Friday, July 26, 2024
What $199 buys...
Watch the Afternoon Meeting of the Regents: July 17, 2024
We have been summarizing the July Regents meetings as time permits. The afternoon of July 17th is the missing piece. It contained a series of committee meetings. Some highlights below:
Public Engagement and Development included a presentation on the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare. One of the findings was that AI could reduce the time doctors currently spend on the computer and thereby increase time interacting with patients.
Compliance and Audit held a four minute open session approving UC's plan for the current year, including cybersecurity.
Academic and Student Affairs had a presentation on UC Press which is mainly self-funded. The Press was said to have a special focus on publishing the works of "FirstGen" authors. More controversial was the BOARS report on high school math requirements which reitererated the importance of algebra and calculus for students who want the option of STEM majors and careers. There was also discussion of campus-level "Collegiate Recovery Programs" that help students with substance abuse issues. Moving testimony by a recovering student was presented. Not all UC campuses have such programs. Davis, Irvine, Merced, Riverside, and UC-San Francisco are said to be "developing" programs. The other campuses including UCLA do have them.
Finance and Capital Strategies heard a report on the budget outlook for UC, a topic we have previously covered in various posts. Regent Pérez expressed concern that UC had been omitted from an education bond measure the legislature has put on the November ballot and suggested the omission reflected some dissatisfaction with UC. The committee approved an expansion of UC-SF's Children's Hospital in Oakland. As we have previously noted, the takeover of two hospitals in San Francisco entailed incorporation of employees there into the UC pension system. It was said that the pension system would be reimbursed for the added pension liability.
Finally, there was some controversy over the design and costs of a proposed dorm at Davis. Questions were raised primarily by Regent Makarechian who has expertise in real estate matters. Those presenting the dorm proposal really had no good answers to his questions. Ultimately, the committee endorsed the recommendation with Makarechian abstaining. This episode is illustrative of a problem the Regents have when such issues come up. They have no independent research capacity. Some Regents may happen to have expertise when major proposals come up, but the Regents are heavily dependent on what they are told. In some respects, the Regents are a mini-legislature for UC but unlike the state legislature, they have no Legislative Analyst's Office to provide detailed reviews of proposals.*
Since the Regents have no official policy on retention of recordings of their meetings, we retain them indefinitely. You can see the various committee meetings described above at the link below:
https://archive.org/details/01-compliance-and-audit-7-17-2024.
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*Long-time blog readers will recall the controversy over the location, design, and cost of the Grand Hotel at UCLA. The Regents at one point halted the proposal. But in the end, they went along, although the need for the structure - particularly during the ongoing budget crisis of the so-called Great Recession - was never established. In a similar vein, we continue to wonder what UCLA will do with its more recent $80 million purchase of a defunct Catholic college in Palos Verdes which is inaccessible from Westwood. The purchase was said to be responsive to pressures for enrollment growth, but the inaccessibility casts doubt on how it will help with that concern.
Thursday, July 25, 2024
You CAN get there...
...The new UCLA South Bay campus will advance sustainability, climate action and environmental justice. Formerly associated with Marymount California University, the 24.5-acre main campus in Rancho Palos Verdes and an 11-acre residential campus in nearby San Pedro, make up the largest land acquisition in UCLA’s history.
UCLA South Bay promises to be a nexus of instruction, research, scholarship, civic engagement and community engagement, with a vibrant student presence. While our deans and faculty are developing curricula for this new location, it is off to a great start, with teaching, learning and connecting already underway. UCLA Extension began teaching classes there this month. UCLA South Bay has hosted our Student Leadership Academies, the Career Readiness Bootcamp for the Career Center, conferences, meetings and retreats for departments from UCLA and outside groups. The space is helping us cultivate key partnerships with civic leaders at the local, regional and state level as well...
Source: https://chancellor.ucla.edu/quarterly-updates/summer-2024-update/.
Yours truly wondered whether if he were standing in the middle of UCLA and wanted to get to "UCLA South Bay," how he would do it. So he consulted Google maps for directions:
Apart from that, no problem!
Who Has STEM? - Part 2 (and what do they need to have STEM?)
EdSource elaborates on the issue of math vs. data science courses that qualify for admission to UC: ...Since 1999, the number of students majoring in STEM more than tripled, from 14,081 to 48,851 in 2022. The proportion of STEM majors at UC increased from 32% to 44% of all majors, according to UC data.
Where does data science fit in?
The immediate impact of the decision is expected to be limited, since more than 99% of applicants to UC have taken Algebra 2 anyway, according to UC data. But interest in data science, in a world of burgeoning AI and uses for big datasets, has been mushrooming, and promoters pointed to introductory data as a way to skip Algebra 2.
The faculty committee, the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools or BOARS, reaffirmed that position in February when it accepted a faculty workgroup’s report. The report examined the content of AP Statistics and the three most popular introductory data science courses and found “that none of these courses labeled as ‘data science’ even come close to meeting the required standard to be a ‘more advanced’ course (Algebra 2). They should be called “data literacy” courses, it said.
But where, [State Board of Education President Linda] Darling-Hammond asked in her letter, does that leave the status of potentially hundreds of other courses in data science, financial math and non-AP statistics that UC previously validated as satisfying Algebra 2?
"Most districts will be starting the new school year in less than a month without sufficient clarity regarding the mathematics courses they will offer moving forward,” she wrote. “But the committee’s criteria and process are not yet fully transparent, and it has only evaluated four courses out of the hundreds that have previously been approved.”
