Author: uclafaculty

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Phishing from Way Down Under

Byuclafaculty

The email below received by yours truly definitely seems phishy: This email is being sent to you because of violation security breach that was detected by our servers. Our server detected that one of the messages you received from a contact has already infected your mail with a dangerous virus. You can no longer be allowed to send messages or files to other users to prevent the spread of virus to other @UCLA.EDU users. Please follow the link below to perform maintenance work needed to improve the protection of the email for us to verify and have your account cleared against this…

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UCLA Study Indicates Santa Monica’s Lion Was Better Able to Negotiate the Freeways than Many Commuters

Byuclafaculty

…Recently released DNA results from the mountain lion that wandered into downtown Santa Monica confirm the young male was genetically tied to the local population and not a pet. Significantly, the animal was found south of the 101 Freeway and yet possessed genetic material from populations north of the freeway, a rare bright spot for a group of animals that is suffering from an extreme lack of genetic diversity. Out of concern for public safety, Santa Monica police killed the lion after attempts to sedate it failed. “The biggest threat to mountain lions in this region is the loss and…

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Waiting for a Budget Decision from the Governor

Byuclafaculty

The legislature passed a budget – sort of – last night to meet the June 15 deadline.  That – they think – will get them paid, pursuant to the new constitutional arrangements enacted by voters in 2010.  It doesn’t mean that the governor won’t veto the budget (as he did last year).  News accounts suggest that negotiations are continuing between the legislative Dems and the governor.  Note that the governor has line-item veto powers which could be used to cut more out of the budget than what was enacted. On the pay issue: Last year after the governor vetoed the…

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Bay Area Council Business Group Announces Fundraising Campaign for UC

Byuclafaculty

From the Bay Area Council’s website: A “PERFECT” WAY TO LAUNCH AN EFFORT TO SAVE THE UC SYSTEM Recent years have been unkind to the crown jewel of California’s education system, the University of California.  Budget cutting knives have hit the UC system so hard that new studies show the state will be 1 million college-educated workers short of need by 2025.  This will not be good for our members and not be good for our economy.  Bay Area Council Executive Committee member Larry Baer, who happens to also be President of the San Francisco Giants, hosted a launch event…

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Maybe the New Guy Will Take a New Look at the UCLA Hotel Project

Byuclafaculty

From the LA Daily News: Kelly Schmader, an engineer who’s headed LAUSD’s Facilities Division for two years, is leaving his $218,000-a-year post to take the top facilities job at UCLA.  In a phone interview Friday, Schmader described his move to the University of California Los Angeles as a “once in a lifetime opportunity.” “I’ve always wanted to work in higher education, and a prestigious place like UCLA – as an engineer, I couldn’t pass it up,” Schmader said… Full story at http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_20866656/lausd-facilities-chief-resigning-take-job-at-ucla It’s time to scale the grand hotel back. Kelly Schmader! You can just hear this project cry out for a…

More Than Budget: UC Opposes Bill Related to Collective Bargaining of RAs on Its Promotional Website

Byuclafaculty

To the left is a partial screenshot of a page from the “UC for California” website http://www.ucforcalifornia.org.  The site has a page urging readers to oppose a bill related to collective bargaining for graduate research assistants.  It is being promoted by a mass emailing coming from advocacy@support.ucla.edu.  This step appears to be a departure from the earlier use of the website aimed primarily at budget issues for UC and support of efforts to increase state budget allocations for the university. The webpage on the left, by the way, doesn’t seem to work properly in Chrome.  I had to use Firefox to get…

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More Catching Up: Academic Freedom Cases

Byuclafaculty

In the prior post on this blog, we caught up with the Anderson self-support model. There is also some catching up to do on academic freedom cases. As a prior post noted, a med school faculty member at UC-Davis (who was once at UCLA) was threatened for an op ed he wrote suggesting that PSA screening was being over-promoted.  The PSA to which he referred was not any of the items to the upper left but the test used for detecting prostate cancer.  The LA Times reports that the Davis “Representative Assembly” (Legislative Assembly) voted unanimously to condemn that action….

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Catching Up: Radio Interview on Anderson MBA Self Support

Byuclafaculty

This past Monday, Dean Judy Olian of the UCLA Anderson School of Management was interviewed on KCRW’s Warren Olney on the program “Which Way LA?” concerning the vote of the Legislative Assembly to endorse the plan of moving the regular MBA to a “self support” model.  Also interviewed was Prof. Anthony Carnevale of Georgetown University.  Prof. Carnevale opposed the move, mainly on the grounds that privatization represents a shift in philosophy from public support for higher ed.  At one point Prof. Carnevale suggested that if Anderson was privatized, it should pay taxes like other private enterprises.  I do have to…

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We’re Number One!

Byuclafaculty

We have noted the impending situation on Wilshire at the 405 in which various ramps to the freeway will be closed for construction for extended periods starting this summer. (See earlier posts.)  A group called INRIX rates congested areas and the 405 adjacent to UCLA has moved from #2 to #1 in the nation, outdoing the Long Island Expressway. That’s the afternoon.  The 405 coming south towards UCLA is #7 in the morning.See http://scorecard.inrix.com/scorecard/uscorridors.asp (Thanks to Bette Billet for passing along this item of good cheer.) What happened to the good old days?[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip_pjb5_fgA&w=320&h=195] UPDATE: Sepulveda closed tonight and tomorrow night starting…