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A NEW VICE CHAIR

Vivek Shetty, professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery, has been elected the new vice chair/chair-elect of the UCLA Academic Senate. As vice chair, he will join Adrienne Lavine, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, who will take over as Senate chair in 2005-06. Shetty, who has chaired the Committee on Committees this year and served for two years on the Faculty Welfare Committee, said in his candidate’s statement that he has always enjoyed being part of the “rich mosaic” of faculty from both the professional disciplines and the liberal arts and humanities. “As Senate chair,” he said, “I will work to sustain this healthy sense of community by engaging all segments of our faculty in shared university governance and participatory decision-making.”

A CRITICAL TIME FOR MATH

The National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing (CRESST) has been awarded a $10-million grant to study the effectiveness of Powersource, a new formative assessment system. Spread over five years, the funding from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences enables CRESST to develop innovative mathematics classroom assessments in grades 6-8, a crucial time for many students who often stumble once they reach algebra. This award marks the fifth consecutive competitive selection of CRESST by the U.S. Department of Education, said Professor Eva Baker, principal investigator and co-director of the center.

COOLING OF HOUSING MARKET

Economists with the UCLA Anderson Forecast predicted at their June 21 quarterly conference that the U.S. economy will experience slower than normal growth through 2006 because of weakness in housing, but not a dramatic slowdown. While the likelihood of a recession within a year is minimal, the conditions for a recession are in place due to the expected cooling of the housing market and the related curtailing of consumer spending. Similarly, California’s current economic growth is fragile, with employment growth being driven by consumer demand, which in turn is being driven by the wealth effect of a hot real estate market.

SPORTS TRIUMPHS

UCLA will enter the 2005-06 school year with 97 NCAA team championships to its credit — the most of any school in the country. The Bruins won three NCAA team championships in men’s water polo, women’s water polo and men’s tennis this year. The Bruins tied for first nationally with the University of Georgia for the most titles in 2004-05. Overall, 12 Bruin teams finished in the top nine nationally in their respective sports. UCLA also won eight conference titles. In addition, Kristen Maloney (gymnastics) and Monique Henderson (track and field) earned Honda Awards as the top female athletes in their sports.