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Monday, 16 November 2009
1. Universities Turn to Consultants to Trim Budgets
New York Times & International Herald Tribune (*requires registration)
November 15, 2009
When Holden Thorp, the chancellor of the University of North Carolina, was looking for ways to cut the university’s budget, he did what many executives in private industry do — hired a management consultant.
The consultant, Bain & Company, came up with recommendations that it said could save the university more than $150 million a year....
And since Mr. Thorp hired Bain, both Cornell University and the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, have followed suit. In each case, the management consultants examined business functions but stayed away from academic issues like courseloads and tenure....
AT BERKELEY, ROBERT J. BIRGENEAU, THE CHANCELLOR, said the Bain contract would cost $3 million — and hopefully save far more.
“If we could save $30, $40, $50 million for an investment of $3 million, I’d be ecstatic,” said Dr. Birgeneau, whose campus has been hit this year with particularly brutal budget cuts. “I’m a physicist, not an expert on organizational structures. But I believe we can be more efficient.”...
“We have already successfully consolidated some research functions,” Dr. Birgeneau said, “and we want to get a comprehensive view of procurement and I.T. and H.R. across the university to see if there’s consolidation we should be doing there, too.”...
“I don’t see it as being very productive or valid or worthwhile,” said TANYA SMITH, PRESIDENT OF LOCAL 1 OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL EMPLOYEES, WHICH REPRESENTS ABOUT 900 BERKELEY EMPLOYEES. “What we’re seeing is centralization and treatment of the university as if it were a corporation. And I’m just not sure education and efficiency are on the same page.”... Full Story
2. UC plan to raise fees breaks its own rules
San Francisco Chronicle
November 14, 2009
THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA is expected to raise fees next week for 24 graduate programs in violation of its own policy against boosting prices higher than competing public institutions....
The proposed fee hikes would begin next fall and range from $4,000 to an extraordinary $31,355 at UC BERKELEY'S BOALT HALL SCHOOL OF LAW - increases of 7 to 22 percent. One exception would be the UC BERKELEY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, which is asking for a 65 percent increase, from $4,859 to $8,000....
"We all wish that we were not in this situation," said STEVE SHORTELL, DEAN OF CAL'S SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH. "But the school and the university at large can no longer rely on the state for the amount of support that we have had in the past."...
"I'm really upset, and I'm indignant. Many people feel this way," said JOVANNA ROSEN, A STUDENT AT UC BERKELEY'S COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN, where a new $6,000 fee would bring the program's total cost to $20,172 - higher than the $17,000 average cost of competing programs at Penn State and the University of Virginia....
The rising fees "smell suspiciously like privatizing the cost of education," said JESSICA LUK, A CITY PLANNING STUDENT.
JENNIFER WOLCH, DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN, said the proposed fee is necessary to maintain excellence at a time when highly trained experts are needed in growing fields of sustainability, green buildings and more....
"California needs quality social workers," said HANNAH HALEY, A STUDENT AT UC BERKELEY'S SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, where the proposed fee is $4,000 - there had been no fee previously. She said students who have to pay that extra money would be less likely to apply for low-paying county government jobs after graduation....
"This is obviously not a very happy or good time for students," said LORRAINE MIDANIK, DEAN OF THE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WELFARE. "But you want to make sure the school can survive. We need to be thinking long term."... Full Story
3. Barnidge: UC faculty was way too quick to blame athletic department
Contra Costa Times (*requires registration)
November 14, 2009
Athletics and academics can coexist on a college campus, but they hardly ever become friends. Their interests are too varied, their circles too different. They usually do well to stay out of each other's way.
The situation at UC BERKELEY has been different, said ATHLETIC DIRECTOR SANDY BARBOUR.
"We've worked hard to make sure our student-athletes are exactly that, and most of the faculty appreciates that," she said. "And faculty members have worked hard at helping our student-athletes."...
The warm relationship turned icy 10 days ago, when the Faculty Senate called out the athletic department for using campus funds to meet expenses. By a vote of 91-68, the educators passed a nonbinding resolution asking CHANCELLOR ROBERT BIRGENEAU to force Barbour's department to pay its own way.
No more share of student registration fees ($2.1 million for sports in 2009). No more funding from the chancellor's office ($5 million). No more operating at a deficit.
