News

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    Chancellor at Staff Town Hall on Hotel, Climate Survey, Pensions, Donor-Community Relations

    Byadmin

    Chancellor Block, Vice Chancellor Steve Olson, and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Campus Human Resources Lubbe Levin participated in a staff Town Hall on April 4. The session was videoed but the video works poorly and the commercial service utilized includes ads.  Below is a link to the audio of the session which works much better. There were no exhibits at the session so nothing is lost in the audio-only format. There were specific questions, some in-person/some submitted in advance, on the proposed hotel/conference center, the upcoming (systemwide) campus climate survey, pensions, and donor-community relations.  Links just to those questions are…

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    More Westside Hotels Coming Along

    Byadmin

    We have already reported on a new hotel planned in Santa Monica on Wilshire and 7th Street with 285 rooms. Two more hotels are planned in Santa Monica at 5th Street and Colorado.  One would have 131 rooms and the other would have 138 rooms.  Seems like a lot of potential competition is opening up for staying on the Westside in other than the proposed UCLA hotel/conference center, now in some difficulty regarding justification at the Regents.  See prior blog posts on the hotel issue.  The two new Santa Monica hotel projects are described athttp://www01.smgov.net/cityclerk/council/agendas/2012/20120410/2012%200410%208-B.htmandhttp://www01.smgov.net/cityclerk/council/agendas/2012/20120410/2012%200410%208-A.htmThe earlier Wilshire and 7th hotel…

  • Blog Reader for Last Quarter Available

    Byadmin

    As we do early in each quarter, we make the prior quarter’s blog posts available in pdf format.  Of course, in pdf format, there are no audios and videos.  For those, you have to scroll back in the blog to the entry of interest.  However, the pdf format contains a table of contents that might be useful in finding a particular posting. For the pdf reader, go to: Open publication – Free publishing – More ucla Or go to the link athttp://issuu.com/danieljbmitchell/docs/ucla_faculty_association__1-1-12_-_3-31-12?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

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    Time to Learn from Students?

    Byadmin

    On the one hand, from spin central, there is: Faculty committee backs plan for conference and guest center  An Academic Senate committee has expressed support for UCLA’s proposal to build a conference and guest center, calling the project a potentially valuable enhancement to the campus. In its review of the proposed operating plan, the Council on Planning and Budget determined that the financing model for the project is sound and that UCLA could benefit from additional conference space and affordable guest rooms. Vice Chancellor Steve Olsen, UCLA’s chief financial officer, was appreciative of the committee’s review…   Full press release at…

  • UC-Davis Occupy protesters ordered to court

    Byadmin

    A dozen UC Davis Occupy protesters linked to the shutdown of a U.S. Bank branch on campus were notified Friday by Yolo County district attorney’s officials to appear April 27 in Yolo Superior Court in Woodland… The conspiracy allegation carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail. Each access allegation carries a maximum six-month jail term… Full story at: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/31/4380629/uc-davis-occupy-protesters-ordered.html [Photo shows Yolo County courthouse]

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    Misinformed?

    Byadmin

    Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum sounded off against California higher education in Wisconsin Monday, saying that some of the state’s universities do not teach American history.  “I was just reading something last night from the state of California. And that the California universities – I think it’s seven or eight of the California system of universities don’t even teach an American history course,” Santorum said. “It’s not even available to be taught.”  But UC spokesperson Brooke Converse told Think Progress, which originally reported the story, that all University of California undergraduate programs require students to study American history and institutions, though the…

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    UCLA Among Top 10 Universities in R&D Spending in Fiscal Year 2010

    Byadmin

    Inside Higher Ed reports that UCLA is among the top ten universities in research and development spending.  It has been in that group for some time.  Basically, the key determinants are having a med school and getting a lot of federal research funding. The top ten are: Johns HopkinsU of Michigan (Ann Arbor)U of Wisconsin (Madison)U of Washington (Seattle)DukeUC-San DiegoUCLAUC-San FranciscoStanfordU of Pennsylvania Data from http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/04/02/hopkins-again-leads-rd-spending.  There is a link in this article to NSF data.  When you click on the link to the article, go to Table 5. It’s good to be among the tops:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6oGytt0Hiw&w=320&h=195]

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    Inconsistent Construction?

    Byadmin

    When UCLA presented its plan for the Weyburn Terrace Grad Student Housing in 2009, it included a $2,193,000 parking buyout.  You can find a link to the plan below.  The parking buyout is reported in footnote “e” of Attachment 1.  The business plan for the hotel/conference center deviates from the parking buyout policy.  Undoubtedly, when UCLA  comes back to the Regents with answers to questions raised at the Regents meeting last week, it will want to explain the deviation. (Or maybe it won’t; we will see.) Open publication – Free publishing – More parking