News

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Bad PR for UC

Byuclafaculty

Velma Montoya passed the story below to me. Not the best PR for UC at this point in the budget cycle. Are Professors Picking the Public’s Pockets? Rex Dalton, 8/25/11, Miller-McCune From his arrival in the U.S. some 25 years ago, Tatsuya Suda deftly cut a path to the upper echelons of academic computer research. Fresh from prestigious Kyoto University, he steadily rose to become a tenured professor at the University of California, Irvine, earning a reputation for dynamic theories in computer networking at the dawn of the cell-phone age. He even wed Grammy-winning singer Rita Coolidge. But along this…

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LAO Report on Infrastructure Includes Higher Ed and UC

Byuclafaculty

UCLA’s Westwood Campus under construction in 1927 —————————————————— The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) has issued a report on state spending on infrastructure. Most infrastructure spending goes for programs other than higher ed such as K-12 and transportation. However, the higher ed segment of the report is reproduced below. Some portions of the text are in bold indicating they are of special interest. Note: There are some charts in the original that are not reproduced below. Go to the link at the bottom of this item to see the whole report including the charts. Higher Education California’s public higher education system…

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UC Compensation Data Report for 2010

Byuclafaculty

UC has released its annual compensation report for 2010. Below are some highlights: *Approximately 40% of compensation in 2010 went to academic employees, primarily to faculty and researchers. The remaining 60% went to non-academic employees, including those who support academic departments, student services, patient care and other university functions. As in previous years, the “top 10 earning” employees at UC in 2010, based on total pay, were health sciences faculty members – typically world-renowned specialists in their fields – and athletic coaches. • Market positions have eroded and are expected to worsen due to lack of salary increases, rising employee…

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Below the Radar: Regents’ Role in Reopening MLK Hospital

Byuclafaculty

It has been a below-the-radar issue – given the pressing developments related to the state budget, tuition, and the pension plan – but the UC Regents agreed with LA County while all those other dramas were occurring to take responsibility of the Martin Luther King hospital. The hospital in South LA was closed due to major operating failures and failures in patient care. Below are excerpts from an interview the current CEO of the hospital which is due to reopen in 2013: …Currently under construction on the campus of its former home near the intersection of 120th Street and Wilmington…

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LAO Writes Up Yet Another Ebenstein Pension Initiative

Byuclafaculty

Readers of this blog will know that Lanny Ebenstein – who has some affiliation with UC-Santa Barbara’s Econ Dept. – seems to like to file public pension initiatives. It only costs $200 and for that you get the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) to give a summary and analysis as well as a title from the Attorney General. What a bargain! Ebenstein has been leaving UC’s pension system out of his initiatives. His efforts refer to CalPERS and CalSTRS. But the LAO’s write ups do serve a useful purpose in pointing to the legal issues that tinkering with pensions pose. They…

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UCLA Law School’s Gift Horse

Byuclafaculty

Milken’s Gift Stirs Dispute at U.C.L.A. Law School Inside Higher Ed points to the story (excerpted) below in a blog of the NY Times: When the U.C.L.A. School of Law announced a $10 million gift from Lowell Milken to establish a business law institute in his name earlier this month, the university described him as a “pioneer in education reform” and a “leading philanthropist.” Behind the scenes, Mr. Milken’s big donation has set off an internal debate at the school. While many faculty members welcomed the money, one of the University of California, Los Angeles’s top business law professors has…

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Golden Silence?

Byuclafaculty

Our colleagues at CSU and the community colleges feel the need to be outspoken about the impact of state budget cuts and possible upcoming “trigger” cuts to higher ed. Somehow, UC is not being quoted in the various news articles about this recent trend in public complaints. Is UC’s silence golden? Contrary to the headline on yesterday’s post on this blog, maybe more needs to be said. Example 1: Outgoing SF State President Slams Governor: Brown “doesn’t seem to appreciate high-quality education in California” Story at http://www.baycitizen.org/education/story/outgoing-sf-state-president-slams/ Example 2: California is witnessing a slow and steady decline of its prized…

Are We Going Peerless?

Byuclafaculty

Glenn Ellison of MIT surveyed trends in publication of top economics departments and finds evidence of less use of top peer-reviewed journals by faculty in those departments. He examines various possible reasons for this development and concludes that the Internet is providing an alternative method for disseminating research. Extrapolation of this finding might suggest that traditional journals will become obsolete, or at least less important. The article does not explore trends in other fields. But it may be relevant to other disciplines as well. You can find the article at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1465-7295.2010.00261.x/pdf The link above works for me. However, I may…