INDEX 1996
MARCH 22, 1996 (Vol. 16, No. 14)
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 – An innovative program involving blood transplantation to treat ovarian cancer is being initiated at UCLA. The therapy involves storing certain blood cells from a patient and then reinfusing them after chemotherapy in an effort to improve the effectiveness of traditional therapy. … Public Policy – How to integrate awareness of domestic violence into child-abuse intervention is the subject of a new training program for the Los Angels county Department of Child and Family Services. The six-month program, headed by Assistant Professor of Social Welfare Linda Mills and developed in conjunction with the District Attorney's Office and other local agencies, is one of only five funded nationwide by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. … The College – The UCLA Institute of Archaeology has entered into an agreement with the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History to strengthen ties between the two institutions.
FEMA AWARDS UCLA $294M FOR HOSPITAL FIX – The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced that UCLA will receive $294 million to help repair the medical center, which was damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. "This is an important start in our efforts to repair the medical complex," said Chancellor Charles E. Young. "We have significant additional issues to address, and UCLA is engaged in ongoing discussions with FEMA leadership to acquire funds to further mitigate the risk to our medical complex in the case of another major earthquake."
TED MITCHELL NAMED BUDGET VC, SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO YOUNG – Theodore "Ted" R. Mitchell, dean of the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, is leaving Moore Hall for Murphy Hall temporarily after being appointed vice chancellor for academic planning and budget and special assistant to Chancellor Charles E. Young. He will serve in that post until July 1, 1997, the day after the chancellor retires. The appointment was approved by the UC Board of Regents on March 15, Associate Dean Eva Baker will assume the day-to-day responsibilities of GSE&IS while Mitchell is on leave from his position.
BUDS BLOSSOM AS NEW BEST FRIENDS – Three years ago Sandy Cox made a new friend. "We get together for lunch, we go to the mall. This year we spent Christmas Eve together," said Cox, a junior. Cox's friend is Hilda del Castillo, a special-education student at Santa Monica High School. The are Best Buddies. The UCLA chapter of Best Buddies began six years ago, and today matches about 30 students a year with teens from the Educational Resources and Service Center in Culver City and from special-education classes at Santa Monica High. The nationwide program is designed for disabled students to interact with more than family members and peers and to develop social skills. UCLA has one of the largest chapters.
NEWS IN BRIEF – Evaluating evaluations – The National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing at the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies has received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to study the validity, credibility and usefulness of public-school testing approaches. … Stress Relief – The Staff and Faculty Counseling Center is offering a four-week workshop on stress management, available to all campus and medical center personnel. … Calling all Librarians – The Librarians Association of UCLA is accepting nominations for the 1996 Librarian of the Year Award. The award is open to all UCLA librarians employed 50% or more time. It recognizes a specific contribution that has assisted the campus library in more effectively meeting the intellectual, cultural and informational needs of the UCLA community. … Financial Fair – The third annual UCLA Financial Fair will be held April 2 in the California Room of the Faculty Center from 9 a.m.-4 p.m., and April 3 in the Center for Health Sciences vending area from 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
DID YOU KNOW? – Sculpture, paintings, photographs and other works by some of Los Angeles' most prominent artists – Lita Albuquerque, Lari Pittman and Tony Berlant, among them –can be rented from the UCLA/Armand Hammer Museum for display in your office or home. There are more than 170 pieces to choose from for rent or purchase, with up to 70% of the cost going directly to the artist and the remainder to support museum operations. The Art Rental and Sales Gallery can be contacted at (310) 443-7012.
COMPUTERIZED PARKING ON LINE JULY 1 – Starting July 1, a new parking control system will be in use that will improve Parking and Commuter Services' ability to monitor the usage of each lot and prevent unauthorized access to parking facilities. The new system, Bruin Park Plus, has been two years in the making. It employs a computerized gate-access system that will enable parking officials to know at any given moment how many spaces in each structure or lot are in use, giving them the ability to divert drivers to underused facilities.
