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UCR's Division I sporting events pack plenty of punch, a hometown atmosphere and no long hours driving to the big city.
Keep up with UCR news at UCR Today, the university's new electronic newsroom:
ucrtoday.ucr.edu
The recent high-profile and highly negative stories surrounding intercollegiate athletics at other American campuses should not obscure the benefits that athletics can bring to student-athletes, the campus and the community writ large.
In fact, a strong case can be made that when intercollegiate athletic programs are done well, as we do at UCR, they aren't so much about sports as they are about developing leadership skills.
Consider David Robinson, a 1987 U.S. Naval Academy graduate and Naismith Men's College Player of the Year in basketball. Yes, he was a terrific athlete. He was the first pick in the NBA draft and was named one of the NBA's 50 greatest players of all-time. Robinson is the only American basketball player to participate in three Olympic Games and win three gold medals.
When he was recently recognized as the 2012 Silver Anniversary Award recipient, the NCAA asked him how his experience as a student-athlete taught him to be a leader.
"(It) really helped me with my leadership qualities, because athletics is kind of a microcosm of everything else," he said. "I think my experience as a student-athlete made me realize that if you have the talent, if you have the ability, if you have the influence, you have to step up. You've got to do it."
Robinson's leadership went well beyond hoops. He founded the Carver Academy in San Antonio and formed the Admiral Capital Group to invest in opportunities that provide both financial and social returns.
In my own case, in high school and college I was a much more obscure athlete than Robinson. I lived and breathed swimming and water polo, and in many respects I initially went to college to stay involved with sports and become a teacher and coach. But a curious thing happened. I found a passion for knowledge and discovery that remains with me to this day. Athletics helped me learn to balance my time, to develop leadership skills, to focus on goals, to feel the power of teamwork, and to understand defeat and aspire to success. Athletics was more than just a conduit to academia; it helped make me who I am today.
In 2006, the NCAA Research Committee funded a national survey of student-athletes and their experiences as college students. The study by professors from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln documented what I had experienced: student-athletes felt overwhelmingly (92 to 98 percent) that their leadership skills and teamwork had benefited tremendously from athletics.
Student-athletes demonstrated a greatly improved work ethic and decision-making ability, and a willingness to take responsibility for themselves and others. Student-athletes said their college athletic experience had taken them places and introduced them to people that otherwise would never have been possible. And it opened doors to the world beyond college.
"Athletics has prepared me physically, mentally and spiritually for the future," one survey student said.
Here at UC Riverside, our student-athletes graduate at a level consistent with the overall student body, despite the added challenge of balancing classes, practice, travel and competitions. Like many in our general student population, our student-athletes are often among the first in their families to attend college. Families lacking higher education experience often view a university as a mysterious behemoth that they are ill-equipped to navigate. Athletics can help provide a framework that allows these young people to succeed.
Let me share a final story that will illustrate this last point.
A young Native American alumnus recently visited campus for a discussion on educational attainment among Native Americans. In high school he was a cross- country runner for whom studies were not a great attraction, but he knew that to be able to run competitively he needed to keep up his grades, he said.
Back then, his college application was languishing and incomplete — until his coach pointed out that an athletic scholarship would help him pay for school and allow him to compete at a higher level. He was admitted to UCR and after two years he was injured. He considered leaving, but his support group of coaches and teammates would not let that happen. He graduated last year with a degree in anthropology.
He's currently training to be an emergency response technician with hopes of attending the UCR School of Medicine. Because of sports, society gained one more educated, involved and productive citizen who might otherwise have been a high school dropout. Society gained another leader.
Beyond the student-athletes themselves, athletics gives many other students unique leadership opportunities, from band to spirit and dance squads, and from sports medicine to sports management.
And thousands of other students attend matches, games and races to have fun and socialize, take a break from the rigor of their studies, and to provide support and encouragement to their fellow students.
One of the great pleasures of my appointment at UCR is the opportunity to go to sporting events and join others in cheering for the men and women wearing the Highlander blue and gold. Win or lose, our fans become part of the Highlander community. In the spirit of athletic competition, they build memories that will last a lifetime.
See you there. Go Highlanders!!
Timothy P. White Chancellor
UC Riverside's School of Medicine will receive a grant of $5 million over five years from the Desert Healthcare District.
"This exceptional support from the Desert Healthcare District demonstrates the board members' extraordinary vision for the long-term health of their constituents," said G. Richard Olds, dean of the UCR medical school. "This grant is vital not only for launching medical school programs in the region, but also for leveraging additional funding support of the medical school. We are tremendously gratified by the board's action."
The grant will enable the UCR medical school to:
"Developing our residency training programs, expanding our pre-medical student programs and building our clinical practice are all vital for building the medical school at UCR. We can start all of these programs while we continue to seek the funding necessary to open the medical school," Olds said. UCR officials are continuing to work on securing preliminary accreditation for a full, four-year medical school, with the target of opening it in summer 2013.
MaryLu Clayton Rosenthal's lifelong love of the performing arts inspired her family and others with whom she shared her passion for tap dancing.
UC Riverside students will benefit from that legacy of love in a dance studio named in her honor and endowed scholarships in music, dance and theater. Rosenthal, known affectionately by her family as Potchie, died in October 2010 at the age of 79. Her husband, Robert Rosenthal, is a UCR distinguished professor of psychology. The Rosenthals have three children — daughters Roberta Rosenthal Hawkins and Virginia Mahasin and son David Rosenthal — and six grandchildren.
The gift will support students, underwrite performances and help to fund much-needed equipment, said Stephen Cullenberg, dean of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.
Rosenthal began tap dancing as a child and played the saxophone, violin and piano in her high school orchestra, band and jazz group in Norwood, Ohio. She continued to play the piano and dance throughout her life, and taught tap dancing to senior citizens when she was in her 50s and 60s.
Approximately 350 people attended a White House Hispanic Community Action Summit held at UCR in November.
The summit connected more than a dozen administration officials from a wide range of policy areas with Hispanic leaders, small-business owners and local officials to discuss issues critical to the Hispanic community.
The gathering was part of a series of similar regional meetings held over the past several months in cities across the country and a national Hispanic conference held at the White House in July. This provided an opportunity for participants to discuss important issues with White House and Cabinet agency officials. Discussions covered topics such as jobs and the economy, education and health care, and fixing the broken immigration system so that it meets the nation's 21st century economic and security needs.
A new generation of electric vehicles and $2.5 million worth of batteries that will eventually power the building have been installed at UC Riverside's newly named Winston Chung Hall, thanks to generous support from a Chinese battery inventor and clean energy pioneer.
Winston Chung, the founder and chairman of Winston Global Energy in Shenzhen, China, donated the 1.1-megawatt bank of rare earth, lithium-ion batteries that were developed by his company. The system, the first of its kind in the United States, has the potential to reduce the electric bill for a comparable building by $22,000 per year.
The initial phase of the battery project will power the first floor of Winston Chung Hall (formerly called Engineering Building II). Later, the system will power the entire four- story, 90,000-square-foot building. Excess power will be returned to the grid operated by Riverside Public Utilities.
Eventually a photovoltaic solar "farm" will generate power for the campus and charge the batteries in Winston Chung Hall during peak sunlight hours. Nonfossil-fuel energy solutions such as solar photovoltaics and wind turbines are limited to daylight hours or times of sufficient wind. These batteries close that loop by providing a way to gather and store energy.
In April, Chung also gave the university $10 million, the largest gift from an individual in campus history, to support two professorships in the Bourns College of Engineering and to establish the Winston Chung Global Energy Center.
Chung also funded six $100,000 research grants for faculty at the Bourns College of Engineering. The research will focus on battery and energy projects, which could significantly improve cell phone, laptop and hybrid vehicle batteries. The grants are renewable for two years and, at the end, could be valued at $1.8 million.
The UC Riverside General Catalog for 2011-12 is available in the Kindle format through Amazon.com. The introduction of the annual course catalog in the Kindle format seems to be a first in the e-book industry.
"As far as we can tell, we are the first university to offer our course catalog as an e-book," said Registrar Bracken Dailey. "At the very least, we are the first University of California campus to do so."
The Apple iBook version of the catalog will be available shortly. Because Kindle is accessible across a variety of formats, the UC Riverside catalog is available on Android, Apple, BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad and Windows. The e-book provides UCR students, faculty and staff members with better mobility, accessibility and a high-powered search function.
The catalog costs $4.99 and can be ordered at catalog.ucr.edu
Scientists at UC Riverside have received a $2 million contract to fund a two-year project to evaluate the emission-reduction benefits of two commercially available hybrid construction vehicles: a Caterpillar bulldozer and a Kamatsu hydraulic excavator.
The Center for Environmental Research and Technology will conduct the research. Funding will come from the California Air Resources Board's effort to expand the use of hybrid technology to meet the goals of AB 32, a state law that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Little is known about the potential benefits of hybrid technologies for construction equipment because of their unique and diverse duty cycles. Manufacturers say the hybrid vehicles reduce fuel needs by 20 percent and cut emissions by 30 percent, said Kent Johnson, assistant research engineer at the center.
Half of the $2 million will be used as an incentive voucher to get 20 to 30 hybrid construction vehicles in use. The other half will fund testing in six vehicles throughout California.
The project will help establish the methodology for making comparisons under varied conditions. It will also consider the differences among emerging hybrid implementations by leading manufacturers.
UCR's School of Business Administration, home of the A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management (AGSM), is an outstanding business school and one of the best in the West, according to a just-published book by The Princeton Review.
The schools listed in The Princeton Review's "The Best 294 Business Schools: 2012 Edition" were selected based on the high opinion of their academic programs and offerings, a review of their institutional data and the opinions of students attending the schools, said Robert Franek, senior vice president-publishing at the Princeton Review.
Review editors used these words to describe the school: "Combine the Southern California climate with a 'fantastic school' offering 'generous financial aid,' and it's easy to understand why the A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management ... gets such high marks from students."
They quote a UCR student who said, "You get real interaction with professors and all the students know each other, which allows for tighter bonds and networks."
UC Riverside has a big economic footprint. The campus has a significant impact on employment and revenue, and is a strong economic engine for the city, state and nation.
