The links to the stories summarized on this page are time sensitive, so stories might no longer be online at that URL. We also include links to the original source publication itself.
Monday, 10 September 2012
1. Schools find new ways to welcome community college transfers
Los Angeles Times
Colleges and universities nationwide are making special efforts to welcome transfer students from community colleges, helping them with an often challenging transition. "They really need to hit the ground running," says Eva Rivas, executive director of UC Berkeley's center for transfer and reentry students. One of the strategies employed at Berkeley has been to set aside most of one dorm for transfers and add transfer spots in a new building excluding freshmen, giving them "more space and privacy," says housing spokesman Martin Takimoto. Full Story
2. At Their Service
Inside Higher Ed
Lisa Bagnatori is the campus concierge — CALcierge — for new faculty. Reporting to the university’s office of faculty equity and welfare, she helps make sure new faculty members make an easy transition to life in Berkeley. Associate vice provost Angelica Stacy says about the position: “Our goal was to have a place to talk confidentially, be it a renting situation, elder care or what schools your children should go to. ... We make an investment when we hire new faculty; we want them to stay long-term.” Full Story
3. UC Berkeley awards prize, teaching stint to New York architect
San Francisco Business Times (*requires registration)
New York architect Deborah Berke has been named the first winner of the campus's Berkeley-Rupp Prize. In exchange for $100,000, she will teach a class for one semester, offer one public lecture, and have her work displayed in the architecture school. Dean Jennifer Wolch says that Berke was chosen because of her excellent work and willingness to help and teach other women in the field. Full Story
4. University, residents collaborate on campaign for quiet
Berkeleyside
A town and gown collaboration called the Happy Neighbors Group — financed by the Chancellor’s Community Partnership Fund — held a community get-together on Saturday at the Clark Kerr campus to promote a Quiet Campaign. The group's objective is to temper the impact of more than 1,200 university students living in long-established residential neighborhoods by increasing student awareness of the area, educating neighbors on the resources available to address problems, and creating expectations of student conduct. Full Story
5. Berkeley ballot measure could send student to City Council
Oakland Tribune
Measure R, on Berkeley's November 6 ballot, should be of interest to Berkeley students, since it would redraw the City Council districts to permit future election of a UC Berkeley student. Currently the neighborhoods around the university are broken into four separate council districts, which many students say has prohibited them from getting enough votes to elect one of their own to the council. Full Story
6. UT getting grant for nanotechnology center
San Jose Mercury News (*requires registration)
A $5 million portion of an $18.5 million National Science Foundation grant to the University of Texas for a new engineering research center will be shared with academic partners at Berkeley and the University of New Mexico over the next five years. The focus of the research will be turning nanoscience discoveries into innovations. This story appeared in dozens of sources. Full Story
7. Study: Autistic adolescents prone to being bullied
Sacramento Bee
A study led by assistant social welfare professor Paul Sterzing has found that adolescents with autism are significantly more likely to be bullied than their non-autistic peers. Stories on this topic have appeared in dozens of sources nationwide. Full Story
8. Op-Ed: Cutting the Deficit, With Compassion
New York Times & International Herald Tribune (*requires registration)
Economics professor Christina Romer compares the Republican and Democratic plans for debt reduction, concluding: "Honest talk about the deficit is risky. Voters are more enthusiastic about the abstract notion of deficit reduction than about the painful details of accomplishing it. But deficit reduction is coming, and this election will most likely determine how it’s done. Democrats owe it to the American people to detail their more compassionate approach so that voters can make an informed choice." Full Story
9. Weekend Edition Saturday: The 'Skills Missmatch': Failing To Meet Job Demand
NPR
Economics professor Brad DeLong joins a discussion of unemployment. Link to audio. Full Story
10. Dozens of San Francisco restaurants charge customers for employee healthcare, don’t spend it
Washington Post
