Capitol Alert

University of California regents approved raises for several high-level employees during their meeting Monday, as we reported in this morning's Bee.

Here are more details about the raises they approved. The first two batches are executives whose salaries are paid for with state funds:

• Two vice chancellors at UC Irvine and a vice chancellor at UCLA got raises of 9.9 percent. That brings salaries for Wendell C. Brase and Meredith Michaels at UC Irvine to about $247,000, and salary for Steven A. Olsen at UCLA close to $317,000.
• Joseph I. Castro was appointed interim dean of the graduate division of UC San Francisco and given a 7.5 percent raise, bringing his salary to $252,625.

The head lawyers of six UC campuses received raises ranging from 6.4 percent to 21.9 percent:

• Steven A. Drown, chief campus counsel at UC Davis, got a 21.9 percent raise, bringing his salary to $250,000.
• Diane F. Geocaris, chief campus counsel at UC Irvine, received a 14.3 percent raise, bringing her salary to $255,000.
• Carole R. Rossi, chief campus counsel at UC Santa Cruz, received a 13.9 percent raise, bringing her salary to $215,000.
• Michele Coyle, chief campus counsel at UC Riverside, received an 11.4 percent raise, bringing her salary to $215,000.
• Marcia J. Canning, chief campus counsel at UC San Francisco, received an 8.9 percent raise, bringing her salary to $255,000.
• Daniel Park, chief campus counsel at UC San Diego, received a 6.4 percent raise, bringing his salary to $250,000.

Regents also approved three compensation items for positions that are not paid for with state money:

• Lynda Rogers was appointed dean of University Extension at UC Santa Cruz, with a salary of $165,000
• A new position of chief strategy officer for the UC Davis Health System was created, to oversee the Medical Center and the School of Medicine. Salary for the position will range from $214,700 to $333,700.
• Vincent L. Johnson, chief operating officer of the UC Davis Medical Center, got a 23 percent raise, bringing his salary to $553,500. A staff report says Johnson is being recruited by another hospital offering him more than $650,000.

"We consider these retention efforts to be essential," UC President Mark Yudof said during the meeting at which regents approved a budget request asking the state for an 18 percent increase in funding. "I understand it's not a great time, but we can't really close down shop and say we're not going to make any effort to retain our best people."

More information on the compensation items approved Monday is available here.