UCLA RETRAINS UNEMPLOYED FOR JOBS IN CYBERSPACE – Without any real experience on the net Grieg Murry decided to take a chance on a UCLA class in on-line graphics. "I was uneasy at first," admitted Murry, who'd had a bad experience with a similar course at a trade college. "There was no promise of jobs when we neared the end of that course. We were still missing some skills." The 13-week course for out-of-work high-tech professionals was taught by graduate student John Belanger in the School of Theater, Film and Television's Laboratory for New Media.
AS A TEACHER, VIOLINIST LEARNS FROM STUDENTS – There is a Hebrew word, melamed, that means teacher. And there is a word, talmid, that is student. The root meaning of both words is to gain knowledge, establishing an immutable bond between teacher and student: each must learn from the other. "That precisely is my philosophy," said Alexander Treger, a professor of violin and concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. "The relationship that is created by the connection of those two words is something I spend a great deal of time thinking about." He has put his philosophy into practice at UCLA for about 20 years, and the value he places on that relationship is evident as he works with his students.
PROTOCOL CHIEF IS OUT OF THE SPOTLIGHT BUT ALWAYS READY – Whenever there is an event in which the image of UCLA is involved, Antoinette Mongelli is there, directing from the wings, outside the glare of the spotlight but always near the center of action. As director of Special Events and Protocol, Mongelli and her staff of 14 are perhaps as much responsible for generating warm feelings toward UCLA as the lectures, receptions or conferences they organize.
NAMES AND FACES – Notables – James Q. Wilson, Steve Mamber, Steven Ricci and David Chang. … Grants and Honors – Kathleen Sakamoto, Richard Arranda, Cydney M. Fox and John V. Richardson Jr. … In Memoriam – Robert Paul Falk.
WHO'S NEW – David Myers, Executive Director, UCLA UniCamp.
BRIGHT IDEAS – Resistant Virus – Researchers at the UCLA AIDS Institute have discovered that a significant number of HIV-infected people who have not been treated with a new class of anti-AIDS agents that are about to enter the marketplace already have developed a viral strain that is resistant to these hopeful new drugs. … New Patents – Five inventions by campus investigators have been issued U.S. patents during the third and fourth quarters of 1994-'95, according to the Office of Intellectual Property Administration. The investigators are: Jorge R. Barrio, Nagichettiar Satyamurthy, Mohammad Namavari, Allyson J. Bishop, Herbert D. Kaesz, Robert F. Hicks, Ernest M. Wright, Ana M. Pajor, Reiko F. Irie, Michael E. Jung and Derin C. D'Amico.
HISTORY PROF PROBES 'POLITICS OF ANXIETY' – Violent nationalism and the search for scapegoats often have followed closely on the heels of profound economic and social upheaval. In a new book, Professor of History Peter Loewenberg demonstrates how the "politics of anxiety" has resulted in some of the bloodiest episodes in history, from the spectacles of the Roman Empire to atrocities following the Protestant Reformation to the Holocaust and continuing today with events in Bosnia. "The politics of anxiety often has produced an unreasoning, violent impulse to find a quick solution that soothes the immediate anxiety but fails to solve the long-term problem," Loewenberg writes in "Fantasy and Reality in History."
SLEUTHS TURN LAB LEMONS INTO LEMONADE – Anxiety clouded Nancy Perillo's face. "They're dead," she told her boss. "Try again," responded Linda Baum. Twice more Perillo tried, each time with the same lethal results. That was enough, Baum decided. Three times in a row, Perillo, a post-doctoral fellow in Baum's laboratory, had consigned a test tube full of T-cells to their doom. It wasn't the result she had expected from the experiment, but now Baum, a member of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and of the Molecular Biology Institute and an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, knew she was on to something. That awakening led her to discover a potential new way to regulate the immune system – either "turning it up" to fight off disease such as AIDS or cancer, or "turning it down" in the case of lupus, diabetes or rhemutoid arthritis.
