INDEX 1996

OCTOBER 25, 1996 (Vol. 17, No. 5)

 

This index page is for reference only; stories in this issue are not available online. Print editions may be found in the periodicals stacks of the Charles Young Research Library.

 

AROUND CAMPUS - Judea Pearl, one of the nation's leading researchers in the fields of artificial intelligence and automated reasoning, has been chosen by the UCLA Academic Senate as the 81st Faculty Research Lecturer. . . . Arts and Architecture - Noted ethnomusicologist and arts administrator Daniel M. Neuman is the new dean of the School of the Arts and Architecture. . . .Health Care - UCLA AIDS Institute researchers have uncovered a new immune trait that may promote resistance to HIV infection and have implications for the development of a vaccine to prevent HIV transmission. Reporting in the October issue of Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers found that homosexual men who had high levels of an antibody called VH3 were relatively resistant to HIV infection by sexual contact. . . . Public Policy – Kenichi Ohmae, widely recognized as one of the world's top international management consultants, has been appointed Chancellor's Professor of International Policy at the School of Public Policy and Social Research.

 

NETWORK TV VIOLENCE DIPS, STUDY CONCLUDES – The second annual report on network television violence, released last week by the Center for Communication Policy, revealed that violence on TV in the 1995-'96 season declined from the previous year. The report went on to state that while problems of violence remain and a few new issues emerged, the trends are moving in the right direction. "Part of the agreement with the networks was that after the report was released they simply could not ignore it," said Jeff Cole, director of the center, which is housed in the School of Public Policy and Social Research. "I insisted that we be able to sit down with them and discuss our conclusions, talk about our recommendations and ways we thought they could be implemented. And in that way, it's been an absolutely unprecedented kind of process." The five main areas of discussion -- TV series, made-for-TV movies, theatrical films on TV, on-air promos and children's programming -- all showed some signs of improvement.

 

RESEARCHERS, MUSEUM LINK FOR MUTUAL BENEFIT - The UCLA Institute of Archaeology and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County recently formalized a partnership to share resources, research efforts and educational programming. The agreement between the university and the nation's third largest museum of natural science and cultural history links the prestigious research organization of UCLA, which excels in both classroom and lab training on campus as well as archeological field work on six continents, with the museum's extensive educational programs and vast collections of more than 35 million specimens and artifacts spanning 4.5 billion years of earth history.

 

STUDENTS USE SKILLS TO ILLUMINATE DARK SKIES - For Angelenos living in the glare of city lights, it's easy to forget how glorious a night sky is supposed to look. But a group of engineering students has given the campus a star-studded celestial gift, and it's no farther than a walk to the Math Sciences Building. Members of the Eta Kappa Nu Electrical Engineering Honor Society have rekindled a planetarium canopy, darkened for years because of electrical problems, to a pristine midnight wonder pierced by glittering stars.

 

NEWS IN BRIEF – Prop. 209 Debate - A debate on Proposition 209, the California Civil Rights Initiative that would ban affirmative action programs in state government, will take place 4-5:30 p.m Wednesday at the Ackerman Grand Ballroom. . . .Moving Up - Two key appointments were recently announced. Legendary jazz guitarist and composer Kenny Burrell has been named director of the Jazz Studies Program, which began this Fall Quarter. He was recently named the No. 1 guitarist -- for the second time -- by the Jazz Times International Readers poll and has collaborated with jazz and blues figures, including Tony Bennett and Duke Ellington. David Menninger, who served as UCLA Extension's first full-time director of budget and planning, has been appointed associate dean. . . . UC Post - UCLA alumnus Bruce B. Darling '74, vice chancellor for development and university relations at UC San Diego, has been appointed vice president for university and external relations for the UC system.

 

OPEN ENROLLMENT OFFERED TO EMPLOYEES - Open enrollment for employee benefits programs begins Nov. 1 and will run until midnight Nov. 24, after which no more transactions for UC-sponsored plans can be completed. Shortly, employees will receive in the mail an overview of the benefits changes that will take effect Jan. 1, 1997, pertinent materials and detailed instructions on how to make open enrollment changes by calling the Open Enrollment Action Line. One major change this year will occur with the legal expense plan, an optional benefit. While employees will still be able to sign up for this plan during this open-enrollment period, the plan will no longer be available during subsequent periods. The 1997 monthly rates for this plan are $9.90 (single) and $15.20 (family).

