miscellaneous

Real Men Don’t Get Grades (in Canada)

Byuclafaculty

Is affirmative action for men the answer to enrollment woes? In Canada’s medical schools, the predominance of women is seen as another sign of how young men are falling behind academically Carolyn Abraham and Kate Hammer, Globe and Mail, Oct. 21, 2010 For Harold Reiter the tipping point was the entering class of 2002. As the new chair of admissions at McMaster University’s medical school, he took one look at the proportion of women admitted – a whopping 76.9 per cent – and wondered what had happened to the men. The gender gap at the university’s Michael G. DeGroote School…

Study Indicates California Public Employees Receive Total Compensation About Equal to Private Sector Equivalents

Byuclafaculty

A UC-Berkeley study released recently indicates that California state and local workers receive roughly the same total compensation as private workers, once you standardize for various demographic variables and education via regression analysis. Taken together, public workers receive about 6% less in wages and salaries. But they get higher benefits so that the difference washes out, i.e., no statistical difference between public and private. Although the authors don’t say so directly, nationally – as a table in the study shows – non-mandated benefits are about 30% of total comp for state and local workers. (Mandated or legally-required benefits are things…

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CSU Seeks to Ban Commercial Sales by Students of Class Notes

Byuclafaculty

The LA Times reports that a student at Cal State who sells notes taken in classes as a business was warned by CSU to cease doing so on the grounds that the materials are the property of the instructors under California law. Excerpt: Entrepreneur gets a stern lecture from Cal State October 15, 2010, Carla Rivera, Los Angeles TimesRecent graduate Ryan Stevens sought to put his business degree from Cal State Sacramento to use by creating a website where students can buy and sell lecture notes, old homework, study guides and other class materials. The site, NoteUtopia.com, which was launched…

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Journal Publishers Not Yearning to Be Free

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed today reports slow going in a project to change professional journal publishing. The project was announced about a year ago by a consortium of universities including UC-Berkeley. In essence the idea was that journals would be free and open to anyone online. Universities would provide the revenue for reviewing, editing, etc. This approach was thought to be less expensive than library subscriptions to journals. From an article from Sept. 2009 at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/09/15/open “What the model does long term is change the way universities support journal publishing from having them pay fees to publishers for access to the…

Reminder of Memory Improvement Course from Emeriti Center: Does Anyone Else See the Humor in It?

Byuclafaculty

I keep getting email reminders of a memory improvement course from the UCLA Emeriti/Retirees Relations Center. Maybe no one else sees the humor in it. But in any event, if you are interested and think you can remember to go, here is the announcement:Sessions will be held at the Belmont Village Westwood (10475 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90024) from 10am-12pm on each consecutive Tuesday from October 26, 2010 through November 16, 2010. Please plan to arrive 15 minutes early for a brief orientation on the first session October 26, 2010. The cost of the course is $25. Send checks…

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More on Chez UC

Byuclafaculty

UC weighs what to do with abandoned president’s mansion: Luxurious 13,200-square-foot Blake House near Berkeley has been deteriorating for years. Officials are considering alternatives to avoid $2 million for basic maintenance, $10 million for a full renovation (excerpts) By Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times, October 4, 2010 Blake House is a lonely, empty place these days. The Mediterranean-style mansion near Berkeley that is intended to be the official residence of the University of California president has not been occupied since 2008. Apart from three UC Berkeley social events this year, its grand entertainment rooms are chilly and silent, with most…

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UCLA Research on Cruise Uncontrol

Byuclafaculty

Mal de debarquement, marked by a constant swaying sensation, can follow a boat or plane trip: Research at UCLA seeks answers (excerpts) Sonja Bjelland, Los Angeles Times, October 3, 2010 Amanda Coronado wakes up every morning wondering whether she’ll be able to walk out of her bedroom. It’s almost impossible on a bad day. The world is moving too much for her to keep her balance. “I can’t just go for a run,” she said. “I can hardly find my feet.” During the first week of August, Coronado took a cruise along the Mexican coast. Since stepping off the ship,…

Interesting Study on Diversity in Higher Ed

Byuclafaculty

The study described in the article abstracted below was based on a data set from Berea College in Kentucky and the authors are duly cautious about generalizing to all of higher ed. However, the results are interesting. Interracial Friendships in College (Abstract) Braz Camargo, São Paulo School of Economics–FGV and University of Western Ontario;Ralph Stinebrickner, Berea College; Todd Stinebrickner, University of Western Ontario and National Bureau of Economic Research Journal of Labor Economics, 28:861–892, October 2010 We use unique longitudinal data to provide direct evidence about interracial friendships at different stages of college and to provide new evidence about some…