That is the conclusion of a recently released economic impact report that found that UC Riverside's $1.4 billion impact is created by direct spending by the university as well as direct, indirect and induced impacts of spending by the campus' students, visitors and retirees. Overall, the direct and induced impacts of UCR spending support 16,335 jobs annually — most of them located within Inland Southern California.
The study, conducted by CBRE Consulting, was based on fiscal year 2009-10 figures.
"UC Riverside is an economic powerhouse within the Inland Southern California region and throughout California," wrote the report authors.
UC Riverside in fiscal year 2009-10 had revenues of $544,442,000 and expenditures of $412,884,894. Spending by the university — for salaries, goods and services — was multiplied by subsequent transactions to achieve the overall $1.4 billion in impact. During the year studied, the university had 6,985 full– and part-time employees.
Most of the impacts created by UCR spending occurred within California, with $1.1 billion in spending impacts, 13,340 jobs and $503.8 million in induced earnings. The majority of the university's statewide impacts were confined to Inland Southern California, with $757.9 million of spending impacts, 11,999 jobs and $380.7 million in induced earnings for the year studied.
Economic benefits generated within the city of Riverside totaled $366.2 million in spending, 9,274 jobs and $208.4 million in induced earnings. A significant gain in economic benefits was achieved in Riverside County, with spending impacts totaling $628.0 million, accompanied by 11,095 jobs and $329.5 million in induced earnings.
More information about UC Riverside's economic impact is available at www.ucr.edu/economicimpact
Does your spouse, child, friend or even you spend hours on Facebook or Twitter? Why do we do it?
A team of UC Riverside marketing professors is using a two-year grant of nearly $414,000 from the National Science Foundation to find the answers.
"With social media invading our lives, we want to know why people are using it and the implications of that, particularly with regard to people's well- being and psychological health," said Donna Hoffman, the Albert O. Steffey professor of marketing.
Hoffman and Tom Novak, professors of marketing and co-directors of the Sloan Center for Internet Retailing at the School of Business Administration, believe their research could have wide-ranging implications for companies, which are increasingly focusing their marketing and advertising dollars on social media.
The research will test a model of the relationship between goals people are seeking by using social media and their well-being. The model permits examination of many research questions, including whether certain social media goals render individuals more vulnerable to unhappiness.
The researchers will survey thousands of social media users. Many will come from their eLab, an online community of 5,000 people worldwide that completes surveys with a chance to win a cash prize.
GPS can be a handy navigational tool, but it's not always available to those who need it the most — visually impaired people who need it indoors, emergency responders entering a burning building or collapsed mine, or law enforcement and military personal who do surveillance with small-scale drones.
To that end, Anastasios Mourikis, assistant professor of electrical engineering, recently received a three-year, $447,000 grant to develop techniques to navigate in difficult areas — indoors, underwater and in space.
Mourikis plans to focus his work on cell phones because they are so common and usually have a camera, which can be used to pinpoint location when GPS is not available.
He will develop algorithms that will optimally use the phone's inexpensive cameras, computing power and limited battery life. Mourikis hopes to develop a cell phone app that can provide accurate position information in areas where GPS is not available.
The software will also be instrumental for connecting with K-12 students at local outreach events. Mourikis will collaborate with the Bourns College of Engineering's Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA) program.
An infestation of the goldspotted oak borer, which has killed more than 80,000 oak trees in San Diego County in the last decade, might be hitchhiking around the state via infested firewood.
In October 2010 Tom Scott and other UCR researchers received $635,000 of a $1.5 million grant of federal stimulus money to study the goldspotted oak borer and sudden oak death. They are working in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service to identify where the infestation began, how it is spreading through Southern California's oak woodlands and what trees might be resistant.
The goldspotted oak borer, an Arizona native, may have begun its immigration into the state as early as the mid-1990s, Scott said.
Female beetles lay eggs in cracks and crevices of oak bark, and the larvae burrow into the cambium of the tree to feed, irreparably damaging the water– and food-conducting tissues and ultimately killing the tree. Adult beetles bore out through the bark, leaving a D-shaped hole where they exit.
California's coast live oaks, black oaks and canyon live oaks seem to have no resistance to the goldspotted oak borer and, so far, no natural enemies of the beetle have been found.
The cost of removing dead and dying trees in San Diego County alone could run into the tens of millions of dollars. In Ohio, which has experienced similar losses from the emerald ash borer, several small cities went bankrupt because of tree removal costs associated with that beetle, Scott said.
The UC Cooperative Extension, UC Agricultural and Natural Resources, U.S. Forest Service and others are working to discourage the sale and transportation of infested wood. Wood that is bark-free or that has dried and cured for at least one year is generally safe to transport, Scott said. This relatively small change could save a statewide resource without jeopardizing the firewood industry, he said.
David Reznick, a professor of biology, was among 179 of the nation's most influential artists, scientists, scholars, authors and institutional leaders recently inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
One of the nation's oldest and most prestigious learned societies, the independent research center draws from its members' expertise to conduct studies in science and technology policy, global security, the humanities and culture, social policy and education.
"Induction recognizes extraordinary individual achievement and marks a commitment on the part of new members to provide fundamental, nonpartisan knowledge for addressing today's complex challenges," said American Academy President Leslie C. Berlowitz.
Since its founding by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock and other scholar- patriots, the American Academy has elected leading "thinkers and doers" from each generation. The current membership includes Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners and many of the world's most celebrated artists and performers.
The 231st class of the academy includes winners of Nobel, Pritzker and Pulitzer prizes; the Turing Award; MacArthur and Guggenheim fellows; Kennedy Center Honors; and Grammy, Golden Globe and Academy awards. Honorary members from Argentina, India, Israel, Japan and the United Kingdom also were inducted.
Reznick studies evolution as a contemporary process and performs experiments on natural populations of organisms. He also studies how complex traits evolve in organisms. In addition, his lab studies the evolution of animal life cycles and conducts experiments for testing predictions from different facets of modern evolutionary theory in natural populations of small fresh-water fish. Currently, the lab is engaged in experimental studies of the interaction between ecological and evolutionary processes.
In today's medical world, implants are used for everything from coronary stents to repairing torn ligaments.
But there is a catch. Most are made with titanium alloys or stainless steel — permanent materials that can cause clinical complications and potential implant failure.
Huinan Liu, an assistant professor of bioengineering, is working to solve these problems by developing biodegradable medical implant materials that would promote tissue regeneration and disappear after serving their functions in the body.
Using a $175,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, Liu's work will focus on developing magnesium-based alloys that promote tissue growth and degrade naturally in the body before being released in the urine.
FANS ARE FINDING THAT UC RIVERSIDE'S ATHLETICS PROGRAM OFFERS UP-CLOSE ACTION, A HOMETOWN ATMOSPHERE AND DIVISION I COMPETITION WITHOUT THE TREK TO THE BIG CITY.
When UC Riverside men's basketball team hosted USC earlier this season, USC alumnus Ken Doyle sat courtside at the Student Recreation Center, close enough to reach out and touch the visiting Trojans as they raced up and down the court on their way to a 56-35 victory.
But Doyle, a Riverside real estate broker, didn't score those choice seats through a ticket broker the day before the game and he wasn't decked out in cardinal and gold, cheering on his alma mater. Doyle is courtside at all of UCR's home games, having adopted the hometown Highlanders after moving to Riverside from Irvine after his son graduated from UCR in 2007.
"We love this," Doyle said, referring to himself and his wife, Diana. "This is one of the reasons we moved here, to have this kind of first-rate experience. It's Division I, live, in your backyard, and they really want your participation here."
That kind of talk is exactly what UCR officials want to hear. A decade after jumping from Division II to elite Division I status, UCR Athletics is reaching out to potential fans in the city and the region in an attempt to grow the athletics program to new heights while retaining the university's character and reputation for academic excellence.
Bolstered by support from Chancellor Timothy P. White, himself a former collegiate swimmer and water polo player, and re-energized by new athletic director Brian Wickstrom, UCR is playing bigger schools, appearing on the ESPN national sports network and using grassroots marketing techniques to draw crowds and break single- game and season attendance records.
In Southern California, home to some of the nation's premier entertainment venues, UCR is selling easy access to affordable Division I sports — without the hassle of driving to Los Angeles or San Diego — and to athletes who graduate from a rigorous academic institution while remaining accessible to fans. The university also has made a renewed effort to create an atmosphere that approaches that found at other Division I schools, where students and fans take an ongoing and avid interest in local teams.
"We are making our home sporting events something that people want to be a part of," said Wickstrom, who was hired away from the University of Texas at El Paso in June. "That means entertainment for the family and the kids, where somebody leaves the event and wants to come back. They want to be a part of what we are doing. The people in this community, they really, really are starving to be involved."
Doyle and other athletics boosters like him back up their enthusiasm with their checkbooks. Doyle holds season tickets and, as a corporate donor, sits courtside with other donors.
Having spent 40 years as an executive in the consumer products industry, Doyle has the financial resources to buy tickets at bigger stadiums featuring bigger names. But having spent many of those years on the road, most recently with ConAgra Foods, he likes the size and scale of UCR.
"To me, it really enhances our quality of life," Doyle said. "We love being able to drive three to four miles and do this."
Wickstrom and other members of the athletics department, including coaches, have also encouraged young people and their families to get involved with UCR athletics by networking with local youth sports organizations, high school coaches and athletics directors, and club teams. The effort has made the university's coaches, athletes and staff more accessible to the community, which has responded by attending games and matches in greater numbers, often dramatically so.
"It's like being a fisherman, throwing out a net and then throwing out a bigger net," Wickstrom said. "Everyone wants to be part of a winner, but they also want to be affiliated with a university that has great athletics and academics, where students are graduating. People then take ownership and have a vested interest in that."
The different approach is noticeable. Pint- sized soccer players play mini-games during halftime at UCR soccer games. Campus organizations hold events designed to increase student attendance. And UCR is wooing potential fans with the promise of watching the Highlanders compete against much larger programs, including nationally ranked teams.
The USC basketball game, for example, drew a sell-out crowd of students and area basketball fans. Some may have been there to check out the more highly acclaimed Trojans, but while they were there, UCR unveiled a new logo designed to more strongly identify the university's athletics program.
The logo was chosen with input from students and the community, with more than 24,000 votes cast online for more than a dozen possibilities. Students who turned out for the USC game received free T-shirts featuring the new logo, which includes an interlocking gold U and blue C, with "Riverside" underneath.
