UCLA Today: archive 000111

AROUND CAMPUS
Admissions – More high school seniors who were invited to join UCLA’s freshmen class in the fall have decided to become Bruins … Academic Senate – Biochemist S. Lawrence Zipursky and art historian Anthony Vidler have been selected by the Academic Senate to present the 2002-03 Faculty Research Lectures … The College – Despite class for more diversity on prime-time network television, African Americans continued to be over represented and “ghettoized” in situation comedies while other ethnic groups remained underrepresented, according to a new UCLA study … The Anderson School – Economists at the UCLA Anderson Forecast are predicting sluggish growth for the national economy throughout this year, with normal growth expected to follow in 2003-04.

FUTUREWORLD -- SENSORS FOR SOIL, AIR, EVERYWHERE
Just as UCLA was the first node on the ARPANET, a computer network that became the precursor to the Internet, researchers say the next incarnation of the Internet -- a total communications system permeating the physical world -- will be developed at the new UCLA Center for Embedded Networked Sensing.

HOPE FOR CONJOINED TWINS
In the first surgery of its kind ever attempted at UCLA, a team of surgeons will try to separate two 11-month-old craniopagus twins from Guatemala, joined at the skull — the most rare form of conjoined twins. In preparation, surgeons inserted balloons to help the girls grow more scalp to protect their brains once separated.

TRADITIONS OF CHICANA/O TEATRO PASSED DOWN
UCLA is the site this week of the largest gathering of Chicana/o teatro actors, playwrights, scholars and students since the 1980s. The School of Theater, Film and Television is hosting the Festival of Chicano Theater Classics today through June 30, an event that is uniting a new generation of actors who will perform Chicana/o theater classics with the original directors and actors of these pioneering plays.

CAMPUS BRIEFS
IN THE INTERIM — Professor Christopher Waterman, chair of the Department of World Arts and Cultures, has been named acting dean of the School of the Arts and Architecture while a search committee assists Chancellor Albert Carnesale in selecting a new dean to succeed Daniel Neuman, who becomes executive vice chancellor, effective July 1 ... COMMUNITY-BUILDING — Former Vice President and presidential candidate Al Gore gave the final lecture June 5 of a graduate course he helped design for UCLA… NEWLY HONORED — The Academic Senate has elected Clifford Brunk from the Department of Organismic Biology, Ecology and Evolution new vice chair/chair-elect… ALUMNI REGENT APPOINTED — Larry Seigler has been selected by the UCLA Alumni Association to serve as Alumni Regent on the UC Board of Regen…

DID YOU KNOW?
A recent study by the James Irvine Foundation found that UCLA enrolls more poor and working-class students (almost 35% of student enrollment) than any other top-ranked university in the country, public or private. Without the help of federal student financial aid, many of these students would be unable to pursue their educational goals.

CELL TO AID PROBE OF SPACE
Researchers at a new NASA-sponsored institute at UCLA hope to create the next generation of technologies for exploring space by mimicking the remarkable self-organizing capabilities of the biological system. The Institute for Cell Mimetic Space Exploration, which will receive up to $40 million over 10 years, is one of five institutes that NASA established this month to explore promising 21st-century technologies..

NEW GEFFEN GIFT BENEFITS PLAYHOUSE
David Geffen and The David Geffen Foundation have made a $5-million lead gift to a new $15-million capital campaign to renovate the Geffen Playhouse, add a new 125-seat theater and create an endowment to secure the facility's artistic and financial future.

YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW – UNEQUAL TREATMENT — Nearly 150 students from nine Los Angeles-area elementary, middle and high schools voiced their concerns about educational inequities at Youth Summit 2002: What Every Student Deserves… TRADE BY SEA — Archaeologists from UCLA and the University of Delaware have unearthed the most extensive remains to date from sea trade between India and Egypt during the Roman Empire, adding to mounting evidence that spices and other exotic cargo traveled into Europe over sea as well as land… NEW COMMUNICATIONS AVC — Lawrence H. Lokman, a communications professional with experience in public affairs and educational initiatives, has been appointed assistant vice chancellor of university communications at UCLA

CHEMIST REWARDED FOR OVERALL EXCELLENCE
Honored this month with the 2002-04 Gold Shield Faculty Prize for Academic Excellence for his extraordinary accomplishments in teaching, research and university service, chemistry Professor Richard Kaner drew some lessons from his undergraduate years. One is to make sure that his students experience the excitement of chemistry.

