INDEX 1996
NOVEMBER 22, 1996 (Vol. 17, No. 7)
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 - Chancellor Charles E. Young and his wife, Sue K. Young, were named Honorary Fellows in tribute to their longstanding service to the university and distinguished professional achievements, the highest honor bestowed by the College of Letters and Science. . . . The College - UCLA psychology professor Patricia Marks Greenfield has received a two-year, $175,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation as part of a major nationwide initiative to stimulate the rebirth of research on racial and ethnic relations among children and youth in the United States. . . . Health Care – Marie J. Cowan, a nationally known nursing educator and researcher, has been appointed dean of the School of Nursing.
UC REGENTS ADOPT $3B BUDGET PLAN - A 1997-'98 budget proposal that would provide the University of California with slightly less state support than it received in 1989-'90 was adopted last week by the UC Board of Regents. "The budget request is the minimum needed to maintain quality and ensure access," said Larry Hershman, UC associate vice president and director of the budget. The budget calls for general-purpose expenditures of $3 billion, exclusive of debt service on bonds, an increase of 4.8% or $136 million over this year. The Regents took no action regarding student fees, deferring those considerations until January when Gov. Wilson announces his proposed state budget.
WAR ON AIDS NOT YET WON, TOP HEALTH OFFICIAL WARNS - While extraordinary therapeutic advances are prolonging the lives of HIV-infected individuals, it's premature to declare victory in the battle against AIDS, said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and a pioneer in the field of human immunoregulation. Fauci made his comments Nov. 13 at the fifth annual UCLA AIDS Institute symposium, which was attended by more than 400 investigators. The event was cosponsored by the Anderson Graduate School of Management.
PHOTOGRAPHER FOCUSES BEYOND DISABILITIES - The young man's face explodes with unrestrained exuberance. A young woman's bright eyes telegraph an astonished look of surprise. It is an emotionally charged moment captured by Carol Petersen's camera at the instant when six disabled athletes entered Atlanta's Olympic Coliseum for their ceremonial march to open the 1996 Paralympics and spotted her in the stands. She was a friend to them, having followed these athletes during long months of trials to reach this triumphant moment.
NEWS IN BRIEF – Friends Raise Funds – Two recent high-profile galas generated total proceeds of $7.5 million for the School of Medicine. . . The Fire & Ice Ball . . .and "The Ultimate Premier.". . .Bearwear Online - The UCLA Store has gone digital with a new program that allows Internet shoppers to view color photographs and lists, then select from more of 70 Bearwear items to put into their virtual shopping cart for purchase and mailing. . . . For Kids' Sake - Holiday cards designed by young patients at UCLA Children's Hospital to benefit a program that provides emotional support for children hospitalized there and their families are now on sale. . . . A Holiday Gift – The period from late November through the end of January often presents a major challenge to the Blood Center as people concentrate on their holiday shopping and blood donations drop dramatically. But it also is a time of increased need, said administrators of the blood bank.
HIGHER ED TOP PRIORITY FOR SPEAKER-ELECT - Cruz Bustamante, the speaker-elect of the California Assembly, told a group of UC faculty, administrators and members of the Latino Legislative Caucus meeting at UCLA last week that higher education will be one of his highest priorities.
OPEN LETTER FROM UC PRESIDENT RICHARD C. ATKINSON - In the aftermath of passage of Proposition 209 by California voters, UC remains firmly committed to diversity and we are working harder than ever to ensure that our doors remain open to students, faculty and staff from throughout California's increasingly diverse society.
DID YOU KNOW? – Rather than pump directly from the Santa Monica Bay, the UCLA Ocean Discovery Center trucks in 2,000 gallons of seawater each month from Redondo Beach to refresh its display tanks. Why go to all that bother when there's a whole ocean just outside the front door? Because the water from Redondo Beach is clearer. Silt in the bay is tough on the filtration system. And while pollution levels in Redondo Beach are similar to those in Santa Monica Bay, the center's scrubbers are able to clean up the water before it goes into the tanks.
DIRECTOR BRINGS WORKPLACE SAFETY TO FORE - When Rick Greenwood was studying epidemiology and working toward his doctorate in microbiology, he had no idea there was an environmental health and safety office at UCLA. In fact, the understaffed office that functioned as UCLA's own public-health department, kept a low profile in the eyes of many staff and faculty. Greenwood, who went on to earn his Ph.D and to work as deputy director for disease prevention and control in the Orange County Public Health Department, had no clue that he would one day head this "invisible" unit.
Now that he does, he is working hard to raise employees' awareness of his team's role in keeping the campus a safe place through injury- and accident-prevention training programs and mock disaster drills.
NAMES AND FACES – Notables – Barbara Levey, Anne Peters, Neil Parker, Joan Clemons, and Cristina Magaldi. . . .Kudos – Yasmine Kafai, Anthony Lembo, Hal Yee, and Robert G. Parker. . . .Honors – Rae Lynn Rein, Cynthia Thomas, and David E. Hayes-Bautista.
NURSE RULES WITH VELVET GLOVE - Her boss says she's "compassionate, tough and industrious." Her daughter calls her "strong-willed, busy, smiley and an absolute ham." And a nurse she supervises describes her as "encouraging and appreciative." Sheila Stinnett is all of the above. Stinnett is the perfect person to put her iron hand into a velvet glove to run a place peppered with desperately ill cancer patients, intellectuals and blue-collar workers, heroes and heroines who are devoting their lives to fighting cancer. Some are battling their own disease. Others practice the arts of medicine. Over all of that, Stinnett presides with benevolent authority. Her title is nurse manager, but that formal designation falls indescribably short of indicating that she is the queen and the captain, the leader of and the dynamo behind UCLA's Bowyer Interdisciplinary Oncology Center.