"This logo is a big part of where we are trying to go as a department," Wickstrom said. "If someone took the time to vote on the logo, then they have a vested interest in which logo wins."
The large crowd good-naturedly booed people in USC attire as they entered the arena, and as UCR held its own for the first nine minutes of play, the crowd cheered so loudly that it was difficult to hear the announcer. Fans stomped their feet, chanting "UCR! UCR!" and exhorted the Highlanders to play better defense. The game was televised locally, and several students at the game said they had never seen anything like that on campus before.
"Part of that sellout is because it's USC, but it's also because of some of the outreach (Coach) Jim Wooldridge has done," Wickstrom said.
The new approach is paying dividends in other areas as well. The men's and women's soccer teams set season and single-game attendance records this year. Volleyball set a single-game attendance record and had the highest average attendance since volleyball became a Division I sport in 2001.
"We are making our home sporting events something that people want to be a part of. That means entertainment for the family and the kids, where somebody leaves the event and wants to come back."
Brian Wickstrom Director of Intercollegiate Athletics
"The opening night (of volleyball season), it was really packed," said David Paco, a Riverside resident who regularly attends UCR sporting events. "Last year, you hardly ever saw people out there. It makes you want to come back for another game when it's packed like that because the atmosphere is really charged up."
When UCR's men's soccer team upset seventh-ranked UC Santa Barbara, 3-1, at home on Sept. 28, a record crowd of 2,016 looked on — a crowd more than three times larger than the previous attendance record of 638 set the previous year, when UCR beat UC Davis. When the game ended, young soccer players rushed the field to celebrate with the UCR players.
"That was a Division I experience," Wickstrom said. "The players were in awe because the crowd was so loud, and people who could not get in were standing outside the fence and watching the game."
That game, and UCR's first winning season in men's soccer, has raised expectations for next year, Coach Junior Gonzalez said. And that's a good thing.
"People want to come to a good event. Then, once they are there, they want to see a team playing good soccer and winning," Gonzalez said. "We are excited about the future of the program."
Since that game, UCR has entered into a sponsorship agreement with Riverside County and is working to further develop relationships with the city of Riverside and the Riverside Transit Agency.
"When that game happened, it opened up a lot of doors in the community," Wickstrom said. "That game is the cornerstone for everything moving forward, the first real step in what we are trying to do. It really got people involved, and people are open to the idea that we can start making more progress."
The effort continued into basketball season, when the Highlanders men's basketball team competed in the 76 Classic in Anaheim. UCR lost to much bigger programs, including Villanova, on Thanksgiving Day and Boston College in overtime. It then beat Washington State, a member of the Pac-12 conference, which includes teams such as USC and UCLA. All three games were broadcast on the ESPN network.
A few days later, the Highlanders hosted USC at the Student Recreation Center in front of a sell-out crowd of 2,753. A local newspaper called the game "the highest- profile men's basketball home game in UC Riverside's history." UCR kept the game close early before USC raced to a 56-35 win.
"It's a lot busier than most basketball games," said Jimmy Lee of Covina, who was directing traffic for UCR event parking. "This is bigger than anything I can remember."
Student Eddie Aguirre said he was shocked at the number of people at the game. He got in only because a man with extra tickets gave some away to students.
"I usually just walk up and get the free student tickets," said Aguirre, a second-year bioengineering student from Fresno. "There's usually not even a line."
Despite the drubbing, UCR's team — and its athletics program as a whole — got good reviews.
"Obviously, they are headed in the right direction," USC Coach Kevin O'Neill said after the game. "I would encourage the fans to keep coming out and helping these guys get better because it does help."
UCR Coach Jim Wooldridge praised the "great atmosphere" inside the Student Recreation Center.
"It shows and proves that we could have some real moments here if we can keep this going," Wooldridge said. "Tonight was a great showing from our fans."
Wickstrom acknowledges that much work remains before UCR is where he and Chancellor White would like it to be.
Competing for top athletes with colleges and universities along the coast remains a challenge, and UCR's academic standards prevent the school from recruiting some players who might be great athletes but are not able to handle the coursework at UCR. And fans in the Inland Empire do not have a history of attending UCR events in great numbers.
One challenge of building a large and sustainable fan base at any university in Southern California is the competition for fans' attention, said Justin Williams-Bell, who played basketball for UCR from 2005 to 2007. He is in his second year coaching basketball at Concordia University in Irvine.
Williams-Bell praised the effort under way at UCR, which he said is rooted in a strong respect for academics and ensuring that players graduate.
"It's clear to me that UCR is doing a great job of getting all the programs at a high level. It just takes time," he said. "The main thing is, you have to have the right people in place, and they do."
Although it is competing with much larger schools, UCR offers unique benefits, Williams- Bell said.
"It's clear to me that UCR is doing a great job of getting all the programs at a high level. It just takes time. The main thing is, you have to have the right people in place, and they do." Justin Williams-Bell UCR Basketball Player 2005-07
"The community at the school is really tight, especially in the athletic department," he said. "It's a big UC school and everything, but there's a real sense of community there with an endless supply of resources to help you succeed. I felt like the main goal, from the time I got there, was for me to graduate."
Attendance is even a concern at Concordia, he said, even though the school is a consistent winner, having been ranked No. 1 in the NAIA and having beaten UC Irvine, a Division I school, the past two years. Concordia also has an NAIA championship and Final Four appearances under its belt.
"It's still a struggle to get our gym packed, even though we do, and to keep that consistent fan base," Williams-Bell said. "If we dip at all, people go to the beach or to Disneyland. We have a winning tradition, but it can go quickly."
Add in the history of commuting in the Inland Empire and you begin to see what Wickstrom and UCR are up against. People who drive 40 miles or more to work each day in Los Angeles or Orange counties think nothing of jumping in the car and heading to Staples Center for a Lakers game or to San Diego to watch the Chargers.
"There are so many things to do in California, be it big-name sports events, or Hollywood or the beach," said Ricki McManuis, director of development at Cal State San Bernardino's College of Education, who has attended women's basketball games at UCR with friends. This array of options is what our college sports programs must compete with, she observed.
McManuis contrasted that to her upbringing in Hawaii, where fans of the University of Hawaii show up at noon for a 5 p.m. football game.
"Everybody comes to everything UH does, and I mean everything," she said. "You steer clear, within a 10-mile radius, which is practically the whole island, whenever there is a UH home football game because the traffic is horrible."
Brian Wickstrom, UCR's athletics director, shows off the new logos.
There are signs, however, that UCR can win over hometown fans and create an atmosphere that attracts fans and top athletes alike. Both are important because fans want to support a winning team, and prospective student-athletes gravitate to teams with a winning tradition and a good atmosphere.
In men's soccer, for example, the team's victory this season over UC Santa Barbara and dramatically higher attendance at matches are creating a buzz about UCR soccer that could help with recruiting, Coach Gonzalez said.
"We've proven that we can beat some of the top teams," Gonzalez said from Florida, where he was on a recruiting trip. "We are getting a lot more attention because of the year we had. People from all over the country are coming up to us and congratulating us on the turnaround."
And, while UCR has never made it to the NCAA tournament in soccer, that has also become a recruiting tool.
"Players want to be a part of something they are changing on their own," Gonzalez said. "That's what we are selling — you have the ability to make history here and get us into the NCAA tournament for the first time."
That's a far cry from the state of UCR soccer a decade ago. Gonzalez started then as a part-time assistant coach under his cousin Nat Gonzalez, who is now the interim head coach for the UCR women's program. Each man won a national championship as a player at UCLA — Nat in 1990 and Junior in 1997 — but birthing a Division I soccer program was not easy.
UCR soccer had no tradition that it could use to attract top players. The program was underfunded, and the team did not have a home field. All home games were held at a facility in San Bernardino.
"Coming to Riverside and starting a program from scratch — that was a real eye-opening experience," Junior Gonzalez said. "We had recruited some good players, but we had some open spots, so we had open tryouts at the soccer complex over on Blaine Street for anybody who had played the game. I wouldn't change a thing, though, because it has made me appreciate the process."
The men's program enjoyed its first winning season this year, finishing 9-6-4. The team beat UC Santa Barbara twice and also beat UC Irvine and St. Mary's at a time when those teams were among the most respected teams in the country. The success was especially sweet for Gonzalez because he was raised in the Inland region.
"There's something about being in your own area and trying to build something," Gonzalez said. "There's been a lot of work done, and it feels like we are getting closer to having a level playing field."
Attendance jumped this year, in part because of an aggressive effort to work with the local chapter of American Youth Soccer Organization; holding clinics for young soccer players in Riverside, Perris and Moreno Valley; and encouraging young players and their families to attend UCR games.
On campus, students from different dorms competed to see which dorm could turn out the most fans. The most active dorm got a pizza party, and students received free tacos at the games. Attendance was strong all year, but on Sept. 28, the team drew a whopping 2,016 fans to the UC Santa Barbara game.
"People just kept coming and coming," Gonzalez said. "There was no room even for people to come into the stadium. I turned around and there were people watching from the stairwells of the engineering building. Everywhere I looked, there were people watching the match."
As if on script, UCR jumped out to an early lead, then the match was tied before UCR scored two more goals to win, 3-1. The crowd, including young soccer players who had attended some of the free clinics held in their towns, rushed the field in celebration.
UCR finished its season by losing to UC Irvine in the semifinals of the Big West conference tournament. Despite having beaten tournament-bound teams and been ranked fifth in the West at one point, UCR was not invited to the NCAA Tournament.
Yet Gonzalez remains upbeat.
"As long as you have a good product on the field and allow people to have a good time, they come back for more. It's kind of a snowball effect," he said. "We're going to have an issue with seating if we keep up the work we are doing in the community."
Part of the challenge, Wickstrom said, is getting people in the Inland area to accept the possibility that UCR can follow the path of other "mid-major" schools such as Gonzaga and Butler. Both schools grew from humble beginnings to become darlings of the NCAA basketball tournament. Butler, with about 4,600 students, has made the finals the past two years.
"We want to just keep building and progressing. Our plan is to build on success, but we are not anywhere near to where we can be," Wickstrom said. "It's just getting people to realize what we are capable of being. We can be as good as we set our minds to be."
