Campus News

The Board of Trustees of the California Academy of Sciences has elected two UCSC faculty members to the organization’s leading positions. John Pearse, professor emeritus of biology, is the academy’s new president, while Adrienne Zihlman, professor of anthropology, is vice president. The academy also elected two other UCSC researchers as new fellows: professor of biology…

SANTA CRUZ, CA–The class of 1997 at the University of California, Santa Cruz, will hold commencement exercises on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 13-15. This year, the following numbers of students are candidates for degrees: 1,679, bachelor of arts or science degrees; 136, master’s degrees; and 48, doctorate degrees. A small number of UCSC students…

News about the $5 million gift from philanthropist Jack Baskin to establish the Jack Baskin School of Engineering went out statewide on the Associated Press, sparking coverage in the Los Angeles Times, Oakland Tribune, and elsewhere. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Baskin’s donation was covered widely in print (including the San Jose Mercury News,…

SANTA CRUZ, CA–Writhing balls of snakelike protein fragments may initiate the dysfunctional lesions called plaques that clog the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and similar neurological disorders, according to new research at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and UC San Francisco. Unraveling how these disorderly balls of protein promote plaque formation ultimately may…

Anthropology professor Adrienne Zihlman and associate professor Alison Galloway collaborated with their colleague Mary Ellen Morbeck of the University of Arizona on a new book entitled The Evolving Female: A Life-History Perspective (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1997). A collection of 20 essays on the theme of how females play out the stages of their…

To: The Campus Community From: Executive Vice Chancellor R. Michael Tanner I am very pleased to announce a favorable conclusion to our multi-month discussion of space reallocations at Kerr Hall, Natural Sciences II, McHenry Library, College 8, Stevenson and Social Sciences 2, occasioned by the long-awaited completion of earthquake repairs to Natural Science II. The…

On May 27 the winners of the 1997-98 Humanities Undergraduate Awards in Research were honored in a celebration and conference at Stevenson College. The award recipients are Emily Urban (linguistics), Raihan Kadri (philosophy), Marc Cirovic (literature), Gabriella de la Rosa (art history), and Phuong Nguyen (history). The award program, which was launched last year by…

A consortium of California private and public universities, including the University of California (and UC Santa Cruz), has embarked on a project to develop a sophisticated new network that will deliver information to each university at speeds at least 100 times faster than today’s Internet. The Consortium for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) was…

Media from around the region covered the May 22 dedication of the Music Center, including Channel 46, Channel 8, the San Jose Mercury News, the Santa Cruz County Sentinel, and the Good Times. Staff and faculty who helped the media with their coverage included arts dean Edward Houghton, music professor Fred Lieberman, operations manager Tom…

Sarah Mercer, a sophomore at Merrill College, died Saturday, May 24, when she was struck by a car while jogging on Empire Grade Road. She was 19. Sarah was studying literature and planned to go to France next year with the Education Abroad Program. She was also a dedicated runner, logging 8 to 10 miles…

Monica J. Casper: Assistant Professor of Sociology Monica Casper is a medical sociologist specializing in women’s health and cultural studies of science and technology. Her dissertation, for which she received awards from the American Sociological Association and UC San Francisco, is a historical analysis of the emergence of fetal surgery. Used to correct structural defects…

Summer sailing and rowing classes–that combine hands-on practice in the harbor and out on the Monterey Bay with training in boating safety, weather, ocean conditions, sailing theory, rigging, navigation, and the maritime rules of the road–are being offered by OPERS to the campus community and the public. Classes are available for young people, aged 9…