April 2008 News Archive

Two UCSC humanities professors win President's Research Fellowships

Two UC Santa Cruz professors have won UC President's Research Fellowships in the Humanities. Noriko Aso, assistant professor of history, and John Bowin, assistant professor of philosophy, are among 15 fellows selected for 2008-2009.

Seismologist Thorne Lay elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Thorne Lay, professor of Earth and planetary sciences at UCSC, has been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious honorary societies.

Business-related use of Zipcar Car Sharing program

Astronomer Claire Max elected to National Academy of Sciences

Claire Max, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UCSC, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of her distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

Compact galaxies in early universe pack a big punch

A team of astronomers looking at galaxies in the universe's distant past have discovered nine young, compact galaxies, each weighing in at 200 billion times the mass of the Sun.

Two UCSC faculty members elected to prestigious academic societies

Success for senior Shewit Tekeste was inspired by African upbringing and fostered at UCSC

At UCSC, senior Shewit Tekeste has developed a fascination with biology and a commitment to biomedical research. But her interests and her passion for learning have their roots in Kenya, where she was born and raised.

Alumni flock to campus for Reunion Weekend 2008

The mood was as sunny as the skies on Saturday, when hundreds of alumni returned to campus for Reunion Weekend 2008.

Renee Tajima-Peña's film wins documentary prize at film festival, premieres May 4

Renee Tajima-Peña's film <i>Calavera Highway</i>, named the best television documentary by the San Francisco International Film Festival, will premiere during the festival on Sunday, May 4, at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas.

Innovation seen emerging from new 'smooshes'

John Kao is a fan of mashing things up to create "new smooshes." "That's where real innovation comes from," says Kao, defining a "smoosh" as new collaborations or combinations. "New knowledge begins to emerge at the margins of traditional disciplines,

Economist contributes to report on business startups

Entrepreneurial activity among women dropped sharply last year, while the rate of activity among men and immigrants surged, according to a national index developed by UCSC professor of economics Robert Fairlie, and published in a report by the Ewing Mario

Films by four UC Santa Cruz students featured during Reel Work Film Festival

Films about the immigrant experience and last fall's writers' strike are among the works by four UC Santa Cruz students that will be screened during the seventh annual Reel Work May Day Labor Film Festival, which takes place April 25-May 11.

Staff advisors to the Regents to meet with UCSC staff May 5

The two UC staff advisors to the Regents will hold an open staff forum at UCSC on May 5 from noon to 1:15 p.m.

UCSC in the News

UCSC in the News is a weekly column summarizing prominent media placements UCSC faculty, staff, and students have received.

Grateful Dead Archive gift to UCSC generates widespread news coverage, interest

Yesterday morning in San Francisco, two former Grateful Dead band members announced a gift of their extensive archival memorabilia to UCSC's McHenry Library Special Collections.

Films by four UC Santa Cruz students featured during Reel Work Film Festival

Films about the immigrant experience and last fall's writers' strike are among the works by four UC Santa Cruz students that will be screened during the seventh annual <a href="www.reelwork.org">Reel Work May Day Labor Film Festival</a>, which takes place

Grateful Dead donates archives to UC Santa Cruz

At a press conference in San Francisco on April 24, members of the Grateful Dead announced that the band will donate its archives to the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Grateful Dead Archives Given to UCSC

Cowell College Provosts announce memorial for Sergio Zamora

Spring Open Staff Forum with Chancellor Blumenthal

Anthropologist Erin Vogel featured on Animal Planet May 6

Field work in Borneo can be hot, sweaty work. Just ask the <i>Animal Planet</i> crew that filmed anthropology's Erin Vogel for a program scheduled to air Tuesday, May 6.

Grateful Dead to announce partnership with UCSC at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium - Watch press conference

Chancellor receptions bring UCSC to prospective students

More than 2,100 prospective students and their guests got a taste of UC Santa Cruz at four Chancellor's receptions held in late March and April in southern and northern California.

2007 Campus Sustainability Assessment released

Vigorous dissent, job-seeking coexist at campus career fair

Protestors at Tuesday's job fair at the University Center maintained a noisy presence, while job seekers filing into the event to check out their options said they understood the demonstrators' right to have their say.