"Players want to be a part of something they are changing on their own," Gonzalez said. "That's what we are selling — you have the ability to make history here and get us into the NCAA tournament for the first time." Junior Gonzalez Men's Soccer Head Coach
More than 30 years after graduating from UC Riverside, attorney Jack B. Clarke Jr. still uses some of the lessons he learned while leading the Highlanders to consecutive team championships in karate. Clarke, a partner in the prestigious Riverside law firm Best Best & Krieger, competed for UCR from 1976-79, leading the school to national championships in 1978 and 1979. He was selected for the 1979 U.S. Pan Am Games silver medal team and was inducted into the UCR Athletics Hall of Fame in 1986.
"One of the biggest things I learned in karate is that the only thing I have the potential to control is me," Clarke said. "Everything else is a variable." Clarke, an expert in special- education law, and several other former UCR athletes credited the Highlander athletics program with enhancing their college experiences and helping prepare them for careers.
While karate included team competitions, scores were based on the cumulative total of points achieved in individual matches. The same principle applies at a law firm, Clarke said, because the overall success of the firm depends on the individual success of many attorneys. "The bottom line was, you had to be responsible for yourself, to put forth your best effort," Clarke said. "The same thing applies today. Because I am part of a law firm, the judge doesn't give a rip about that. If my brief stinks, the judge is going to say, 'Clarke, your brief stinks.'"
College athletics teaches young people to manage their time and multitask, said Justin Williams-Bell, who played basketball for UCR from 2005 to 2007 and now coaches at Concordia University in Irvine. "Being able to manage my time and have a strong work ethic, all of those things are a direct result of being a student- athlete," Williams-Bell said. "The down time and the ability to hang out with other students, it's just not there. Between practices, study hall, lifting weights and going to class, your schedule is a lot different than the average student."
Members of the public often do not understand the difficulty of balancing the requirements of being an athlete with the need to meet the same academic requirements as everyone else. "School is not easy there," Williams-Bell said. "You really have to put the work in to succeed."
The same skills that make someone a successful scholar- athlete are very desirable in the workplace, said David Roberts, the retired CEO of Compusource, a large software company. Roberts, who played basketball for UCR from 1963-67, said he hired many college athletes to gain access to that skill set. "Competitive sports at the collegiate level is terrific in terms of teaching about competition," said Roberts, a UCR Athletics Association board member and frequent donor. "You use that in the business world every day." UCR was a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics school when Roberts played basketball here, and the campus had only about 3,500 students. When the team traveled to away games, players ate sandwiches they had made in their dorm rooms. The team rarely went anywhere that required an overnight stay. But it had a winning season every year, in part because players stayed focused, he said.
"As a business executive or a manager, you also really need to be disciplined, and sports kind of forces that on you and shows you how to do it," Roberts said. "It also teaches you about teamwork. Whether you are a starter or a substitute, or you sit on the bench all the time, you have to practice and be ready to step up and work with other people, be it in groups or committees." Attorney Clarke said athletics taught him that a successful outcome must be earned and is not assured.
"In athletics, somebody has to lose," he said. "For somebody to set a world record, somebody has to be dead last. Learning that full range of outcomes is something we have lost as a society."
A UCR professor finds a tie between liquor stores and criminal behavior.
San Bernardino city officials suspected that an overabundance of liquor stores was negatively impacting the quality of life for community residents. In neighborhood meetings and on the streets, residents complained that too many of those stores attracted drug dealers, prostitutes and gangs. The vast majority of calls summoning police involved alcohol in some way.
But there was little beyond anecdotal evidence to help officials of the state's 17th-largest city — and the nation's second- poorest large city — determine how much of the community's crime and social issues could be attributed to the plethora of liquor stores, many of which had been in business for decades. At the same time, the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health and the nonprofit Institute for Public Strategies each were considering new ways to combat the impacts of alcohol abuse in the community, which they believed to be significant.
So in 2007, public health officials and institute leaders consulted with UC Riverside sociologist Robert Nash Parker, shown above, known nationally for his pioneering research on the relationship between alcohol and crime. Over the next four years, research teams led by UCR produced two groundbreaking studies, which concluded that violent crime could be reduced significantly if policymakers were to limit the number of neighborhood liquor stores and ban the sale of single-serve containers of alcoholic beverages.
"These results suggest that alcohol control can be an important tool in violence prevention," explained Parker, who is co-director of the Presley Center for Crime and Justice Studies at UCR. "Policies designed to reduce outlet density can provide relief from violence in and around these neighborhood outlets. And banning or reducing the sales of single-serve, ready-to-consume containers of alcohol can have an additional impact on preventing violence."
Parker urged the San Bernardino City Council to consider adopting a "deemed approved ordinance" that would give the city more authority to set acceptable standards of practice for existing alcohol retailers. In May 2011 the San Bernardino City Council adopted a law that requires all 160-plus liquor stores in the city to mitigate alcohol-related problems in and around their businesses. It also establishes an administrative hearing process for violators that could impose new restrictions on the conditional use permits allowing them to operate, including a ban on the sale of single-serve containers.
"This brings all liquor outlets up to the same standard," said Kent Paxton, director of the Mayor's Office of Community Safety and Violence Prevention in San Bernardino. "Actual enforcement started about six months ago. We'll see in six months to a year what kind of impact it has had. It can't help but be a major tool in the toolbox to fight crime. ... All of this is thanks to Dr. Parker and his research."
The focus of alcohol-abuse prevention has been changing in recent years, said Daniel Skiles, vice president for San Bernardino County projects for the Institute for Public Strategies (IPS). IPS works with communities to increase public health and safety by helping to create sustainable change.
"The emphasis used to be on trying to convince youth or other groups that alcohol or target drugs should be avoided," he explained. "The newer approach is environmental and focuses on reducing access and availability to alcohol and drugs. Research has shown this can be more effective than the earlier approach. Now the idea is to create policies around access issues, like packaging of single-serves, which, served cold, encourage immediate consumption of large amounts of alcohol."
The city of San Bernardino has so many liquor stores that state regulators with the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control won't issue new liquor licenses there, said Amelia Sanchez-Lopez, who coordinates substance-abuse prevention programs for the county health department and is a city planning commissioner. The city has nearly twice the number of liquor retail outlets currently allowed by the state, she said, and they tend to be particularly prevalent in the city's poorest and most gang-infested neighborhoods.
"We are oversaturated," Sanchez-Lopez said. "I attend a lot of town hall and neighborhood association meetings, and the subject of liquor stores and people hanging out around them always comes up. People are concerned about gang violence. ... Because Dr. Parker had previously shown a correlation between gangs and access to oversize singles, we were able to introduce the topic of single-serves and persuade the city that availability and accessibility of alcohol is a public safety issue."
In April 2007 Sanchez-Lopez and other public health officials surveyed every liquor retailer in the city for Parker's research team, recording the location, number of coolers containing alcoholic beverages and the amount of cooler space devoted to single-serve containers. Linking the outlet addresses to census data and using San Bernardino police crime reports, Parker and his team mapped the locations of outlets and crime. After accounting for other demographic factors such as poverty, age, single-parent households and race, Parker's team found that the availability of single-serve containers had a measureable effect on crime.
At the same time, Parker was leading a study with researchers from the University of Akron, the Vera Institute of Justice in Washington, D.C., and RTI International in Research Triangle Park, N.C., that found a correlation between the density of alcohol outlets and violent crime rates among teens and young adults. The results of both studies were published in the September 2011 issue of the journal Drug and Alcohol Review.
Parker already had developed a reputation as a criminologist doing pioneering research on victim-offender relationships when a postdoctoral fellowship in 1989 took him from the University of Iowa to the Prevention Research Center in Berkeley, Calif., a nonprofit funded by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The center focuses on the relationship between alcohol and social problems.
While there, he directed several research projects on the relationship between alcohol use and abuse, and violence. In 1995 he published "Alcohol and Homicide: A Deadly Combination of Two American Traditions." He has published more than 40 scientific articles and book chapters on topics including the causes of violence; the relationship between alcohol, other drugs and violence; alcohol and drug policy and violence prevention; and research design and statistical methods in the social sciences.
In addition to San Bernardino, Parker has worked with Alameda County officials, who several years ago adopted a tax on alcohol outlets to support Sheriff's Department enforcement of laws related to alcohol sales and crime prevention efforts. He recently began consulting with the San Bernardino County cities of Ontario and Fontana, and the city of San Diego in an effort to find solutions to alcohol impacts on public health and safety.
The city of San Bernardino is facing heavy lobbying against implementation of the deemed approved ordinance from the alcohol industry, Skiles and Parker said.
"A key part of the ordinance passed in San Bernardino establishes a fee that alcohol outlets have to pay to support law enforcement monitoring and enforcement," Skiles said. "The industry is working at the state level to pass legislation to make these fees very difficult to pass. That's why we need more studies like Dr. Parker's to help people at the state and local level make better decisions."
Local controls on retail liquor outlets "can be a hard sell when the economy is poor and business interests that support the alcohol industry say that these policy restrictions are taking jobs away," Parker acknowledged. "That is a short-term and not-correct view. If you have an alcohol outlet selling alcohol to 15-year-olds and flouting the laws, it is harming the community. If they're causing abuse and injury, you end up spending a lot more of the public's money fixing the problems than will be taken in as tax revenue."
Nationally, only a very few studies have looked at consumption of malt liquor by gangs, said Skiles of the Institute for Public Strategies. No one had looked at the packaging — namely, single, oversize containers typically consumed immediately after purchase and a favorite of gangs — until Parker's study. That study fills a gap in the kind of research that communities need to enact policies like those in San Bernardino and elsewhere, Skiles said.
"Planning groups typically say, 'What's the research?' Now they have Parker's research. More needs to be done," he said.
The success of these policies depends on enforcement, Skiles said.
"You can't ban single-serves and crime is going to go away," he said. "Other problems may have contributed to the development of these problems. More law enforcement resources are needed for things to change."
Part of Parker's success in empowering communities to enact policies like those in San Bernardino comes, in part, from his ability to present his research in a straightforward way, said Paxton of the mayor's office. "He makes it easy to grasp the significance of his research. His passion helps communicate the importance of research."
Improving the quality of life in our communities is an important function of public research universities, said Parker, who also teaches in the University Honors Program at UCR and is a faculty in residence in the Pentland Hills residence hall.