 

REGENTS CONSIDER '97-'98 BUDGET – A UC budget plan for 1997-'98 presented to the Board of Regent Oct. 17 contained funding for an average 2% cost-of-living increase for university employees and merit increases and an additional 3% parity increase for faculty.

 

DID YOU KNOW? - You don't have to be a graduate of UCLA -- or ever have enrolled in a class here -- to become a member of the UCLA Alumni Association. Membership is available to anyone for an annual fee of $45, or $500 for lifetime membership if paid in full and $700 if spread out over five years. Benefits of membership include receipt of UCLA Magazine and AlumNews, admission to UCLA athletic events except football and basketball, discounts for travel and cultural events, participation in association-sponsored travel programs and access to alumni career services among others. For information about joining the association, call (310) 825-2586.

 

ANESTHESIOLOGIST LEADS WAY TO FUTURE – Earlier this year, Patricia Kapur wa named chair of the Department of Anesthesiology after 17 years at UCLA and a wealth of professional experiences. Even though she was only the second woman to head a department in the School of Medicine and one of fewer than 10 women to head anesthesia department's nationwide, no one made a fuss.

 

NAMES AND FACES – Honors – Myrl Schreibman, David Reese, Buzz Yudell, Ronald Anderson, and Roslyn B. Alfin-Slater. . . .Notables – H. Thomas Hahn, Helen S. Astin, John V. Richardson Jr., Raymond Eden, Paul Terasaki, and Thomas J. O'Dell.

 

FILMAKER DEFIED CENSORS - As a child growing up in Budapest, Hungary, Gyula Gazdag spent countless hours in the film studios where his mother worked as an editor. That he would one day make movies himself was a foregone conclusion. In 1970, at age 23, Gazdag directed his first feature film. By the time he arrived at the School of Theater, Film & Television in 1989, ultimately as vice chair of film and television production, Gazdag had become one of Hungary's most acclaimed and controversial filmmakers, a constant thorn in the then-communist government's side.

 

WHO'S NEW – Arleen Leibowitz

 

MEDICAL NEWS – New Director - J. Thomas Rosenthal, professor of surgery and urology, has been named director of the UCLA Medical Group and vice provost for UCLA Medical Group Affairs. Rosenthal, who is also chief of renal transplantation, has served as vice chair for clinical affairs and executive vice chair of surgery, vice chair of the medical faculty board and interim administrator since 1995. . . . Docs For Future - UC President Richard C. Atkinson has formed a commission to examine new ways to train the medical workforce in California for the next century. . . .Best In The U.S.A. - UCLA medical student Gary Polsfuss of Moorpark has been named the top minority medical student in the nation by the National Medical Fellowships, Inc. Polsfuss will receive next month the Franklin C. McClean Award for 1996, the organization's oldest and most prestigious honor recognizing minority medical students. . . . Heart Of Gold - Heart transplant recipient Kelly Perkins, 34, of Laguna Niguel found herself at the summit of media celebrityhood in magazines, newspapers and on television after she successfully hiked up Half Dome in Yosemite National Park last month.

 

UCLA TO OPEN UMBILICAL-CORD BLOOD BANK - UCLA is poised to become a major research and treatment center for umbilical-cord blood transplants as a result of two grants totaling nearly $11 million from the National Institutes of Health. The grants, among the largest awarded earlier this month to several universities and medical facilities nationwide, will enable UCLA to establish an umbilical-cord blood bank and to conduct research on whether umbilical-cord blood is more effective than bone marrow in transplants for people with cancer and other diseases that attack the immune system.

 

NEW ANTIBODY HELPS BEAT BACK BREAST CANCER - "I thought I was going to die," recalled Barbara Bradfield. "I had 16 cancerous tumors." It was 1991 and Bradfield had already suffered through the pain and indignity of chemotherapy, radiation and, finally, a double mastectomy. Despite all that, her breast cancer had spread to her lymph nodes and lungs. "I felt cancer was roaring through my body like a freight train, and there was no stopping it," she said. "I wasn't so much afraid as I was resigned. I saw no way out." But there was a way out, and she found it at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. Today Bradfield, 53, lives happily with her husband in La Canada. She works as a teacher's aid, travels extensively, teaches bible studies, paints and gardens.

