News

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We’re Waiting for the Complete Post for the July Regents Meeting

Byuclafaculty

The preliminary Regents agenda for the July 16-18 meeting has been posted.  As yet, the detailed attachments to the agenda are not available.  However, there will be approval of contribution increases to the pension for next year (2014-15) and an interim replacement for the university’s Chief Investment Officer who suddenly resigned without explanation.  In a closed session, the Regents will discuss the criminal case the LA district attorney is pursuing against UCLA Prof. Patrick Harran.  See http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2013/04/justice.htmlfor our most recent post on that case.  The Christian Head case charging discrimination (and involving a viral YouTube video) at UCLA will also…

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Listen to the Regents: March 13, 2013 – morning session

Byuclafaculty

Our efforts to archive Regents meetings (since the Regents’ policy is currently to preserve them only for one year) continues.  Below is the agenda for the morning meeting of March 13, 2013.  Included was approval of a UCLA medical building about which cost concerns had been raised at an earlier meeting.  Eventually, the Regents seem to approve any construction project – even if concerns are raised – particularly when they are assured that it won’t cost them anything. Agenda for Wednesday, March 13, 2013 – morning8:30 am Committee of the Whole (open session – includes public comment session)9:30 am Committee…

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Good News for Everyone Except Florence

Byuclafaculty

Sorry about that, Florence From the LA Times: After previously proposing widespread and hefty tuition increases for graduate and professional degree programs, UC’s top administrators have retreated and will seek fee hikes affecting only a small group of graduate students, mainly in nursing, and at much reduced levels. Only about 800 students in eight programs will be affected by a proposal expected to be approved by the UC regents later this month, officials said. Under a previous and now abandoned plan, about 14,000 graduate and professional school students in more than 50 programs such as law, medicine, social work and…

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MOOC Efficiency

Byuclafaculty

Apparently, efficiency in the 21st century is not all that different from efficiency in the 20th century.  From Inside Higher Ed today: Some students taking free classes from Coursera may never know the right answers. A University of Michigan professor teaching one of the company’s massive open online courses, or MOOCs, told students this week he could not provide them with correct answers to questions they get wrong because doing so would reduce efficiency… Full story at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/05/one-mooc-professor-wont-let-students-know-right-answers Yours truly is sure it’s just a temporary glitch that can be easily remedied with the right technology as demonstrated in the last…

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Parking at Royce Hall?

Byuclafaculty

Not surprisingly for July 4th, the webcam aimed at Royce Hall this morning did not show much (any) activity.  See the image above from the webcam.  [You can visit the Royce webcam at http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/bruincam/default.htm.]  Certainly, there were no parked cars there.  When the Westwood campus was under construction, however, it was a different matter as you can see below:

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GlaxoSmithKline Problem Said to Be Fixed

Byuclafaculty

Back in May, we blogged about a cautionary note from UCLA indicating that a grant competition from GlaxoSmithKline appeared to circumvent university procedures. Now an email has gone out to faculty indicating that the problem has been fixed: I am pleased to report we resolved the barriers to faculty participation in the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Discovery Fast Track Competition. We encourage faculty who are developing novel drug targets and drug screening assays to consider applying for this program. When the competition initially launched, we found that the terms and conditions to be at odds with UC policies and faculty interests. We…

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Get Ready to Miss the Bus

Byuclafaculty

As we noted in a prior blog post, on July 8 they are coming to rip up the Ackerman bus turnaround in preparation for the construction of -TA-TA! – the UCLA Grand Hotel.  That step will put facts-on-the-ground while litigation continues.  Here is the official notice from the transportation folks: The Ackerman Turnaround and its bus terminal will be closed due to the construction of the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference and Guest Center for the period of July 8, 2013 through summer 2016. This closure affects campus traffic circulation, bus service, and general wayfinding, as the Turnaround is an…

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There are at least two ways to skin the business school self-sufficiency cat

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed today has a lengthy article about the Anderson School’s self-sufficiency MBA program.  The theme, however, is that the UC-Berkeley Haas School is doing the same thing in different ways that haven’t caused a ruckus with the Academic Senate.  Both schools say the object is to put more money in the kitty and gain more “flexibility.” You can read about it at:http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/02/uc-business-schools-see-different-levels-resistance-innovation-plans

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Lest You Thought It Couldn’t Happen at UCLA…

Byuclafaculty

Unfortunately, problems of the type that happened at Penn State U apparently can happen at UCLA.  From the LA Times:A longtime UCLA athletics official resigned amid allegations that he “engaged in inappropriate conduct,” the university said in a statement released Tuesday to The Times. UCLA Associate Athletic Director Michael Sondheimer resigned June 27 after being placed on administrative leave June 3, the statement said. CBS 2 reported that Sondheimer “attempted to engage children in sexual chats” online.  Sondheimer graduated from UCLA in 1977 and spent at least 36 years as a UCLA athletic administrator, according to a biography posted on the UCLA Athletics website. For decades…

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Vim and Vigor on UC Online Higher Ed

Byuclafaculty

From the Sacramento Bee Capitol Alert blog: Jerry Brown says UC, CSU leaders pledged to pursue online ed ‘vigorously’ Gov. Jerry Brown said today that he vetoed his own budget proposal to earmark $20 million for online education at the University of California and California State University systems only after leaders of those institutions assured him they would pursue online course offerings on their own.“I had an agreement from both the segments that they would carry out online vigorously,” Brown told reporters at an event in Sacramento. “As the leader of both governing boards, I’m actively engaged with both the…