What ails California?
"What Ails California?," a daylong conference held last week on the Berkeley campus, at times resembled an episode of the TV show House -- but without the "aha" moment in which the patient's disease is identified and the cure prescribed. The state's voters, it seems, want change. But what kind of change? And will it help solve California's budget crisis?
(27 October)

Stephen Barnett, California Supreme Court expert, dies at 73
Stephen Barnett, UC Berkeley professor emeritus of law and a prominent expert on the California Supreme Court, died of complications resulting from cardiac arrest on Tuesday, Oct. 13. He was 73.
(16 October)

Study says California furloughs will save less than anticipated
Much of the savings from California state workers’ three-day-a-month mandatory furlough will be offset by reduced revenue and increased costs to the state general fund in future years, says a study released today (Thursday, Oct. 15) by UC Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education.
(15 October)

Law school enhances loan forgiveness program in response to tough economy
In an effort to help its students and alumni during the current economic crisis, the UC Berkeley School of Law has significantly strengthened its Loan Repayment Assistance Program, already one of the nation's most generous loan forgiveness plans.
(03 September)

Berkeley Unified's racial integration plan a model for other school districts nationwide, says new report
A new UC Berkeley-UCLA report says the Berkeley Unified School District's plan to maintain diversity could serve as a model for other public schools nationwide that are seeking constitutionally sound desegregation programs. Not only has the integration plan achieved substantial integration, it was upheld earlier this year by the state appellate court, a decision that the California Supreme Court allowed to stand.
(01 September)

Arrest of kidnap suspect Phillip Garrido hinged on actions of two UC Berkeley police officers
Alert action by two members of the UC Berkeley police force played a key role in Wednesday's arrest of kidnapping suspect Phillip Garrido and the return of Jaycee Lee Dugard, who in 1991 at age 11 was abducted from her South Lake Tahoe neighborhood.
(28 August)

UC presents revised plan for housing Helios research
University of California representatives are presenting to state government officials newly revised plans for housing the Helios research initiatives that will explore promising new solar-energy technologies.
(03 August)

Green Corridor Partnership picks up steam as UC, LBNL drive innovation
Representatives of UC Berkeley and other members of a public-private East Bay consortium designed to solve environmental challenges while creating jobs gathered in Oakland June 26 for the partnership's second annual summit.
(02 July)

2009 Childhood Obesity Conference addresses new challenges, approaches to improving children's health
The 2009 Childhood Obesity Conference, titled "Creating Healthy Places for All Children," comes amid challenging times as more families struggle with limited food budgets, and communities struggle with fewer resources.
(03 June)

Three UC Berkeley faculty members chosen for state advisory committee to help devise cap-and-trade program
Three scholars from the University of California, Berkeley, have been appointed to the state's new Economic and Allocation Advisory Committee, a group charged with helping California implement the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB32).
(01 June)

Why do we tolerate a massive prison system that produces 70% recidivism rates?
Legal scholar Jonathan Simon discusses the social and fiscal impacts of California's approach to crime and punishment. Unless we confront its central flaws, he says, "everything is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic." Part 2 of a two-part Q&A.
(07 May)

Why parole does not work in California
California's criminal justice system has been thrust into the national spotlight by the shooting deaths of four Oakland police officers by a recently released state prisoner. Criminal-law expert Jonathan Simon talks about the 'broken' system he has studied since the 1980s.
(06 May)

PACE hosts teacher pay conferences
New ways of compensating teachers in an era of ferocious budget shortfalls will be the topic of discussion for about 400 school superintendents, leaders of teacher organizations and school board members from across California at conferences next Monday and Tuesday (March 30-31) in Oakland and Los Angeles.
(26 March)

Public Health Heroes to be honored at March 18 ceremony
A global health humanitarian, a health care system efficiency expert, a nursing advocate and an information technology non-profit group each will receive a 13th annual Public Health Heroes Award from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health on Wednesday, March 18.
(17 March)

Dedication of new CITRIS headquarters marks new stage of innovation to help fuel economic growth
The newest research facility on the UC Berkeley campus, to be dedicated today (Friday, Feb. 27), embodies the innovation and entrepreneurship needed to fuel economic growth and arrives at a time when the state and nation seek relief from the recession. At a ceremony this afternoon, Sutardja Dai Hall will become the new home of the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Banatao Institute@CITRIS Berkeley.
(27 February)

Applicants sought for 2009-2010 grants from Chancellor's Community Partnership Fund
Non-profit and neighborhood groups based in the city of Berkeley may now apply for grants from the Chancellor's Community Partnership Fund for 2009-2010. Funds will go to select groups who partner with the campus to improve the quality of life for Berkeley residents.
(18 February)