 

'ROUND AND ABOUT – Peacemaker's Chair - The Ralph J. Bunche Chair in International Relations, the first endowed chair at UCLA to honor an African American, has been established. Housed in the Department of Political Science, the chair will be funded through a private endowment of $500,000 to honor one of UCLA's most distinguished alumni. . . . Prized Authors - . . . .Career Days - . . . .In His Memory - . . . .Seaborg Medalsit –

 

METEORITE'S BIZARRE DESCENT TRIGGERS ROCK HUNT - Somewhere in the Sierra Nevadas, small black rocks await serendipitous discovery and a place in meteorite history. Or at least, that is the firm hope of scientists at UCLA's Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics who are boosting the slim odds of discovery by offering a $5,000 bounty for at least a four-ounce piece of a meteorite fireball that exploded over California Oct. 3. "There's maybe a 1% chance something that big will be found, but it's worth a try," said John Wasson, a cosmochemist who has taken his search for the meteorite to the public via the media. "It has become a very special meteorite because of its strange trajectory. It will be famous forever if we can only recover pieces of it. It could end up being exhibited in the museums of the world."

 

NEW CENTER HELPS STUDENTS WIN SCHOLARSHIPS - Student Affairs Officer Connie Razza is prospecting for scholarship "gold" the hard way: She's scanning the Los Angeles phone book. It's tedious, painstaking work, combing through each page for the names of organizations and community groups that might offer obscure scholarships for which UCLA students, regardless of financial need, can apply. But that's how the new Scholarship Resource Center and its staff, including Razza, are building an extensive database of sources for scholarships, fellowships and endowments -- from the ground up.

 

VOTERS CONFRONT ISSUES OF LEADERSHIP - The election of the president is always an important event in America -- not just because we choose the head of state for the next four years. It is important because it focuses our collective mind on who we are and what we would like to be. It raises meaningful issues: What is leadership? How does our system function? Is it fair? Thinking about leadership is always an appropriate question for a university community. Universities are critical institutions in leadership development. Not just because of what they teach, but also for what the experience of four years (give or take) offers students in the people they meet and the activities in which they participate. But leadership is more than politics and who you know. Universities are the guardians of society. They -- more than any other institution -- have the capacity to open doors to those who are outside.

 

FEELING A LITTLE LIKE A GUINEA PIG - Sometimes when traveling it's tough to get in sync with the local ways. Take my recent experience with a team of UCLA doctors and nurses who went to Peru to treat children with heart problems and to train to their counterparts in the country's only pediatric hospital.

 

SPEAK OUT TO HALT CIGARETTE SALES TO KIDS - Cigarettes are called "cancer sticks" for good reason. Why, then, is it so easy for children to buy them? It shouldn't be. The FDA recently passed a critically important rule aimed at stopping the sale of tobacco to children. That rule, which strictly limits youth access to cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, can have a huge, positive impact on the health and economy of our nation. It can save millions of dollars in medical costs. Those costs are borne by all of us in the forms of increased taxes and insurance premiums. And, of course, it can save immeasurable, devastating human costs in loss of lives and needless suffering.

 

HIGHER ED'S FUTURE RIDES ON ELECTION - Although most of the focus of the Nov. 5 election has been on the contest between President Bill Clinton and former Sen. Bob Dole, the outcome of several legislative races in California could be significant in deciding who will take control of the Congress and state Legislature. What does this mean for UCLA and higher education? Above all else, the party in power largely dictates the policy agenda through a majority block of votes, committee assignments and control of important chairmanships. Thus, perceptions about higher education that are held by the majority party, be it Republican or Democrat, will significantly affect the fortunes of higher education interests in the coming years.

 

PROP. 209 VOTE WON'T ALTER GOAL - The November general election is approaching and with it a ballot measure that touches all of us in California-as voters, as citizens, as members of the UC community. Proposition 209, the California Civil Rights Initiative, is a defining issue that will shape California's and the university's future in fundamental ways if it is approved by the people of this state. It is an understandably controversial and emotional issue. My purpose in sending this message to the university community is to remind all of us of the University of California's abiding commitment to the twin goals of excellence and diversity.