News

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Grading the LAO Report on Higher Ed

Byuclafaculty

We summarized the Legislative Analyst’s report on higher ed funding in a post yesterday and provided a link to the document.  One thing that faculty do is evaluate and give grades.  In this case, the grade for the report would have to be an “incomplete.” Pensions: The LAO continues its assertion that the state has no legal liability for the UC pension.  It wants the legislature to say so.  The legislature can say the Moon is made of green cheese if it wants.  But the Moon will be what it is.  The question of state liability is a legal matter…

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Oil tax for higher ed?

Byuclafaculty

Back in the day at Huntington Beach A debate that’s been raging now for several years in California is headed to the Legislature, as two Democratic lawmakers introduce legislation to impose an oil extraction tax, with the proceeds earmarked for higher education and state parks. SB 241 by state Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, and state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, brings front and center a long simmering discussion about whether California should impose a tax on oil production similar to other states. “California is the largest — and only — oil producing state in the nation that does not…

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LAO Critique of Governor’s Higher Ed Budget Proposals

Byuclafaculty

The Legislative Analysts’ Office (LAO) has a new report out critiquing the governor’s higher ed budget proposals.  It comments on his online higher ed proposals but relative to all the attention paid to that topic at the most recent Regents meeting, it appears that the LAO doesn’t see them as the solution to budget problems for higher ed)  Much of the report involves recommendations that the legislature base future funding increments on meeting performance targets.  Because most of the report deals with all three segments of higher ed, the target discussion largely is focused on concerns involving CSU and community…

Today is the Actual Lincoln’s Birthday – As Opposed to Presidents’ Day Next Week

Byuclafaculty

Next week, UC campuses will close on Monday for Presidents’ Day, a combined celebration of the birthdays of Lincoln and Washington.  But today is the actual Lincoln’s birthday.  There is much interest these days in Lincoln, thanks to the recent film which is up for various Academy Awards.  In any case, in the spirit of all of that, below are links to the cantata Lonesome Train, recorded in the 1940s.  Copies of the record seem to be scarce but here are three links to the cantata (in three parts due to YouTube time duration limits): Part 1:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GdiUNRrEz0?feature=player_detailpage]or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GdiUNRrEz0 Part…

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Problem on Morning Commute to UCLA Today

Byuclafaculty

(Seems like this problem might last longer than the notice below indicates since traffic will be diverted to the 405.)Sepulveda Boulevard will be closed until around 8:30 a.m. between Mountaingate Drive and Skirball Center Drive because a piece of heavy equipment fell during on the 405 Construction Project overnight, says Dave Sotero of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. No one was hurt, Sotero says, but the contractor must now get the equipment out of the way…From: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_22564866/traffic-alert-sepulveda-blvd-near-skirball-center-closed

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The Pen is Mightier (at the Berkeley B-School)

Byuclafaculty

…Handwritten thank-you notes are apparently in vogue at the UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and not just for recruiters who hold a student’s fate in their hands. Recently, the school set up tables and invited students, faculty and staff to pen personalized notes to Haas donors… Hundreds of Haas students and staff participated in the note-writing effort, with many sharing specifics on how donors’ money directly influenced their education or work… Some of the notes included stories about accomplishments that would not have been possible without funding, such as research projects. Others included drawings… Full story at http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/UC-Berkeley-s-Haas-school-minds-its-manners-4267136.php It’s not known how anxiously donors are awaiting these letters….

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More on the new idea of distance (now online) learning

Byuclafaculty

In the light of the gubernatorial and regental excitement about online education, this blog earlier noted distance learning by TV as early as the 1950s.  But it appears that in the 1920s, there were college credit courses on radio: …In 1915, what would become AMRAD (The American Radio and Research Corporation) opened for business from Medford Hillside, about four miles from Boston… In 1917, AMRAD received a license for station 1XE and experimental broadcasts began on a fairly regular basis that same year…  It was in 1918 that Eunice Randall was hired by AMRAD, as their first woman draftsman; later,…