ANR Update
Article

UC federal update

The following federal update was prepared by Meredith Turner, Senior Vice President for External Relations & Communications in the UC Office of the President.   

Dear UC colleagues,

This week, President Drake traveled to Washington, D.C., to advocate for UC priorities with federal policymakers – including Democrats and Republicans across the California congressional delegation – and other key partners. President Drake's meetings focused on the importance of federally funded research, educational access and affordability, and the health care enterprise. He also connected with members of the university's broader Washington, D.C., community, including students participating in the UC Washington Program and UC staff, alumni and advocates.

The visit coincided with a Tuesday announcement of layoffs by the U.S. Department of Education. These job cuts may have a significant impact on the University of California system, our K-12 partners and the individuals we serve, and we are continuing to evaluate and plan for how we will mitigate these impacts.

We are also continuing other outreach and advocacy work to make the case for the university's important role in the U.S. economy and the lives of all Americans. You can see highlights of this work below. You can stay up-to-date on the latest information by visiting the UC Federal Updates website. 

Thank you, as always, for all that you do on behalf of the University of California.

University Response & Communications

  • Federal research videos: UC is sharing a series of videos on social media highlighting what's at stake if federal research funding is cut. The first video, featuring groundbreaking technology funded by NIH that allowed an ALS patient to communicate, was posted on Wednesday.
  • UC advocacy: UC advocates were in Washington, D.C. this week for congressional meetings as part of the National Humanities Alliance's Humanities Advocacy Day. Advocacy focused on federal funding for humanities, including support for the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Department of Education's Title VI and Fulbright-Hays programs. The UC Advocacy Network also worked with partners at UC Riverside to develop an Instagram Reel about the importance of federal humanities funding.
  • Campus highlights: Our campuses continue to emphasize the importanceofNIH funding in their communication materials.
  • Federal Updates webpage: This site continues to be a key resource for our community. Since launching on Feb. 5, the page has received more than 100,000 views from 67,000 users and has become the most visited page on the universityofcalifornia.edu site.

New Resources 

Media Highlights

For ongoing updates and resources, please visit the UC Federal Updates website.