Berkeleyan

News Briefs

11 October 2006

Randy Parent steps down as alumni-group director

The California Alumni Association (CAA), the independent alumni organization for UC Berkeley, announced on Monday that its executive director, Randy Parent, is stepping down for personal reasons after more than five years in that position. He will be replaced by another CAA executive, Tuck Coop, the director of the Lair of the Golden Bear, CAA's Sierra family camp, said the association's president, Debbie Cole.

A CAA news release quoted Parent as saying, "My plan was to lead CAA for five years, and transform the organization into one that truly led the charge for the advancement and preservation of Cal's standards and influence. We've achieved far more than what I might have reasonably expected. CAA is now using its independence to serve the University through myriad programs and initiatives I'm frankly very proud of."

Warren Institute to convene high-profile symposium on Prop. 209

"Equal Opportunity in Higher Education: The Past and Future of Proposition 209" will be held on Friday, Oct. 27, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Clark Kerr Campus Center. Sponsored by the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity at Boalt Hall, the symposium will highlight new research from scholars and policymakers examining aspects of Prop. 209's past, present, and future impacts on student and faculty diversity in higher education in California. The final session of the symposium will be the Presidents Roundtable, which will take place at 5:30 p.m. in Boalt Hall's Booth Auditorium; it will feature three UC chancellors (Berkeley's Robert Birgeneau, Riverside's France Cordova, and Irvine's Michael Drake) as well as UC President Robert Dynes and systemwide Academic Senate Chair John Oakley.

Registration is required; visit the conference website, www.law.berkeley.edu/centers/ewi/convenings/prop209, for information, a conference agenda, and other details.

Management info, tips showcased in new online publication

Administration has posted the fall issue of InSights for Management, a newsletter for campus managers and supervisors. InSights offers news and announcements from units in Administration, along with practical advice for department administrators, updates on campus initiatives, and links to new online resources. The new issue features tips for "green" catering, news about campus planning for a potential flu pandemic, a helpful list of administrative acronyms, and more.

InSights for Management is at administration.berkeley.edu/forms/newsletter/insights.

Committee on Teaching forum to explore decrease in class attendance

Last semester, a lively discussion on Berkeley's TeachNet e-mail list focused on the concern that students are not showing up to classes, especially as the term progresses. On Wednesday, Oct. 25, from 3:30 to 5 p.m., a Committee on Teaching forum, "Where Have All the Students Gone?," will probe this topic with a panel and discussion in the Heyns Room at the Faculty Club. Featured speakers will be three faculty members (Ani Adhikari, statistics; Lew Feldman, environmental science, policy, and management; Martha Olney, economics) and Timothy Yiu, an undergraduate. The speakers will recount their experiences, then moderate a discussion with the audience about the drop-off in student attendance: Is it a trend or a blip? Of the many possible causes, do some seem more likely than others? Is it important that students aren't in the classroom? And what, if anything, can be or should be done?

2006 Avenali Lecturer to explore aspects of globalization

"Globalization and De-Colonial Thinking" is the subject of the 2006 Avenali Lecture by Walter Mignolo, a distinguished expert on semiotics, literary theory, and colonial and post-colonial cultural history and theory. His talk - Tuesday, Oct. 17, at 7:30 p.m. in the Lipman Room, on Barrows Hall's 8th floor - will be followed by a reception. The following day, at 5 p.m., a panel discussion will take place in the Townsend Center's Geballe Room, 220 Stephens. Panelists will include Mignolo along with Berkeley faculty Pheng Cheah (rhetoric), Gillian Hart (geography), and José David Saldivar (ethnic studies and English); Townsend Center director Anthony Cascardi will moderate.

Mignolo is a professor of literature and romance studies, cultural anthropology, and Spanish at Duke University. Currently he is completing a book titled I Am Where I Think: Globalization and the De-Colonial Option.

Flu-shot clinic to be held next week

The Tang Center has scheduled the first of its fall 2006 flu shot clinics a bit earlier than previously anticipated - on Tuesday, Oct. 17. The clinic will be held from noon to 6 p.m. on the first floor of the Tang Center; no appointment is necessary. The cost for staff and members of the public is $25. Subsequent drop-in clinics will be scheduled as the vaccine arrives, with dates to be posted at www.uhs.berkeley.edu/home/news/flushots.shtml.

Pundits to speak on congressional failings

Political analysts Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, co-authors of a recent book on congressional dysfunction, will speak at 4 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 24. In The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track, the two pundits argue that Congress is a broken branch of the American system, damaged by partisan bickering and internal rancor; they diagnose the cause of congressional decline and offer a blueprint for change. The event, sponsored by the campus Center on Politics, will be held in the Institute of Governmental Studies Library Reading Room, 109 Moses.

Campus photo club images on display at ASUC Arts Studio

The photographic talent of the UC Berkeley Photo Club is on display through Oct. 22 at the ASUC Art Studio. The exhibition includes more than 30 photos - both traditional film and digital images - taken by member of the three-year-old group, which is open both to campus students and to "anyone with a love or curiosity for photography," says Faheema Chaudhury, club co-president. It meets at 5 p.m. the first and third Tuesday of each month at the arts studio, organizes photo excursions, and holds workshops "on anything from mounting your photo to night photography." Club membership is free, and entitles one to discounts for film processing, darkroom rental, and classes at the art studio, located on the basement level of the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union. For information on the photo club, contact Chaudhury at trixysm187@hotmail.com or 642-3065.

Campus wins federal grant to help reduce violence against women

With a $199,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, the campus is about to launch an ambitious two-year program to reduce the incidence and impact of violent crimes against women students. One of the first aspects of the new program, called Preventing Violence at Cal, will be face-to-face training, beginning next spring, for male athletes and fraternity members; the training will address dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

In addition to educating all incoming students, the program will work to create a coordinated community response to violence against women (and the means to sustain that response over time); review and strengthen relevant protocols and services; monitor campus climate; and train campus police and disciplinary boards to respond effectively to cases involving dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. A large number of campus departments, student groups, and city and community organizations will be partners in the program; University Health Services is the coordinating campus department.