WHO'S NEW – Jon Parro
CUTTING EDGE – Methadone Plus - Researchers from the UCLA Drug Abuse Research Center have received a $2.5 million grant to study the effectiveness of a new, long-lasting form of methadone in reducing high-risk behaviors among people recovering from heroin addiction. . . . Balletic Birds - Fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly. Well, not in all cases. The phalaropes -- a small North American sea bird -- would rather dance, it seems. Because these birds are unable to dive under water to catch food, they've found a unique way to bring their meal to the surface. . . . Cancer Treatment - Doctors at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center believe they are on the road to a new treatment that could be a boon for patients with advanced leukemia or lymphoma. . . .Molecular Entrée - Nine years after chemist Donald Cram won the Nobel Prize for pioneering research on host-guest molecules, UCLA Professor of Chemistry Kendall Houk and his team have found that the passage of most guest molecules in and out of hollow container-like host molecules -- synthetic counterparts to biological compounds such as enzymes, proteins and membranes -- is controlled by a gate-like mechanism or doorway that temporarily produces an opening large enough for the smaller guest molecules to pass through.
SHIFTING TECHNOLOGIES, FUNDING CLOUD FUTURE - Scientists and the society that benefits from their discoveries face a disturbing dichotomy: At a time when the tools of the trade have never been more powerful and the ability to make advances that will improve our lives never greater, budgetary constraints are limiting the federal government's capacity to support potentially valuable research. For the first time in memory, Ph.D.'s are entering an uncertain job market, and the role of universities as the primer of the nation's basic research pump is being questioned.
NEW FACULTY RECRUITS ENRICH CAMPUS - A successful recruiting season for new faculty at UCLA is helping departments regain strength after surviving the worst budget-slashing in UC history. "We had a very good recruitment season, as is normal for us," said Vice Chancellor Norman Abrams of Academic Personnel. "There are new people who have come here from Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford, Michigan, Princeton, Columbia, Yale, Nice, France, Munich, Germany. There's representation on this campus from nearly every major educational institution in the world." More than 200 new faculty have been recruited, about half or slightly less for regular tenure-track positions. In 1995-'96, appointments were approved for 82 new hires for ladder-faculty positions: 20 were hired at the tenure rank, 11 as full professors and 9 as associate professors; and the remainder as assistant professors, acting professors or acting associate professors.
BIPARTISAN CONTROL BENEFITS HIGHER ED – Democrats in control of the California Legislature. A Republican governor in the statehouse. Narrow GOP majorities returned to the U.S. House and Senate. Democrat Bill Clinton re-elected president. With neither party having the unilateral ability to enact policy, compromise and collaboration will be needed to avoid the partisan gridlock that has characterized state and federal politics the past few years.
SCHOOL'S WISH LIST GOES UNFULFILLED - It is early November, and along with his homework and monster drawings and armload of math problems, my son has carted home the Eagle Eye. As usual, this issue is chock-full of school news, events and advice. There's an item thanking the PTA for its "very successful" magazine drive. A piece on a $6,000 grant from Nestle to promote reading. A report on October's LEARN Council meeting. I love the Eagle Eye. Not just because of its authoritative tone and essential news. ("LAPD has informed us that they will be giving tickets at the stop signs around the school.") Or the "Looking Ahead" calendar, which helps my addled brain keep track of important dates. Or the meaty "From the Principal" column. I love the Eagle Eye because it's an instant bittersweet window on life in the public schools.
PROP. 209: BETTER LEARN TO LIVE WITH IT – Now that California voters have approved Proposition 209, many opponents hope the courts will declare unconstitutional its central ban on affirmative action for state hiring, contracting and education. Though I opposed the measure, I doubt the courts will take such action. Realistically, we face the hard, experimental and uncertain work of devising alternative mechanisms to foster widespread participation in our educational enterprise by our racially diverse population.
TEAM HEALS HEARTS AMONG POOR IN PERU - LIMA, Peru -- The vista beyond the dirt-streaked windows of the Instituto de Salud del Niño's operating room is a dreary sprawl of grey cinder block, boulevards choked with pushcart vendors, cars, diesel exhaust and the ceaseless clatter of people on the move. Seven floors below on the Avenida Brasil, mothers in multihued Indian dress hold tight to their children as they dodge among the rattling buses, trucks and taxis, past the street peddlers hawking inflatable toys, fried bananas, comic books, toilet paper and warm bottles of Orange Crush and Inca Cola on their way to the hospital's front door. Sixty-seven years ago, when the hospital was built on the outskirts of the city, Lima had 200,000 people; today there are some 7 million and the Instituto de Salud is in the very heart of the capital. For the poorest of this very poor country -- nearly half of all children suffer from chronic malnutrition, almost two-thirds of the population must rely on the government for even minimal health-care services and e rate of infant mortality is the second highest in Latin America -- it may be the only medical center that offers a chance for gravely ill children. There is hope inside the peach-colored masonry walls. For 10 days in September, six UCLA doctors and nurses came, not just to heal sick children, but to train their South American colleagues in techniques for heart surgery and post-operative care that are routine in this country but rare in Peru.
