While the UC offers a wealth of learning and research opportunities, rising fees and shaky graduate school financing are making students' lives more difficult.

That was the message students delivered loud and clear to the UC Board of Regents during a campus visit last week.

"It's getting harder to entice the really talented students to come here," said Chad Sterling, a graduate student in computer science who won a national 2005 Black Engineer of the Year Award in the category of graduate student leadership.

Sterling's concerns were among those discussed among the regents and 35 undergraduate students, 20 graduate students and faculty on April 27. The regents ate breakfast with the undergraduates and engaged in a roundtable discussion with the graduate students. Both events and a public comment session took place in the Activities and Recreation Center.

Though the board is unable to meet with everyone, Regent David Lee said, the group does take seriously the public sessions, letters and e-mail messages. "Believe it or not," Lee said, "we listen."

The board last came to campus in April 2001. Typically, they visit two campuses each year on a rotating basis.

Fee fallout

Fernando Villabla, a wildlife biology major, said the morning's conversation over plates of chicken apple sausage, smoked bacon and vegetarian frittata was mostly "casual and random." However, he did tell the regent dining at his table that the UC should not have research ties with tobacco companies.

Later in the morning, the regents heard comments from graduate students and faculty on the unpredictable nature of graduate student financing. Cynthia Batchelder, a post-doc in animal science, said, "The sky's the limit here with all the resources and programs available to graduate students. But the funding is always an issue," and every year students worry if they will have enough support.

Vicki Smith, professor of sociology, explained that other institutions, especially private schools, are able to offer potential graduate students multi-year funding packages while UC Davis is often constrained to single-year funding offers. "Rarely can we offer the same kind of competitive packages that other programs can," said Smith.

Graduate student financing often depends on research, said Ken Britten, a professor of neurobiology, which admittedly gives the sciences an advantage over the social sciences. "Research funding brings in a lot of grant money."

Jeff Gibeling, dean of Graduate Studies, said that raising more private funds for graduate studies, slowing fee hikes and attracting more research funding are some of the ways to enhance support. Above all, faculty plays a vital role. High-quality faculty, Gibeling said, "attract high quality graduate students."

Right now graduate programs are reeling from successive years of fee increases that have made graduate educations much more expensive, he noted. Under the budget compact made with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, graduate fees will increase 10 percent to $8,556 for the next academic year, compared with an 8 percent increase for undergraduate fees. It is expected that these increases will be smaller and more predictable in the future, based on the compact.

In spirited tones, several students spoke out against rising fees at the two public comment periods held during the visit.

"The fee increases are a big problem," said junior psychology and sociology double-major Anthony Pineda, suggesting the hikes have a disproportionate impact on poor and minority students.

While the regents did not respond to the two-minute statements at the public comment sessions — this is customary — they got an earful on hot campus issues, from fees to the diversity of the student body.

"Hearing directly from the students re-emphasized these points for me," said Regent Judith Hopkinson, adding, "We're not being effective in attracting a diverse population of students."

Student Regent Jodi Anderson from UCLA welcomed the input. "The board meetings and the statistics don't have the realness of talking to someone face to face. To hear from the students and faculty gives more context and a better understanding of the complexity of some of the issues they're facing."

Innovation abounds

Finances aside, the regents also learned that science means business at UC Davis. Associate professor of business Andy Hargadon led a roundtable discussion of a new UC Davis certificate program in business development that reflects the interdisciplinary nature of campus academic efforts.

Joining Hargadon on the panel were computer science graduate student Joel Koshy; biochemistry doctoral student Melanie Funes-Duran; anatomy graduate student Jeff Norris; and physiology postgraduate researcher Samara Freeman.

The students are working with master of business administration students to develop the skills necessary to commercialize their research. Hargadon described the effort as an "entrepreneurial network across the different worlds on campus."

Funes-Duran, who is conducting research at the UC Davis Cancer Center, said the experience has changed the way she thinks about her studies. "I now approach my research with the idea that it can go from the lab and then into the market," she said.

Freeman, who is exploring gastrointestinal disorders, said product development is now a part of her agenda. "I want to do this in an entrepreneurial setting," adding that she is working with a start-up company on her research.

Regent Lee expressed excitement about the program. "We knew that UC Davis has good professors and good students, but during the visit we got to see for ourselves."

Student interest in the program is high, Hargadon said. About 100 students applied for the program, and only nine could be accepted. "An unmet need exists on campus" for this type of integration between science and business, he said.

— Mike Sintetos contributed to this story.