Dean Kenji Hakuta is working to build UC Merced's Division of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts under a relaxed deadline he wishes had held firm.

The state budget put off the opening of the University of California at Merced until the fall of 2005, and Hakuta sees advantages and disadvantages in the delay. He has more time to prepare for the university's opening, but he says UC Merced will have to concentrate on "maintaining our momentum."

Hakuta, 50, arrived at UC Merced on July 1. He spends his time on three main tasks: choosing faculty, raising money and meeting the community.

He has hundreds of faculty applications for 20 positions in his division. He said he seeks faculty, courses and students that fit with each other, with the university and with the San Joaquin Valley community.

He's on the phone, in meetings and raising money -- working from an office "literally 10 by 12, a desk and boxes."

Hakuta wants course offerings that meet students' desires and needs, two factors that sometimes diverge, he says.

The UC system prides itself on having faculty determine curriculum, but UC Merced will have to come up with a curriculum before the faculty is set.

"We are trying to plan it with the few faculty here," Hakuta says.

He wants to leave the curriculum incomplete so faculty yet to arrive can help shape it.

Money, or the lack of it, delayed UC Merced's opening, and the search for financing, including "getting foundations interested," consumes about 40% of Hakuta's time. He meets with companies, foundations, organizations and executives.

The rest of his time goes toward managing his division, recruiting and working with faculty on the curriculum and "troubleshooting."

Hakuta's division will develop courses that prepare students for such careers as teaching, law, medicine and business.

So far, the division has settled on two majors for 2005: behavioral sciences and world cultures. Hakuta plans to add two or three additional majors per year.

Connection to San Joaquin Valley communities is a recurring theme for Hakuta. He speaks of the California Community Foundation and says the Great Valley Center, a think tank based in Modesto, will be a key partner.

"I hope we have a program on public policy," Hakuta says. "We need to highlight education and educational reform."

This is important to students' learning but also to the Valley's economic improvement, says Carol Whiteside, president of the Great Valley Center.

Before Hakuta left Stanford University for UC Merced, she discussed with him the need for a broad, regional effort to lift the region's educational level.

Whiteside describes a cause-and-effect trap in the Valley. The region has a lower percentage of college graduates than the state. Companies don't locate here, citing the dearth of educated workers. Because companies don't locate here, people who go away to prestigious universities don't return.

Whiteside has talked with Hakuta about his academic interest in bilingual education and how the Valley population fits with that interest.

He speaks Japanese, English and Spanish and wants to learn Hmong.

"What excites him is the population we have," Whiteside says. In the Valley, "we have to show parents how to support kids and show schools how to be more flexible in meeting the needs of a much more diverse population. Kenji likes that challenge, and this Valley offers him much."