Chancellor Albert Carnesale addressed several key staff concerns ranging from day care to involvement in university decision-making at a town hall meeting with staff May 3 in Ackerman Grand Ballroom.

During the hour-long forum sponsored by Staff Assembly, Carnesale lauded staff members, emphasizing that while faculty and students are most often cited as being important constituencies on campus, staff members are an integral part of what makes the campus function.

"It's hard to imagine how a university would actually run if it were left solely to faculty and students," Carnesale said. "One of the reasons why UCLA is an excellent university is because we have excellent people who make it work."

While some staff members submitted questions in advance via e-mail, others in attendance asked questions from the floor.

Asked how staff could get involved in the university's decision-making process, the chancellor replied that becoming active in Staff Assembly is a good starting point.

The administration, for example, asks the organization to submit nominations for appointments to various campuswide committees, he noted.

Asked whether he would consider holding office hours for employees, as he does for students, Carnesale responded that he already makes himself available by appointment to employees. He added the caveat that employees should not bypass personnel processes in making their request to see him.

"We will always ask what the meeting will be about," the chancellor said. "But anytime that a staff member thinks it would be valuable to meet with me, we've always honored those requests. There haven't been so many that we need to go to office hours instead."

The chancellor also told staff members that he hopes to be able to announce soon progress in his search for private donors to help support more child care at UCLA.

"We have a far greater demand than we can meet," Carnesale said

"It's a priority for me to try and do something about it, and I believe we will make progress."