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Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Incoming Alumni Regent

From the San Francisco Chronicle: Former California state Sen. Art Torres, a vocal advocate for balancing automobiles with mass transit, is exiting the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors to take a seat as an alumni representative on the University of California Board of Regents. Torres is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz.

“Health and education have long been my two passions, and this opportunity gives me a chance to bring what I’ve learned at UC hospitals to the table,” said Torres, who is also the vice chairman of the Board of Governors for the taxpayer-funded California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

The institute has paid out more than $2.6 billion in stem cell research grants since 2007, with about $1.1 billion going to research at UC campuses. Torres was appointed to the Muni board by former Mayor Ed Lee. His last day is May 20.

“I wanted to stay on so I can help deal with what is going to be a very tough budget,” Torres said.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced Muni to cut service on all but 17 of its 79 lines, and it is losing about $1 million a week.

Torres said the UC system is facing challenges as well.

“Video hookups may work in an emergency, but if the trend continues students will be getting less personal interaction, less on-campus living, even less athletics,” Torres said. “The question will be, will students be willing to keep paying full tuition when they are getting only part of the college experience?” Torres said. “Or will they walk away?”

Torres will take his regent’s seat on July 1. No pay, but UC does cover expenses for attending meetings.

Source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/philmatier/article/Former-California-state-Sen-Art-Torres-makes-the-15209715.php

Note: Torres is not yet listed on the Regents' webpage (as of 7:30 am this morning).* He was chair of the state Democratic Party for many years. Apart from a BA from UC-Santa Cruz mentioned above, he is also a graduate of the UC-Davis law school.
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*https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/about/members-and-advisors/index.html

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