News

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    Rank Order or Rank Odor

    Byadmin

    From today’s Sacramento Bee: On the surface, it might seem self-serving for UC Davis School of Medicine to rip into the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings that rate it below the nation’s elite primary care schools. One might suspect it was sour grapes by a medical school unhappy with its rankings.The school poured four years of research and almost $10,000 of its own grant funding into a stinging academic critique of the news magazine’s ranking methodology.”These findings raise questions regarding the ranking’s validity and usefulness,” said the paper, published this month in the journal Academic Medicine. A primary…

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    UCLA History: Pauley Pavilion (and a report of a bomb threat yesterday)

    Byadmin

    The photo shows the original Pauley Pavilion under construction in 1964.  It opened in 1965. The Daily Bruin yesterday evening posted a short article at about a bomb threat that closed Pauley Pavilion and other buildings in the area for a time.  Nothing was found.  See http://dailybruin.com/2013/08/03/pauley-pavilion-wooden-center-evacuated-reopened-following-bomb-threat-investigation/ Pauley Pavilion was substantially reconstructed and reopened in November 2012.  A promotional video released for the reopening is below:[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/57012095 w=250&h=141] Pauley Pavilion Through the Years 1965-2012 from Ariana Berlin on Vimeo. The video has some historical photos of the origins and original construction.  It omits reference to the fact that H.R. Haldeman…

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    Change is Coming

    Byadmin

    Articles published in professional journals are often not readily available online, particularly as journal publication has been taken over by commercial publishers.  Many blog readers will undoubtedly have looked for an article and found only an abstract online, as per the accompanying picture. But change is (hopefully) coming: MEDIA RELEASEFriday, August 2, 2013UC Office of the Academic Senate The Academic Senate of the University of California has passed an Open Access Policy, ensuring that future research articles authored by faculty at all 10 campuses of UC will be made available to the public at no charge. “The Academic Council’s adoption…

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    Defensive Moves on the Grand Hotel

    Byadmin

    Yours truly went by the “work” site of the UCLA Grand Hotel at the former Ackerman bus turnaround.  Seems like the main accomplishment since it was closed off July 8 was putting a fence around it (gradually) and digging up some landscaping dirt. I didn’t see anyone actually doing anything at the site when I went by yesterday.  Last week I hypothesized that maybe everyone was taking an extended lunch.  I was a little later yesterday so maybe it was an early dinner. But come to think of it, I did hear some voices from inside the site:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GMZPek0ABs?feature=player_detailpage]

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    No Comment

    Byadmin

    Readers of this blog will recall that at the last Regents meeting in July, there was a controversy over the appointment of a new student regent-delegate due to her support of a campaign to divest UC funds from Israel.  Several regents spoke on the issue.  One abstained from voting for her.During the debate, outgoing President Yudof didn’t have much to say about the issue.  That might not be surprising except for his remarks at a conference about a month before the meeting: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoyXqoJH7Ak?feature=player_detailpage]

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    Well traveled

    Byadmin

    The San Diego Union-Tribune is running a story researched by the Center for Investigative Reporting on UCLA travel expenses for administrators: Excerpt: Thirteen years ago, the University of California changed its ban on flying business or first class on the university’s dime, adding a special exception for employees with a medical need. What followed at UCLA was an acute outbreak of medical need. Over the past several years, six of 17 academic deans at the Westwood campus routinely have submitted doctors’ notes stating they have a medical need to fly in a class other than economy, costing the university $234,000…

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    UC Payroll Data Online

    Byadmin

    You can find the data for calendar year 2012, including the chart above, at http://compensation.universityofcalifornia.edu/payroll2012/.  [Click on the chart to enlarge it.]  Among the interesting figures is that about one eighth of payroll goes to ladder faculty, another eighth to other instructors, and about 6% to TAs.  By the way, if you don’t want to be in the database, apparently you need to become a student for part of the year: Pursuant to federal student privacy laws, the names of all employees who were UC students (including medical residents) at any point during a given calendar year have been redacted…

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    Business of College Sports Not What It Was

    Byadmin

    The Sacramento Bee ran a story June 4 that mysteriously reappeared for a time on its website today and that reminds us that the business of college sports is not what it was back in the early 1940s when Jackie Robinson played football for UCLA (photo). Excerpt: Ending weeks of speculation, Eddie Vanderdoes made it official Tuesday: He will not attend Notre Dame on a football scholarship and will instead play at UCLA.Vanderdoes, the 6-foot-4, 305-pound All-America defensive end from Placer High School, expressed gratitude to Notre Dame in a text sent to The Bee for being “gracious” in the…

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    I know it’s unpleasant to hear but…

    Byadmin

    When you listen to Regents’ comments at their meetings on the state budget, you have the impression at times that they think that the state and governor have reversed course and now acknowledge responsibility for the UC pension plan.  So, for the record, here is the Legislative Analyst’s summary of the latest state budget and the UC pension: Contains Intent Language Regarding UC Retirement Costs. The budget plan does not designate any funding for UC employer retirement costs, though the university expects these costs to increase by $67 million in 2013-14. Budget trailer bill language states, however, that the absence of…