Year: 2013

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    Just Four Years? How about Eight?

    Byuclafaculty

    Everyone wants more years! From Inside Higher Ed today comes this story about changing the Master Plan: Community colleges in a growing number of states are offering bachelor’s degrees. Now California and its huge two-year system may join that group. A committee created by Brice Harris, the system’s chancellor, quietly began meeting last month to mull whether the state’s 112 community colleges should be granted the authority to offer four-year degrees… Full story at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/09/27/two-year-colleges-california-mull-bachelors-degrees Four? Eight? Just more: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RosYCAUN2TA?feature=player_detailpage]

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    Reminder: Donors to UCLA Can Do Lasting Good Without Involving a Bulldozer

    Byuclafaculty

    Today seems to be the day for reminders, as in our previous post.  However, the note below – combined with the tendency to divert campus donor money (and donors) into bricks and mortar – reminds us there are alternatives: Anthony and Jeanne Pritzker, who are among the heirs to the Hyatt hotel fortune, donated $3 million to UCLA to establish an endowment for students who are or were in foster care, the university announced today. The endowment will provide funding for tutoring, mental health services, summer housing and other expenses, according to the university… Full story at http://centurycity.patch.com/groups/schools/p/couple-donates-3m-support-ucla-foster-care-students Yours truly…

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    Reminder that Your Emails Aren’t Private

    Byuclafaculty

    The Daily Bruin carries a story today about a demand for a UCLA professors emails. Excerpt: Two state senators have accused UCLA of withholding the records of a professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences from the public, the most recent development in a conflict that has lasted about three years.  The two California senators – Minority Leader Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) and Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield) – started corresponding with UCLA about Professor John Froines’s public records earlier this year, when they noticed UCLA had not disclosed all of Froines’s emails in a past records request.Controversy over the records…

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    Possible Pension Initiative Which Would Include UC

    Byuclafaculty

    In a move to slash the retirement benefits of public employees in California, a group of mostly conservative policy advocates has been working behind the scenes on a possible 2014 ballot initiative. A copy of the still-secret draft initiative, which could dramatically impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of Californians and send a signal nationwide, has been obtained by Frying Pan News. If enacted, the proposed law would allow the state and local governments to cut back retirement benefits for current employees for the years of work they perform after the changes go into effect. Previous efforts to curb…

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    Everett: Where are you?

    Byuclafaculty

    Everett Dirksen was the Republican leader in the U.S. Senate back in the day who is often quoted as saying (about the federal budget), “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you are talking about real money.”  [I know; nobody can actually point to a source for where he supposedly said it.] We noted in a post yesterday about a plan for a $50 million football facility.  Today’s Daily Bruin has a story about the groundbreaking for a new $120 million medical center teaching building about which the Regents raised some questions but eventually rubber stamped, as they…

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    Tension Over Pension

    Byuclafaculty

    From the LA Times: The already tense labor relations between the UC system and the union that represents about 8,300 custodians, gardeners and food service workers has taken a turn for the worse. After deadlocked negotiations, UC this week imposed terms that will require those workers to contribute 6.5% of their pay to retirement plans, up from the current 5%, while the university’s contribution jumps to 12% from 10%. UC says such changes are necessary to keep the pension system healthy and that most other UC employees already have agreed to the changes. In addition, newly hired workers will receive…

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    Free Money

    Byuclafaculty

    From a UCLA media release yesterday: UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero and Head Football Coach Jim Mora announced today a campaign to raise private funds for a comprehensive football training facility to be located on the west side of Spaulding Field, the practice field for the Bruin football team. The planned state-of-the-art facility is intended to house a locker room, athletic training area, strength and conditioning facility, coaches’ offices, team meeting rooms, equipment rooms and video rooms, in addition to several elements that will feature the storied history of UCLA Football. The project, estimated to cost $50 million, will be…

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    A Sound Choice

    Byuclafaculty

    Carl Haber One of the MacArthur Fellows announced yesterday is Carl Haber of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, one of the labs managed by UC.  His prize was for his techniques of rescuing and restoring old sound recordings.  You can read more about him at http://www.macfound.org/fellows/892/. And you can hear his explanation of what he does at:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkyC5qo94b0?feature=player_detailpage]

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    Your Flyover is Open

    Byuclafaculty

    From those doing all the I-405 construction in the UCLA area comes this word: Reaching another milestone for the for the I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project, Metro, Caltrans and contractor Kiewit Infrastructure West have opened a brand new, longer and safer “flyover” ramp at the Wilshire/I-405 interchange in Westwood.The southbound I-405 offramp to eastbound Wilshire Boulevard officially was open for its very first work-day rush-hour commute this morning (Monday, Sept. 23), and is a whopping 300 percent greater capacity than the previous off-ramp. The original ramp, built as part of the Wilshire Interchange in the mid-1950s, was only 1,330 feet….

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    The Regents & Napolitano: How Was the Match Made?

    Byuclafaculty

    The ongoing debate about the Regents’ selection of Janet Napolitano is still going on, according to the LA Times: The high-profile and surprising choice of former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to head the UC system has fueled criticism over the secret selection process, echoing debates around the country about how higher-education leaders are chosen. Supporters of a more open method say that better decisions are made when three or four finalists for a university presidency or chancellorship are formally identified to the public. At that point, faculty and students could have a chance to meet them before a…