. As the state’s financial situation has worsened, this reduction will probably settle out at $4 million, he projected.

“A cut of this magnitude will change the very structure of the university and the school of veterinary medicine,” Osburn wrote. “We will have to cut programs. I expect we will have to further reduce staff and we may need to consider cutting faculty or certainly suspending recruitments.”

He noted that the UC administration has yet to determine exactly how the 10-campus system will absorb cuts in state funding, and those decisions will, in turn, affect the veterinary school’s financial plans.

During the 2008-09 academic year, the veterinary school sustained a total funding reduction of $2.1 million. That figure reflected a $1.2 million cut from the school’s $38 million of state support, combined with a $900,000 shortfall caused by an increase in the number of faculty and a decrease in clinical income at the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.

To make up for that financial shortage, the school reprioritized faculty recruitments and reduced programs, eliminating its pioneering Pet Loss Support Hotline and Veterinary Graduate Academic Program, disbanding its Office of Public Programs for alumni/practitioner outreach, and closing one branch of the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System. It also consolidated graduate group administration, eliminated 129 staff positions through layoffs and attrition, and increased revenues by boosting fees for degrees and course materials.

“We are fortunate in that we have the ability to generate additional income and find new sources of revenue to fiscally stabilize the school,” Osburn wrote. “We must focus not only on what has to be cut, but also on what can be utilized to our advantage to bring in additional funding.”

He noted, for example, that the school plans to generate income by offering stem-cell treatments through its new Regenerative Medicine Laboratory and Service, and through the proposed Center for Pet Care, a joint venture with Mars Inc. in the area of nutrition surveillance. The school also recently received funding to establish the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Western Center for Food Safety and is developing partnership opportunities with dairy practices in Tulare. 

More UC Davis budget news.