MICHAEL O'HARE, A PUBLIC POLICY PROFESSOR, explained the senate's position: "We need to get our priorities straight at a time of budget crisis."
What he didn't say is there are some 1,500 faculty members, and only 159 participated in the vote. Also: Nearly every major college athletic department in the country shares in registration fees and the overwhelming majority operate at a deficit.
So why declare war on sports? Chalk it up to vexed employees venting in the wake of hard times, furloughs and tuition hikes. Athletics was a convenient target....
[This commentary also appeared in the Oakland Tribune] Full Story
4. In-state students' admission obstacle: their home address
Washington Post
November 14, 2009
Raechel Hanson toiled through high school to build an academic transcript strong enough for admission to the College of William and Mary, the storied "public Ivy" in Williamsburg. She maintained a 3.9 grade-point average, played flute in the band, presided over the Spanish club and amassed more than 100 hours of community service.
It wasn't enough....
This was a particularly tough year for Virginians seeking entry to William and Mary and several other prestigious public universities because of machinations in the admissions cycle that favored applicants from outside the state....
"It's a matter of fiscal realities," said Mark Emmert, president of the University of Washington. "Public universities survive on a combination of tuition revenue and state financial support. If one goes down, the other has to go up if you want to maintain your capacity."
...Emmert at the University of Washington and CHANCELLOR ROBERT BIRGENEAU AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY both say financial pressures will probably compel them to admit more nonresidents in coming years.... Full Story
5. Funding Publics
Inside Higher Ed
November 16, 2009
Washington -- Recalibrating the puzzle pieces of support for public universities to include more financing from the federal government as state contributions wane might offer the best solutions for public universities’ economic woes, a panel of presidents concluded here Sunday....
The presidents, all coming from situations of financial duress and speaking to a gathering of administrators from other struggling institutions, couldn't be expected to argue for less federal funding or to get too bogged down in discussion of the strings of accountability that would almost certainly be attached to any new appropriations. In their remarks, panelists Elson S. Floyd, president of Washington State University; Sally Mason, president of the University of Iowa; Lee T. Todd Jr., president of the University of Kentucky; and Mark G. Yudof, president of the University of California System, all looked to federal support for their state-based universities, as did Peter McPherson, the association’s president and former president of Michigan State University....
Though “some people say it’s not the time to act” while the country lurches through a recession, Yudof said he thinks the time is right for major change....
But he offered no support for a federal solution proposed earlier this fall by the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY CHANCELLOR ROBERT J. BIRGENEAU AND FRANK D. YEARY, a vice chancellor, to provide special support for a few of the country’s most elite public research universities. “My feeling is if we say let’s designate the top 20 research universities that should get special treatment from Congress, it’ll die,” he said.... Full Story
6. Water Found on Moon, Researchers Say
New York Times & International Herald Tribune (*requires registration)
November 14, 2009
There is water on the Moon, scientists stated unequivocally on Friday.
“Indeed yes, we found water,” Anthony Colaprete, the principal investigator for NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, said in a news conference. “And we didn’t find just a little bit. We found a significant amount.”...
The satellite, known as Lcross (pronounced L-cross), crashed into a crater near the Moon’s south pole a month ago. The 5,600-miles-per-hour impact carved out a hole 60 to 100 feet wide and kicked up at least 26 gallons of water....
“Now that we know that water is there, thanks to Lcross, we can begin in earnest to go to this next set of questions,” said [TEAM MEMBER] GREGORY T. DELORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY.
Dr. Delory said the findings of Lcross and other spacecraft were “painting a really surprising new picture of the Moon; rather than a dead and unchanging world, it could be in fact a very dynamic and interesting one.”
Lunar ice, if bountiful, not only gives future settlers something to drink, but could also be broken apart into oxygen and hydrogen. Both are valuable as rocket fuel, and the oxygen would also give astronauts air to breathe....
[Stories on this topic appeared in hundreds of sources worldwide, including the Washington Post, San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, USA Today, Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle, and Wall Street Journal (link by subscription only)] Full Story
7. Forum with Michael Krasny: Astronomical Update
KQED Radio
November 16, 2009
We turn our gaze to all things astronomical, from the discovery of water on the moon and the Leonid meteor shower that will light up the skies this week, to the discovery of a bloated planet that rotates backwards. We also discuss the science -- or lack thereof -- in the new movie "2012" which imagines Earth's end.
