Campus News

SANTA CRUZ, CA–Chancellor M.R.C. Greenwood of the University of California, Santa Cruz, a nationally recognized biologist, spokesperson for higher education, and an experienced voice in the arena of national scientific policy, has been chosen by her peers as the next president-elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Greenwood’s one-year term as…

The following news release was issued on Thursday, Jan. 9, regarding 1997-98 state funding for UC proposed by the governor. Mike Lassiter Director, News & Communications, UCOP Thursday, January 9, 1997 Rick Malaspina (510) 987-9179 rick.malaspina@ucop.edu UC PRESIDENT APPLAUDS GOVERNOR’S BUDGET PLAN Gov. Pete Wilson’s 1997-98 proposed state budget provides the funding necessary to keep…

SANTA CRUZ, CA–If your apple tree is looking anemic, or your peaches have lost their punch, you’ll want to attend a two-day fruit-tree workshop for the home gardener at UC Santa Cruz on February 7 and 8. Orin Martin, manager of the Alan Chadwick Garden at UCSC, will offer tips for beginning gardeners and those…

Dan Aldrich, assistant chancellor for University Advancement, was honored for his more than 20 years of distinguished service to the advancement field at the annual meeting of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District VII, held in San Diego in December. The Environmental Studies Board has announced this year’s winners of…

Ben Crow Assistant Professor of Sociology Ben Crow studies international development issues with a focus on water and agriculture. Crow’s current focus is on peasant agriculture in south Asia; he has spent almost ten years studying the rural rice and finance markets of Bangladesh, exploring the thesis that access to markets varies by social class…

The seismic gap hypothesis of earthquake recurrence, threatened by four large and seemingly "premature" quakes in the last two years, appears under closer scrutiny to remain valid. The hypothesis maintains that once an earthquake ruptures a fault, the same region will not rupture again until enough time passes–usually many decades or centuries–for stress to rebuild.…

By a two-to-one margin, members of UCSC’s Academic Senate have approved a proposal that will permit new students–beginning next fall–to accumulate a grade-point average. Under the grading plan, both new and continuing students will also be eligible to request letter grades for all classes, beginning in the fall. Of a total of 276 votes cast…

A national Associated Press article called upon UCSC astronomers Robert Kraft and Michael Bolte for input about a new theory that researchers have overestimated the ages of the oldest stars in the galaxy by several billion years. Kraft, Bolte, and others are taking the theory seriously, but have yet to be convinced. Andy Markovits of…

"Hot spots," the isolated patches of volcanism unrelated to plate tectonics, may spring from surprisingly deep within the planet: the turbulent boundary between earth’s mantle and its core. That conclusion, sure to put scientists on the spot at the AGU meeting, has arisen from intense study of a layer at the base of the mantle…

Standard techniques for measuring metals in groundwater may drastically overestimate their levels, forcing owners of supposedly contaminated sites to "remediate" problems that may not exist. Graduate student Carol Creasey and professor of earth sciences Russell Flegal, both of UCSC, studied the groundwater from two wells at a reportedly contaminated site in central California. A consulting…

The Conference and Summer Housing Office is looking for students to assist with its summer operations. Applications for summer jobs are due by February 7. An informational job mixer will be held on Wednesday, January 22, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Porter Fireside Lounge. For more information, call ext. 2611.

The agroecology team of Steve Gliessman, Matt Werner, and Jan Allison published the results of their work with strawberry grower Jim Cochran in _Biological Agriculture and Horticulture. _The article, titled "A Comparison of Strawberry Plant Development and Yield Under Organic and Conventional Management on the Central California Coast," reports on the team’s multi-year project near…