Author: admin

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    Cautionary Note About CalPERS Long-Term Care

    Byadmin

    Although UC employees are not covered by the basic CalPERS retirement plan, they are eligible to buy long-term care insurance through CalPERS as state employees, if such policies are offered. Some UC employees, who would be reluctant to buy such policies from commercial insurance companies, may have bought or considered the CalPERS version in the past. Today’s Sacramento Bee carries a cautionary story for you, if you have bought a CalPERS long-term care policy or might consider doing so in the future (if they are again offered).  Excerpts below: …CalPERS is considering imposing a 75 percent increase in premiums on…

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    Preliminary Announcement: Nov. 7 Forum on Future Funding of UC

    Byadmin

    On Wednesday, November 7, the Faculty Association at UCLA is sponsoring a noontime program on the Future Funding of UC. That’s the day after Election Day and, unless the results are very close, we will at least know the outcome of the various state propositions on the ballot dealing with taxes.  The program will be at the Faculty Center. Prof. Steve Lippman of Anderson will introduce the event.  Prof. Karen Orren of Poli Sci will be the emcee.  Speakers will be Prof. Chris Newfield of UC-SB (English), Prof. Robert Anderson of UC-Berkeley (Economics and past chair of the Academic Council),…

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    Waiting for Brown’s First Prop 30 TV Ad

    Byadmin

    Prop 30 is the governor’s initiative for temporary tax increases that has been endorsed by the Regents.  So far, a full-scale campaign, i.e., TV ads, has yet to occur.  But a note on the LA Times‘ PolitiCal blog says the TV campaign is supposed to start today. So we’re waiting. There have been opposition radio ads and some more general “issue” ads that oppose tax increases.  Brown has a lot more money in the bank for his campaign than do the opponents.  He appears to be following the later-is-better strategy used in the 2010 gubernatorial campaign.  In that campaign, his…

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    UC History: Ansel Adams Photos

    Byadmin

    A report in the San Francisco Chronicle today indicates that in 1964, UC President Clark Kerr hired famed photographer Ansel Adams to take pictures of the UC system.  The photos came out in a picture book later which has not been reprinted until now when copies were made for incoming UC-Berkeley freshmen. Only a few photos are reproduced in the Chronicle such as the one on the right of a class for veterinarians at UC-Davis.  It’s nice that Adams gave us the horse’s head rather than the reverse. You can find the report at:http://www.sfgate.com/art/article/Ansel-Adams-prints-found-at-UC-Berkeley-3909179.php

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    They gotta have their meds!!

    Byadmin

    UC Riverside medical school clears hurdle === Larry Gordon, LA Times, October 3, 2012 (excerpt) A national accrediting agency has approved UC Riverside’s long-embattled plan to open a full medical school and to start enrolling future doctors next summer, officials announced Tuesday. It would be the sixth medical school in the University of California system and the first to open since the late 1960s. Last year, the same panel rejected the proposal because it looked too risky after the state refused to fund the school. But UC Riverside officials have since secured enough other public and private financing for a program that…

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    A Little California Background

    Byadmin

    Each year, yours truly does a presentation during orientation for the incoming MPP students on California and its history, politics, institutions, and even a little on the state budget.  If you have a spare hour and a half, the version from Sept. 25 can be seen in three parts at the links below.  Even long-time Californians may find some new information which may shed light on some current state dilemmas. We began the class with – what else? – the official state song: and then got into the specifics: Part 1: Part 2: Part 3:

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    California has a way to go

    Byadmin

    The two charts above from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics serve as a reminder that California’s economic recovery still has a way to go.  You probably knew that but it is also a reminder that the state budget, and the UC budget, which ultimately depend on the underlying economic tax base, will also be under strain for some time to come. Note: A summary of the UCLA Anderson Forecast for the national and state economies is available at: http://uclaforecast.com/contents/archive/2012/media_92012_1.asp

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    UCLA Has a New MacArthur Fellow

    Byadmin

    From the MacArthur Foundation website: Elissa Hallem Neurobiologist Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics University of California, Los Angeles Age: 34 Elissa Hallem is a neuroscientist who explores the physiology and behavioral consequences of odor detection.  As a graduate student, she undertook expansive studies of olfaction in fruit flies that revealed several important, and sometimes unexpected, insights.  Starting with a mutant fly strain that lacks any odorant receptor in a well-characterized subset of olfactory receptor neurons, Hallem produced more than twenty different transgenic fruit fly lines, each expressing a single, known odorant receptor gene in these neurons. …

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    More Online Entrepreneurialism: MBA Admissions Essay

    Byadmin

    From the San Francisco Chronicle today: For years, applicants looking to read examples of admissions essays submitted to top business schools could buy books with such names as “101 Business School (MBA) Essays That Made a Difference” or “65 Successful Harvard Business School Application Essays.” The books promised readers an inside look at what admissions officers were looking for, along with elements of a successful business school essay. The latest player is a new essay service and website called Wordprom.com, founded by MBA graduates Gili and Ori Elkin, who are looking to turn that old-fashioned model on its head -and raising the hackles of…