"There ought to be a way to use what we learn from scientific studies to help people in our communities," he said. "Nothing I do is a silver bullet or magic, but if you might save a few lives, help a few kids achieve something they might not do otherwise, if my work can contribute to something more important, I think we should do that."
As new athletics director Brian Wickstrom held introductory meetings with his coaching staff shortly after his arrival at UCR this summer, he noticed something odd. Each person he met seemed to be wearing a different UCR athletics logo. "I must have seen 15 different logos," he recalled. "It was the first sign that there was no brand identity associated with UCR athletics. To get to the next level, to move the program forward, you have to have a logo that people recognize — something they can see on a uniform, and something they can use to show their allegiance and pride by wearing it around the city."
Wickstrom's goal was for the new primary wordmark and secondary "Scotty Highlander" logo to debut when the UCR men's basketball team hosted USC at the Student Recreation Center on Nov. 30.
"The whole process was based on that USC game. We knew it would be a full house and we couldn't pass up that opportunity," he said. Athletics department staff worked with the UCR Office of Strategic Communications and the El Paso-based Fuzzy Red Panda creative studio to bring the designs from conception to rollout in less than three months. The process included three rounds of voting where community members, fans, alumni, students and student-athletes had a say in the selection. So when 2,753 fans filled the UCR Student Recreation Center for the game on Nov. 30, they discovered the brand new "Scotty" secondary logo at center court and the new UC Riverside wordmark on the scoreboard. Those images also were painted on the wall behind the student section. Every fan at the game received a T-shirt featuring the new athletics designs. The UCR Campus Store stocks items featuring the new look and Wickstrom said the department is finalizing a partnership with the Licensing Resource Group to get items into local retail stores in early 2012.
The wordmark features an interlocking "UC" in blue and gold with the word "Riverside" underneath. The secondary mark is a makeover of the familiar bear head with Scotty now wearing a Scottish Tam O'Shanter cap. Sean Ferrera, a member of the track and field team and co-president of the Student Athlete Advisory Council, said that his fellow student- athletes were excited about the new logos and grateful that their voices were heard during the design process.
"The student-athletes appreciated that they cared to ask what we thought. We are the ones who will be wearing it," he said. "It's a cleaner look and I can't wait to get it. I'm excited." Many fans saw the logos for the first time during the Thanksgiving holiday when they made a "soft" debut during a pair of national television appearances on ESPN2 and ESPNU as the Highlanders played in the 76 Classic Basketball Tournament.
"People were really proud when they saw those new logos on ESPN," Wickstrom said. Some fans had expressed concern that venerable Scotty might disappear, but Wickstrom said he learned early on that any major changes to the ursine mascot were off the table. "I went to freshman orientation my second week here and Scotty got as big a round of applause as Tim White," Wickstrom said, laughing. "I hate to say it, but Scotty may be as popular as the chancellor."
View Athletic Improvements at UCR for Yourself! Watch snappy videos on the astonishing facelift for the basketball practice facility: http://youtu.be/-CNhj_CO22M and on the transformation of the Highlanders track and field facility: http://youtu.be/vXpAVBxduWA
UC Riverside hosted two days of meetings by the UC Regents in January that were notable for balancing the rights of several hundred protesters with the rights of the Regents to conduct their business. In the wake of the Occupy protests and earlier student protests at Berkeley and Davis that garnered negative international attention through November and December, the Regents meetings at UCR on Jan. 18 and 19 were relatively calm. UC Riverside police detained three people during the protests, and two were arrested on suspicion of felony assault on a police officer.
The Regents meet six times a year, rotating among campuses. The last time UCR hosted a meeting, it was March 2009 and it was a quiet affair. This time, in anticipation of protests, 105 UC police officers were on campus. On the second day, as the crowd grew and began physically confronting officers, 40 police officers from the City of Riverside and 50 deputies from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department joined them. Nine UC police officers sustained injuries, including bruises, cuts and scratches. None required major medical attention.
Inside the Regents meeting on the second day, a planned public comment session was extended. After the Regents had given all who had signed up a chance to speak, protesters demanded that they be allowed to keep speaking. Authorities attempted to clear the room, and more than a dozen protesters locked arms and engaged in peaceful civil disobedience. UCR Chancellor Timothy P. White and other UC leaders talked with them, and they decided to leave peacefully.
Elsewhere, protesters blocked vehicle egress from a parking lot and at one point, university vehicles carrying UC administrators and employees were surrounded by protesters. Police responded and after about 40 minutes, the vehicles were allowed to leave. During the second day, one UCR police officer fired plastic pellets similar in force to a paintball toward protesters trying to break through police lines.
In a letter to the campus community the day after the meetings, Chancellor White said, "The students have legitimate concerns about affordability and access to UC, as well as the quality of their educational experience. I share their deep concern and worry, and I along with so many others, am working daily to help find solutions." He wrote that he appreciated the restraint shown by the students, the police and by the regents in the face of a difficult situation.
With a dozen middle school students' hands in the air, David Morgan, an entomologist with the California Department of Food and Agriculture and an associate researcher at UC Riverside, ended his talk about using good insects to kill bad insects.
The class period was almost over and Morgan wanted to allow time for students to look at insects he brought to the Riverside Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) Academy from UCR's Department of Entomology.
The students darted to the back of the auditorium to look at the butterflies, beetles and bees. Others rushed the stage. The insects could wait. They wanted to talk to the man who studies insects. They asked questions about going to college and bugs they found in their backyard. Many brought pen and paper for his autograph.
That enthusiasm and focus on STEM is what educators across the nation, including many at UCR, believe is necessary to fill the growing need for workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics — fields that drive innovation and competitiveness by generating new ideas, new companies and new industries.
From 2008 to 2018, STEM jobs are expected to grow by 17 percent compared with about 10 percent for non-STEM jobs, according to "STEM: Good Jobs Now and for the Future," a July 2011 U.S. Department of Commerce report.
In 2010, STEM jobs paid on average 26 percent more than non-STEM jobs. In addition, from 2007 to 2010, the unemployment rate for STEM workers rose 1.6 percent to 5.3 percent while the rate for non-STEM employees jumped from 4.8 percent to almost 10 percent.
Filling those jobs is difficult. For decades, mathematics and science performance assessments have shown American students falling behind their peers throughout the world.
With that in mind, President Barack Obama is directing hundreds of millions of dollars during the next decade to move American students back to the top.
That is a much-needed and appreciated move, said Richard Cardullo, a biology professor at UCR who for more than 20 years has worked extensively with K-12 students and teachers. However, he wonders why, when warnings were sounded nearly 30 years ago in the 1983 federal government report "Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Education Reform," it has taken so long to act.
"We're beyond a crisis," Cardullo said. "We just don't have enough people in STEM fields to produce a competitive work force."
UC Riverside is trying to change that.
The university has STEM programs that target students and teachers in elementary, middle and high schools, and community colleges and universities. Many of the programs focus on middle schools because those grades are when children are discovering science and mathematics but have yet to decide whether they are interested in the subjects.
The UCR-based ALPHA Center, a clearinghouse that puts educational research into practice in K-12 schools in Inland Southern California, is the base for many of those middle school STEM programs. Since it was established in 1998, ALPHA Center programs have reached more than 212,000 students, more than 13,000 teachers and nearly 1,000 administrators.
In 2004, the ALPHA Center was recognized with a National Science Foundation Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring by President George W. Bush at the White House. The ceremony honored the center for establishing a network of symbiotic programs that provide academic, financial and mentoring support in mathematics education to underrepresented groups, particularly women.
Two ALPHA Center programs specifically target middle school students. Both are led by Pamela Clute, executive director of the ALPHA Center, UCR's assistant vice chancellor for educational and community engagement, and a mathematics educator for more than 40 years.
Girls Excelling in Mathematics for Success (GEMS) is a summer program that focuses on mathematics as it relates to college and business. Healthy Body-Healthy Mind is a weeklong summer program for boys and girls that focuses on developing a well-rounded individual by balancing the role of health education, fitness, nutrition and a positive mental attitude. Students receive instruction in mathematics as it relates to health and physical education.
The ALPHA Center also runs Mathematics Academy for Teaching Excellence (MATE), which establishes collaborations between mathematics teachers, university professors, undergraduate students interested in teaching and graduate students interested in research.
Cardullo, the UCR biology professor, also oversees two programs aimed at late- elementary and middle school teachers. He is working with several others, including Maria Chiara Simani, a former program director at the ALPHA Center and now executive director of the California Science Project, and Kimberly Hammond, a professor of biology at UCR.
They work for several weeks in the summer in the Ontario-Montclair and Corona- Norco Unified school districts with about 160 teachers from those districts and several others.
With research showing students need to be actively engaged to learn, Cardullo and the others present experiments that make the scientific method accessible and affordable, and able to be completed in a short time.
Elaine Haberer, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and materials science and engineering in the Bourns College of Engineering, and Marsha Ing, an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education, organized another program that assists middle school STEM teachers and students.
Haberer and Ing collaborated with educators at Mira Loma Middle School in the Jurupa Unified School District. These teachers also collaborate with UCR's Math Engineering Science and Achievement (MESA) Schools program, an award-winning program designed to inspire students who come from educationally and/or economically disadvantaged circumstances.
Last year, Haberer, Ing and three undergraduate STEM students implemented solar energy lessons with a classroom of eighth- grade students. In the coming months, they plan to work with up to five teachers to implement solar energy lesson plans and a solar-powered model car competition.
Haberer, who brings solar energy expertise, and Ing, who is interested in how students learn mathematics and science, feel middle school is the ideal time to reach students.
"No one expects all students to become engineers," Ing said. "But we hope to encourage more students to pursue engineering and build an informed public who supports emerging technologies."
Haberer said it is important for middle school students to get excited about engineering and realize the importance of subjects such as physics and calculus.
"They need to know this is not just tinkering, but that there is math and science behind what they are doing," Haberer said.
The STEM Academy, located within Central Middle School in the Riverside Unified School District, started in August with 200 fifth-, sixth– and seventh-grade students. The students receive 90 minutes of mathematics and science instruction each day.
"To get them in fifth and sixth grade, they are so excited about everything you present to them," said Tracy Lawrence, a science teacher at the academy. "It's just the time to catch their attention."
Several things set the school apart.
The school is in the process of setting up a mentoring program that will pair students with STEM professionals.
