Author: admin

  • More on Online Higher Education

    Byadmin

    Inside Higher Ed alert points to “iTunes University” downloading from an Apple press release: Excerpt from release: iTunes U Downloads Top 300 Million CUPERTINO, California—August 24, 2010—In just over three years, iTunes® U downloads have topped 300 million and it has become one of the world’s most popular online educational catalogs. Over 800 universities throughout the world have active iTunes U sites, and nearly half of these institutions distribute their content publicly on the iTunes Store®. New content has just been added from universities in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico and Singapore, and iTunes users now have access to over…

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    Robbed Blind: Governor is Heating Up Verbal Campaign on Public Pensions

    Byadmin

    The rhetoric around public pensions in California is heating up, as the excerpt below from a longer piece at http://blogs.kqed.org/capitalnotes/2010/08/24/budget-55-robbed-blind/#more-6347 suggests. As indicated in my previous posts on this issue, all of this rhetoric on pensions points to the need for a Regental plan for UCRS to be in place before the next governor takes over. But, of course, it matters what this plan will be. Note that the 1999 law which the governor decries below did not deal with UC’s pension. So we are potentially being pulled into a CalPERS issue. —————- Budget +55: “Robbed Blind” August 24, 2010,…

  • Order! Order! Another University Ranking

    Byadmin

    The Washington Monthly has a ranking of universities which puts an emphasis on such factors as “social mobility.” The top schools in its ranking are UC-San Diego, UC-Berkeley, and UCLA in that order. Perhaps more interesting than the rankings is that you can look at such factors as the percent of students receiving Pell grants. For details, go to http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/rankings_2010/national_university_rank.php

  • UCLA Researcher “Firing” Questioned in Newspaper Editorial

    Byadmin

    A case of a UCLA researcher, James E. Engstrom, who was reported soon to be “fired,” has been making the rounds of the Internet and has now penetrated print media. See below. It is not clear to me exactly the nature of the appointment involved from web sources. Dr. Engstrom’s official UCLA webpage is still active at http://www.cancer.ucla.edu/index.aspx?page=645&recordid=83 Dr. Engstrom’s work apparently is controversial because it questions ill-health effects of diesel and other pollutants and from tobacco. Googling his name pulls up various controversies surrounding his work and related personnel actions. I have no other info on this matter beyond…

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    The Rent, The Rent! University Head’s Housing Raises Ire

    Byadmin

    August 21, 2010, NY Times (Bay Area Edition) University Head’s Housing Raises Ire By STEVE FAINARU Five minutes before midnight on June 30, movers hauled the last boxes from a spectacular rented home in the Oakland Hills. The tenant’s lease was about to expire, and in his haste to get out, he left behind thousands of dollars of damage to the hardwood floors and Venetian plastered walls. The tenant was Mark G. Yudof, president of the University of California. His midnight move was the latest chapter in a two-year housing drama that has cost the university more than $600,000 and…

  • This Could Never Happen at UCLA Given Our Moral Minds

    Byadmin

    August 20, 2010, NY Times (excerpt) Harvard Finds Scientist Guilty of Misconduct By NICHOLAS WADE Harvard University said Friday that it had found a prominent researcher, Marc Hauser, “solely responsible” for eight instances of scientific misconduct. Hours later, Dr. Hauser, a rising star for his explorations into cognition and morality, made his first public statement since news of the inquiry emerged last week, telling The New York Times, “I acknowledge that I made some significant mistakes” and saying he was “deeply sorry for the problems this case had caused to my students, my colleagues and my university.” Dr. Hauser is…

  • ASUCLA Bookstore Beware

    Byadmin

    Excerpt picked up from Inside Higher Ed & from dailypress.com/news/newport-news/dp-nws-cnu-bookstore-20100819,0,745171.storyAugust 19, 2010 NEWPORT NEWS — Students wandering Christopher Newport University’s campus next year looking for the bookstore won’t find one. The annual college tradition of buying and selling textbooks will have to take place online for CNU students. The university announced Thursday that it’s shutting down its bookstore in the David Student Union and launching a textbook website instead. The change happens Jan. 1, 2011. The decision to close the store is based on student buying patterns and the proliferation of online competition, according to CNU. Students have begun flocking…

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    UC Will Front Cal Grants Held Up By Lack of State Budget

    Byadmin

    Excerpt from Sacramento Bee, 8/20/10. It is a perilous time to be a college student depending on the state of California to get through school. Some 335,500 students going to California colleges this fall have qualified for Cal Grants because their family incomes are so low. They need the grants to pay tuition, buy books or cover basic living expenses. But without a budget for the 2010-11 year, the state is not sending out any Cal Grants. State budgets have been late for so many years now that larger institutions have adapted. Campuses in the University of California and California…

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    Two Prominent Dems Join With Governor on Public Pensions

    Byadmin

    From http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?xid=z2hom7ay9rt20f# The call for pension reform received an unexpected boost from an unlikely source this week — former Gov. Gray Davis. In an interview with Reuters, Davis said reforms advocated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will make it easier for whomever holds the job next, and he praised Schwarzenegger for pushing for changes in the state pension system — changes that Davis said were now inevitable. “With … the open primary and redistricting reform, at least 20% of the Legislature will have its interests properly aligned, and they will be punished [by voters] if they don’t solve big problems,” he…

  • Furloughs of State Workers Resume

    Byadmin

    The hold on state furloughs was lifted by the California Supreme Court while it considers various legal challenges to the governor’s furlough orders. With UC furloughs ending soon, this development potentially puts the university in a difficult position. However, absent a change in Regental policy – which realistically is not on the table – UC furloughs will end on schedule. On the state Supreme Court’s action, see http://blogs.sacbee.com/the_state_worker/2010/08/breaking-news-furloughs-back-o.html