:: UCLA TODAY Home

©2004
The Regents of the University of California
 

names and faces

CHEERS

The world premiere of a new orchestral work by Music Lecturer Paul Chihara will be performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall next February. He currently is working on the HBO movie “Strip Search” for director Sidney Lumet.... UCLA Health Sciences Media Relations Director Roxanne Yamaguchi Moster, Senior Public Information Officers Elaine Schmidt and Amy Waddell and the Health Sciences Media Relations staff received 2003 Prism Awards from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) for their work in covering the UCLA Medical Center’s care for the Guatemalan conjoined twins. Presented by the Los Angeles Chapter of the PRSA, the awards honored outstanding achievements in health-care public relations, print-media placements and television coverage.... UCLA neurobiologist Edwin L. Cooper was named founding editor-in-chief of a new international journal called eCam (Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine). The peer-reviewed journal will focus on traditional Asian healing systems.... The ASUCLA Board of Directors has appointed Robert Williams as interim executive director. He will succeed Patricia Eastman, who announced last October that she would be leaving at the end of this year. Williams, who is director of food service operations, has worked in the Food Service Division for more than 20 years.

HURRAH

PacifiCare Health Systems, Inc. has appointed Linda Rosenstock, dean of the School of Public Health, to its board of directors. She was chosen for her extensive health-care, public policy and financial experience.... At the annual gathering of the Association of Collegiate Conference and Event Directors-International (ACCED-I) in Orlando, a presentation by Jack Raab, business and financial services director for the UCLA Events Office, and Betsy Metzgar, business and financial services scheduling manager for the office, received the highest rating on attendees’ evaluation forms. Their presentation on UCLA Events Online was later summarized in the ACCED-I newsletter.... Professor Emeritus of Dentistry Thomas Barber received the 2003 University of Illinois Distinguished Service Award, the highest recognition for individuals who contribute their time and expertise to benefit the institution’s Chicago campus.... Leanne L. Seeger, professor and chief of musculoskeletal imaging in the radiology department, was inducted as a fellow into the American College of Radiology during its annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

IN MEMORIAM

Clark Kerr, former UC president and chief architect of the Master Plan for Higher Education in California, died on Dec. 1. He was 92.

Kerr, who died in El Cerrito, Calif., in his sleep after complications from a fall, was also the first chancellor of UC Berkeley from 1952-58. He first joined the faculty at Berkeley in 1945 as a professor of economics and industrial relations.

From 1958-67, Kerr served as UC president during a time when the university system was experiencing tremendous growth and student unrest. As president, he spearheaded the negotiation of California’s Master Plan for Higher Education. The plan, which was released in 1960, assured access to higher education for all California students and defined the roles of the UC campuses, the California State University systems and California community colleges. His plan has served as a model for education planning around the world.

Kerr headed the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education from 1967-73, after being fired as UC president by the Board of Regents due to pressure by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan, who conflicted with Kerr’s stances on student demonstration. Kerr later said that he left the job as president the same way came into it: “fired with enthusiasm.”

In recent years, Kerr published, in two volumes, his memoirs, titled “The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949-1967.” The first book, published in 2001, was “Academic Triumphs,” and this year’s follow-up volume was “Political Turmoil.”

J.G. Moore, professor and former chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at UCLA, died on Oct. 30. He was 86.

Moore was president of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation in 1966 as well as the Association of Professors of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1973.

He expanded the field of cancer research by being one of the first researchers to recognize the usefulness of growing cancer cells in culture in order to study the effects of various drugs on cancer growth.

Born in Berekely, Calif., Moore earned his bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley in 1939 and graduated from UC San Fransisco, School of Medicine, in 1942. After completing his internship at UCSF, he went into the U.S. Army Medical Corps. During his military career, he was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. Before his discharge in 1946, he rose to the rank of major.

Moore served on the faculty at the University of Iowa for one year before being recruited to the then-new medical school at UCLA in 1951. He served as chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the school from 1968 until his retirement in 1987.