Author: admin

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    The Candidate

    Byadmin

    As readers of this blog will know, UC is looking for a new president to replace Mark Yudof who is resigning in August.  What you may not know is that there is talk in university circles that the next president should be someone atypical with political skills rather than an academic. Such thinking characterizes not only the UC search but similar searches at other public universities.  An example is columnist suggestion that UC should choose Gray Davis: …(D)oesn’t this sound like a job for Gray Davis? Say what you want about California’s only recalled governor, but he knows politics and…

  • From Boston

    Byadmin

    Yours truly is in Cambridge, MA. today.  A lot of police activity here in connection with the general lockdown of the Boston area due to the bombings.  This photo is corner of Mt. Auburn and Hawthorne St.  Various police departments are circulating in the area.  The car is from the Harvard police. 

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    Out-of-state and international students rising at UCLA

    Byadmin

      The numbers are out on UC and UCLA freshman applications and admissions.  Among the findings is the fact that the proportion of non-California admits to UCLA have risen.  Two years ago, three out of ten admits were non-Californians.  A year ago, the proportion rose to four out of ten where it remains this year.  You can find these and other data at http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/fall2013adm.html [Note that admissions are not the same thing as eventual enrollments.  Note also that undergrads also enter UCLA through community college and other transfers.]  

  • Dead on Arrival (or close to arrival)

    Byadmin

    From Inside Higher Ed today:…A bill is dead to create a fourth college system in California to award credit and degrees to students but offer no courses, according to the head of the state Assembly’s higher education committee. The bill would have created the “New University of California,” which would have issued credit and degrees to anyone capable of passing certain exams. The bill received criticism and news media attention even though it had an uphill battle to become law: its sponsor is Assemblyman Scott Wilk, a rookie Republican lawmaker in a Democratic-majority legislature… Full story at http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/04/18/bill-create-new-university-california-dies  It sounds…

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    Try to remember…

    Byadmin

    Only a handful of parking spaces in the UCLA lot near Wilshire are numbered.  Surely, for those that are, there must be some easier numbers available to remember.  (Like 1, 2, 3…) However, do your best:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G52JKyAqD4?feature=player_detailpage]

  • Substantial Changes in the UCLA Faculty Association

    Byadmin

    Date: April 17, 2013 To: Members of the UCLA Faculty Association From: Steven Lippman, Chair, and the UCLA Faculty Association Executive Board RE: Substantial Changes in the UCLA FA Bottom Line: Members have two choices: Remain a member of a reorganized FA or resign your membership The UCLA Faculty Association has served the faculty well since 1973. The FA has represented you to the University Administration at the campus and systemwide level and to the government of the state on a wide variety of issues. A few years ago, we had a successful meeting in Sacramento with the Legislative Analyst¹s…

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    Looking Ahead to 2014 Politics

    Byadmin

    “Your remarks give us great enlightenment, not only like a statesman, but also like a university professor.”* Shenzhen Party secretary Wang Rong to Governor Brown during recent China trip ==Political year 2014 may seem like a long way off but one GOP possible candidate has already semi-declared: Abel Maldonado, the former Lt. Governor.   It is widely assumed that Gov. Brown will run for re-election.  If for some reason he didn’t, there would be no shortage of Democratic candidates for governor including the current Lt. Governor, Gavin Newsom (who tried briefly in 2010).  So one question is what will be involved…

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    Indirect Flattery for UCRP from CalPERS

    Byadmin

    According to a Bloomberg report, CalPERS’ chief actuary is recommending that his fund follow the practice that is currently in place (assuming the Regents continue it) for the UC pension fund.  At present, CalPERS follows a fifteen year smoothing period, extremely long, and doesn’t get to 100% funding in thirty years.  UC has five years smoothing and a plan for 100% over 30 years. …Alan Milligan, (CalPERS’)… chief actuary, recommends that the biggest U.S. pension stop spreading out losses and gains over 15 years and instead set rates based on how much is needed to reach 100 percent funding within…

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    Things to Come?

    Byadmin

    Just a note to whoever is in charge that we are waiting to see the results of the campus climate survey taken last winter.  The survey was sponsored by UCOP in response to Regental concerns relating to certain campus-level incidents.  Results are supposed to be available “sometime in spring 2013” according to http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/28359.  At the time the survey was under consideration, the UCLA faculty welfare committee raised some concerns about response rates and response bias so we will assume those issues will be addressed in the report on the survey results. The rumored cost of the survey informally conveyed to…

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    Nobody here

    Byadmin

    The LA Times today carries an article about the search for a new UC president to replace Mark Yudof who is resigning in August. It’s a slam on the current crop of UC campus chancellors and UCOP administrators since apparently the Regents think they have no feasible inside candidates. …The search is secretive; officials say the selection process is a confidential personnel matter. Leading the effort is a committee of 10 UC regents, including Gov. Jerry Brown and student and alumni representatives. Its members declined to comment and so did the executive search firm—Isaacson, Miller. Matthew Haney, executive director of…