News

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    A Little California Background

    Byadmin

    Each year, yours truly does a presentation during orientation for the incoming MPP students on California and its history, politics, institutions, and even a little on the state budget.  If you have a spare hour and a half, the version from Sept. 25 can be seen in three parts at the links below.  Even long-time Californians may find some new information which may shed light on some current state dilemmas. We began the class with – what else? – the official state song: and then got into the specifics: Part 1: Part 2: Part 3:

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    California has a way to go

    Byadmin

    The two charts above from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics serve as a reminder that California’s economic recovery still has a way to go.  You probably knew that but it is also a reminder that the state budget, and the UC budget, which ultimately depend on the underlying economic tax base, will also be under strain for some time to come. Note: A summary of the UCLA Anderson Forecast for the national and state economies is available at: http://uclaforecast.com/contents/archive/2012/media_92012_1.asp

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    UCLA Has a New MacArthur Fellow

    Byadmin

    From the MacArthur Foundation website: Elissa Hallem Neurobiologist Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics University of California, Los Angeles Age: 34 Elissa Hallem is a neuroscientist who explores the physiology and behavioral consequences of odor detection.  As a graduate student, she undertook expansive studies of olfaction in fruit flies that revealed several important, and sometimes unexpected, insights.  Starting with a mutant fly strain that lacks any odorant receptor in a well-characterized subset of olfactory receptor neurons, Hallem produced more than twenty different transgenic fruit fly lines, each expressing a single, known odorant receptor gene in these neurons. …

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    More Online Entrepreneurialism: MBA Admissions Essay

    Byadmin

    From the San Francisco Chronicle today: For years, applicants looking to read examples of admissions essays submitted to top business schools could buy books with such names as “101 Business School (MBA) Essays That Made a Difference” or “65 Successful Harvard Business School Application Essays.” The books promised readers an inside look at what admissions officers were looking for, along with elements of a successful business school essay. The latest player is a new essay service and website called Wordprom.com, founded by MBA graduates Gili and Ori Elkin, who are looking to turn that old-fashioned model on its head -and raising the hackles of…

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    Brown Vetoes Bill Requiring Consideration of Community Service for Tenure

    Byadmin

    A bill was vetoed yesterday that would have required CSU and “requested” UC to consider community service for tenure and other academic personnel decisions.  The veto message is at:http://gov.ca.gov/docs/AB_2132_Veto_Message.pdf The message notes that such service is already part of the academic review process and that such matters are best left to campus-level decision making.

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    Governor Vetoes Collective Bargaining for RAs

    Byadmin

    Collective bargaining in the public sector in California is regulated by a series of statutes.  The major ones have the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) as their administrative agency.  One of these laws covers UC and CSU and is known as HEERA, the Higher Education Employee-Employer Relations Act.  Current law allows collective bargaining for student teaching assistants. However, research assistants are not covered. Yesterday, the deadline for signing or vetoing bills, Gov. Brown vetoed a bill that would have extended collective bargaining rights to RAs. You can read his veto explanation statement at:http://gov.ca.gov/docs/SB_259_Veto_Message.pdf For those interested, the full text of…

  • A word from our sponsor as the fall quarter begins…

    Byadmin

    This blog is sponsored by the Faculty Association at UCLA, an independent association for members of the UCLA Academic Senate.A form for joining the Faculty Association can be found at:http://www.uclafaculty.org/Join.htmlBy the way, the Faculty Association is planning a campus event on November 7 dealing with funding UC.  More info will be available on this blog as we get closer to the event.

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    UCLA Luskin School Election Event in Downtown LA Oct. 17

    Byadmin

    With the presidential debate coming up on Oct. 3, and with your state voter pamphlet probably arriving around now, you may have an interest in a program offered by the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs later this month (October 17).  Below is an announcement and below that is a link for registering to attend: After the horse race is over and Election 2012 has been decided, the business of governing is going to get very difficult very quickly. With budget cuts looming and taxes set to rise, voters are struggling to understand competing visions for the future. Is a…

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    405 Weekend Closure Info

    Byadmin

    Above is the scene as the bridge over the 405 was being deconstructed this morning. You can get traffic flow information by going to the map at:http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo/metrola.htm and then clicking on the link for road speeds on the lower left.  Or go directly to:http://www.smartraveler.com/traffic.asp?market=Greater%2BLos%2BAngeles&zone=LosAngeles Note: The LA Times has a photo gallery showing various stages of construction through the Sepulveda pass beginning in 1929 at:http://framework.latimes.com/2011/07/13/the-405-a-repeating-history-of-construction/#/0

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    Brown Signs Bill Offering Private Pensions (Kind of/Maybe)

    Byadmin

    As readers of this blog will know, public pensions have been an issue in California and for UC.  Recently, Gov. Brown signed a bill that modified public pensions in the state – with exclusions including an exclusion for UC which modified its own plan in 2010. Democrats in the legislature believe that there would be more public sympathy for government pensions if more private sector workers had defined benefit pensions.  (Of course, most private workers are under Social Security which is defined benefit.)  Private employers, however, have been moving away from defined benefit to defined contribution (“401k-type”) plans.  So a…