How governor’s latest budget proposals affect UC and UC employees
As part of his midyear budget proposal, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this week recommended a further budget cut of $65.5 million for the University of California system in this fiscal year. But as his proposals move to the Legislature for consideration, the outcome and impact are still uncertain.
(07 November)

Birgeneau: Prepare for worsening budget picture
Temporary solution spares units from the brunt of a state-mandated midyear cut, but chancellor calls on campus to curb spending now and brace for the future.
(29 October)

Piano lesson for CED students
On the eve of the California Academy of Sciences' grand opening in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park last week, architect Renzo Piano sat down with students to discuss how green structures can be beautiful, how every building has a story, and how creating a structure, especially one as complex as the academy he designed, is even more complicated than it looks.
(02 October)

PACE studies offer recommendations for California schools
State leaders rely on inconsistent barometers of student progress, face a looming teacher shortage and wrestle with staggering and persistent achievement gaps - yet, these problems all can be addressed, at least in part, without infusions of new money, according to a comprehensive report released today (Thursday, Oct. 2) by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE).
(02 October)

Governor signs bill to protect academic researchers from harassment
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday (Sept. 28) signed the Researcher Protection Act of 2008, instituting new penalties for those who target the homes and families of academic researchers, in particular those who use animals in their research.
(29 September)

Bancroft exhibit focuses on SF Examiner Archive
"Twenty-five Years in Black & White," a slice of San Francisco Bay Area history from 1935 to 1960, just opened at UC Berkeley, and includes more than 100 photos from The Bancroft Library's Fang Family San Francisco Examiner Archive.
(15 September)

Researchers showcase automated bus that uses magnets to steer through city streets
UC Berkeley engineers took a 60-foot automated bus out for a spin along a one-mile stretch of roadway in San Leandro today (Sept. 5). The bus was steered not by a driver, but by a magnetic guidance system they developed. It is the first demonstration of the automated bus moving with regular city traffic on a public roadway.
(05 September)

Faculty election experts
On the eve of national conventions for the Democratic and Republican parties, University of California, Berkeley experts are available to national and major regional news outlets to offer analysis and historic perspective on a wide range of topics relating to the 2008 presidential race.
(22 August)

State Senate committee passes bill to protect researchers engaged in animal research
Following testimony Thursday by two University of California officials about the ongoing harassment of researchers by animal rights extremists, the state Senate Public Safety Committee passed a revised bill to criminalize such activity.
(14 August)

Recipients announced for Chancellor's Community Partnership Awards
The Chancellor's Community Partnership Awards for 2008-2009 are being given to 18 projects that either will physically improve the city of Berkeley's physical environment or improve the economic, social and cultural well-being of its residents.
(06 August)

Climate change could severely impact California's endemic plants
California's endemic plants — those found no where else in the world — could disappear from their natural ranges as a result of global warming and associated changes in rainfall, according to a new study by UC Berkeley and Duke University researchers.
(24 June)

Tom Lantos archive donated to The Bancroft Library
The papers of the late Tom Lantos of California, a leading champion of human rights and the only Holocaust survivor to serve in the U.S. Congress, are now part of the University of California, Berkeley's Bancroft Library. The materials reflect how Lantos's lifelong dedication to human justice sprung from his remarkable early experience: the loss of his family to the Holocaust, his escape from a forced labor camp in his native Hungary during World War II; and his participation as a youth in the Nazi resistance.
(24 June)

For whom wedding bells toll — for keeps
Four years after their high-profile nuptials in San Francisco City Hall, lesbian and gay staff members report on the experience of getting hitched again.
(23 June)

Campus officials declare 'a major victory for our students' in judge's ruling on student-athlete center
UC Berkeley officials said Wednesday night that the campus has prevailed on virtually every challenge raised in a lawsuit that sought to halt construction of the university's planned Student-Athlete High Performance Center adjacent to its historic California Memorial Stadium.
(18 June)

From Sacramento, good news, bad news for Berkeley budget
Gov. Schwarzenegger's May budget revision restored $100 million for the UC system, but it still falls $240 million short of what regents wanted — and the Berkeley campus is certain to feel the pinch. In a Q&A, Vice Chancellor Nathan Brostrom discusses the likely impacts of cuts from the state and what's being done at Berkeley to cope with reduced funding.
(11 June)

