UCLA

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For Mothers’ Day: A complicated story of two mothers involving a UCLA student in 1957 and a TV star

Byuclafaculty

For a time, the LA Times had a blog which recounted old stories from the newspaper.  On Oct. 16, 2007, the blog provided background on a complicated story from 1957 involving an unmarried UCLA student who became pregnant and initially gave up her baby for adoption.  At the time, being an unwed mother was something of a scandal and a quiet adoption was the standard solution.  In this case, however, the student had second thoughts after a few months.  She didn’t sign the papers that would have finalized the adoption and demanded the baby back from the adoptive parents.  Perhaps…

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Some things are so obvious they need to be said

Byuclafaculty

UC faculty leader warns of more exits if research loses ground The systemwide leader of the University of California’s faculty said Friday that he hoped that the announced move of prominent neuroscience researchers from UCLA to USC reminds government leaders in Sacramento of the importance of research at UC. Robert Powell, chairman of the system Academic Senate, said that much of recent proposed legislation and rules from state lawmakers and the governor stress undergraduate graduation rates, online education and upping teaching loads without recognizing UC’s strong international role in scientific and academic research. While it is important to improve undergraduate…

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Possible strike at UC hospitals (including UCLA)

Byuclafaculty

2008 strike at UCLA hospital From the State Worker blog of the Sacramento Bee: The University of California said today that it will ask a judge to keep hospital workers from striking later this month. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 says its members will walk off the job at the university system’s five hospitals May 21 and May 22. UC officials and the union have been in negotiations since last summer for a new contract covering some 13,000 patient care workers. The contract expired Oct. 1, and the contentious talks deadlocked earlier this year. AFSCME…

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Lessons to be Learned

Byuclafaculty

Today’s LA Times carries the story of two neuroscientists recruited by USC from UCLA: Arthur Toga and Paul Thompson will move to the USC Keck School of Medicine campus next fall, along with scores of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and staffers who now work at UCLA’s Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, known as LONI. In establishing a new institute at the USC campus in Boyle Heights, they will also move substantial government and private grants that fund the lab’s $12-million annual budget as well as some of the highly sophisticated equipment used to investigate the brain’s inner workings.  (The move)…raises concerns…

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Compare and Contrast

Byuclafaculty

Blog readers might be interested in comparing the generous program of free Big Blue Bus service offered by Santa Monica College (Any Line – Any Time) with the more restrictive and more costly UCLA program (BruinGo). Santa Monica College: http://www2.smc.edu/swipe/ UCLA: http://map.ais.ucla.edu/go/1000521 Note that Santa Monica College is about to have its arrangement with the City of Santa Monica renewed:http://www.smgov.net/departments/council/agendas/2013/20130514/s2013051403-C.htm

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Not Clear on the Concept

Byuclafaculty

You may have seen the LA Times article today which reports that UCLA’s Reagan hospital received a D grade for patient safety, albeit up from F in the prior survey of the Leapfrog Group.  We reported on the F last November: http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/11/whatever-happened-to-grade-inflation.html The new report says UCLA’s Santa Monica Hospital, in contrast, received a top grade.  I get nervous about composite rating systems so I went on the Leapfrog website [http://www.leapfroggroup.org/cp] which allows comparisons of hospitals and compared Reagan with Santa Monica.  The two look pretty much the same as the image above shows. [Click on the image to enlarge.] …

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UCLA’s Hammer Museum Nailed It

Byuclafaculty

Some readers may recall our blog entry of April 13 with the image above which involved the quest by UCLA’s Hammer Museum for a grant for a project to use the many empty Westwood stores and, hopefully, to rejuvenate the area.  The Museum was successful in obtaining the LA2050 grant.  From the Museum: We are pleased to announce that the Hammer Museum will receive a $100,000 grant from the Goldhirsh Foundation to implement our urban renewal project Arts ReStore LA: Westwood. Thank you for the overwhelming support and to everyone who made this possible. The Hammer was one of ten…

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Underpaid

Byuclafaculty

De Neve Plaza California’s labor commissioner announced today that she has ordered three contractors to pay more than $1.8 million forviolations in public works projects at UCLA, Saddleback Community College in Orange County and the Global Green Generational Charter School in Pacoima… Tile contractor B.A. Marble Granite Inc. was ordered to pay $539,051 in wages, $4,693 in apprenticeship training funds and $652,600 in fines for the failure to pay 55 employees the proper wage for installing tile in bathrooms at the De Neve Residence Halls project at the UCLA campus… Full story at http://business-news.thestreet.com/daily-news/story/north-hollywood-tile-contractor-ordered-pay-nearly-12m-labor-violations-work-ucla-housing/1  The official statement from the labor…

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The name seems to be taken

Byuclafaculty

In a recent post, we noted the Regents will be taking up the setting up of an entity at UCLA to market university innovations, patents, etc.  The details are now up on the Regents’ agenda for their meeting next week. Excerpt: The President seeks the approval of the Regents to establish and participate in a separate §501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation (referred to herein as “Newco”), tasked with managing the types of intellectual property (IP) including technology transfer and industry – sponsored research contracting (ISR) at UCLA currently managed by UCLA’s Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Sponsored Research (UCLA OIP-ISR). The…