News in brief

New international study office

Study abroad and exchange-student programs recently gained new focus by combining efforts to form the new International Education Office. IEO combines the Education Abroad Program, Summer Travel Study and Summer Sessions international student recruitment to simplify educational travel, whether for UCLA students studying in another country or for international students flocking to UCLA. The three international study branches combined staff and space to form IEO within the International Institute and under Acting Vice Provost Nicholas Entrikin. "The creation of this office grew out of discussions ... to develop a more focused and coherent approach to international study and research at UCLA," said Scott L. Waugh, Acting Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. "This office will provide administrative support for faculty seeking to develop new and innovative study abroad programs ... and serve as the first point of contact for international students planning to study at UCLA."

Gold-standard bearer

Alicia Gaspar de Alba, chair and professor in the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies, has been chosen to receive the 2008 Gold Shield Faculty Prize. The annual award, which recognizes a UCLA faculty member in the middle years of his/her career for extraordinary accomplishments in undergraduate teaching, research and creative activity, carries a $30,000 prize given in two $15,000 installments. Gold Shield, Alumnae of UCLA bestows the award alternately on faculty members from the north and south campuses. Last year's winner was William J. Kaiser, professor of electrical engineering.

Distinguished Teaching Awards

Robert Fovell, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences who won a Distinguished Teaching Award in 2005, announced this year's winners of the award at a meeting of the Legislative Assembly June 9. Academic Senate winners, announced previously in UCLA Today, are Elizabeth Bjork, psychology, Peggy Fong, ecology and evolutionary biology (Mentorship for Undergraduate Research Students Award); Linda Garrow, anthropology (Distinction in Graduate Level Teaching); Teo Ruiz, history; Benjamin Schwartz, chemistry and biochemistry; and Robert Winter, music (Eby Award for the Art of Teaching). The winners among non-Senate lecturers are Leigh Harris, UCLA Writing Programs; Chi Li, Ethnomusicology; and Robert Trelease, pathology and laboratory medicine. Among the teaching assistants, the winners are Victorino Fusilero, Germanic languages; John McCauley, political science; Holley Replogle, musicology; Naomi Taback, history; and Jordan Yamaji Smith, from comparative literature. Each year, the Senate's Committee on Teaching selects the award winners.

Academic Senate election results

Three new members of the Executive Board of the Academic Senate have been elected. They are Kathleen Komar, College of Letters and Science (comparative literature); Andrew Leuchter, David Geffen School of Medicine (psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences); and Arthur Toga, David Geffen School of Medicine (neurology).

Anderson Forecast: still 'no recession'

In its second quarterly report of 2008, the UCLA Anderson Forecast cautiously affirms the "no recession" prognostication it has been advocating over the past several quarters, while acknowledging that the most recent employment data — an increase in the unemployment rate from 5% to 5.5% — falls within "recession range." Recession or not, the forecasters acknowledge that the gross domestic product could dip into the negative range over the next six to nine months, as the housing bust continues to wreak havoc on the national economy. In California, the question is whether or not hard times in the real estate and ancillary sectors have had significant impact on other areas of the state's economy. As in the Forecast's first quarterly report of the year (released in March), the conclusion is that "What happened in housing, stayed in housing." The California report states, "There is no generalized spread of contraction to the rest of the economy, then when the [housing, construction and finance] sectors do hit bottom, California will be posed to take off once again."

Departure in 2009

After more than 18 years as director of the Asian American Studies Center and a 35-year career at UCLA, Professor Don T. Nakanishi announced he will retire September 2009 to begin work on the advancement of East Los Angeles, where he was born and raised. He will continue to be involved in political and educational issues. Under his leadership, the center has become widely acknowledged to be the nation’s premier research center in the field of Asian-American studies. The AASC Press publishes Amerasia Journal, which Nakanishi co-founded as a Yale undergraduate in 1970, the policy journal AAPI Nexus and other books and pamphlets. During his stewardship of the center, the number of campus specialists in Asian-American studies has grown significantly, from six professors to more than 40 in 25 departments, including the newly established Department of Asian American Studies. Nakanishi has also been instrumental in the growth of the center's endowment which now exceeds $6 million and includes three endowed chairs, research funds, graduate fellowships, undergraduate scholarships and academic prizes. Professor Paul M. Ong of Asian-American studies and the School of Public Affairs, will chair the search committee for a new director.