News

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    You Might Not Want to Look…

    Byuclafaculty

    …at the July cash statement of the state controller. Because if you do, you will find out that revenues in the first month of the fiscal year came in over $400 million below estimates in the recently-enacted state budget. And, of course, there could be trigger cuts in the budget (including at UC) although such cuts are more contingent on the passage by voters (or not) of the governor’s tax initiative, Prop 30. If you do want to look, nonetheless, the report is at:http://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CASH/fy1213_jul.pdf Look if you dare:

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    Even the Email Identity Thieves Targeting UCLA Can Improve

    Byuclafaculty

    The identity thieves that have been sending UCLA email users phishing messages designed to steal your passwords, etc., turn out to be followers of Émile Coué (shown at left). In past messages from them, there have been incorrect spellings and odd grammar, as we have noted in past blog posts.  But they are getting better, day by day. Still, you should not reward their efforts at self improvement by clicking on their messagessuch as today’s edition: Dear Bruin OnLine E-mail user, This is to inform all users that our server upgrade/maintenance is scheduled for August 30 2012. You may experience login…

  • Student Evaluations of Teaching: Always a Hot Topic

    Byuclafaculty

    What are they saying? Inside Higher Ed today notes complaints from Australian faculty about increased use of student evaluations of teaching for faculty advancement.  The article is at http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/08/13/australian-professors-object-student-evaluationsand it links to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald which says (excerpt): …Teachers at the Australian National University now need to explain themselves if too many students are not pleased with them and colleagues must argue why courses with student satisfaction rates of less than 50 per cent should be kept. One teacher emailed the union: ”I feel under pressure to lower standards and make the student experience more comfortable…

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    UC History: Teller Tells You About the Universe

    Byuclafaculty

    A legacy of the World War II Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb was UC’s inheritance of the nuclear labs.  The photo from the early 1950s shows key personalities related to the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab: Left to right are Glenn Seaborg, Edward McMillan, E.O. Lawrence, Donald Cooksey, Edward Teller, Herb York, and Luis Alvarez. Edward Teller, often dubbed the father of the H-bomb, was undoubtedly the most controversial of these individuals. Google him for the history. However, in the 1950s, he recorded a program for lay persons on the state of cosmology in that era.  You can hear…

  • The Golden State of Electoral Affairs

    Byuclafaculty

    As readers of this blog will know, there will be all kinds of exciting propositions on the state ballot this coming November, including the governor’s tax initiative that the Regents have endorsed. Since this is a sleepy weekend with not much happening UC-wise, here is a little lesson in direct democracy. Apart from the various tax and other initiatives, there is a referendum, Prop 40. A referendum is a proposition which – like an initiative – is put on the ballot via a petition. But while an initiative creates legislation or a constitutional amendment, a referendum repeals legislation that has…

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    Blue Deal

    Byuclafaculty

    From the LA Times yesterday:===Nonprofit insurer Blue Shield of California said it resolved a lengthy contract dispute with UCLA and other UC system hospitals over reimbursements for patient care. Effective Sept. 1, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital will be back in the Blue Shield network. The San Francisco health insurer said this new contract with all UC providers statewide runs through June 30, 2015… Full story at http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-ucla-blue-shield-20120810,0,3160712.story Fact of the matter is that although we have these disputes from time to time, big insurers don’t want to cut UC medical centers out of their…

  • And I guess they can

    Byuclafaculty

    In case you missed it in UCLA Today:===== What is this new tax that will affect UCLA’s budget?   Under a plan devised by the UC Office of the President (OP), campuses will retain more non-state revenue, such as tuition and research overhead costs. But, in exchange, UCLA and the other campuses will have to pay a tax to support UC systemwide operations and programs. The bottom line is this: The fee that UCLA will pay this year exceeds the new revenue the campus would receive by $50 million. It’s a tax on our operations. Source: http://today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/cfo-explains-budget-237352.aspx

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    Click me not!

    Byuclafaculty

    At least their grammar is better than on Wednesday, although not perfect.  Their spelling still needs work.  See our Wednesday post on what not to click on.  Anyway, the spam artists are still targeting UCLA. Don’t respond!========= Dear Bruin OnLine (UCLA) Member Our Client Service System has detected an unusual malware activities on your email account causing poor services. Rencently your email was confirmed accessible from other ISP as a result of our remote host failure in recongnising valid and invalid accounts. Please click on the following link [phony link shown] to reconfirm the validity of your email account still in use for us to return all…

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    Millionaires

    Byuclafaculty

    The Sacramento Bee today has a table of UC millionaires (gross earnings in 2011).  You won’t be surprised that the list, with one exception, consists of athletic coaches and medical center faculty. The one exception is the UC Treasurer. The listing is at http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/08/the-university-of-california-spent.html But you don’t want to be on the list, right?[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG6UllZwj9c?feature=player_detailpage]

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    Hot Potato for Yudof

    Byuclafaculty

    UC report on anti-Semitism draws ire Nanette Asimov, August 9, 2012, San Francisco Chronicle(excerpts) Katherine Orr had just started her freshman year at UC Berkeley last August when she was stunned to see five students in military fatigues carrying what looked like rifles and stopping students at Sather Gate. “They were asking people, ‘Are you Jewish?’ They were trying to be like soldiers interrogating Palestinians along the border,” Orr said. “They were re-enacting what was happening on the West Bank.” To students who regard Israel as an essential Jewish homeland, this event and others like it that are staged each…