Americans willing to sacrifice to reduce gap between rich and poor, doctoral candidate finds

Contrary to the stereotype of Americans as self-interested individualists, the majority care more about growing economic inequality than we've been led to expect, and many would sacrifice personal gain for the well-being of others, according to research b

UCSC celebrates feminist scholarship with DVD release of lectures by Bettina Aptheker

UCSC computer scientists develop solutions for long-term storage of digital data

UCSC computer scientists have developed a new solution for storing vast amounts of digital information in a way that allows future generations to recover it.

Campus hosts Black Brown Roundtable

Activists from within and outside the university came together April 19 to discuss relations among African Americans and Latinos.

Chancellor's wife promotes post-graduate education

UC Hastings College of the Law professor Kelly Weisberg--who is also Chancellor Blumenthal's wife--was on campus last week as a panelist in a workshop introducing potential post-graduate students to law school and advising them on law school admission and

UCSC students, staff invited to enter inauguration greeting contest

About the 4/20 event

Three environmental studies graduate students win Fulbright Awards

Environmental studies graduate students Timothy Krupnik, Michelle Olsgard, and Anna Zivian have received 2008-2009 Fulbright Awards that will help fund their overseas research.

UCSC in the News

UCSC in the News is a weekly column summarizing prominent media placements UCSC faculty, staff, and students have received.

Nominations for 2009 Alumni Association Awards

Message to faculty and staff about '4-20'

Message to students about '4-20'

UCSC launches expanded Battery Recycling Program on Earth Day

Education leaders decry potential state budget slash

Chancellor Blumenthal joined the presidents of Cabrillo College and California State University, Monterey Bay, and the Superintendent of the Santa Cruz County Office of Education in news conference at Cabrillo College April 14, calling for continued stat

Cowell Dining Hall to close temporarily for seismic upgrades, enhanced options

The Cowell Dining Hall will be out of service and under construction from May 3, 2008, through March 2009 to improve dining options and to make required seismic upgrades.

Tune in for the latest from the Social Documentation Program

Briana O'Higgins is a public radio junkie.

Research on optical data transmission earns best paper award

A research project that grew out of an international exchange program at UCSC's Baskin School of Engineering won the Best Paper Award at a recent conference.

TAPS Bike Shuttle Expands to Second Location

Spring Spotlight offers a slice of Slug life

Admitted students and their parents are exploring the campus as part of Spring Spotlight, an event for admitted students that provides an overview of the academic, residential, and student-life experience at UCSC.

UCSC students team up with public radio producer Nikki Silva

For eight lucky students last quarter, award winning independent radio producer Nikki Silva offered the ideal blend of inspiration, instruction, and encouragement.

Controlled Burns at the Arboretum

Arts Dean Finalists, Campus Visits

Remarks by Chancellor George Blumenthal Education Press Conference Cabrillo College - April 14, 2008

Chancellor George Blumenthal joined the presidents of Cabrillo College and California State University, Monterey Bay, and the Superintendent of the Santa Cruz County Office of Education in news conference at Cabrillo College April 14, calling for continu

Alumnus-lecturer creates Renaissance-style paintings for Wisconsin church

UCSC in the News

UCSC in the News is a weekly column summarizing prominent media placements UCSC faculty, staff, and students have received.

Local chef to cater Retirees Association lunch May 6

Join the UCSC Retirees Association for lunch on May 6 catered by Chef Jozseph Schultz.

Digital Arts & New Media building taking shape

Iron workers at the Digital Arts/New Media building construction site perform structural welds on beam-to-column connections in mid-April.

Sci Comm director pens cover story for Smithsonian magazine

Robert Irion, director of the Science Communication Program, wrote the cover story in the April issue of <i>Smithsonian</i> magazine.

University Cafe aims to spark 'conversations that matter'

Ecological landscaping workshop April 17

Join three graduates of UCSC's Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture on April 17 for a free public workshop on ecological landscaping.

Recruitment Management System - Phase II Implementation

Go East, young man: Alumnus Mark Headley says UCSC prepared him for work he never dreamed of--investing in Asia

When he graduated from UCSC in 1983, Mark Headley (B.A. politics and economics, Stevenson College) had a mean fencing game and a deep understanding of the political and economic factors shaping Asia.

Improve teacher quality and retention by broadening teacher preparation, professor says

Aspiring teachers come to the profession with a wealth of life experience that shapes their training, their work in the classroom, and their longevity in the occupation, says the author of the new book <i>Teaching What They Learn, Learning What They Live<

Shopping Our Way to Safety: Sociology professor Andrew Szasz says 'buying green' may be lulling consumers into a false sense of security

Like a marketer's dream come true, Americans have responded to environmental degradation by shopping, as if buying bottled water and organic vegetables will protect them from pollution.