Guests:
...GREG DELORY, SENIOR FELLOW AT THE UC BERKELEY SPACE SCIENCES LABORATORY AND CENTER FOR INTEGRATIVE PLANETARY SCIENCES...
[Link to audio] Full Story
8. Ohio Is First to Change to One Drug in Executions
New York Times & International Herald Tribune (*requires registration)
November 14, 2009
Breaking ranks with the 35 other states that use lethal injections to execute prisoners, Ohio on Friday became the first state to say it would switch to a single drug, rather than a three-drug cocktail, in its death penalty procedure.
Critics have long argued that using a single drug, the preferred method in animal euthanasia, is more humane than the three-drug cocktail, which involves a short-acting barbiturate to render the inmate unconscious, followed by a paralytic and then a chemical to stop the heart....
TY ALPER, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF THE DEATH PENALTY CLINIC AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, called the change “a significant step forward.”
“The hope is that other states will realize that there is no need to paralyze inmates before executing them,” he said, “and that, in fact, doing so risks a horribly torturous execution.”...
[An Associated Press story quoting Professor Alper on this topic appeared in more than 100 sources nationwide, including the Washington Post, San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle, and USA Today] Full Story
9. Ohio to lead way in single-injection executions
It's the first state to switch from a three-drug lethal injection formula that some consider cruel and unusual punishment. The change was prompted by the failed execution of Romell Broom in September.
Los Angeles Times
November 14, 2009
Ohio became the first state in the nation Friday to adopt a single-injection method for executing condemned inmates, a process that state officials believe will avoid violating the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment....
"Ohio has taken an important step by abandoning the barbaric practice of paralyzing inmates before executing them," said ELISABETH SEMEL, A LAW PROFESSOR AND DIRECTOR OF THE DEATH PENALTY CLINIC AT UC BERKELEY.
Semel added, however, that more medical information will be needed before courts can determine whether the one-drug method satisfies the 8th Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.... Full Story
10. Op-Ed: The KSM Trial Will Be an Intelligence Bonanza for al Qaeda
The government will have to choose between vigorous prosecution and revealing classified sources and methods.
Wall Street Journal (*requires registration)
November 15, 2009
'This is a prosecutorial decision as well as a national security decision," President Barack Obama said last week about the attorney general's announcement that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other al Qaeda operatives will be put on trial in New York City federal court.
No, it is not. It is a presidential decision—one about the hard, ever-present trade-off between civil liberties and national security.
Trying KSM in civilian court will be an intelligence bonanza for al Qaeda and the hostile nations that will view the U.S. intelligence methods and sources that such a trial will reveal. The proceedings will tie up judges for years on issues best left to the president and Congress....
[Link by subscription only] Full Story
11. Authorities move to seize U.S. properties allegedly tied to Iran
Federal prosecutors seek the forfeiture of Islamic centers, mosques and other properties they accuse of funneling money to an Iranian bank involved in Tehran's nuclear program.
Los Angeles Times
November 13, 2009
Reporting from Washington -- Federal authorities Thursday moved to seize an array of U.S.-based properties, bank accounts and religious sites that they charged in court documents were funneling money to an Iranian bank involved in that country's suspected nuclear weapons program....
"Whatever the details of the government's case against the owners of the mosques, as a civil rights organization we are concerned that the seizure of American houses of worship could have a chilling effect on the religious freedom of citizens of all faiths and may send a negative message to Muslims worldwide," CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said.
But others said a move by the government to take ownership of a mosque was not likely to raise a legal challenge.
UC BERKELEY LAW PROFESSOR JESSE CHOPER cited instances in which the Supreme Court upheld seizures of bookstores or theaters because they were said to be linked to crimes. "Whether it is seizing a mosque or seizing a bookstore, it doesn't mean there is a special 1st Amendment scrutiny," or protection, Choper said.... Full Story
12. Forum with Michael Krasny: Mark Danner
KQED Radio
November 12, 2009
UC BERKELEY JOURNALISM PROFESSOR MARK DANNER joins us to discuss his new book, "Stripping Bare the Body: Politics Violence War." It's an examination of U.S. attempts at nation-building over the past quarter century.
