Michael Drake and wife Brenda are making themselves at home.
Earlier this month, the University of California, Irvine’s new leader and his wife introduced themselves to politicians, university officials and executives at a champagne reception hosted by Joan Irvine Smith at her Irvine Museum.
Along with Smith, a philanthropist and great-granddaughter of rancher James Irvine, the crowd included Allergan Inc. Chief Executive David Pyott and Michael Mussallem, head of Edwards Lifesciences Corp.
Also on hand were former UC Irvine president Jack Peltason, Ralph Cygan, UCI Medical Center’s chief executive, and Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido.
Drake, a 54-year-old ophthalmologist, became UCI’s fifth chancellor on July 1. His wife is a public interest lawyer and foundation executive. The couple recently moved to Irvine, while Brenda splits her time between here and Northern California.
The chancellor took over from Ralph Cicerone, who had served as a big cheerleader for the ambitious university. Cicerone now heads the National Academies of Science in Washington, D.C.
“It’s been a wonderful six weeks,” Drake said from a leather chair in the corner of his spacious but still sparsely appointed office on the fifth floor of the university’s administration building.
“I believe that my job is to create quality programs and create the opportunity for people to invest in them,” he said. “And I plan to be successful in doing it.”
There are challenges.
The biggest issue facing Drake isn’t unique to him: fund raising.
Raising money has been a sore spot for UCI, which hasn’t fared as well as some of its UC counterparts when it comes to tapping private sources for donations.
Cicerone scored a coup earlier this year with UCI’s biggest single gift yet, $30 million from Hot Pockets inventor Paul Merage.
UCI’s been supported generously, Drake said, including a doubling of private giving in the past three years or so.
Still, “We have room to grow,” he said. “My belief is that we have to make sure that we make it clear to those who might wish to support us that we have a product that’s worth supporting and that their support will help that product to develop.”
Young University
Drake has adopted a familiar refrain of his predecessors: UCI, started 40 years ago, is young as far as universities go.
“Our alumni base is composed of people who are relatively young for a major university,” Drake said. “Our average alum is in his or her early 40s, so these are people who are thinking about soccer practice and educating their children.”
Universities typically have three sources of giving, according to Drake: graduates, hospital patients “who’ve seen the power and magic of medicine and want to make sure they do what they can to make that available to others,” and what he called “astute, interested people in the community, who are the ‘adopted alumni.'”
“Because our alumni are relatively young and our hospital is growing, we’re fortunate to be supported by our adopted alumni,” he said.
Like Cicerone, Drake appears set to play a bigger role in fund raising, meeting with prospective donors and offering them a view of UCI from the top.
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Mitchell: worked on Merage gift |
Beyond that, he’ll rely on Tom Mitchell, vice chancellor of university advancement, and others at the university.
Drake, who served as vice president for health affairs for the University of California system before coming to UCI, doesn’t have a lot of experience raising money.
Business backers don’t seem put off.
“I am confident that he will be effective at it,” said Ted Smith, founder of Costa Mesa-based FileNet Corp., in an earlier Business Journal interview.
Smith is chair of the UCI Foundation and was a member of the search committee that tapped Drake for the job.
For his part, Drake emphasizes building closer ties with business. He’s already met with members of the university’s Chief Ex-ecutive Roundtable and the UCI Foundation.
“The modern re-search university is the key to the economic engine of society,” Drake said. “I’ve met with lots of leaders from the business community and other leaders in the Orange County community that understand the same thing.”
Quality is a theme for Drake.
“Students choose universities based on quality, and so our daily mission is to continue to advance the quality of our programs across the board,” he said.
A big push for Drake could come with UCI’s bid for a law school.
“The campus has studied this over several decades,” he said. “A law school would fit perfectly with other programs on campus.”
His vision of a law school: “interprofessional,” where law students also could take advantage of UCI’s business and other courses.
Drake’s healthcare background is seen helping solidify UCI’s ties to the county’s medical device and drug makers.
“He’ll understand the trials and tribulations (of healthcare issues) better than most,” said James Mazzo, chief executive of Advanced Medical Optics Inc., a Santa Ana eye surgery device and contact lens care maker.
Drake takes over as UCI Medical Center, a teaching hospital in Orange, has started work on a $370 million expansion.
Another key health effort: a $55 million eye research institute that plays off the county’s eye drug and device companies.
Both projects were started under Cicerone.
“I have great respect and admiration for Chancellor Cicerone,” said Drake, adding he and his predecessor had worked together over the years.
Drake said he is mindful of UCI’s larger mission.
“We are at heart a liberal arts university, so we are training and educating our students broadly in the things that make our society special, that make our culture the envy of the world,” Drake said.
Supporting performing arts and cultural activities, including making academic programs “stronger and more robust across the board,” is another goal, Drake said.
UCI’s Chancellor’s Fellowship program, where local leaders in various fields are brought on campus to interact with students and teachers, could be expanded, according to Drake.
Politically Seasoned
The chancellor’s mellowness isn’t shaken when discussing how he plans to handle political issues at the university, including the fight for a law school.
“Well, I was at the office of the UC president for these last five years,” he said. “So, in that role, I dealt on a routine basis with the Legislature and the Regents. We all worked together on a daily basis.”
In Drake’s prior job, he headed all UC medical schools and hospitals.
“Part of our job is to make sure we educate the Legislature and others about the quality of the investment that supporting the University of California has been for the state of California,” he said.
The Drakes, parents of two adult sons, are settling into the 9,500-square-foot chancellor’s residence in University Hills at UCI. Most of the house’s space is devoted to entertaining, including wining and dining potential donors and other dignitaries.