Breath of Life for California's native languages
At a time when only about half of California's 90-plus indigenous languages have living speakers, a language conference being held this month at the University of California, Berkeley, may help tribal members become the first to speak their endangered tribal languages in 50 years.
(06 June)

Journalism student wins Lange Fellowship for "California's Main Street"
After several months of weekends photographing life along Highway 99 in the state's Central Valley, Adithya Sambamurthy said he realized he was barely scratching the surface of what travelers during the Depression-era exodus to the West called "California's Main Street." Now that he has won the 2008 Dorothea Lange Fellowship, the 28-year-old student pursuing master's degrees at the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism as well as in international and area studies, will take next year to finish his photographic expedition along the blacktop road that stretches from Bakersfield to Redding.
(13 May)

Sudden Oak Death pathogen is evolving, says new study that reconstructs the epidemic
A new UC Berkeley-led study finds that the pathogen responsible for Sudden Oak Death, a disease that has felled millions of oaks and tanoaks along the Pacific Coast, is evolving, suggesting that movement of infected plants between different quarantined regions should be minimized. The study also revealed that the pathogen got its first toehold in California's forests outside a nursery in Santa Cruz and at Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County.
(16 April)

A chronicle of Berkeley: Nut Hill, chained suffragettes, and all
The town and the campus are joined at the historical hip, says Berkeley City College prof Charles Wollenberg.
(09 April)

Conference on California climate change politics, prospects
Changing Climates: Class, Culture, and Politics in the Era of Global Warming," an April 11-13 conference, will explore the challenges, conflicts and politics of climate change in California.
(03 April)

More public health professionals needed to avert crisis, warns new report
UC Berkeley's School of Public Health was part of a first-of-its-kind assessment warning of a major public health workforce crisis in the U.S. unless there is an immediate influx of funding for recruitment and training of public health professionals. The report, released Feb. 27 by the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH), found that more than 250,000 additional public health workers are needed by 2020.
(27 February)

PACE reports says state's schools holding steady or improving
A new report from Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) says California's public school students lag behind much of the nation in most areas, but have managed to hold steady or improve across subjects and grade levels, with graduation rates also eking upward in era of lagging resources, a growing population and increasing diversity.
(27 February)

Strong community networks linked to fewer recurring heart problems, new study finds
A new UC Berkeley-led study shows that low-income patients with existing heart problems are significantly less likely to have another heart attack or a recurrence of chest pain if they live in a county with higher measures of trust, cooperation and social networks – something researchers call "social capital."
(26 February)

Chancellor to legislators: UC Berkeley and city are separate entities
Chancellor Birgeneau has written to 52 elected officials in Washington, D.C., to clear up an incorrect notion that the UC Berkeley campus has any connection to actions taken by the Berkeley City Council.
(12 February)

Joint Nokia research project to capture traffic data using GPS-enabled cell phones
Researchers from UC Berkeley and Nokia are testing technology that could soon transform the way drivers navigate through congested highways. In the unprecedented field experiment, transportation researchers tested the feasibility of using GPS-enabled mobile phones to monitor real-time traffic flow while preserving the privacy of the phones’ users.
(08 February)

Statistician's new method will test election outcomes
The first test of a UC Berkeley professor's new procedure for conducting hand tallies to verify election outcomes will be tested in next Tuesday's California primary. It will provide election officials with a long-awaited, reliable way to judge the accuracy of the vote count or tell them how much to expand hand tallies in the event of a close race.
(31 January)

Applications sought for Chancellor's Community Partnership Fund
The University of California, Berkeley is inviting local community groups to apply for grants from the Chancellor's Community Partnership Fund for 2008-2009. Non-profit organizations and neighborhood groups based in the city of Berkeley that propose projects in partnership with the campus to improve the quality of life for city residents are eligible to apply for funding.
(30 January)

UC Berkeley: Craigslist to establish first endowed faculty chair in new media
UC Berkeley announced plans on Jan. 17 to establish the first endowed faculty chair at the Berkeley Center for New Media with a donation of $1.6 million from craigslist, one of the most popular Web sites in the world. The donation, which will support research, symposia and lectures, will be matched with $1.5 million from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for a total of $3.1 million.
(17 January)

UC policy report says chemical exposures cost state estimated $2.6 billion
Serious gaps in existing laws regulating the production and use of hazardous chemicals fail to protect public health and the environment, according to a new report released Jan. 17 by researchers at UC Berkeley and UCLA. As a result of this inadequate oversight, chemical and pollution-related diseases among children and workers in California cost the state's insurers, businesses and families an estimated $2.6 billion in direct and indirect costs, says the report.
(17 January)