Author: uclafaculty

Good News – Bad News on the State’s Cash Situation and the Prospect for IOUs

Byuclafaculty

The state controller has issued his cash report for the first two months of the fiscal year. He reports $6.7 billion in “unused unborrowed reserves,” essentially cash he can use to pay bills. That sum continues to stave off the need for the kind of registered warrants (IOUs) that have been issued in the past. That’s the good news. The bad news is a) there still is no state budget, b) the cash the controller reports is in part available because, absent a state budget, some bills are not being paid (which saves cash), c) the sum is less than…

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UCLA Anderson Self Sufficiency Plan Getting Media Attention

Byuclafaculty

In an earlier post, initial media reports of the UCLA Anderson School’s plan to move away from state funding (“self sufficiency”) were noted. Since that time, there has been a jump in media attention. A public radio report is the latest. You can hear it by clicking on the video (really an audio) below. UPDATE: Coverage in the LA Times http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-uc-bizschool-20100909,0,1340589.story Coverage in Business Week http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/blogs/mba_admissions/archives/2010/09/ucla_anderson_says_no_to_state_aid.htmlCoverage in LA Business Journal http://www.labusinessjournal.com/news/2010/sep/07/ucla-anderson-become-more-self-sufficient/

OECD: More for Less in Higher Ed

Byuclafaculty

The OECD is sponsoring a conference in Paris, Sept. 13-15, available by webcast, with the cheery title of “Higher Education in a World Changed Utterly: Doing More with Less.” Details at http://www.oecd.org/site/0,3407,en_21571361_43541789_1_1_1_1_1,00.html According to the conference blurb, the event “will focus on how the higher education sector including governments, institutions and individuals can lead the way to sustainable recovery. How can effective and efficient results be achieved at a time of greater demand with fewer resources? Capitalising on the OECD’s highly-respected evidence base, the conference will draw on analyses and opinions from some of the world’s leading experts. The main…

My Guess: California Supreme Court Will Not Invalidate State Furloughs

Byuclafaculty

I watched the California Supreme Court hearing on state furloughs yesterday. My totally non-expert sense from the questioning by the justices of the lawyers is that they would be loathe to invalidate the governor’s furlough orders, potentially leading to monumental backpay claims. As indicated in prior posts, the UC furloughs were NOT part of this case since they were not ordered by the governor. But in the (apparently unlikely) event that the Court did invalidate those furloughs that were ordered by the governor, UC would have a hard time not making some kind of accommodation for its own employees. It…

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Previous Posts on Whistleblower Case and Removal of Faculty from a State Board Now Seem Connected

Byuclafaculty

Note: There have been previous separate posts on this blog which are now connected by the item excerpted below. For the earlier posts, see: http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2010/08/faculty-from-ucla-and-other.html http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2010/08/ucla-researcher-firing-questioned-in.html————–Researcher files whistle-blower retaliation complaint against UCLA (excerpts) September 7, 2010 | Erica Perez | California Watch A UCLA environmental health sciences researcher whose appointment was not renewed this year has filed a whistle-blower retaliation complaint against the university, saying he’s being punished for publishing politically incorrect research findings and for previous whistle-blowing against colleagues. UCLA officials had planned to end epidemiologist James Enstrom’s appointment August 30 but extended it until March 2011 after outside…

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UCLA Management School Plans to Move Away from State Funding Due to California’s Budget Crisis

Byuclafaculty

Giving Up State Funds (excerpts)September 7, 2010Inside Higher Ed How bad are things in California? The budget cuts and fiscal uncertainty are so severe that the University of California at Los Angeles’s business school is proposing that it give up all state funding — in return for greater budget flexibility and the right to raise out-of-state tuition to the levels of private institutions. The plan has been approved by UCLA, but is awaiting a review by Mark G. Yudof, president of the university system. Leading public universities regularly complain about the decline in the shares of their budgets that come…

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More Doctorates to Be Offered by CSU?

Byuclafaculty

Bills would add CSU doctorates (excerpts) Sep. 06, 2010, Sacramento Bee, Laurel Rosenhall Two bills heading to the governor’s desk raise a fundamental question about how California educates health care workers who are not physicians: How many of them need doctoral degrees? Assembly Bill 867 would allow California State University to offer a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, which would prepare professors to educate future nurses. AB 2382 would allow CSU to offer the Doctor of Physical Therapy degree, which a professional association has deemed will be necessary to become a physical therapist in 2015 and beyond. Together, the bills…

Labor Day Advice to Grad Students Looking for Work: Be of Good Cheer (at least, if you are an MBA)

Byuclafaculty

The National Bureau of Economic Research has released the study summarized below. In today’s tough job market for grad students, it suggests inherent optimists do better – at least for MBAs. Happy Labor Day. The Importance of Being an Optimist: Evidence from Labor Markets Ron Kaniel, Cade Massey, David T. Robinson NBER Working Paper No. 16328September 2010 Dispositional optimism is a personality trait associated with individuals who believe, either rightly or wrongly, that in general good things tend to happen to them more often than bad things. Using a novel longitudinal data set that tracks the job search performance of…