Public health professor William Dow comments on an AP finding that 40 percent of the money that San Francisco restaurants have collected from patrons in order to comply with the city’s landmark universal health-care ordinance hasn’t been spent on their workers’ health care. “This seems as if they are bringing in funds under the guise of paying health care for employees and in fact that’s not where the funds are going,” he said, although he added that it's too soon to be sure that companies are acting fraudulently, because they might spend it on health care later. This story appeared in more than 100 sources nationwide. Full Story
11. Op-Ed: Anti-Islam ads on San Francisco buses put Muslims at risk
San Jose Mercury News (*requires registration)
Near Eastern and ethnic studies lecturer Hatem Bazian, director of the university's Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project, writes about advertisements currently appearing on San Francisco buses that he says use "Islamophobia as the vehicle to demonize Palestinians and garner continued U.S. support for Israel's occupation of Palestine." Full Story
12. Op-Ed: The Post-Self-Destructivism of Judith Butler
Wall Street Journal (*requires registration)
A professor from Boston University and correspondent from the Jerusalem Post write to object to the city of Frankfurt's plan to award Berkeley rhetoric professor Judith Butler its prestigious Adorno Prize for excellence in philosophy, music, theater and film. "Alas, anti-Zionist politics and unintelligible academic theory are inextricably linked in both Ms. Butler's writings and her political activism," they say. Full Story
13. Transitions People in Academe
Chronicle of Higher Education (*requires registration)
UC Berkeley's business school boasts that it has recently attracted tenured professors from some of the East Coast's top business schools, including Ross Levine from Brown, Toby E. Stuart from Harvard, and Gustavo Manso from MIT. Full Story
14. Travel Site Built on Wiki Ethos Now Bedevils Its Owner
New York Times & International Herald Tribune (*requires registration)
Lila Bailey, a teaching fellow at the law school, comments on a lawsuit filed by Internet Brands against volunteer contributors to Wikipedia and Wikitravel for "forking" — copying content from one site to another. Full Story
15. Unboxed: Tech’s New Wave, Driven by Data
New York Times & International Herald Tribune (*requires registration)
An article about new trends in data-driven technology quotes former Berkeley professor Michael Stonebreaker, who — with Berkeley professor emeritus Eugene Wong and IBM scientists — developed pioneering database technology in the 1970s. Full Story
16. Obituary: Alexander Saxton dies; UCLA historian, author was 93
Los Angeles Times
Alum Alexander Saxton, a UCLA historian who wrote The Indispensable Enemy —considered a classic in the study of racism — has died. Professor Saxton earned his doctorate in history at Berkeley. Full Story
17. Wonkblog: The economics of big-time college football
Washington Post Online
Assistant agricultural and resource economics professor Michael Anderson studied the impact of a winning football records at the 350-odd schools that play NCAA Division I football and found that schools seeing big improvements in their records tend to reap big benefits, in terms of both donations and the qualifications of their incoming students. Full Story
18. Golden Bears put up 30 points in fourth quarter on way to 50-31 win over Southern Utah
Washington Post
The Cal Bears recovered from their disappointing start to the football season with a 50-31 win against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds on Saturday. A commentary on the football team appeared in the San Jose Mercury News. Full Story
19. Missy Franklin dives back in after whirlwind tour
USA Today
Olympic swimmer and high school senior Missy Franklin, who has turned down the potential millions she could earn in endorsements in order to retain her college eligibility, came to Cal on her first college recruiting trip, reporting afterwards, "It was amaaazing!" Full Story
20. Leah Garchik Column
San Francisco Chronicle
At a "techno elite" gathering at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco last week, artist and industrial engineering professor Ken Goldberg conversed with sci-fi author William Gibson about a wide range of topics, including the Future and Facebook vs. Twitter. Full Story
21. Andy Warhol Foundation taps Christie's in big Warhol art sell-off
Los Angeles Times
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has awarded the Berkeley Art Museum a $100,000 exhibition grant. Full Story
22. Fall Arts Preview: Classical music
Los Angeles Times
Cal Performances will present Philip Glass and Robert Wilson's opera Einstein on the Beach at Zellerbach Hall, October 26-28. Noting that "there is a last-ditch fundraising effort to bring [it] to L.A. next year," the reviewer says, "You have to see it to believe it, and Berkeley is a sure bet." Full Story