Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef gave his State of the Campus address on Feb. 26, assuring the Academic Senate that UC Davis has weathered financial storms in the past and will do so again as state government deals with a projected $16 billion deficit.

Indeed, he cited "positive momentum" that puts UC Davis in a position to prosper, once this crisis has passed.

The chancellor's prepared remarks in full start on page 5 of today's Dateline. Here are highlights:

PROVOST'S BUDGET LETTER — It assigns an average 2.6 percent reduction in general fund budgets for academic units, and a

7 percent reduction for academic support and other administrative units, effective July 1, with exceptions for graduate student support from Graduate Studies, student mental health programs and externally purchased utilities.

HIRING — The allocation of growth faculty positions will be deferred, but active recruitments will continue to completion. Staff hiring will be watched carefully but not frozen.

POSITIVE MOMENTUM — "Our popularity with students continues to grow," with UC Davis' 15.6 percent increase in freshman applications the largest such gain in the UC system for the second year in a row.

The chancellor noted the faculty's garnering of research grants and contracts worth more than a half-billion dollars for the third year in a row.

And he cited cost savings in energy use, irrigation management and administrative reorganization.

NEW PHILANTHROPIC PARTNERS — Including the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, which gave $100 million to start a School of Nursing; and alumnus Maury Gallagher, $10 million for the Graduate School of Management's new home, now under construction.