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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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State Budget

Special Budget Session Called by Governor Has No Cuts for UC
Byadmin December 7, 2010

In a sense, this is a non-story. Governor Schwarzenegger – as a lame duck with a month in office to go – has called a special session of the legislature to deal with the state budget. No one expects the legislature to do anything until Governor-Elect Brown takes office. Nonetheless, the current governor has proposed various budget solutions for the current year and next year which he totals at about $10 billion. There are some miscellaneous things such as putting advertising on freeway traffic signs. Much of what gets cut in the proposals is in the social service area, broadly…

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pension | pensions | State Contribution | UC Regents

How High Can the Employee Contribution Climb in UCRP? A Message from Dwight Read
Byadmin December 6, 2010

How High Can the Employee Contribution Climb in UCRP? Dwight Read, Chair, UCLA Faculty Association Now it is 2% of salary, next year, 3.5%, then 5%. But what will it be in 2017? …24%? In a special meeting scheduled for Dec. 13, the Regents will decide whether to introduce a New Pension Tier at UC for all new hires as of July 1, 2013. At the November Regents’ meetings, President Yudof presented a proposal for the New Tier that set the annual cost of the plan at 15.1% of retirement covered compensation with contribution rates at 8.1% for employers and…

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UC Berkeley

Not Entirely Pretty Portrait of Fraternity Life at Berkeley in Late 19th/Early 20th Century
Byadmin December 6, 2010

Zeta Psi’s history at UC Berkeley unearthed (excerpt) Debra Levi Holtz, San Francisco Chronicle December 6, 2010 Like present-day members, the boys in University of California’s oldest fraternity played poker, drank beer and pulled campus pranks during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But the brothers of the prestigious Zeta Psi fraternity also dressed impeccably, had live-in servants and preferred hanging out with each other to dating women… The early alumni of the 140-year-old Iota chapter of Zeta Psi at UC Berkeley went on to become politicians, professors and bankers. The roster includes former California Gov. James Budd and…

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miscellaneous

Textbook Costs: Take the Money and Run?
Byadmin December 6, 2010

The Sacramento Bee carries an interesting article today about textbook costs and alternatives, including the “open-source” model. My sense is that textbook publishers nowadays see that technology will eventually overtake them and are operating in a take-the-money-and-run mode while they can. Internet, Cost Spur Textbook Revolt Dec. 6, 2010, Sacramento Bee, Laurel Rosenhall When Elizabeth Walz ran for student government last year, she built her campaign around an issue she knew would resonate with her peers at UC Davis: the cost of textbooks. For days, she stood in the quad polling students on their textbook-buying habits. “A lot of the…

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miscellaneous | UCLA

Early Technology Used in Finishing UCLA Campus in 1928
Byadmin December 5, 2010

UCLA History Project photo

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CSU | politics | UC

Yee of Little Faith (In UC & CSU Foundations)
Byadmin December 4, 2010

The latest from State Senator Leland Yee, the only state senator who puts Ph.D. at the top of his official webpage. From Capitol Alert, 12/3/10 Senator to revive his higher ed foundation “transparency” bill (excerpt) It ended up twice vetoed. But it was a bill that gained traction after students demanded to know how much Sarah Palin was paid to speak at a California State University campus fundraiser this year. Today Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, announced that when the state Senate reconvenes Monday he plans to re-introduce a bill that would force more disclosure of information from private foundations…

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UC Regents | uc retirement | UCOF

Regents Agenda for December 13 Special Session is Now Posted
Byadmin December 4, 2010

The Regents have long scheduled a special session to deal with post-retirement benefits but it did not appear on their website until yesterday. You can find the posting at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/dec10.html No new materials are attached to the posting for December. So presumably, what will be discussed is what was distributed at the regular November meeting. You can find that material at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/nov10.html Apparently, some discussion will occur on the report of the Committee on the Future (UCOF), at least during the beginning of the meeting. I don’t expect any fireworks from the Regents at this meeting, but in the photo…

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CalPERS | CalSTRS | UCRS

Optimistic CalSTRS Board Lowers Its Assumed Rate of Return But Not All the Way Down to Our 7.5%
Byadmin December 3, 2010

Since CalSTRS’ new assumption is still above ours, we can claim to be more conservative in our pension funding planning. See below: CalSTRS lowers forecast on future investment returns (excerpt) Dec. 3, 2010, Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee After agonizing for months, CalSTRS made a decision Thursday that seems subtle but has enormous financial implications. The teachers’ pension fund agreed to lower its long-term forecast of future annual investment returns by a quarter of a percentage point… On an 8-3 vote, the board of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System agreed to cut the investment return forecast to 7.75 percent a…

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CalPERS | CalSTRS | UCRS

CalPERS & CalSTRS Profited from Fed’s TALF Program; UCRS Did Not Participate
Byadmin December 3, 2010

State pension funds reaped rewards from Fed loan program (excerpt) Dec. 3, 2010, Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee CalPERS was among the big winners in an obscure Federal Reserve loan program aimed at rescuing the nation’s troubled credit markets last year. The state’s other big pension fund, CalSTRS, also participated in the program, but to a much smaller degree, according to records released this week by the Federal Reserve. …(T)hey and other big investors took advantage of a $70 billion Federal Reserve loan program designed to pump money into the consumer and business lending markets. CalPERS, in fact, was among the…

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News

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

Special Budget Session Called by Governor Has No Cuts for UC

How High Can the Employee Contribution Climb in UCRP? A Message from Dwight Read

Not Entirely Pretty Portrait of Fraternity Life at Berkeley in Late 19th/Early 20th Century

Textbook Costs: Take the Money and Run?

Early Technology Used in Finishing UCLA Campus in 1928

Yee of Little Faith (In UC & CSU Foundations)

Regents Agenda for December 13 Special Session is Now Posted

Optimistic CalSTRS Board Lowers Its Assumed Rate of Return But Not All the Way Down to Our 7.5%

CalPERS & CalSTRS Profited from Fed’s TALF Program; UCRS Did Not Participate

UC Faculty Associations

Higher Ed Policy

Labor and Advocacy

UC Faculty Associations

Higher Ed Policy

Labor and Advocacy

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