UCI Gains Some and Loses Some : Education: The campus is able to offer more housing with a newly built residential complex, but its enrollment numbers have dropped.

The academic year opens Monday at UC Irvine with the number of buildings up and the number of students down.

Due to state budget cuts, the university had to lower its enrollment ceiling by about 2.5% this fall. As a result, there will only be 16,686 students on campus as the school year begins, compared to 17,139 last fall.

They will be attending a campus that gained $104 million in new buildings, including a $24-million residential complex for fraternities and sororities, as well as “academic theme” houses for non-Greek groups. The theme residences are for students of a common interest, such as engineering or fine arts.

“The new group housing is probably the biggest change people will notice on campus this year,” said Karen Newell Young, a UCI spokeswoman. “We’ve never before had housing such as this, including the academic-theme housing.”

The new housing facilities consist of 35 structures, clustered in settings like neighborhoods. Fraternities, sororities and academic-interest groups lease the buildings from UCI.

“We didn’t put all the fraternities and sororities together,” said James Craig, director of housing at UCI. “The Greek buildings are intermixed with the academic theme housing.”

He said the 35 residential structures add 800 more beds for undergraduates on campus, bringing the total to about 3,900.

Eight sororities, nine fraternities and 14 academic-theme groups have already moved into the new residences.

“Actually, because UCI is downsizing enrollment, we only expected to fill 27 (of the 35) houses this first year, so we’re already ahead of schedule,” Craig said.

The academic-theme groups living in the new houses include honor students and those studying English as a second language.

Craig noted that fraternities and sororities at UCI have long asked the university to build housing for them.

“It’s a dream come true both for the fraternities and sororities and also academic residential living,” he said. “It’s a very diverse, creative and vital residential community.”

Charles B. Powers, UCI’s assistant vice chancellor of design and construction services, said other projects on campus nearing completion include the following:

* A $32-million science library that will be six stories tall and will contain more than 500,000 books.

* A $3-million structure to supplement an existing humanities office building.

* A $15-million combination parking structure and office building near the Bren Events Center.

* A $30-million, four-story engineering lab building.

In addition to the new construction, UCI is also completing a $15-million renovation of Steinhaus Hall, one of its science buildings, Powers said.

UCI People to Watch

* Laurel L. Wilkening, chancellor. Wilkening, 48, left her job as provost of University of Washington in January to head the campus. Her skills will be sorely tested, as the campus is reeling from three years of deep budget cuts, layoffs and soaring student fees. Faculty members and administrators complain of increasing isolation from top decision-makers. And students have grown increasingly restive, protesting higher fees and calling for a more diverse curriculum.

* Charles Lee, co-chair of Asian Pacific Students Assn. Lee, 21, is an economics major and vice president of the Associated Students of UCI. He gained recognition this year for helping to organize a 35-day hunger strike by students demanding an Asian-American studies program at UCI. Lee’s leadership will be highlighted this year as the Asian students work to hold the administration to a promise to hire four new professors to teach Asian-American courses.

* Michael W. Berns, professor of surgery. Berns, 50, is president and co-founder of the university’s Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic, which is expected to bring in much-needed revenue to UCI this year. In July, the institute and seven corporate partners submitted $20 million in proposals for federal defense-conversion projects. The institute wants to do research in converting sophisticated lasers and detectors from the defense industry to health-care purposes.

* Marion Metivier-Redd, assistant executive vice chancellor for affirmative action and equal opportunity. Metivier-Redd served as executive officer for affirmative action at the University of Vermont until she accepted the UCI post in June. She is responsible for implementing affirmative action programs that affect students, faculty and staff.

* Gary Hunt, chairman of UCI Foundation. Hunt, a vice president of the Irvine Co., which donated land for the UCI campus 28 years ago, takes over leadership of the foundation at a time when the need for private donations is soaring. University officials say they believe that Hunt can tap sources he has used to raise funds for other successful civic and philanthropic organizations.

Source: UCI; Researched by DAVAN MAHARAJ / Los Angeles Times