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Zev Says No Pain/No Gain on I-405 Wilshire Construction
Byadmin December 9, 2010

For those who bemoan the traffic problem created by the reconstruction of the Sunset Blvd. bridge over the 405, here is some news from LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky about what is going to happen to Wilshire: Given the dismal state of Westside traffic, it’s been a long time since anybody was able to fly through the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and the 405. But someday people will be able to fly over it. Two new flyover ramps are part of an ambitious new phase of the 405 Sepulveda Pass improvements project that’s currently projected to begin as early as…

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UCLA

UCLA History: UCLA Professor Kleinrock and the Internet
Byadmin December 9, 2010

The caption that accompanied this photo in UCLA Today, Oct. 22, 2009 read “Leonard Kleinrock, Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, stands beside the Interface Message Processor that made the first Internet message possible.” For those of us who are more computer-challenged, there is some comfort in the apparent ability of Microsoft to change the word of God. See:http://jan.ocregister.com/2010/12/09/microsoft-to-fix-pdf-anomaly-for-bible/50696/

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miscellaneous | UC | UC enrollment

Court Upholds Prop 209 Ban on Affirmative Action in University Admissions
Byadmin December 9, 2010

Federal judge upholds Calif affirmative action ban Dec. 8, 2010, Fresno Bee, Terence Chea – Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge has rejected a lawsuit challenging California’s voter-approved ban on affirmative action in public university admissions. U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Conti on Wednesday ruled against the challenge to Proposition 209, which banned the consideration of race and ethnicity in public education, employment and contracting… Full article at http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/12/08/2190629/federal-judge-upholds-calif-affirmative.html

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State Budget | UC

The Incredible Shrinking University
Byadmin December 8, 2010

Andy Sabl pointed me to a lengthy article on the fate of UC entitled “Mission Shrinking.” An excerpt with a link to the full article is below. You can get the tone from the brief excerpt. Mission Shrinking, Diana Jean Schemo, Dec. 7, 2010 In the galaxy of public higher education, the University of California system once shined as a kind of North Star. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Golden State’s premier institutions, the University of California at Los Angeles and at Berkeley, boasted some of the strongest research and teaching faculties in the world. A UC education was…

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Uncategorized

Chancellor’s Committee Issues Report on UCPD Use of Force at Campus Protests
Byadmin December 8, 2010

In the wake of the November 2009 Regents meeting protests, over 100 senate faculty at UCLA signed a letter to Chancellor Block expressing grave concern over UC Police use of force against students and calling for a thorough review. In response, the Chancellor convened a special task force, which has now released its report: http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/document/Regents_Nov_2009_Meeting_Post_Event_Report.pdf I have not had time to review the text, and I urge those of you who signed on to read it over and add your response in the comment section for this post. –Tobias Higbie

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miscellaneous

Comparing Public vs. Private Pay
Byadmin December 8, 2010

The two charts you see on this post come from a press release issued today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The charts break out the pay (wages and benefits) of state and local employees vs. private employees as of Sept. 2010. (The bars labeled “civilian” refer to the two groups combined. Federal workers are not included.) The data do not allow California to be broken out. The figures underlying the charts are for the total U.S. In a sense, the charts explain the seeming public anger at public employees who earn in total compensation about $40 per hour…

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politics | State Budget

UCLA Forecasts Snail-Pace Growth Which Sets Context for Brown’s State Budget Conference
Byadmin December 8, 2010

From the press release for yesterday’s UCLA Anderson Forecast: California’s forecast, authored by Senior Economist Jerry Nickelsburg and titled “Laying the Groundwork for California’s Economic Recovery,” continues themes that began in September – almost imperceptibly slow growth until the end of next year. “with only the first indication of changes in consumer and business expectations revealing themselves in the contemporaneous data, and in the absence of an external driver to induce faster growth, this is the most likely scenario for this phase of the recovery,” Nickelsburg writes. Stated bluntly, California must re-employ 1.3 million workers just to get back to…

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health care | pension | pensions | UC Regents | uc retirement

The New Pension & Retiree Health Care Plan to be Considered by the Regents Now on the Web
Byadmin December 8, 2010

The post-employment benefits plan (pension and retiree health care) proposed by President Yudof is now on the Regents’ website for consideration at the December 13 special meeting of the Regents. It is what was previously presented at the November meeting. As previous posts have noted, there will be a two-tier pension plan. It is unclear whether incumbent employees will have the option to switch to the new lower tier. An IRS approval would be needed for that option to be offered. The proposal is at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/dec10/j1.pdf I am not expecting a great deal of controversy among the Regents on this…

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UC Regents | UCOF

The Future Lies Ahead: Final UCOF Report
Byadmin December 7, 2010

Press release from UCOP issued yesterday at:http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/24629 UC Commission on the Future (UCOF) final report released Date: 2010-12-06 The final report of the University of California Commission on the Future, convened last year to map out strategies to preserve excellence and access through the state fiscal crisis and beyond, was unveiled today (Monday, Dec. 6). The 20 recommendations endorsed by the commission address five broad categories: teaching and curriculum, undergraduate enrollment and access, research and graduate education, fiscal discipline and administrative reform, and public education and advocacy. The commission also cited contingency actions that, if the fiscal situation worsens, might…

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miscellaneous | UC Berkeley

Interesting Profile of a UC-Berkeley Professor Said to be a YouTube Sensation
Byadmin December 7, 2010

The San Francisco Chronicle published the story below on Sunday. But the Chronicle keeps certain stories for subscribers only for a couple of days. So here are some excerpts. By way of background, UC-Berkeley puts lectures on YouTube for some classes. The story refers to such a class. One YouTube lecture is embedded below the story excerpts. Marian Diamond – Anatomy Professor a YouTube Hit Debra Levi Holtz, Sunday, December 5, 2010 Each fall, Marian Diamond walks into UC Berkeley’s Wheeler Auditorium holding a round hatbox, a gift from the staff of Lawrence Hall of Science, where she used to…

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News

Zev Says No Pain/No Gain on I-405 Wilshire Construction

UCLA History: UCLA Professor Kleinrock and the Internet

Court Upholds Prop 209 Ban on Affirmative Action in University Admissions

The Incredible Shrinking University

Chancellor’s Committee Issues Report on UCPD Use of Force at Campus Protests

Comparing Public vs. Private Pay

UCLA Forecasts Snail-Pace Growth Which Sets Context for Brown’s State Budget Conference

The New Pension & Retiree Health Care Plan to be Considered by the Regents Now on the Web

The Future Lies Ahead: Final UCOF Report

Interesting Profile of a UC-Berkeley Professor Said to be a YouTube Sensation

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UC Faculty Associations

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