One complication facing BOARS and staff within the UC Office of the President, which annually evaluates courses that school districts submit for approval, is that there are no state standards for data literacy. Each course must be examined independently.
Darling-Hammond’s letter raised a critical, intertwined issue: How will UC categorize introductory science and other courses as fourth-year high school math courses?
Neither UC nor CSU requires that high school graduates take four years of math, but they highly recommend it. According to UC data, about 80% of UC applicants take at least one course in advanced math beyond Algebra 2, usually precalculus or both precalculus and AP Statistics. The report did not include comparable CSU data.
BOARS created a second, 12-member faculty workgroup of STEM professors to examine what math courses will best prepare students to succeed at UC in whatever field they choose. A report in June agreed that the current three required foundational math courses make sense: Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra 2, or Math 3 in districts that offer an integrated math sequence. It also emphasized that “to be recommended for a fourth year of mathematics study, (a course) must build substantially on the content of the lower-level sequence.”
With that in mind, the report, which BOARS adopted, divided high school math courses into four categories:
- Category 1 consists of the foundational math courses
- Category 2 courses, which include Precalculus and Calculus, best prepare students interested in STEM fields.
- Category 3, which also builds on foundational courses, are courses suited for students interested in quantitative social sciences, such as psychology and history. It singles out AP Stats, but not data science.
- Category 4, a catch-all for other courses in quantitative reasoning, would include data literacy. These courses “will continue broadening students’ interest and confidence in math” and may be appropriate for arts and humanities majors...
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What is hard to determine from this controversy is whether what UC requires is really hard for high school administrators to understand or whether they would prefer not to understand it because of a commitment to courses that don't qualify. It seems pretty clear from the BOARS report that calculus is really important for STEM careers and majors. Is that message really so complicated?
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
The FAFSA Drama Continues - Part 14 (October, December, whenever)
A group of five higher education organizations sent a letter Tuesday to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona recommending the Department of Education push back the release date for next year’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid to Dec. 1. “The launch date is only a piece of the puzzle. It’s also essential that the form be fully functional, reliable, and predictable for all students,” the letter reads. “As we quickly approach the traditional start of the 2025–26 FAFSA application year, October 1, we are wrestling with the trade-off between timeliness and functionality and have concluded that the consequences of releasing a product that does not come with full end-to-end functionality for students, families, state agencies and aid administrators would be too great.”
Two of the letter’s signatories—the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators and the National College Access Network—had previously urged the department to work toward an Oct. 1 release date in order to prevent a repeat of the issues caused by the last academic year’s extensive delays. But in the more recent letter, the groups say that concerns in the financial aid community about the department’s ability to launch on that date with a complete, reliable form prompted them to change course.
“We did not come to this decision lightly,” a NASFAA spokesperson wrote in a statement accompanying the letter. “It is our understanding there is no path to an October 1 FAFSA release that is user-tested, fully functional, and allows for processing within one to three days. Furthermore, releasing the form in advance of a working processing system would delay the ability to process FAFSAs correctly and in a timely manner, and introduce errors to the system that could be prevented with more time to identify and address issues.” ...
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/07/24/reversal-higher-ed-groups-push-delayed-fafsa-launch.
And it's always good - in following issues such as this - to keep the wisdom of Ruth Galanter in mind:
Westwood Movie Theaters Closing
A beloved landmark, the Village Theatre is expected to close only temporarily, thanks to a high-profile effort by director Jason Reitman and others to save the once stately 170-foot white Spanish Revival-Art Deco “wedding cake” tower that has beckoned Westside moviegoers since 1931. The group announced in late February that its acquisition of the theater had closed but it did not disclose a timetable for renovations or say when the Village might be ready for a grand re-opening.
The fate of the nearby Bruin, which opened in 1937, remains unclear; it was not purchased along with its more showy sibling. “The [Bruin’s] owners thank the Golin Family and Regency Theaters for our relationship with them for the last 14 years,” the family said in a statement, provided by a representative. The owners said they are “currently evaluating future opportunities for the Bruin.” ...
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
Another non-bricks-and-mortar donation
The Extension divisions of UCLA and UC Berkeley have received a $12 million gift from professor, author and entrepreneur Scott Galloway to fund the creation of a new program that gives non-traditional students access to the skills and resources they need to launch their careers. The gift, which will be split equally between the two universities, is one of the largest focused on University of California continuing and professional education, UCLA and UC Berkeley Extension leaders said.
“The accessibility and affordability of UCLA and UC Berkeley changed my life,” said Galloway, an alumnus of both universities. “I’m hoping this gift puts the educational resources of both universities within reach for more people and provides skills that lead to the growth of good jobs in the Main Street economy.”
The new UC Excelerator program, scheduled to begin this fall, is aimed primarily at community college graduates and those with limited college experience. The program will provide students with career-focused coursework, networking opportunities and access to industry leaders, all free of cost.
“Scott Galloway’s generous gift will help us continue to widen the doors of opportunity and provide our students with the tools and connections needed to thrive in today’s economy,” said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. “Scott has been outspoken about the immense impact that UCLA and UC Berkeley had on his life and career, and we are extraordinarily appreciative that he is helping to extend the promise of public higher education to so many others.” ...
Full news release at https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ucla-berkeley-extension-12-million-gift-scott-galloway.
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