Guests:
MARK DANNER, AUTHOR, PROFESSOR OF JOURNALISM AT UC BERKELEY, professor of foreign affairs, politics and the humanities at Bard College and contributor to the New York Review of Books.
[Link to audio] Full Story
13. Energy Department gives UM $10M for plasma studies
San Francisco Chronicle
November 13, 2009
Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP) -- The University of Michigan is opening a center for the study of low-temperature plasmas, which are considered promising in a range of technological advances.
The U.S. Energy Department has given a $10 million, five-year grant for the Center for Predictive Control of Plasma Kinetics....
Center Director Mark Kushner says plasma research could lead to breakthroughs in solar cells, microchips and medical surgery tools.
Researchers also are participating from Ohio State and West Virginia universities; the universities of Minnesota, Houston, CALIFORNIA-BERKELEY and Maryland; Princeton Plasma Physical Laboratory; and Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico.
[This story also appeared in the Sacramento Bee] Full Story
14. Water package lacks clout to reverse Delta's decline
Sacramento Bee
November 15, 2009
The momentous reform of California's water system signed into law last week is largely toothless where it matters most: Action to reverse the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta's environmental decline.
That decline was a key reason for the long fight that led to the reforms. And indeed the new law puts into writing that the Delta's environment is equally important to the enormous water demand straining it. State policy also now requires reducing demand for the Delta's water....
But many of the changes may not live up to high expectations surrounding the reform package, said HOLLY DOREMUS, A UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, PROFESSOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW.
For instance, she said, the new government body created to carry out these changes – the Delta Stewardship Council – doesn't have the authority to enforce many of its new rules.
The result could be more of the conflict between wildlife and water interests that has long plagued the Delta.
"This package does not confront the really tough questions," said DOREMUS, CO-DIRECTOR OF BERKELEY'S CENTER FOR LAW, ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT. "It's not going to radically shift anything."... Full Story
15. So you want a green career?
The giant push for eco-friendly practices has created job opportunities for those with little or no experience.
Los Angeles Times
November 15, 2009
Although the recession has emptied shopping malls and filled jobless centers, the call has only gotten louder for renewable energy, environmentally gentle products and eco-friendly practices -- and for people to make all of that happen.
President Obama has said that he hopes to create 5 million green jobs within a decade. The U.S. Conference of Mayors estimates that the "green economy" could account for as much as 10% of job growth over the next 30 years....
Even before the recession, the green-jobs market was growing at a faster pace than overall employment in most states, with California leading the trend, experts say. The growth rate of green jobs nationwide was 9.1% from 1998 to 2007, compared with a 3.7% increase for all jobs during the same period, according to a recent report from the Pew Charitable Trusts.
A UC BERKELEY study concluded that "the renewable energy sector generates more jobs per megawatt of power installed, per unit of energy produced and per dollar of investment, than the fossil fuel-based energy sector."... Full Story
16. China Solar Panel Maker Sets First U.S. Plant
Suntech Power aims to boost its share of the U.S. market with a solar-panel manufacturing plant to be built in Arizona
Business Week
November 15, 2009
China's Suntech Power Holdings (STP) is no newcomer to the U.S. Last May, President Barack Obama toured the U.S.'s largest solar panel installation at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. There, row upon row of shiny black Suntech solar panels span 140 acres, cranking out up to 14 megawatts of electricity on sunny days....
On Nov. 16 in Beijing, the company announced its first American manufacturing plant....
The announcement comes amid President Barack Obama's visit to China focusing on collaboration in green technologies. Suntech's move may soften criticism from U.S. lawmakers worried that low-cost factories in China will snare new green manufacturing jobs before they even have a chance to take root in the U.S. "[Suntech's] decision to bring manufacturing here to the U.S. is a great sign of the increasingly important collaboration between Chinese and American leaders in the renewable-energy industry," said DAN KAMMEN, A PROFESSOR IN THE ENERGY AND RESOURCES GROUP AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY, in a statement provided by Suntech.... Full Story
17. The Numbers Guy: Statistical Time Travel Helps to Answer What-Ifs
Researchers Devise Systems to Explore How Supreme Court Justices and Baseball Players Compare With Their Predecessors
Wall Street Journal (*requires registration)
November 12, 2009
The debates often take place on barstools and can devolve into a bleary tedium: If Babe Ruth were alive today, would he still be among the greatest to have ever played baseball?