SOLVING PROBLEMS IS HIS FORTE
As chief engineer in the Media Systems Design Department of the Office of Instructional Development, Rick Holmes loves problem-solving. That includes everything from overcoming incompatibilities between complex pieces of equipment to fixing computer network problems.

NAMES AND FACES
Charles Sawyers; Leena Peltonen, Chon A. Noriega; John N. Hawkins; Gary Gitnick; Nelly Amador; Gauree Gupta; Jared Seltzer; Bethelwel Wilson.
In Memoriam: Rogers Albritton; Henrik Birnbaum;, Shirley Hawkins; Donald Sawyer.

15 SECONDS
Edit Villarreal, Professor of Theater in the School of Theater, Film and Television

'ROUND AND ABOUT
KUDOS — The UCLA Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center has achieved a three-year accreditation by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care… A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE — The Center for International Business Education and Research at The Anderson School has been awarded $1.4 million from the U.S. Department of Education to enhance its academic, research and outreach initiatives, as well as launch a new program aimed at preparing students for international leadership… MEDICINE’S FINEST — The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA has presented its highest honor, the Sherman M. Mellinkoff Faculty Award, to Glenn D. Braunstein and Dalila B. Corry… WIRELESS USERS WANTED — UCLA Communications Technology Services is seeking 75 new student, faculty and staff participants for an expanded test of the campus wireless netwo…

ANDERSON PRESENTS COVETED NEWS AWARD
Each year, Anderson staff convene volunteer judges representing the most influential publications and broadcast networks in the nation to select the most outstanding work published or broadcast by journalists who made significant contributions to the understanding of business, finance and the economy during the last calendar year.

UCLA IN LA
FACULTY ENRICH TEACHERS' SHAKESPEARE CLASSES
The daylong event, sponsored by the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies and the English Department, drew high school and community college teachers from all over the Los Angeles region hoping to invigorate their lesson plans with fresh ideas. Each year organizers tackle a different Shakespeare play, with UCLA faculty presenting the latest research on the play, new approaches to highlighting timeless themes and innovative ways to use film to illustrate competing interpretations.

A GUIDING FORCE WITH A GENEROUS SPIRIT
Lew Wasserman was that rare and wonderful combination of vitality, generosity and vision that made anyone who knew him feel honored by the association. With his passing on June 3, it is appropriate to reflect on the many ways he touched and forever changed UCLA.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
One interpretation of what the Second Amendment of the Bill or Rights states is contrasted by another.

WHAT'S ON MY MIND: TO SEE OURSELVES AS OTHERS SEE US
The events of Sept. 11 made it clear to me as the coordinator of the program that beyond the cultural enrichment programs we organize to introduce visiting scholars to Southern California, we need to create opportunities for them to be heard by wider audiences. The goal was for Americans to try to understand how the United States is perceived abroad — to get some inkling of how others see us.

OUR WORLD By Matt Hall

CLOSEUP:
COMMENCEMENT
SPIRITS SOAR AS NEW GRADUATES ARE HAILED
Thousands of graduates and their families convened on campus June 14-16 for a whirlwind weekend of ceremonies and celebrations before heading down separate life paths. This year, UCLA conferred an estimated 9,800 bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. Of the 58 events held, the largest, almost filling Pauley Pavilion with approximately 10,500 graduates, family and friends, was the College Commencement.

AFGHAN REFUGEE VOWS TO RETURN TO HER HOMELAND
A political science Major and refugee from Afghanistan warned her fellow participants at the College of Letters and Science's commencement ceremonies that their "sleepless nights are not over yet."