'Endangered' features creatures both exotic and familiar

"Endangered," Santa Cruz wildlife photographers Kennan and Karen Ward's 4th annual Earth Day presentation, is at 7 p.m. April 19 at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz.

David Haussler honored by International Society for Computational Biology

The International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) has awarded its Senior Scientist Accomplishment Award to David Haussler, professor of biomolecular engineering in the Baskin School of Engineering at UCSC.

Campus and industry representatives discuss benefits of partnerships in Silicon Valley

UCSC officials joined industry representatives last week for a panel discussion on the benefits of industry-university partnerships in Silicon Valley.

IMS researcher Adina Paytan appointed Ocean Leadership Distinguished Lecturer

Adina Paytan, an associate research professor in UCSC's Institute of Marine Sciences, has been appointed as a 2008-09 Ocean Leadership Distinguished Lecturer.

Santa Cruz AIDS Walk, April 19, raises money for outreach, awareness

Join hundreds of participants for the 18th Annual Santa Cruz AIDS Walk on Saturday, April 19. The walk raises money for HIV-related programs and to increase HIV/AIDS awareness in Santa Cruz.

Spring's the thing at Quarry Plaza

Quarry Plaza comes alive with bustling movement and color as students check out offerings from various organizations.

UCSC alumna Dana Priest wins Pulitzer Prize for Walter Reed exposé

Dana Priest, the <i>Washington Post</i> reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for her work exposing the government's secret 'black site' prisons, has won journalism's highest honor again, this time for her exposé of the mistreatment of wounded veteran

Social psychologist Thomas Pettigrew receives faculty award from Division of Social Sciences

Social psychologist Thomas Pettigrew's pathbreaking research on racism has earned him international honors as well as the admiration of his peers at UC Santa Cruz, who have named him the recipient of the 2008 Distinguished Social Sciences Emeriti Faculty

Science as the Muse for Art: Melissa Gwyn paints 'Molecules That Matter'

Assistant professor of art Melissa Gwyn has contributed four paintings to an unusual exhibition, "Molecules That Matter," at Skidmore College's Tang Museum.

UCSC in the News

UCSC in the News is a weekly column summarizing prominent media placements UCSC faculty, staff, and students have received.

Wilderness First Aid offered by UCSC Recreation

Wilderness First Aid, a fast paced, hands-on, two-day course covering a wide range of wilderness medicine topics, is being offered this spring through UCSC Recreation. The course is cosponsored by the Wilderness Medicine Institute of the National Outdoor

Important policies on Sexual Harassment

Scientists obtain first direct observations of protein-synthesis mechanism

Research by UCSC molecular biologist Harry Noller and his collaborators has led to the first direct observations of the mechanism for protein synthesis in living cells.

Run with the Slugs on April 19

The 9th annual UCSC Slug Run will take place at the East Fields on Saturday, April 19.

Sammy the Slug in national spotlight

SUA Elections Update

Hatchery fish outnumber wild chinook salmon in troubled fall run

A recent study indicates that wild salmon may account for just 10 percent of California's fall-run chinook salmon population, while the vast majority of the fish come from hatcheries.

Meet George Blumenthal: UCSC's 10th chancellor is focused on the campus's future

In a recent conversation, George Blumenthal looks to the future and reflects on UCSC's past and its evolution as a nationally ranked university. His inauguration is set for June 6.

McHenry Library moves its way into the 21st century

Over spring break, University Librarian Virginia Steel oversaw the move of materials from the original McHenry Library into the library's recently opened new addition.

Maximum Fun: Alum Jesse Thorn woos young listeners with a new brand of radio show

Jesse Thorn (B.A. American studies, Porter '03) has gone national with "The Sound of Young America," which first aired at UCSC in 1999.

Engineering Hope: UCSC bioelectronics engineer designs prostheses that promise to change lives

Wentai Liu is an electronics wizard whose work is enabling the development of devices once found only in the realm of science fiction--miniaturized electronic implants to restore vision, movement, and other biological functions lost to disease or injury.

Rx for Health Care: Graduates of UCSC's innovative health sciences program are good medicine for California's ailing health-care system

Diego Inzunza grabbed a laptop on his way past the laboratory inside Plazita Medical Clinic, where jaunty Mexican music danced from a large speaker on the counter. Holding the computer open like a clamshell in one hand, the 21-year-old UC Santa Cruz stude

Chancellor sends spring message to UCSC community