Ward Beyermann, a physics professor at UCR who has a son attending the STEM Academy, is chair of the academy's education partnership committee, which is helping to coordinate the mentor program.
He envisions mentors from area colleges and universities and high-tech industries helping to take science fair projects to the next level.
"In most cases, students put together the project, it is judged and then it disappears in the trash can," Beyermann said. "We are thinking of multi-year projects that will continue to get more sophisticated with time."
Also unique is a weekly symposium that brings in guest speakers such as David Morgan to talk about their careers in STEM fields. To date, about a half-dozen of the symposium speakers have been affiliated with UCR. They have spoken about everything from citrus to air quality and the smallest insect to the largest galaxy.
"This kind of connection with a university creates a pipeline from middle school to high school and right on to UCR," said Dale Moore, Riverside STEM Academy coordinator. "That's what we are looking for."
Young students are introduced to science, mathematics, technology and engineering with the goal of sparking a passion and inspiring a future career.
PUTTING OFF TODAY WHAT YOU CAN DO TOMORROW CAN BE AN EFFECTIVE STRATEGY, SAYS PROFESSOR JOHN PERRY.
Stacks of papers were piled up, waiting to be graded. Scholarly journal articles and essays for anthologies were long past their deadlines.
Renowned philosopher John R. Perry was depressed.
"I was feeling like a slug, even though most of my colleagues thought I was someone you go to to get something done," he recalled. "I decided to focus on what I was getting done."
So Perry tackled another task he'd been putting off for months — an essay about structured procrastination, a strategy of completing less-important tasks to avoid those higher on the priority list. The year was 1995 and Perry was a professor of philosophy at Stanford University. The Chronicle of Higher Education published his 1,100-word defense of procrastinators, "How to Procrastinate and Still Get Things Done," the following year.
Fifteen years later, in September 2011, that essay won the Ig Nobel Prize for Literature. A dubious distinction to be sure, but "a big hoot," Perry said of the awards that sponsoring magazine Annals of Improbable Research presents to honor achievements "that first make people laugh, and then make them think."
As Perry articulated in his original essay, structured procrastination is "an amazing strategy ... that converts procrastinators into effective human beings, respected and admired for all that they can accomplish and the good use they make of their time."
"Some people find the life of a procrastinator impossible to understand," he acknowledged. "They think it must be a passive- aggressive response, or an attempt to control things. It's just the way we are. My wife thinks if you're married to a procrastinator you become a nag. I think procrastinators should work hard not to be too annoying. They should pat themselves on the back for all of the things they've done."
Retired from Stanford and now a professor of philosophy at UCR, Perry is a leading scholar of personal identity, philosophy of language and philosophy of mind. Since the original essay began appearing on numerous websites, he also has become known as an expert on structured procrastination, a distinction that has gained him a new audience among procrastinators and those who live with them. All of the attention comes as something of a surprise to the scholar whose work is known to philosophers worldwide and to fans of the long-running "Philosophy Talk" program that airs weekly on 100 radio stations — including KUCR — in 30 states, Denmark and Australia (philosophytalk.org). The show, which Perry co-hosts, is part of Stanford's Humanities Outreach Initiative and covers topics ranging from baseball to the meaning of death, the nature of numbers and what movies are most interesting philosophically.
"Since I posted the original essay on the Internet I have gotten a lot of e-mail from people pouring their hearts out telling me that the essay really helped them," Perry said. "I think there are a lot of procrastinators out there who are a lot like me. They're not lazy and they're not psychotic. They have an approach to things that is not optimal. They are probably decent people who are getting a lot of things done."
Procrastinating does not mean doing nothing, he explained. "Procrastinators seldom do absolutely nothing; they do marginally useful things, such as gardening or sharpening pencils or making a diagram of how they will reorganize their files when they find the time," he wrote in 1995. "Why does the procrastinator do these things? Because accomplishing these tasks is a way of not doing something more important."
To make structured procrastination work, one must establish a hierarchy of tasks that must be done, listing them from the most urgent to the least important. "Even though the most important tasks are on top, you have worthwhile tasks to perform lower on the list. Doing those tasks becomes a way of not doing the things higher on the list. With this sort of appropriate task structure, you can become a useful citizen. Indeed, the procrastinator can even acquire, as I have, a reputation for getting a lot done."
Winning the Ig Nobel Prize may launch a new writing career for Perry. In the weeks after the award was announced he was contacted by several publishers and an agent who want him to put his thoughts on procrastination into a book that could be published by next Christmas.
John Martin Fischer, professor and chair of the UCR Department of Philosophy, is not surprised. He described Perry as a highly productive, prolific philosopher who has published many books and more than 100 sophisticated articles in academic venues. "So he gets his work done. But I will say that sometimes he — well — procrastinates in replying to e-mails."
A hallmark of Perry's work, Fischer said, is that it is comprehensive and systematic.
"He writes beautifully, both in the context of very sophisticated, technical philosophical work and also philosophical work that reaches a wider audience. Perhaps my very favorite piece by John Perry is his little dialogue concerning personal identity and immortality (published by Hackett Press). This is accessible, entertaining and at the same time philosophically illuminating. Perry is, quite simply, a great writer, and it is no surprise that presses are lining up to publish his essay on procrastination."
Perry continues to ponder procrastination, and those reflections appear with self-deprecating humor on his website, structuredprocrastination. com. (Visitors to the website may purchase coffee mugs, T-shirts and bags, each with the saying, "I'm not wasting time. I'm a structured procrastinator.") In essays written over the past decade or so he counsels fellow procrastinators to consider that some of them may be perfectionists, and that procrastination is a way of giving themselves permission to do a less-than-perfect job on a task that didn't require perfection; that the best way for procrastinators to handle volumes of e-mail and avoid distractions is to read it only when able to schedule an interruption, such as needing to eat or working on a laptop whose battery will die in an hour; and recognizing the difference between "to-do" and priority lists, which are key to being a successful structured procrastinator.
A priority list is the long-term list, "the projects that will occupy you for a day or a week or a month or longer, perhaps your whole life, if you have something like 'Learn Chinese' at the top."
"The to-do list is what you hope to get done in a day or two; it should include some of the ones from the priority list, but not all of them. If you make up a to-do list that has everything on it you are supposed to do, it will be a frightening object, and you will immediately lose it, or figure out some other way of never looking at it."
One mistake procrastinators make is to minimize their commitments, assuming that if they have only a few things to do, they will quit procrastinating and get them done.
"But this approach ignores the basic nature of the procrastinator and destroys his most important source of motivation," Perry wrote in his original essay. "The few tasks on the list will be, by definition, the most important. And the only way to avoid doing them will be to do nothing. This is the way to become a couch potato, not an effective human being."
By Mark Cronlund Anderson (Ph.D. '95) and Carmen L. Robertson
University of Manitoba Press
September 2011, 336 pages
"Seeing Red" is a study of how Canadian English-language newspapers have portrayed Aboriginal peoples from 1869 to the present day. It assesses a wide range of publications on topics that include the sale of Rupert's Land, the signing of Treaty 3, the Northwest Rebellion and Louis Riel, the death of Pauline Johnson, the outing of Grey Owl, the discussions surrounding Bill C-31, the Bended Elbow standoff at Kenora, Ontario, and the Oka Crisis. The authors uncover overwhelming evidence that the colonial imaginary not only thrives but also dominates depictions of Aboriginal peoples in mainstream newspapers.
Anderson is associate professor of history at the University of Regina and coordinator of interdisciplinary studies at Luther College at the University of Regina.
By Ariel Dinar
Edward Elgar Publishing Inc.
December 2011, 544 pages
This book explores the interaction between climate change and the agriculture sector. Agriculture is essential to the livelihood of people and nations, especially in the developing world. Therefore, any impact on it will have significant economic, social and political ramifications. Scholars from around the world and from various fields are brought together to explore this topic.
Dinar is UCR professor of environmental economics and policy director of the Water Science and Policy Center.
By Elizabeth D. Leonard (M.A. '88, Ph.D.'92)
University of North Carolina Press
October 2011, 448 pages
In "Lincoln's Forgotten Ally," Leonard offers a full-scale biography of Holt, who has been overlooked and misunderstood by historians and students of the war. In his capacity as the administration's chief arbiter and enforcer of military law, Holt strove tenaciously, often against strong resistance, to implement Lincoln's wartime policies, including emancipation. After Lincoln's assassination, Holt accepted responsibility for pursuing and bringing to justice everyone involved in John Wilkes Booth's conspiracy. The book seeks to restore Holt, who dedicated both his energy and his influence to ensuring that the Federal victory would bring about lasting positive change for the nation, to his rightful place in American memory.
Leonard is the John J. and Cornelia V. Gibson Professor of History at Colby College.
These books are available for purchase at the UCR Campus Store and online at www.ucrcampusstore.ucr.edu They have been discounted up to 30 percent.
By Jason S. Nino ('07)
Trafford Publishing
July 2011, 136 pages
In a collection of contemporary romantic poetry, Nino explores love as a human emotion, with all of its turmoil, longing, false hope, disappointment and exuberance, from the perspective of a young man's expressive heart. Nino reaches into the depths of his heart and explores deeply every possible feeling one can experience under the spell of love. This book chronicles the seasons of love from sighs and moans to screams and silence.
Nino is a writer living in Southern California.
By S. Karthick Ramakrishnan, editor; Janelle Wong, author and editor; Taeku Lee, editor; and Jane Junn, editor
Russell Sage Foundation
October 2011, 320 pages
"Asian American Political Participation" is a comprehensive study of Asian-American political behavior, including voting, political donations, community organizing and political protests. The book examines why some groups participate while others do not, why certain civic activities are deemed preferable to others, and why Asian socioeconomic advantage has so far not led to increased political clout. The book also shows that the motivations for and impediments to political participation are as diverse as the Asian-American population.
Ramakrishnan is a UCR associate professor of political science.
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By Zachary A. Smith and Jon Derek Croteau
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
January 2012, 228 pages
In "Making the Case for Leadership," authors Smith and Croteau take a look at 10 high-performing and successful higher-ed CAOs with information about their career paths, leadership philosophies and other leadership variables. Additionally, the book presents the authors' advancement leadership competency model, based on the results of their interviews and data analysis. Croteau and Smith conclude the book with the lessons learned and implications for the future related to the next generation of advancement leaders and future leadership development and training programs.