Such what-ifs are no longer limited to happy hour and disrupted by last call. In recent years, statisticians have created time machines to answer a wide range of historical hypotheticals, from how today's Supreme Court would have voted on Roe v. Wade to what sort of scientific papers Einstein might write today....
"The famous statistician George Box once wrote that 'all models are wrong, but some are useful,' " KEVIN QUINN, A PROFESSOR OF LAW AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, who has studied changing attitudes of Supreme Court justices, said in an email. "I think that is a useful way to approach what we're doing."
Prof. Quinn and Andrew Martin of Washington University's law school used the time-machine techniques to track judges' ideological evolution and compare them to each other. The researchers were trying to identify where on the political spectrum, for each case, the judges and possible verdicts would lie. Then they would use that information to estimate the probability of how each judge would vote in each case. In that way, they used judges' past votes to construct a numerical model of probabilities that they could then apply to cases the judges never heard....
[Link by subscription only] Full Story
18. In Downturn's Wake, Women Hold Half of U.S. Jobs
Households That Could Afford to Have One Spouse Stay Home Find Roles Upended by Layoffs in Male-Dominated Industries
Wall Street Journal (*requires registration)
November 12, 2009
Jeff and Vicki Grenz celebrated their 25th anniversary on Sept. 12, 2007. The date marked another milestone for the California couple: Ms. Grenz went back to work....
The composition of the nation's work force is approaching an unprecedented benchmark. Due in part to deep layoffs of men, women are poised to become the majority of workers for the first time. As of September, women held 49.9% of the nation's jobs, excluding farm workers and the self-employed, a rise of 1.2 percentage points from their 48.7% share when the recession began in December 2007. In 1970, women held 35% of jobs....
"I think we are at a pivotal moment," said ARLIE HOCHSCHILD, A PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, who has written several books on work-life balance. For many households, it used to be that "she worked because she wanted to," said Ms. Hochschild. "Now, she's working because she has to."...
[Link by subscription only] Full Story
19. Tech layoffs continue, despite signs of economic improvement
San Jose Mercury News (*requires registration)
November 12, 2009
Applied Materials on Wednesday became the third Silicon Valley company to announce major layoffs this week, and economists warned that job losses may continue as businesses grapple for the next year — or longer — with the aftereffects of a bruising recession....
Some companies are also saving money by shifting operations overseas, said HARLEY SHAIKEN, A LABOR ECONOMIST AND PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-BERKELEY....
[This story also appeared in the Contra Costa Times and Oakland Tribune] Full Story
20. Capital: Emerging Markets Face New Tests
Wall Street Journal (*requires registration)
November 12, 2009
The Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s taught emerging markets a lesson: Trying to maintain a fixed exchange rate can lead to catastrophe if a country holds on too long. Governments didn't have enough foreign-currency reserves or the ability to raise interest rates enough to prop up their currencies. Currencies collapsed, and bad things happened, particularly to banks and businesses with lots of foreign-currency debt.
Before and during the recent crisis, several Latin American and Asian economies -- with the notable exception of China -- let currencies move. Flexible exchange rates served as a shock absorber. Freed from the commitment to defend a fixed exchange rate with high interest rates, emerging-market central banks cut rates and partially shielded domestic borrowers from turbulence. Brazil, for one, cut interest rates by 2.75 percentage points and watched its currency, the real, fall 35% during the worst months of the crisis....
Arguments over the best exchange-rate regime often are more religious than empirical. This time, the empirical evidence is strong. Countries that allowed the markets to move their currencies were "immensely better off," says international economist BARRY EICHENGREEN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY. Among other advantages, he says, is that businesses expected exchange-rate moves and didn't do a lot of risky, unhedged foreign-currency borrowing....
