governor

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Jerry Brown Looks for an Online Course that Requires No Human Interaction

Byuclafaculty

At the Regents meeting of January 22, 2014, Gov. Brown seems to be searching for an online course that requires no human interaction.  Such a course, he reasons, could have unlimited enrollment because it is completely self-contained.  He gets some pushback from UC Provost Dorr, who thinks courses should have such interaction.  You can hear this excerpt at the link below.  The entire meeting of the Committee on Educational Policy of the Regents was posted yesterday.[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tYFLJvrE3g?feature=player_detailpage]

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Jerry Brown Suggests Master Plan is Dated

Byuclafaculty

Our previous post covered the Jan. 22 meeting of the Regents’ Committee on Educational Policy.  As noted, there was discussion of the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education, considered a major accomplishment of Brown’s father when he was governor. Below is a link to Brown’s comments in which he suggested the Plan was now dated.  [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RmjI4gVync?feature=player_detailpage]

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Listen to Part of the Regents Afternoon Session of 1-22-2014

Byuclafaculty

As we have noted in numerous prior posts, the Regents refuse to archive their meetings beyond one year.  So we dutifully record the sessions in real time.  Below is a link to part of the afternoon session of Jan. 22.  This segment is mainly the Committee on Educational Policy.  Gov. Brown was in attendance.  We will separately (later) provide links just to certain Brown segments.  But for now, we provide a continuous recording. There was discussion of designating certain areas of UC-Merced as nature reserves, followed by discussion of a new telescope.  The discussion then turned to online ed and…

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Whatever happened to the era of limits?

Byuclafaculty

In his first iteration as governor, back in the 1970s and early 1980s, Gov. Brown emphasized the “era of limits.”  Yesterday at the Regents, however, he apparently wanted to push those limits when it came to online education:  Jerry Brown pushes UC to find “outer limits” of online education …Sitting in on part of Wednesday’s meeting, Brown challenged regents to develop classes that require no “human intervention” and might expand the system’s reach beyond its student body.  “If this university can probe into” black holes, he said, “can’t somebody create a course — Spanish, calculus, whatever — totally online? That…

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Something to Think About While Waiting for the Governor and Regents

Byuclafaculty

Snow at UCLA in 1932 The governor is due to give his State of the State address today.  What, if anything, he will say that might have a connection to UC and higher ed is unknown.  The Regents are also meeting today (and tomorrow). Inside Higher Ed today is running a list of average annual snowfalls (in inches) at selected universities.  So whatever happens at the State of the State or the Regents meeting (or if you have followed weather reports for other parts of the country today), remember that things could be worse: 1. Michigan Technological University: 2002. Syracuse…

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UC Is Drying Up

Byuclafaculty

You’ve probably heard that Gov. Brown has declared a drought emergency.  So UC is there – Johnny on the spot – with a pledge to save water for the guv: University of California President Janet Napolitano today (Jan. 16) announced a goal of reducing per capita water use by 20 percent throughout the UC system by the year 2020.  As California experiences some of its driest weather on record, Napolitano said the university must step up and contribute to the preservation of the state’s most precious resource.  “The University of California has long been a leader in conservation efforts,” she…

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New and Old at the UC Regents

Byuclafaculty

The Regents in 1964 1-17-2014 SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments. Richard C. Blum, 78, of San Francisco, has been appointed to the University of California Board of Regents effective March 2, 2014, where he has served since 2002 and was chair from 2007 to 2009. Blum founded Blum Capital Partners L.P. in 1975 and serves as chairman and president. He has been chairman of the CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. Board of Directors since 2001. Blum has been a member of the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business Advisory Board since…

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She Sure Didn’t Bumble Her Meeting with the Bee

Byuclafaculty

UC prez Napolitano had a meeting with the editorial board of the Sacramento Bee recently and, evidently, said the right things:  Editorial: Janet Napolitano is showing a clear-eyed view of UC mission By the Editorial Board Published: Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014  UC President Janet Napolitano has her priorities for the university system in correct alignment; the question will be in the execution.  In a visit to The Sacramento Bee’s editorial board on Wednesday, Napolitano showed she is a quick study… Importantly, Napolitano was clear-eyed on the basic point that UC was “designed to build California,” and that its role in…

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Is there a Changing State Attitude Regarding the UC Pension? Reading Between the Lines

Byuclafaculty

As blog readers will know, UC has had difficulties in getting the state to recognize that its pension liabilities were ultimately those of the state, just as CalPERS and CalSTRS liabilities are liabilities of the state.  Thanks to the two-decade hiatus of contributions, the state seemed to forget about UC’s pension.  However, there is beginning to be recognition that although you can say the pension is a liability of the Regents, in the end the Regents have no sources other than the state and tuition to deal with it. We noted recently that in his budget document describing his proposal…

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Budget Leaks Turn into a Flood of Biblical Proportions

Byuclafaculty

We noted in prior posts that there were some leaks of the governor’s proposed budget for 2014-15, which was supposed to be unveiled on Friday.  The leaks turned into a flood of Biblical proportions when first the Sacramento Bee published some summary information about the budget yesterday, said to come from the actual budget that the Bee had obtained somehow.  Then what appeared to be the budget “summary” – actually a document of 271 pages – appeared online.  And then it was announced that the official unveiling would be today at 9 AM instead of tomorrow, confirming that what was…