The University of California: Creating, Nurturing, and Maintaining Academic Quality in a Public University Setting by C. Judson King (review)

This long volume is a comprehensive study of the University of California system, considered by many to be one of the best public institutions of higher learning in the world. Established one hundred fifty years ago in 1868, the University of California has been at the heart of the American dream, which it has both facilitated and embodied. Indeed, California's optimistic outlook cannot be understood without it. This book explains UC's rise and describes in great detail how this institution of higher learning operates. Its author, C. Judson King, is in a privileged position to do so, as he has been a key participant in many of the events discussed in the work. A chemical engineer, King has been department chair, college dean, and provost at the Berkeley campus. He also has served as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs of the University of California system. More recently, King directed the Berkeley Center for Studies in Higher Education, where he was involved in a multitude of research projects concerning institutions of higher learning with a particular focus on the University of California.

The book is divided into six sections. The first part is an introduction to the history of the University of California, with a particular focus on the leaders who most contributed to its success. Thus, an entire chapter is devoted to Clark Kerr, President of the University from 1958 to 1967 and author of the California Master Plan for Higher Education. Kerr built the University of California system as we know it today, that is, as a coordinated group of ten research universities with common standards of quality for faculty tenure, promotions and merit, and for the admission of students. In addition to reviewing the contributions made by the most famous University of California presidents preceding Kerr, namely Daniel Gilman, Benjamin Wheeler, and Robert Sproul, King offers a perceptive account of the presidencies of those who came later, which is the era he knows best. Of particular interest are his comments on David Gardner and [End Page E-5] Richard Atkinson, who expanded the university's research capacity during times of relative prosperity, as are his observations on the 2006 executive compensation crisis under the presidency of Robert Dynes. The high salaries of university executives, while the state suffered from a financial shortfall, created a public furor. For the first time in a century, the regents turned to an administrator from outside the UC system to lead it: Mark Yudoff, President of the University of Texas. King praises the establishment, during Yudoff's presidency, of annual accountability reports and the creation of a financial pledge not to charge tuition and fees to undergraduate students with a total family income under $80,000 per year. But he also shows concern about the reduction in the number of academics in leadership positions at the Office of the President, which took on a more corporate mindset during this period. According to King, the appointment of a total outsider to academia as Yudoff's successor, former governor of Arizona and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, has only compounded this problem.

The second part of the book is a review of the structure and operating procedures of the University of California, including observations about the constitutional autonomy it enjoys, which is a unique feature of this institution and one of the reasons for its success. Another reason is its strong shared governance system, which includes a powerful academic senate with a significant leadership role at the university. This section also includes a review of the workings of the multi-campus university, its budgeting system, and its relations with state government, as well as an update on the status of the California Master Plan for Higher Education. The Plan was a division of labor...