News

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Follow Up on Napolitano Friendship Tour

Byuclafaculty

We noted on Thursday that UC president Janet Napolitano was coming to UCLA to talk with students and others on Friday.  So what happened?  From the LA Times: UC President Janet Napolitano got a mixed reception Friday during her first official visit to UCLA, facing protesters who objected to her actions as the onetime U.S. secretary of Homeland Security but also meeting with student leaders who praised her willingness to listen.Napolitano came to the Westwood campus for private meetings with students, faculty and administrators and to attend some seminars… In brief comments to reporters, she said she would try to…

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More Pension Tension (from a Stanford-Hoover MOOC)

Byuclafaculty

Closed? Maybe it moved to Palo Alto. We have noted on this blog that there seems to be a move to get a public pension initiative on the ballot in California.  Although there have been previous efforts, there are signs that there may be money behind the current attempt.  “Coincidentally” – as they say – it appears that the Stanford Business School and the Hoover Institute are setting up a MOOC which on its face seems to be about general retirement issues such as how to invest your money.  But it somehow ends in a what-to-do-about-public-pensions program. From a media…

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DC Makes Lab Operations Dicey

Byuclafaculty

From the San Francisco Chronicle we learn that Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory with 6,500 employees is due to shut down due to the federal government shutdown if a DC deal isn’t reached by October 21.  It is one of the labs administered in part by UC under a contract with the Dept. of Energy.  However, no shutdown plan is reported for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Story at http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Lawrence-Livermore-lab-faces-closure-under-4888789.php

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Online Drones

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed today is reporting on resistance to online courses at Rutgers.  Blog readers who have followed the online ed/MOOC debates won’t see surprises except for one element: The effort to offer more graduate degree programs online at Rutgers University at New Brunswick hit a snag on Wednesday, as faculty members in the Graduate School voted to block new programs from being approved… Faculty members have to sign a separate contract with the university to create an online course, which Hughes said strips them of their intellectual property rights. A draft of the agreement states that “Due to the…

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Rapid Progress on the Grand Hotel? Hold Your Applause!

Byuclafaculty

Back in the day, folks used to talk about “bankers’ hours,” meaning 9 am to 3 pm.  When yours truly went by the “work” site of the UCLA Grand Hotel a little after 3 pm yesterday, not a soul was visible. Ground View View from on high No rush, of course:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=846uDvMuReg?feature=player_detailpage]

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Feeling Creative?

Byuclafaculty

The Santa Monica Patch features the map you see on the left which breaks down the local area around UCLA by Census tract and color codes the number of “creative class” workers in each.  If you go to the actual article (link below), you can move around the area and show tracts around the city.  It takes some fooling around with your mouse to do it.  The image you see here is just a picture; you can’t use it directly; you have to go to the link..  …”‘Creative class’” mean(s) people working in management, business, science, and the arts”… According to…

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The Visit

Byuclafaculty

This might come in handy. From the Daily Bruin: University of California President Janet Napolitano will meet with more than a dozen UCLA students Friday to discuss several student concerns, such as undocumented student demands for Napolitano, revenue solutions for the UC and support for graduate students. The committee of students invited to talk with Napolitano over lunch include UCLA undergraduate and graduate student government representatives, as well as student leaders from the Muslim Student Association, Bruins for Israel and the undocumented student group, Improving Dreams, Equality, Access and Success, known as IDEAS, said Avi Oved, internal vice president of…

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State Budget Update

Byuclafaculty

The chart title from the latest state controller’s cash report is fine.  But the bars may be confusing.  The first bar on the left tells you that revenue fell short of the budget forecast in July by $306.4 million.  July is the first month of the fiscal year.  The middle bar, although labeled August, actually is the July-August combination.  And the September bar is the result for the first quarter of the fiscal year, July+August+September.  It tells you that that despite an initial lag in revenues, the first quarter came in more or less as forecast. There is a bit…

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Health Plan Change Worries at UC

Byuclafaculty

If he’s worried now, wait ’til he gets his open enrollment package. Chronicle of Higher Ed takes note of UC employee concerns about changes in the UC health plans: The University of California is overhauling its systemwide health-insurance plans to save on costs and better align with the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act, but some employees are angry over indications that they’ll be paying more just to keep their existing level of service. System officials say that the changes are needed to avoid looming cost increases and that, in most cases, employees who pick the plan that is right for…

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Coming attraction

Byuclafaculty

Apparently, we’re soon to be in the picture business.  From the UCLA Newsroom:   The UCLA Health System and the Motion Picture and Television Fund have signed a letter of intent that would bring MPTF’s six outpatient health centers under the UCLA umbrella. This partnership between two of Los Angeles’ iconic institutions will mean that entertainment industry members and their families can continue to get health care at MPTF facilities, with the added advantage of being able to access UCLA’s world-renowned specialty care and inpatient services… After completing a definitive agreement and securing board approval, the MPTF and UCLA plan to integrate the two operations in…