News

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    Legislative Analyst Says Everything’s OK With UC Faculty Pay

    Byadmin

    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…

  • California has a “529” Tax-Favored College Savings Program

    Byadmin

    In case you didn’t know it, California maintains a tax-favored “529” savings program for college tuition (and related college expenses) that works something like an IRA.  It can be used for any qualified institution nationwide, not just UC. Details are at https://www.scholarshare.com/home.shtml Excerpt: Contributions and Any Earnings Used to Pay for Qualified Higher Education Expenses are Federal and California Income Tax-free. The earnings portion of any distributions used to pay for qualified higher education expenses will be free from federal and California income tax. Federal Estate and Gift Tax BenefitsContributions to ScholarShare may reduce the taxable value of your estate. For…

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    The Gift of Human Capital is Good News for UCLA and for the Donor

    Byadmin

    The Good News By the time you read this posting, you will likely have heard or read about David Geffen’s gift of human capital – in the form of scholarships – to the UCLA med school. From the official UCLA media release: Entertainment executive and philanthropist David Geffen has established an unprecedented $100 million scholarship fund that will cover the entire cost of education for the very best medical students attending the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (DGSOM). The school was named in his honor after his $200 million unrestricted gift in 2002. With this recent gift, Geffen’s total philanthropic support…

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    Missing the Point on the UC Logo

    Byadmin

    I thought we could put the UC redesigned logo story to bed – at least for awhile.  (See the previous and earlier posts.)  But, alas, KPCC this morning aired an interview with a “brand developer” who totally missed the point.  She rattled on and on in a British accent (so who could doubt what she said?) about how the whole problem was the “process” by which the new design was introduced.  If only there had been more participation in the logo design.  Etc. Etc.Here are the problems and they have zero to do with process.1) UC has bigger issues to…

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    The New UC Logo is Just Part of a Fad

    Byadmin

    OK. Enough fun with the new UC logo.  But let’s forget the rationale about how it was done to look nice on the Internet.  What we have is a general fad about simplifying old logos to make them look “cool” and “modern.”  UC got swept up in the fad. Take a look at the old and new city logo for Santa Monica above.  The old one was, well, old fashioned with its Latin phrase (even though it does have little helicopters).  So someone did to the Santa Monica logo what UC has done to its logo.  The difference was that…

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    Trivial Pursuit?

    Byadmin

    The California State Auditor examines the accounts of state agencies including UC.  Chapter 8 of its latest report focuses on an unnamed administrator who came from CSU and apparently misspent travel funds there to the tune of over $150,000 before arriving at UC.  When this problem at CSU became known, UC tightened up the oversight of the administrator’s UC travel.  Nevertheless, the auditor found a few thousand dollars in improperly charged UC travel expenses. From Chapter 8: …In October 2012 the university reported that it intends to seek reimbursement from the official for the wasteful expenses identified in this report….

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    Given the Sacramento Bee’s editorial on the UC logo, could there be a movie deal in the works?

    Byadmin

    Sacramento Bee Editorial: Was UC’s new logo fully flushed out? …The trouble is, the image reminds many people of what happens when they hit the commode lever… … (C)ouldn’t UC have come up with a better name for this symbol than “the lock-up”? As the university says on its website, under a category called Brand Guidelines, “the UC lock-up reinterprets the classic elements of the seal into a vibrant, visually energetic, engaging and relevant identifier.” The website goes onto to remind readers, “It’s more than a logo … It’s a system.” Perhaps so, but at this point, we are not…

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    Gas Line Leak Reported at Sproul Circle

    Byadmin

    A message was sent at 10:36 AM this morning by the Bruin Alert service:Natural gas line break at Sproul Circle.  Use caution and avoid area until further notice.Update: An all-clear message was received at 11:03 AM.Two comments asked where Sproul circle was.  I assume it is the area shown below in front of Sproul Hall: See Sproul Hall turnaround below:

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    Logoland is a small world after all!

    Byadmin

    It is said that the upside-down elephant logo for UC – see all of our previous and delightful posts – had to be introduced because the old one can’t be seen well on the web. From the LA Times today:…UC officials were caught on the defensive. They emphasize that the traditional seal, with its “Let There Be Light” motto, a drawing of an open book and the 1868 date of UC’s founding, is not being abandoned and still will be used on such things as diplomas and official letterhead. But they say that the 1910 seal is so ornate that…

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    Campus Climate Survey Promotional Materials

    Byadmin

    Blog readers will know that a UC-wide campus climate survey was developed after various incidents on the campuses.  There has been concern that because of the length of the survey instrument, participation would be low and mainly confined to those with concerns.  According to the promotional materials for department chairs and similar administrators – see the link below – there are lottery-type financial and non-financial prizes available to participants to obtain at least a 30% participation rate. Use the search engine on this blog to find earlier posts on the survey including audio of a presentation by the woman conducting…