William B. Baker served as Vice President-Budget and University Relations for the University of California from 1983-1992, and then Vice President of University and External Relations from 1993-1997. In that capacity he was interviewed by the Regional Oral History Office in 1997 as part of the project on the UC Office of the President and Its Constituencies, 1983-1995. It became clear that those two interviews only scratched the surface of Mr. Baker’s forty-plus years as a participant and observer in the expansion of the nine campus university system—coming on board as President Clark Kerr was building three new campuses (Irvine, Santa Cruz and San Diego) and implementing the Master Plan of Higher Education in 1960. Therefore, President Richard Atkinson asked us to expand on that short oral history to cover Mr. Baker’s full career. The oral history which follows adds greatly to our documentation of the history of the university, particularly the intricacies of the budget process and the complexities of the university’s relations with the governor’s office and the legislature in Sacramento.