Smith is assistant vice chancellor for advancement at UCR.
By Nicole I. zur Nieden
Humana Press
November 2010, 348 pages
The book is of interest to those working on osteogenesis and to labs that culture stem cells for other purposes. Topics deal with methods to culture and differentiate both mouse and human embryonic stem cells, providing a valuable resource for anyone entering the field of embryonic stem cell culture. Zur Nieden has contributed four chapters to the book, which are based on methods developed in her lab. Other members of UCR's Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience who contributed chapters are Sabrina Lin, Prue Talbot and Andre Obenaus.
Zur Nieden is a UCR assistant professor of cell biology and neuroscience.
More than 325 people gathered in October to attend the Chancellor's Dinner to benefit merit scholarships. The annual event was also the 25th anniversary of the UC Riverside Alumni Awards of Distinction.
During the event, Chancellor Timothy P. White spoke of the transformative role that UCR plays in the lives of its nearly 21,000 students and thanked all those who contribute their personal and financial resources to sustain the institution's mission.
The Outstanding Young Alumnus Award was presented to Bollywood choreographer Nakul Dev Mahajan ('02). The Alumni Service Award went to agricultural banking executive Vernon Crowder ('73, '75). Internationally known best-selling author Susan Elizabeth George ('70) was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award, and Nick ('70) and Susan Goldware were awarded the UCR Medallion in recognition of their numerous volunteer and philanthropic contributions to the campus.
The event was sponsored by the UCR Alumni Association and the UCR Foundation.
Although sports have been touted as a "way out" for some struggling youth, it is important to manage the expectations of those who dream of becoming professional athletes.
For me, youth sports have been more than a source of research. In sports I have developed lifelong friendships.
Only a few months after graduating with his bachelor's degree, Jermaine Perkins wondered with disappointment what was next. Jermaine, a college basketball player, had dreamed for some time that he would enter the National Basketball Association after graduation. I had been trying to prepare him for the possibility that his hoop dream was over. During phone conversations I would ask him about getting a summer job while he was waiting for news about basketball opportunities. He was focused on working out and believed he had a real chance to play overseas, so he told me that he didn't want to start a job that he'd be quitting in a month's time. By the end of the summer, with no prospects, Jermaine reluctantly accepted that basketball was no longer an option.
Jermaine's stress level rose and he began texting and calling more. He was "playing house," living with his girlfriend and her daughter, and his lack of employment was a source of frequent arguments.
I decided to schedule weekly text check-ins.
I had some idea about what he was going through. I had married young and we were expecting a child after only six months of marriage. I offered ideas about where Jermaine might find work, encouraged him to activate his college and basketball networks, and even sent a care package. My biggest emphasis was the relationship he had with his girlfriend.
Jermaine caught a break when the Department of Public Social Services responded to his application and invited him to interview. He asked if I would write a letter of recommendation (of course, I did), and we talked about what he could wear and how great it would be if he got the job.
He did get the job and started after a couple of weeks. I felt relief and excitement for him. Coincidentally, I learned that I needed to attend a meeting in a city only an hour away from him. We agreed to meet and he asked if I had any spare dress clothes to give him so that he could look professional on the job.
I packed a large duffel and gave it to him when we met.
Jermaine is the younger of two sons who were raised by a single mother. His father left and started a new family before Jermaine was a teenager.
Jermaine felt abandoned and sought out validation, love and support from other men.
The allure of the "corner" was strong. He briefly toyed with becoming involved in the street, like the men who wore trendy clothes, drove nice cars and were revered and feared.
Sports were a strong alternative. He knew that athletes were given respect. He also didn't want to disappoint his mother.
Still, escaping from his situation was just a dream and college seemed unrealistic.
He and I met inauspiciously in an old and stuffy South Philly basketball gym. While I have coached more than 100 other young men, Jermaine and I have become family; we text or call on holidays and birthdays; and he calls on Father's Day. He calls me his godfather, and we end conversations with "I love you."
The relationship developed as I coached him for four summers during his high school years. I tutored him in math, played at the playground with him and counseled him and his mother regarding choices for high school and college. We both have grown and been positively affected. I have served as a confidant, adviser, encourager and father figure.
At this very important moment in sports — considering the tragic cases of sexual assault and molestation allegations at both Syracuse and Penn State universities — it is prudent to consider sports and youth development.
There are dangers everywhere and power can run amok, especially in big-time sports. Not all coaches are mentors and not all mentors have a child's best interest.
Yet there are plenty of adults who not only give of their technical expertise in sports but also care for youth and help them believe in themselves and attain long-term goals. I feel a sense of obligation to serve and be sought out by others and to act as a bridge to greater opportunities, knowledge and success.
Sports are one of many meeting places where people can serve others, and humanity can reach new heights.
Scott Brooks is a UC Riverside associate professor of sociology.
Scott Brooks
By Tahany M. Habashy, M.D.
"The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease."
-Sir William Osler, widely considered the father of modern medicine
This quote describes well what we now call "medical home." Patient-centered medical home is a team-based model of medical care led by personal physicians who provide patients with continuous and actively coordinated and integrated care throughout their lifetime to maximize health outcomes. Using the term "home" is not in reference to a physical "home" but rather the concept of a team working together to give each patient the best care possible. "Wellness," the whole person approach, is what the medical home is all about. An entire team of health-care professionals is synchronized by a primary physician who keeps everyone on the same page. The team includes other specialty doctors, pharmacists, nurses, dietitians, health-care educators, social workers and other health-care personnel that can be called in as needed. Ultimately, under the patient- centered medical home, a person's health- care management and treatment will be tailored and actively coordinated based on his or her specific health needs and history.
Why is patient-centered care important?
The American Academy of Family Physicians took on the goal that every American should have a personal medical home that serves as a focal point for delivering the highest quality of care. This would include preventive medical care to help us all stay healthy, immediate access for acute issues, long-term effective management of chronic problems, as well as addressing age-related behavioral and psychological well-being. Good health care also includes ensuring safety and quality standards, enhancing proper and timely access and payment/incentive reform with the correct rationalizing of costs.
Electronic health records could play the vital role of keeping a patient's information readily available to every health-care provider. This will allow the patient to avoid explaining his/her entire medical history every time they see a new health-care provider. This could drastically cut down time needed to evaluate and treat the patient. You may even be able to get the information you need without actually visiting the doctor's office. Through e-mail and the Internet, contacting your doctor may not require a patient to take a whole day off work to make a physical appointment for an issue that could be resolved through electronic records and e-mail communications.
Last October, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services adopted the model of the medical home, and approximately $42 million will be spent in the next three years to implement the patient- centered medical home in 500 community health centers in 44 states.
Training Physicians at UCR Here at UCR, we implement problem- based learning methods where medical students are exposed to medical problems in a real life scenario very early in their medical education. The students quickly learn that along with quality in medical education and training, the key to success in delivery of leading-edge health care is coordinated and integrated teamwork.
Dr. Tahany M. Habashy is an assistant clinical professor of family medicine in the UCR School of Medicine.
March 20–21
There has never been a better time to make the case for UCR with our state officials. Our students face rising tuition and limited access due to reduced state funding. The UCR School of Medicine had to delay its planned opening because funding was not included in the most recent state budget. You can help make a difference!
On UCR Advocacy Day, alumni, parents and friends meet in small groups with elected officials to discuss issues affecting higher education and UCR in particular. Join us in Sacramento as we carry our message to elected leaders. For more information and to register visit www.alumni.ucr.edu/ucday.
March 2-3
There is something for everyone at Homecoming! Bring the whole family back to campus for this annual celebration. Check out these activities:
For more information and to register online, visit www.alumni.ucr. edu/homecoming.
March 3
Anthropology alumni are invited to a special reunion and tribute to Professor Michael Kearney (1937-2009) during Homecoming 2012. Connect with old friends and faculty as we celebrate the life and legacy of Kearney, whose insights and contributions continue to inspire colleagues, alumni and current students.
Before the reunion luncheon there will be a presentation by UCR Associate Vice Chancellor and Professor of anthropology Yolanda Moses ('75 M.A., '76 Ph.D.) titled "Reflections on Dr. Michael Kearny, an Anthropologist for the 21st Century."
For more information and to register online, visit www.alumni.ucr.edu/homecoming.
March 2-3
To celebrate UCR Chicano Student Programs 40th Anniversary, a special alumni reunion is planned during Homecoming. This will be an opportune time to see all the changes at UCR while reflecting on the impact that Chicano Student Programs has had on the campus and students.
Activities include a reunion dinner, Chicano Student Programs open house and a special presentation by program founder and UCR Professor Emeritus Carlos Cortez titled "We Started Small: The Beginning of the Chicano Experience at UCR." Don't miss this opportunity to see fellow classmates and friends!
For more information and to register online, visit www.alumni.ucr. edu/homecoming.
Glynnis Kaye ('75 B.A.) is the latest artist to have her work displayed in the Goldware Family Library at the Alumni and Visitors Center.
Upon graduation from UCR, Glynnis moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. Drawing on her experience as a news editor for the Highlander, she pursued a career in corporate communications while studying and creating art in her free time. She worked primarily in ceramics before finding her niche in mosaics and glass fusing.
Kaye is now a resident artist and teacher at the Institute of Mosaic Art in Oakland. A psychology major at UCR, she has a keen interest in the social aspects of creativity and a strong belief in the power of art to heal and bring people together. To that end, she has collaborated on a number of community mosaic murals and other team-building mosaic projects.
Over the past few years, Kaye has traveled and studied extensively with other mosaic artists. "Pieceful Reflections" is a collection of her work representing a number of different mosaic styles, techniques and traditions.
Her work will be on display from May 21 to Nov.12, from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
"Voyage, travel and change of place impart vigor." — Seneca
Traveling with the UCR Alumni Association provides stellar opportunities for a change of place. Learn about Highlander history in Scotland, Aug. 13-21. A highlight of the tour will be the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, featuring entertainment in celebration of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee.
Cruise the Danube, "the king of Europe's rivers," from Prague to Sofia, Sept. 11-25. The waterway offers a veritable feast of unparalleled history, ancient capitals, picturesque villages, palaces and medieval castles. Or travel to China and Tibet, Sept. 13-18, for an extensive tour that offers a unique blend of ancient and modern sights.