[Link by subscription only] Full Story
21. Politics: Demographic Shifts Change Political Lines
New York Times & International Herald Tribune (*requires registration)
November 15, 2009
When it comes to Congressional politics in the Bay Area, all roads lead to Nancy Pelosi, the powerful Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives. And when the time comes to redraw the region’s political map after next year’s census, all roads will begin from Ms. Pelosi’s San Francisco district and radiate outward, potentially changing representation from Marin to Modesto and beyond....
BRUCE CAIN, DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE FOR GOVERNMENTAL STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY, says the best thing for Democrats would be for one of their members to retire or otherwise leave a seat vacant. Then that district can be cannibalized and its residents spread among the Bay Area districts that remain.
“The ideal thing would be a death,” Mr. Cain said. He was not joking. He remembers just such a case in the 1980s in Los Angeles, when the City Council deadlocked over how to draw new lines. The impasse was solved by the timely passing of one of the Council members. “They were redrawing the districts at his funeral,” Mr. Cain said. Full Story
22. New bridge bypass throws a curve at drivers
Contra Costa Times (*requires registration)
November 13, 2009
Driving the accident prone S-curve on the Bay Bridge gives a shot of adrenaline to Nancy Frank, of Oakland, since the bypass opened just after Labor Day weekend....
After a fatal accident Monday when a trucker plunged to his death off the S-curve 200 feet below, several motorists said the new bend on the bridge just east of Yerba Buena Island makes them a little edgy, but they think it can be safely managed at the correct speed....
A UC BERKELEY TRAFFIC EXPERT said safety concerns are heightened when freeway curves are new.
"People tend to go on autopilot when they're driving a road they're accustomed to," said SIMON WASHINGTON, DIRECTOR OF THE SAFETY TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH AND EDUCATION CENTER.
"They're used to a straight bridge; now they have a curve. Speed is definitely an issue on curves."
Caltrans has called in Washington to advise on whether the agency needs to take other measures....
[This story also appeared in the San Jose Mercury News and Oakland Tribune] Full Story
23. State cuts give private colleges an edge
Some campuses are luring students away from UC and Cal State schools with grants and assurances.
Los Angeles Times
November 16, 2009
Thousands of other students might have jumped at the chance to attend UCLA, but not Michael Rodriguez. He passed up his UC acceptance last year in order to attend California Lutheran University, a less well-known but more intimate private campus in Thousand Oaks....
His experience reflects a growing effort by private colleges and universities to turn the budget crisis at California's public campuses to their advantage through savvy marketing and, in some cases, special deals. The private schools are leery of being seen as attacking public higher education, but they also don't want to miss a chance to gain good students while UC and Cal States campuses struggle with reduced enrollment and classes....
Last year, Cal Lutheran established special scholarships, regardless of family income, for students who were also admitted to UCLA or UC Santa Barbara. The grants make the cost of attending the private school the same as attending UC, including room and board.
Last year 20 students took Cal Lutheran's offer, and this fall 27 did, receiving annual aid worth $17,000 on average, according to Rebecca Keenan, the university's associate director of financial aid and scholarships. And for next fall, the campus plans to expand the scholarship offer to those accepted at UC BERKELEY and UC Davis.... Full Story
24. College students find support in campus 'posses'
Washington Post
November 15, 2009
Bryn Mawr, Pa. -- When Sharhea Wade arrived at Bryn Mawr College from a big-city high school, it seemed as if every other student on the quiet, leafy campus had graduated from an exclusive private school....
Yet whenever she felt like a fish out of water, Wade could turn to her "posse" - nine other girls who, like her, had been recruited from struggling Boston-area school districts and sent on full merit scholarship to the elite women's college.
Wade's posse is one of dozens sent to top-tier universities each year by the New York-based Posse Foundation. ...
Posse founder Deborah Bial started the organization in 1989 after a once-promising inner-city student told her, "I never would have dropped out of college if I had my posse with me."
Since then, Posse has sent more than 2,600 students to its partner campuses, including Vanderbilt University, Colby College and the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY....
[This story appeared in more than 100 sources nationwide, including USA Today, Contra Costa Times, Sacramento Bee, and San Francisco Chronicle] Full Story
25. Profiles in Later Life: Taking On Mountains—and Toxic Chemicals
Wall Street Journal (*requires registration)
November 14, 2009
Three decades after leading a charge against the use of toxic chemicals in consumer products, [UC BERKELEY VISITING SCHOLAR] ARLENE BLUM is back in the fight.
