Author: uclafaculty

UCLA History: UCLA Professor Kleinrock and the Internet

Byuclafaculty

The caption that accompanied this photo in UCLA Today, Oct. 22, 2009 read “Leonard Kleinrock, Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, stands beside the Interface Message Processor that made the first Internet message possible.” For those of us who are more computer-challenged, there is some comfort in the apparent ability of Microsoft to change the word of God. See:http://jan.ocregister.com/2010/12/09/microsoft-to-fix-pdf-anomaly-for-bible/50696/

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Court Upholds Prop 209 Ban on Affirmative Action in University Admissions

Byuclafaculty

Federal judge upholds Calif affirmative action ban Dec. 8, 2010, Fresno Bee, Terence Chea – Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge has rejected a lawsuit challenging California’s voter-approved ban on affirmative action in public university admissions. U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Conti on Wednesday ruled against the challenge to Proposition 209, which banned the consideration of race and ethnicity in public education, employment and contracting… Full article at http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/12/08/2190629/federal-judge-upholds-calif-affirmative.html

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The Incredible Shrinking University

Byuclafaculty

Andy Sabl pointed me to a lengthy article on the fate of UC entitled “Mission Shrinking.” An excerpt with a link to the full article is below. You can get the tone from the brief excerpt. Mission Shrinking, Diana Jean Schemo, Dec. 7, 2010 In the galaxy of public higher education, the University of California system once shined as a kind of North Star. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Golden State’s premier institutions, the University of California at Los Angeles and at Berkeley, boasted some of the strongest research and teaching faculties in the world. A UC education was…

Chancellor’s Committee Issues Report on UCPD Use of Force at Campus Protests

Byuclafaculty

In the wake of the November 2009 Regents meeting protests, over 100 senate faculty at UCLA signed a letter to Chancellor Block expressing grave concern over UC Police use of force against students and calling for a thorough review.  In response, the Chancellor convened a special task force, which has now released its report: http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/document/Regents_Nov_2009_Meeting_Post_Event_Report.pdf I have not had time to review the text, and I urge those of you who signed on to read it over and add your response in the comment section for this post.   –Tobias Higbie 

Comparing Public vs. Private Pay

Byuclafaculty

The two charts you see on this post come from a press release issued today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The charts break out the pay (wages and benefits) of state and local employees vs. private employees as of Sept. 2010. (The bars labeled “civilian” refer to the two groups combined. Federal workers are not included.) The data do not allow California to be broken out. The figures underlying the charts are for the total U.S. In a sense, the charts explain the seeming public anger at public employees who earn in total compensation about $40 per hour…

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UCLA Forecasts Snail-Pace Growth Which Sets Context for Brown’s State Budget Conference

Byuclafaculty

From the press release for yesterday’s UCLA Anderson Forecast: California’s forecast, authored by Senior Economist Jerry Nickelsburg and titled “Laying the Groundwork for California’s Economic Recovery,” continues themes that began in September – almost imperceptibly slow growth until the end of next year. “with only the first indication of changes in consumer and business expectations revealing themselves in the contemporaneous data, and in the absence of an external driver to induce faster growth, this is the most likely scenario for this phase of the recovery,” Nickelsburg writes. Stated bluntly, California must re-employ 1.3 million workers just to get back to…

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The New Pension & Retiree Health Care Plan to be Considered by the Regents Now on the Web

Byuclafaculty

The post-employment benefits plan (pension and retiree health care) proposed by President Yudof is now on the Regents’ website for consideration at the December 13 special meeting of the Regents. It is what was previously presented at the November meeting. As previous posts have noted, there will be a two-tier pension plan. It is unclear whether incumbent employees will have the option to switch to the new lower tier. An IRS approval would be needed for that option to be offered. The proposal is at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/dec10/j1.pdf I am not expecting a great deal of controversy among the Regents on this…

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The Future Lies Ahead: Final UCOF Report

Byuclafaculty

Press release from UCOP issued yesterday at:http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/24629 UC Commission on the Future (UCOF) final report released Date: 2010-12-06 The final report of the University of California Commission on the Future, convened last year to map out strategies to preserve excellence and access through the state fiscal crisis and beyond, was unveiled today (Monday, Dec. 6). The 20 recommendations endorsed by the commission address five broad categories: teaching and curriculum, undergraduate enrollment and access, research and graduate education, fiscal discipline and administrative reform, and public education and advocacy. The commission also cited contingency actions that, if the fiscal situation worsens, might…

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Interesting Profile of a UC-Berkeley Professor Said to be a YouTube Sensation

Byuclafaculty

The San Francisco Chronicle published the story below on Sunday. But the Chronicle keeps certain stories for subscribers only for a couple of days. So here are some excerpts. By way of background, UC-Berkeley puts lectures on YouTube for some classes. The story refers to such a class. One YouTube lecture is embedded below the story excerpts. Marian Diamond – Anatomy Professor a YouTube Hit Debra Levi Holtz, Sunday, December 5, 2010 Each fall, Marian Diamond walks into UC Berkeley’s Wheeler Auditorium holding a round hatbox, a gift from the staff of Lawrence Hall of Science, where she used to…

Special Budget Session Called by Governor Has No Cuts for UC

Byuclafaculty

In a sense, this is a non-story. Governor Schwarzenegger – as a lame duck with a month in office to go – has called a special session of the legislature to deal with the state budget. No one expects the legislature to do anything until Governor-Elect Brown takes office. Nonetheless, the current governor has proposed various budget solutions for the current year and next year which he totals at about $10 billion. There are some miscellaneous things such as putting advertising on freeway traffic signs. Much of what gets cut in the proposals is in the social service area, broadly…