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Letter from the chancellor:<br>2012-13 in review

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Letter from the chancellor:
2012-13 in review

Chancellor Gene Block sums up the successes of the academic year and the ways in which students, staff and faculty continue to enhance UCLA's excellence and deepen the university's impact of service to society.

Dispelling the myth of gay affluence

Lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans are more likely to be poor than heterosexual people, according to a new report by researchers at the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.

School of Nursing clinic fights spread of TB on skid row

A key player in the fight to control a TB outbreak on L.A.'s skid row is a clinic run by the UCLA School of Nursing that's located in a homeless shelter. With the help of UCLA medical and nurse practitioner students and volunteers, the clinic's small staff is doing increased TB screening and treatment. Watch this video.

Lessons from 'long war' against terror

Ambassador Ryan Crocker who served in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Syria, among others, shared his insights about what he sees as top priorities for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.

UCLA musicologist defends singers from the sappy '70s

If Karen Carpenter, Barry Manilow, Barry White, Dolly Parton and Cher number among your guilty pleasures, Mitchell Morris is your man. In a new book, the UCLA musicologist rises to the defense of these and other ‘70s recording artists.

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Out and About

The beautiful world under the microscope

This beautiful image is not an artsy photo of a pink flower. It’s a picture of an electrically conductive molecule captured with a scanning electron microscope. This image, titled "Tetraaniline in Full Bloom," won first place in the Materials Research Society’s "Science as Art" competition this spring for UCLA inorganic chemistry Ph.D. candidate Yue Wang. The "flower" in the upper right is actually aggregated sheets of doped aniline oligomers and the black and white leaves are flexible sheets. Who knew the microscopic world could be so spectacular?

People

More than fit for Staff Assembly presidency

Cindy Cordova, incoming president of Staff Assembly, says that surviving UCLA's grueling Bruin Health Improvement Program launched her into campus leadership.

The superhero's shrink

Andrea Letamendi, a postdoctoral scholar in UCLA's Psychology Department, has a secret. Or you could call it patient confidentiality. Who's the client the clinical psychologist is protecting? Barbara Gordon — a.k.a. Batgirl. Science...

She exemplifies management excellence

Working collaboratively with people from different cultures and countries comes naturally to Azeb Tadesse, deputy director of the African Studies Center at UCLA. She recently won the top leadership award given annually by the UCLA Administrative Management Group.

Staff News — June 14, 2013

Using hip-hop to teach computers and literacy (with video)

Grad student Lawrence Grey Berkowitz won a Rishwain Social Justice Entrepreneurship Award for his work teaching students in low-income neighborhoods how to write songs and use computers to create electronic music. Watch the video.

Staff News — June 12, 2013

News about staff achievements and honors

Putting the science in science fiction

TFT student Barnett Brettler won $50,000 and a national screenwriting award for his screenplay that disguises infectious disease science in a thrilling sci-fi love story.

Susanna Hecht on the global ‘scramble’ for the Amazon

The "Game of Thrones" could draw inspiration from the centuries-long struggle to claim the Amazon basin and its precious resources, says urban planning professor Susanna Hecht, author of a new book about that era.

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Around Campus

Student musicians fill construction site with glorious sound

Some of UCLA’s most talented performers recently made a campus construction site, with bare concrete walls and towering scaffolding, their impromptu stage where they gave an unofficial inaugural concert in the unfinished Evelyn and Mo Ostin Music Center. Watch the videos.

Graduate Division celebrates 75th doctoral hooding

Times have changed since UCLA's first doctoral hooding in 1938. This year's new doctorates range in age from 25 to 77, and one who was born the year UCLA awarded its first Ph.D.

Closure of Parking Structure 6, Ackerman turnaround

In order to make way for construction of the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference and Guest Center, Parking Structure 6 will close July 1 and the Ackerman turnaround on July 8.

10,000 students make quick getaway from the Hill

Housing and Hospitality Services is doing its best to make the move-out smooth for everyone, including helpful parents, fellow students and friends.

Campus wunderkind

Joseph Green is a young opera-singing phenom whose talents were discovered after he moved into Sproul Hall — at the age of 11. See the video.

New facility will take Geffen School of Medicine teaching and learning into the future

The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, already among the best medical schools in the nation, is getting ready to break ground on a medical education building that will change the face of the school's teaching and learning efforts.

The evolution of the Hippocratic Oath

See how the Hippocratic Oath has been changed through nearly 2,500 years to fit the times and different cultural norms at a special exhibit at the Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library.

Star-spangled singers tune up for commencement (with video)

UCLA vocal studies chair Michael Dean coaches two graduating seniors selected to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at UCLA's largest commencement ceremonies for the College of Letters and Science. It's not easy to convey the song's poetic patriotism, let alone hit that terrifying high note.

Old iPods break through fog of Alzheimer’s with music (with video)

Alzheimer's researcher Joshua Grill wants your old iPod or MP3 player to help Alzheimer's patients tune into happy memories.

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Voices

To get a truce, be ready to escalate

President Obama's decision to supply small arms and ammunition to Syria's rebels might be the catalyst needed to find a diplomatic solution that would bring Russia, China and the United States together to halt Syria’s slide toward wider conflict.

Bathrooms are not separate-but-equal

UCLA School of Law professor says we should allow transgender people to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.

More economic espionage against U.S. companies because of NSA leaks

The NSA leaks will increase state-sponsored economic espionage directed against American companies. Why? Because many people overseas will conclude that leveling the playing field requires ramping up their own countries’ efforts to eavesdrop on data from American companies.

Not so fast, Charlie Sheen

Charlie Sheen has now decided to claim his original "Hispanic" name, as shown in the credits of his latest movie. But before he can become Carlos Estevez, he has to abide by "the toughest ethnic identity enforcement measure in U.S. history," says Chon Noriega.

To catch a potential mass shooter before he strikes

We can collectively do better at detecting someone capable of mass murder. Let's work with law enforcement and within our own organizations to prevent their diabolical momentum through responsible crowd-sleuthing.

U.S., China need to overcome mutual misunderstandings

Misunderstandings between the United States and China not only hinder cooperation but also raise risks in any time of challenge. It's vital that the Obama-Xi talks include discussion of these differing perspectives and take personal measure of the other’s character, style and resolve.

Verbatim — school suspensions, angels and rising property values

UCLA faculty members are quoted every day in the national media on a wide range of topical subjects. Here is a recent selection.

Give sponsors a safe haven to encourage 401(k) innovation

Three decades after the first 401(k)s, we need an incubator where plan design ideas for inventive ways to improve 401(k) plans can be safely hatched and tested in workplaces more quickly.

Garcetti and the history of Jewish politics

Eric Garcetti’s triumph culminates, rather than inaugurates, a long process of Jewish political empowerment in the United States. Simply put, Jews have arrived to the point that their appearance at the very center of the political mainstream merits no special attention.

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