In the 1970s—between heading the first all-woman expedition to the summit of Alaska's Mount McKinley and working as an assistant professor of chemistry—Dr. Blum became an accidental environmental activist.
After she published papers in Science magazine detailing the dangers of brominated and chlorinated Tris, two carcinogenic chemicals used as fire retardants, her research helped persuade federal regulators to ban the use of Tris in children's sleepwear....
Born in 1945, Dr. Blum was raised in Chicago. Despite what she calls an "overprotective" family urging her to study something more "ladylike," she developed an early interest in science. SHE ENDED UP GETTING A Ph.D. IN BIOPHYSICAL CHEMISTRY FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY in 1971. She also became a celebrated mountaineer....
She spends much of her time conducting scientific research, writing papers, talking to governments and policy organizations, and conducting public-information campaigns to raise awareness about toxins. She has also recently expanded her work to China, where she hopes to get manufacturers to reduce the use of toxic chemicals in consumer products exported world-wide....
[Link by subscription only] Full Story
26. Window Watchers in a City of Strangers
New York Times & International Herald Tribune (*requires registration)
November 12, 2009
When Suzi Jones and her husband purchased an apartment on the fourth floor of a brownstone in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, two years ago, Ms. Jones, a freelance art director from Atlanta, thought what she would like most would be the hardwood floors, the tin ceilings and the renovated kitchen and bathroom.
Soon after moving in, however, she discovered what she has come to think of as the apartment’s best feature: its view into the neighbors’ private lives.
Ms. Jones, 41, was reading on the couch one afternoon when the Italian love song “Volare” began playing outside. Through the window, she could see what looked like a party being given by an elderly Italian woman and her husband in the garden of the brownstone directly behind her building. Charmed by the couple — who were celebrating the husband’s 80th birthday, she soon found out — and their happiness at being surrounded by what appeared to be family, Ms. Jones pulled up a chair to watch....
It’s a more intimate version of what Jane Jacobs called the ballet of sidewalk life, noted CALVIN MORRILL, A SOCIOLOGIST AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, and an editor of “Together Alone: Personal Relationships in Public Places.” “Simply looking out your apartment window and seeing other humans doing an activity in a consistent way and at a similar time can provide stability and support,” Dr. Morrill said. “People are making dinner, they’re sitting down with their families, or they’re alone watching the television — there’s a kind of reassurance there.”... Full Story
27. Cal's Jahvid Best rejoins team after concussion
Washington Post
November 14, 2009
Berkeley, Calif. -- California star tailback Jahvid Best joined his teammates for the opening coin toss before Saturday's game against Arizona, one [week] after being knocked out following a frightening fall and concussion.
Best was injured in last week's 31-14 loss to Oregon State when he hurdled a defender at the end of a 7-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
Best vaulted into the air over safety Cameron Collins and then was bumped even higher by another defender before falling on his back and head from about 8 feet in the air. Best's helmet came off on impact and he briefly lost consciousness. He spent one night in the hospital with the concussion and sore back and most of the week at his parents' home....
Best, one of the most dynamic running backs in the country and a preseason Heisman Trophy contender, has 16 touchdowns and 867 yards rushing this season. He also has 22 catches for 213 yards. He had 29 yards on nine carries Saturday. Full Story
28. Booster Shots Blog: More Tips from the Pantry Raid
Los Angeles Times
November 14, 2009
Our nutritional makeover series "Pantry Raid" most recently took us to the home of Mission Viejo resident Kristy Noble and her sons, Scott, 14, and Robert, 17. The Nobles face time and money limitations familiar to lots of families that want to eat more healthfully but don't have a lot of time to cook.
Registered dietitian Lisa Gibson offers advice to the family, but she also recommended these resources for more information on diet and nutrition:
...Magazines and newsletters on cooking and nutrition:
...UC BERKELEY WELLNESS LETTER: This ad-free newsletter from BERKELEY'S SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND OTHER UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS offers the latest in health research, translated for the layman. In addition to information on food and nutrition, it also includes wellness tips, plus information on exercise and preventive medicine.... Full Story