Today, University of California President Michael V. Drake, M.D., directed all UC locations to implement a staff hiring freeze as soon as possible. This action is part of a broader effort to thoughtfully curtail expenses and minimize impacts on our current workforce.

We know this news is unsettling, and many of you may have questions about how this will impact your teams and departments. While we don’t have all the answers yet, we write today to share what we know so far.

As we have communicated for several years, UC Davis has been proactively addressing budget challenges associated with our core funds, putting strategies in place to reduce our core fund structural deficit. While we’ve made good progress, new financial constraints driven by additional state budget reductions and uncertainties related to federal funding mean we need to take additional precautions.

President Drake mentioned that hiring-freeze processes will vary from campus-to-campus. To that end, I have directed Human Resources to design a centralized hiring review process for staff positions. Meanwhile, we have asked every dean, vice chancellor, vice provost, and other senior leaders to continue their local hiring review processes until more details are available. We will follow our standard faculty hiring process, though we anticipate fewer faculty hires than in recent years. 

At UC Davis Health, a centralized hiring review is already in place and will continue in its current form. 

In addition to the staff hiring freeze, we ask leaders to continue to review travel in their units and reduce travel and other expenses as much as feasible.

Please know that UC Davis is committed to navigating these challenges together as a community, guided by compassion and transparency.

We appreciate everything you do to support our university and community. Thank you for your continued dedication and resilience as we work through this together. 

Sincerely,

Gary S. May
Chancellor