Author: admin

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    Listen to the Regents Afternoon Meeting of July 17, 2013

    Byadmin

    Most of the afternoon activity of the Regents on Wednesday, July 17, was in closed sessions for which no audio is available.  The main item of interest in the open period was the privacy initiative, noted in an earlier post, which is a work in progress. Afternoon Agenda: July 17, 2013 1:00 pm Committee on Compliance and Audit (open session – includes privacy initiative) 1:30 pm Committee on Compensation (closed session) 1:45 pm Committee on Compensation (Regents only session) 2:00 pm Committee on Governance (Regents only session) 2:10 pm Committee on Compliance and Audit (Regents only session) 2:30 pm Committee…

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    Positive Spin for UC Prez Nominee

    Byadmin

    As prior posts have noted, there is a lot in the news media about questions being raised about the nominee for UC president, Janet Napolitano.  Now, with the nomination coming up in tomorrow’s meeting, there is spin in the news media to put the nomination in a positive light.  From the San Jose Mercury-News: If Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is appointed UC president on Thursday, Californians will be getting more than just a big-name politician who has wrangled unwieldy bureaucracies and responded to natural disasters, supporters say.Those who have known Napolitano since her undergraduate days at Santa Clara University…

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    Listen to the UC Regents Morning Meeting of 7-17-2013

    Byadmin

    University of California Regents: July 17, 2013 – morning session Agenda: Wednesday, July 17 8:30 am Committee of the Whole (open session – includes public comment session)9:30 am Board (open session)9:40 am Committee on Finance (open session)12:00 Lunch(Note: Appointment of the student regent was moved from the 9:30 am session to after the Committee on Finance due to airplane delays that affected some regents.) Highlights: Outgoing UC President Yudof delivered observations that could be considered advice to the incoming president.  He included a skeptical off-hand remark on the MOOC industry, noted that UCOP bureaucracy will tend to grow unless checked,…

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    Bad Timing for UC Prez Nominee?

    Byadmin

    Inside Higher Ed today is running a lengthy story about how former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels – now president of Purdue – intervened to block use of a history book in public higher ed institutions in his state.  Excerpt below: Mitch Daniels, as an unconventional choice to become Purdue University’s president, has repeatedly pledged his strong commitment to academic freedom. And many professors — including some who had questioned the wisdom of appointing a governor as university president — have given him high marks for the start of his work at Purdue. But on Monday, the Associated Press published an article based on…

  • MOOC stampede

    Byadmin

    Inside Higher Ed today has a lengthy article on a MOOC stampede.  That is, according to the article, public universities are rushing to sign no-bid contracts with MOOC providers: [excerpt] …While MOOC providers have been able to escape competitive bidding and sign major deals at large and prestigious institutions in a relatively short period of time, traditional technology deals by state-run institutions can require lengthy evaluations, said Phil Hill, a technology consultant who has advised higher ed institutions on learning management system procurements. “We’re in this situation that is sort of nonsensical,” Hill said. “So you have very strict procurement processes for pretty easy decisions,…

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    Listen to the Regents Meeting of July 16, 2013

    Byadmin

    The latest in regental recording archiving? NOTE: THE BLOGGER PROGRAM SEEMS TO BE HAVING PROBLEMS TODAY.  IT IS INSERTING PART OF AN EARLIER POST INTO THIS ONE.  IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE READING THIS POST AS PART OF THE GENERAL BLOG ROLL, CLICK ON ITS TITLE TO SEE ONLY THE POST.  THAT VERSION IS CLEAR.  SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE WHICH YOURS TRULY COULD NOT CORRECT. We continue our practice of providing an archived audio of Regents meetings until such time as the Regents commit to maintaining a permanent archive.  As noted on previous blog postings, the current regental policy is to…

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    Public Comments: Possible Preview

    Byadmin

    There are two public comment sessions on the Regents agenda for this week.  One is on Wednesday morning and the other is on Thursday morning.  (The opening committee meeting today does not list a public comment session on the agenda.)  At public comment sessions, anyone can say anything about anything that concerns UC.  It’s hard to imagine that no one will have anything to say about the new nominee for UC president.  But there are other pending issues.  For example, there are ongoing UC labor negotiations; some blog readers will recall the short strike last month at UC med centers. …

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    One columnist wants the new UC prez to give the state’s politicos a tough going over

    Byadmin

    Most of the commentary about the nomination of Janet Napolitano as the new UC president has been about the candidate or the selection process.  Joe Mathews in contrast thinks she should use her homeland security background to be tough with the state’s political establishment and has this advice for her: …Your focus needs to be changing the reality that the UC has a very minority partner – the state government, which provides only a fraction of its resources – that has majority authority over the system. You need to present the legislature with a stark choice. Either ramp up public…

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    Contest Winner!

    Byadmin

    We have a winner of today’s contest.  The winner noted that Mike Curb, shown here, was Lieutenant Governor during Jerry Brown’s first two terms in office in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  One of the oddities of California political institutions is that the governor and lieutenant governor don’t run as a slate.  So it is possible that the two come from different parties.  Mike Curb was a Republican.  Another oddity is that whenever the governor is not in the state, the lieutenant governor becomes acting governor with all the powers of the governor.  (Communications were not easy when California…