Author: uclafaculty

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A Skeptical View About Online Courses (from a commercial viewpoint)

Byuclafaculty

The Digital Skeptic: Online Education Fails Economics Jonathan Blum, 12/18/12, LA Daily News NEW YORK (TheStreet) — …In this nutty digital age, the red-hot online thing is …old-school, throwback university classes with a Web-age twist: They’re free.”The course is working out better than I dreamed,” Michael J. Cima told me in an email. Cima, the David H. Koch Professor of Engineering at MIT, teaches a free, online version of one of his chemistry courses at the school… Cima is not the only super geek rocking the quad with free online higher ed.  …So where’s the investor bummer? That’s sadly far…

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The Westwood Barnes Dance

Byuclafaculty

Henry Barnes As you enter UCLA from the south on Westwood Boulevard, you come across this pedestrian crossing in which all traffic lights turn red for cars and pedestrians can walk diagonally as well as straight across the street.  (There is another such crossing a few blocks away also in Westwood.)  The system is called a “Barnes Dance” after the traffic engineer who pushed for its use, Henry Barnes.  Yours truly can remember when the Barnes Dance was introduced in New York City in the 1950s (where apparently now there is only one such intersection left).  In any event, a…

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The Really Exciting 405 Project (More or Less)

Byuclafaculty

The Westwood-Century City Patch brings us this news of the I-405 project near UCLA: The investigations that resulted in the denial of 71 percent of damage claims related to the I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project have been handled with careful attention to documentation and responsibility, according to a spokesman for Kiewit Construction, the main contractor for the $1 billion project.  Last week, the Metro Board of Directors approved Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky’s motion calling for the inspector general’s office to audit Kiewit’s claims since the project began in 2009. Dan Kulka, community relations manager for Kiewit, said 90…

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Nobody Noticed the Pledge and Maybe That’s a Good Thing

Byuclafaculty

It looks like none of the LA City mayoral candidates decided to take the environmental pledge that a UCLA report seemed to suggest they should.  We previously posted about the pledge at: http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/12/mayoral-campaign-pledges.html and http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/12/more-on-ucla-studys-request-for-mayoral.html Our posts noted that the seeming posture of UCLA pushing for political candidates to take particular positions and actions (in this case, creation of a new city agency was among the actions) goes beyond just posing the options that candidates might consider.  Although yours truly did not see the event, in an article describing a recent TV debate among the mayoral candidates appearing in the…

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The Logo Was Part of an Elaborate and Now-Disappeared “Branding” Program at UC

Byuclafaculty

Above is the screenshot – taken today – of the video used to introduce the new and now-“suspended” UC logo.  It’s an official video on the UC YouTube channel “UCofficeofpresident” http://www.youtube.com/UCofficeofpresident. The video there is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt-hO-y4PhA.  In case it disappears – see below on things that seem to be disappearing – we have preserved it as part of our earlier posting at: http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/12/who-needs-light-anyway-or-gravitas.html Since the text below the video is not clear from the screenshot, here is the text that appears underneath it:Published on Nov 14, 2012 This video explains the genesis of the University of California systemwide logo….

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The New UC Logo Is Gone; We’ll Miss It

Byuclafaculty

From the Capitol Alert blog of the Sacramento Bee this morning:  The University of California system announced this morning it has suspended its controversial new logo in the wake of complaints from students and alumni, some of whom derisively compared it to a “toilet bowl.” Daniel M. Dooley, senior vice president for external relations at the UC Office of the President, said in a statement that a replacement monogram “could require a measure of time to complete.” Dooley seemed a bit defensive, however, suggesting people misunderstood the logo’s purpose and that it was only intended for use on “systemwide communications…

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Cautionary Tales for the Regents

Byuclafaculty

The New York Times today runs cautionary tales today about universities that go on building booms, build up debt, and get into trouble.  The opening lines give you the flavor:  Some call it the Edifice Complex. Others have named it the Law of More, or the Taj Mahal syndrome. A decade-long spending binge to build academic buildings, dormitories and recreational facilities — some of them inordinately lavish to attract students — has left colleges and universities saddled with large amounts of debt. Oftentimes, students are stuck picking up the bill. Overall debt levels more than doubled from 2000 to 2011…

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Radio Interview About David Geffen

Byuclafaculty

Susan Lacy and David Geffen PBS recently ran an “American Masters” episode about David Geffen who just donated $100 million to the UCLA med school.  [See yesterday’s post.]  Yours truly did not see the PBS program but there was a radio interview with the program’s director, Susan Lacy, aired on KPCC on Nov. 20.  One amusing anecdote is that Geffen got his first (mailroom) job by stating (apparently falsely) that he was a UCLA grad.  I’m sure he could have an honorary UCLA degree at this point if he wanted one.  The interview can be heard at the link below.

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Legislative Analyst Says Everything’s OK With UC Faculty Pay

Byuclafaculty

Legislative Analyst’s summary: In this report, we assess UC’s ability to recruit and retain tenured and tenure-track faculty. We find that (1) UC has been hiring candidates who have received their highest degree from some of the most selective universities in the nation, (2) UC has a long history of hiring its top choice faculty candidates, (3) most new entry-level faculty stay at UC long enough to earn tenure, (4) less than 2 percent of faculty resign from UC each year, and (5) UC’s faculty compensation is competitive with other top universities. These findings indicate that UC generally has been…