Napolitano

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Listen to the First Part of the Regents Meeting of 9-17-2013

Byuclafaculty

But before you listen, note that we have been archiving Regents audios because of regental policy not to archive them for more than one year.  Today, there was a bit of a mishap in the handling of the Regents live stream.  As a result, yours truly sent the email below to an official in the Regents’ office: As you may know, the UCLA Faculty Assn. posts the audios of regents meetings online since it is apparently regents policy not to archive the recordings for more than one year online.  As a result, I turned on my recorder at 1 pm…

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Mansion Awaits

Byuclafaculty

From the LA Times:Blake House, the Northern California mansion that is intended to be the official residence of the UC system president, may be coming back to life. Because of its rundown condition, UC executives in 2008 stopped living in the Mediterranean-style mansion in the unincorporated Contra Costa County neighborhood of Kensington. With a financial crisis for the university at the time, nothing much was done to fix up the 13,200-square-foot house, which is surrounded by 10 acres of gardens. Next week, however, the UC regents are expected to consider a plan that could start the ball rolling for a major…

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Cautious statement by new UC president

Byuclafaculty

Napolitano at recent Regents meeting Incoming UC president Janet Napolitano was interviewed by NPR for “Morning Edition” which aired today.  Most of the interview was about her experience at the Dept. of Homeland Security. On the UC appointment, she said little about the Obama higher ed proposals other than she was aware of them including costs of tuition, we are a public university, etc. She said she would spend her initial time at UC listening and asking questions. You can hear the UC portion of the interview at the link below: UPDATE: VP Biden says Napolitano should be on US…

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Not a thumbs up moment for Janet in her new job

Byuclafaculty

The University of Michigan has raided UC San Diego, hiring a pair of young computer scientists who’ve been drawing attention for their efforts to help Google find better ways to operate online. Jason Mars, an assistant professor, and Lingjia Tang, a member of the research faculty, decided to leave UCSD’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering only a year after they arrived. Mars is the first African American in the department’s history to hold a tenure track position. “They’re both excellent researchers. This is the single biggest setback I’ve had as chair,” said Rajesh Gupta, who took over the fast…

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Alternative Choices

Byuclafaculty

Yesterday, we ran this photo from a recent Regents meeting with a kind of multiple-choice test for incoming UC President Napolitano on what song was (now former) President Yudof likely NOT thinking of in the scene shown above.  But it has been suggested that he might not have been thinking about songs at all.  It might have been movie scenes.  So we will repeat the basic question modified to be “What movie scene below was President Yudof most likely NOT thinking about?” Selection A Selection B Or maybe he could have been thinking about some more recent films by an…

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At recent Regents meetings, Jerry left his Mark…

Byuclafaculty

And now, Mark has left Jerry.  (The Yudof term concluded at the end of August.)  Today is September 1, so we are now in the era of Janet Napolitano.  And since she is coming from the Obama administration with its emphasis on objective performance standards for higher ed, it might be useful if she took a short multiple-choice quiz.  So below is a modest offering. Question: When the photo above was taken, which song was most likely NOT running through President Yudof’s mind? a. You’re Mean to Me [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k429BOuUGo?feature=player_detailpage] b. You Can’t Always Get What You Want [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkGrkNu6mDg?feature=player_detailpage] c….

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Note for the Regents

Byuclafaculty

Here’s a quote from Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters.  Might be something for the Regents (and our incoming UC president Janet Napolitano) to keep in mind: …Tom Hayden, the politician/journalist who protected Brown’s left flank when he was paddling his political canoe to the right three-plus decades ago, points out in a new Rolling Stone article about Brown that the governor tends to become very stubborn when he’s wrong on an issue. “He does have a problematic side,” Hayden told Rolling Stone. “He’s the kind of guy who, when he knows he’s wrong, argues harder.”… Walters’ column deals with Brown’s…

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Straw into Gold? More Positive Spinning on the New UC Prez

Byuclafaculty

An earlier post noted that there seemed to be some effort at positive spinning on the Regents selection of the new UC president.  The latest example appears in the LA Times as the headline below suggests: As Arizona governor, Napolitano put higher education on agenda http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-napolitano-gov-20130722,0,5155679,full.story Of course, there are some dangers in such spinning efforts:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apZuO1nwSvQ?feature=player_detailpage]

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No Wonder the Regents Wanted the New UC Prez to Have Washington Connections!

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed alerted me today to this chart from the National Journal showing the university degrees of the top 250 Obama administration officials.  UC is not – shall we say? – prominent.  See: http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/07/22/obama-administrations-private-university-background andhttp://www.nationaljournal.com/decision-makers/more-top-obama-officials-have-graduate-degrees-from-oxford-than-any-public-university-in-the-united-states-20130719  [Includes link to methodology] But don’t worry about the apparent lack of a link between California and DC.  With the telegraph replacing the Pony Express, coast-to-coast communication will soon be easier.  Right, Janet?