BILINGUAL STUDENTS GET A LITL HELP AT UES – Must a child forget el gato to learn cat? Of course not. But can a child preserve el gato and learn cat while figuring out that seven cats plus five cats equals 12 cats? And what makes these doce gatos mammals, or mamiferos, anyway? Such are the questions being explored in Raul Alarcon's classroom at Corinne Seeds University Elementary School. As part of a real-life test of education theory, several primary-grade classrooms – each with a mix of children from Spanish and English-speaking homes – are conducted in Spanish one day and English the next. The learning in Two Languages program (LITL) evolved from research that suggests neither total immersion in English nor total education in Spanish is best for children who enter American schools speaking only Spanish, said Deborah Stipek, director of the school and a professor in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.
NEW RESEARCH IS UNLOCKING THE MYSTERY OF THE MIND'S EYE – Quick – when you woke up this morning, which side of the bed were your shoes on? Most likely, you arrived at the answer by forming a picture in your mind. Indeed, we use mental imagery to solve myriad daily problems – everything from finding a misplaced item to practicing our golf swing during an afternoon daydream. How does the brain create these pictures: One of the first pieces of evidence comes from a study based in the UCLA Center for Brain Mapping, which concluded that the same brain regions involved in direct perception are used in mental imagery. In other words, picturing your shoes beside the bed activates the same brain processes that are engaged when you actually see the shoes.
AT PLAY – Duffers link up – About 80 students, staff, faculty, alumni and their spouses have formed the UCLA Gold Club, offering monthly tournaments throughout Southern California, including one Monday at Camarillo Springs Golf Club. Coming up for the summer: a weekend of golf in Palm Springs. … In the swim – Sunset Canyon Recreation Center is undergoing a 30th-anniversary facelift to prepare for summer. A new entrance and exit were recently completed, along with a new office for the staff. … Tourist biz – The UCLA Recreation staff is exploring marketing summer packages to Asian Visitors who may be interested in a vacation that combined English classes at UCLA Extension's American Language Center with tennis, swimming and other campus activities.
EXERCISE, RELAXATION AMIDST NATURE IS TREND – Just do it, as the slogan says. But now, do it outdoors. For those bored with stair-climbers or who suffer aches from aerobics, fitness specialists at UCLA Recreation are recommending challenging cross-training outdoors as an alternative, and they are offering a whole host of new classes starting in spring quarter.
DEALING WITH TERROR IS DO OR DIE FOR ARAFAT – We are witnessing today a new war in the Middle East. It is a war of terrible human cost, claiming victims, increasing mourners, ruining lives. It is a war instigated by those who would destroy the possibility of a new Middle East by turning the Israeli people against the current peace process.
NEGATIVE CAMPAIGNS HAVE NEGATIVE IMPACT – Why are political campaigns becoming increasingly reliant on attack advertising? From the standpoint of the candidates, attacking is more efficient – they score more points with negative rather than positive appeals. But from the standpoint of the democratic process, the costs are indeed high. Negative advertising deters many people from voting. Candidates are well aware of this fact, and they can and do use attack ads strategically with the specific intent of discouraging participation.
WHAT GOING ON RETREAT TAUGHT ME – A few weeks ago, about 50 of us from University Relations went on a retreat to Lake Arrowhead. We went to reflect on our jobs, our goals for the next year. It would be a chance for units of our department – the alumni association, communications, governmental relations, special events and protocol – to get to know each other better.
UCLA EXTENSION REACHES OUT – When UCLA Extension began, World War I was raging and American nurses bound for Europe learned French in Extension classes before shipping out. It was one of the earliest examples of Extension's commitment to community service, an alliance that continues today. With the help of Extension instructors, entrepreneurs now "grow" their young business. Students who can't afford class fees benefit from Extension-community group scholarships. Bilingual men and women learn the art of interpretation and bring their skills to the region's courthouses. These are but a few examples of Extension's many programs that reach into the community.
HELPING ENTREPRENEURS CARVE THEIR OWN NICHE – With the help of UCLA Extension courses and a community "business incubator," Loren House and his family have turned a dream into a reality. His company, Crescent Industries, has carved out a unique market niche, House said: It manufactures "culturally and ethnically correct" caskets that come in exterior colors designed to appeal to the broad range of ethnic communities in Southern California.
