As the Senior Vice Chancellor - Academic Affairs, Paul Drake is the chief academic officer of the university, responsible for policies and decisions relating to all academic programs, faculty appointments and performance. He has also been a member of the UCSD faculty since 1984. He is a Distinguished Professor in Political Science, with adjunct appointments in History and the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, and he holds the Institute of the Americas Chair. Prior to his appointment as SVCAA, Drake was the Dean of Social Sciences for 12 years. He’s also directed the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies and chaired the Political Science Department. In this interview, he talks about his new role as Senior Vice Chancellor, how the campus has evolved over the last two decades and why UC San Diego is such a special place to learn and work.

Drake: The university has grown and changed enormously since I arrived here 24 years ago. Student enrollment has nearly doubled! To accommodate student growth, we’ve added two new undergraduate colleges, Eleanor Roosevelt and Sixth College, and expanded our faculty in the ladder ranks from roughly 700 to 1,100.

Being a growth campus has also allowed UCSD to be innovative and interdisciplinary in our academic offerings. In my time at UCSD, I’ve witnessed the evolution of a myriad of academic programs and initiatives, including new professional schools such as the Rady School of Management, IR/PS, the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and new academic units such as the Department of Nanoengineering, Calit2 and International Studies, to name a just a few.

Drake: UCSD is a young campus that has soared in national rankings. The enrollment and faculty growth in Academic Affairs over the last decade occurred at the same time as the breakdown of traditional disciplinary boundaries. The campus’ tradition of entrepreneurship and academic excellence created a fertile opportunity to launch new and important initiatives.

A key part of our development of new research fields at the faculty level has been the commitment to reflect these new areas in our undergraduate and graduate educational programs. A fundamental part of our expansion is that every time a new research area is added, we make sure there is an undergraduate education component so that undergraduates are beneficiaries of this growth. New faculty research areas are stimulating creative additions in our curriculum as well as new majors and minors.

Drake: We need to make the next 10 years even better than the last decade. As we add more students, faculty, and staff, we are at a critical period for planning new programs. The campus will always be in a position to identify new needs and develop strategic plans to achieve far reaching goals, even after we reach steady state. But at this point in time, where we can still implement new programs within our growth potential, it’s important to clearly identify fresh programs that will make a key difference and find the resources to make them a success.

Drake: UCSD’s academic programs are excellent across the board. We have superb units in all areas of the university, as reflected in the 2008 U.S. News and World Report survey of graduate education programs. Many of our programs ranked in the top 10 in the nation. In the future, we need to build on our strength and, above all, innovate.

Drake: My top priority is to use our last spurt of growth to enhance and consolidate our position as one of the premier research universities in the world. Recruiting outstanding and diverse faculty remains our core strategy for increasing excellence and accommodating enrollment growth. We have significant challenges related to resources — such as salaries, start-up and space needs, especially when competing with wealthier private institutions. A real problem also exists in providing adequate administrative staff and infrastructure support, and keeping up the support side of the budget as we increase the academic side. We will face particular difficulties in the short run if the impending budget cuts go too deep or last too long.

Enrollment growth is continuing, but the emphasis is moving to graduate enrollments. The undergraduate program is approximately 8 percent away from steady state, which will be reached in three years. This year, our graduate enrollments are only at 60 percent of projected steady state. We expect to reach the steady state for graduate enrollment in 2020-21, when we hope they will reach 20 percent of the student body. We have a significant amount of work to do to identify sufficient resources to support this growth of 2,400 additional graduate students. Financial backing for the graduate program will play a prominent role in upcoming development efforts.

Drake: They have been a stimulating and fascinating intellectual feast. It is very gratifying to help so many outstanding faculty, students, and staff realize their aspirations.

Drake: The biggest challenge is competing with other premier universities to recruit and retain spectacular faculty at a time of skyrocketing costs for top scholars. Being a young and growing university means that UCSD can be more entrepreneurial, innovative, and interdisciplinary, but it also means that we lack the resources and endowments of older institutions. Consequently, we have to be smarter, try harder, and do more with less. Another major challenge is how to diversify the faculty, students, and staff to more closely reflect the marvelously diverse population of California.

Drake: One reason is the youthful, daring, and ambitious spirit of a place with great unrealized potential and low barriers to experimentation. Another is the high quality of faculty, students, and staff throughout the university.

Drake: My favorite spot is The Institute of the Americas. It opened its doors the year I arrived, and I have always had my faculty office there, overlooking the plaza and the ocean. I enjoy the Latin American ambience and the bustle of international visitors, conferences, and events.

Drake: I enjoy reading fiction. While I devour my share of fine literature, my guilty pleasures are novels of crime and science fiction. I’m also a movie buff and a fan of popular music, especially blues and jazz.

Drake: Attending college during the idealism and turmoil of the 1960s convinced me that researching and teaching about international affairs could be a valuable and rewarding career. I was attracted to Latin America by the excitement of the Cuban Revolution, the Alliance for Progress, the Cuban missile crisis, and democratic movements.