How to contact the UCR Alumni Association:
Web site: alumni.ucr.edu
E-mail: ucralum@ucr.edu Phone: (951) UCR-ALUM or (800) 426-ALUM (2586)
'60 Edward Blakely published his book "Master of Disaster" in September. Drawing on his experience running the recovery of Hurricane Katrina and his involvement with the aftermath of 9/11, the book aims to provide post-disaster policymakers and implementers with a set of recipes that can be altered depending on the situation. In addition to this newest publication, he also has authored and edited several other books, including "My Storm," which is a firsthand account of the post-Katrina recovery process.
'65 Brent Barnhart was appointed by Gov. Brown on Aug. 11 to serve as the director of the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC). Prior to his appointment, Brent retired as a senior counsel at Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, where he assisted in-compliance activities, including interactions with the DMHC. He also represented Kaiser Permanente at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, dealing primarily with financial regulation standards and national insurance privacy standards. He has extensive experience in both health care and government, having worked as a policy committee consultant to the California State Assembly for three years in a variety of assignments, including the Judiciary Committee, the Insurance Committee and the Office of Research, where he dealt primarily with health, insurance and corporate governance issues. Prior to his government service, he was an attorney and lobbyist for the health insurance industry in Sacramento as legislative affairs director for Blue Cross of California, and as counsel and secretary to the Association of California Life and Health Insurance Companies. Previous experience also includes serving as the California legislative director of the American Civil Liberties Union and representing the ACLU before the California Legislature.
'99, Sociology/Law and Society
Fletcher is an employee relations analyst for Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and serves as president of the L.A. Chapter of the UCR Alumni Association. While at UCR, he played on the men's basketball team from 1997 to 1999.
1. What skills did you develop as an athlete at UCR and how did they help you later in life?
Discipline, consistency and persistency. Regardless of what you do in life, a lot of your success surrounds your ability to stay focused on the tasks at hand, your ability to repeat what works for you and your desire to see your endeavors through, regardless of the obstacles and detractors.
2. Tell us about a defining moment in your life.
It would be the first job I took after college. It validated all the things I was told by my parents. Keep myself out of trouble and get an education, and life becomes simple after that.
3. How do you overcome obstacles?
I break the opportunity down into smaller parts and look for the quick wins right away. An obstacle is an opportunity to grow and stretch yourself beyond your current comfort level.
4. What truly inspires you?
Being better than I was the day before. Growth in your life is essential, whether it be personal or professional.
5. Any advice for new grads?
Find out what you love, what you are good at and what interests you, and pursue those endeavors. Don't take a job because of the income or what the business card will say because that won't equate to happiness.
To update your membership, visit www.alumni.ucr.edu
'70 Edwin Clausen has become the fifth president of Daemen College in Amherst, N.Y. He joined Daemen in spring 2000. He previously worked at Arizona International College at the University of Arizona in Tucson. In January 2011, he was among one of the community leaders honored by the National Federation for Just Communities of Western New York. He was also recognized by the National Federation for his role in designing and implementing the Daemen College Center for Sustainable Communities and Civic Engagement. Since its inception approximately seven years ago, the center has collaborated with city of Buffalo neighborhoods in Seneca Babcock, the West Side and the Fruit Belt to bring about positive change for residents in each community. This has been accomplished through improvements in nutrition and health care, helping to create economic self-sufficiency and building environmental awareness. He is also the author of five books, has authored and co-authored numerous articles and has delivered more than 75 papers in more than six countries.
'73 Regina L. Darby is an attorney based in New York City. In 1980 she opened her own firm, where she has successfully represented a number of high-profile clients, including former New York Secretary of State Randy Daniels. Regina has received numerous awards including the Metropolitan Black Bar Association's Lawyer of the Year Award in 1995 and the Council on Legal Education Opportunity's Alumni Award in 2006. In addition, she was the first African- American woman appointed to the board of directors for the New York State Trial Lawyers Association. Regina also has served as a legal commentator for a number of television news programs, including Geraldo Rivera and the Howard Beach plaintiffs on Channel 4 news.
'74 Lee McDougal was re-elected to the Chaffey Community College governing board in November. Chaffey is located in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Lee also serves as president of the Leadership Connection, chairman of Augusta Communities Inc., chairman of Housing Partners Inc. (both nonprofit housing corporations), and past chairman of the West End Communications Authority. He is an active community member, devoting much of his time to service organizations, including the Mount Baldy chapter of Habitat for Humanity advisory board. Lee retired from the city of Montclair in 2010, after completing 35 years of service there, the last 18 years as city manager. Lee is also a former president of the UCR Alumni Association.
THE GIFT OF EDUCATION, RENEWED "My four years at UCR not only provided me with an excellent liberal arts education, but also taught me tools and skills that have greatly enriched and informed my life. I hope this bequest will make it possible for future students to become the best they can be at UCR." Just a year after graduation from UCR (anthropology and English), Ann Kelsey ('68) was serving her country in war-torn Vietnam. As a green civilian recruit with Army Special Services, Ann was thrilled to be sent to Asia, where she launched her library science career as librarian for the troops while feeding her interest in the art, culture and history of the area. She credits her UCR classes and favorite professor for expanding her world view, giving her a solid grounding in Asian and Vietnamese culture and history, and whetting her appetite for much more. She's fed this abiding interest by avid reading and multiple return trips to Vietnam and Asia. For enriching and fulfilling these aspects of her life, Ann has remembered UCR in her will. Enriched lives that contribute and inspire. Every donation to UCR lives on in its students, graduates, faculty members or research solutions. www.ucr.edu/giving
'83 Scott Barber was named city manager of Riverside in December. Scott had served as interim manager since August 2011. He has worked as the community development director in Riverside since August of 2005 and has nearly 25 years of public sector experience. He has held a variety of leadership positions including administration of a county transportation and land management agency.
'88 Patricia Lock- Dawson was elected to the Riverside Unified School District school board in November. Patricia is a small-business owner and environmental consultant with 18 years of experience developing programs in land use and the environment. She serves as chairman of the city of Riverside Planning Commission and is a gubernatorial appointee to the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.
'89 Bharat D. Patel was elected to the City Council of El Monte, Calif., in November. In addition to serving on the City Council, Bharat is currently serving a second term on the Planning Commission for the city. He has also served on the Patriotic Commission and the Property Maintenance Commission. Bharat started his career in accounting and worked as a financial auditor for Simpson & Simpson, a certified public accounting firm based in Los Angeles. He then moved into the hospitality industry in El Monte, after investing in a run-down
'59, Art
Weeks is a writer living and working in historic Ellicott City, Md. Before retiring in 2005, she worked in cultural resources for the National Park Service in Washington, D.C., for 30 years. She now writes a blog that focuses on the Ellicott City Historic District and its shops, galleries and history. The blog also includes travel experiences and poetry.
1. If you could meet anyone from history, who would it be?
Realistically, I would want to meet and talk to the 20th century poet from Washington State, Theodore Roethke. Do I only get one? There would be a table with Roethke and with Dylan Thomas, who is the height of verbal musicality, in my view. I would listen to the pace of their speech to find answers to their creative genius. Connecting that meeting to my own story — I have always written, and always written poetry and often write it while I am walking. Now, thanks to the Internet (even Facebook!) I am publishing some of it here in the United States as well as the United Kingdom.
2. Can you recommend a book?
Yes. Natalie Goldberg's "Writing Down the Bones." Another, Ann Patchett's "Bel Canto." We choose books for different reasons and when I find one that touches something in my deeper being, I am mesmerized, and read parts of it over and over.
3. What do you know now that you wish you had known in college?
I wish I had known that my creativity would inform every aspect of my life, and that it would become stronger over time, a kind of key to my authenticity — in a larger sense, to save me. You may have noticed that the blog on SPAIN is written in Japanese Senryu, a short form conducive to humor and pointing out the "human predicament" — errors, joy, transformation. I would have written in this form much earlier. One other thing: I love being alone a lot and, when traveling to meet people, connecting for a moment, then saying goodbye and moving on with grace.
4. What is your favorite memory from UCR?
It would have to be Denny Weeks imitating me stirring my buttermilk in the Barn. I was charmed; he was so football big, but then did the girlie thing. It embarrassed me and attracted me at the same time. We were married 14 years and had two beautiful children, now adults, of course.
5. Any advice for new graduates?
The economy has become so difficult now that this is a difficult question to answer. I didn't begin working for money until I was in my mid-30s, but then worked at the same job — and grew in it — for 30 years. So yes, I would say to have options, always, and to evolve in a job or relationship into who you really are, rather than trying to side-step it and listen to others. I'll put it another way: Remain open and in a constant state of discovery, questing for the authentic self.
Advertisment property and turning it into AAA Diamond status with a national franchise affiliation. In 2010, he received highest honors in the second annual Procter & Gamble Professional "Family Hotelier of the Year" award competition. In 2006, Bharat also helped to found a nonprofit group, the San Gabriel Valley Hospitality Association, and he currently serves as its president.
'91 Janet Alexander has taught for the Ontario-Montclair School District (OMSD) for 16 years. Recently she changed schools and is now teaching kindergarten at Lincoln Elementary School in Ontario. Three years ago, she completed a reading specialist certificate with biliteracy emphasis through UCR Extension's Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Institute. She was a founding member of OMSD's Dual Immersion Planning team that led to the opening of the Central Language Academy, which is the district's dual immersion magnet school ... Lori Roeder married Adam Kranz on July 30. The pair was introduced by a mutual friend. Lori is the owner of San Diego Market Realty and has been practicing real estate for the past 10 years. Lori and Adam are also very happy to announce the birth of their first child, Kyle Timothy Kranz, on Nov. 7, 2011.
'93 Stephen C. Bishop portrays MLB outfielder David Justice in the movie "Moneyball." The film, which stars Brad Pitt, depicts the story of Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to put together a baseball team through use of computer analysis to draft his players. A former UCR baseball player, Stephen has extensive experience in the game, having also played for the Atlanta Braves' Idaho Falls affiliate in the Pioneer League, the Sioux Falls Canaries, and the High Desert Mavericks, the advanced A ball team for the Baltimore Orioles. As an actor, Stephen has also appeared in TV series such as "LOST," "Grey's Anatomy," "The Game, Girlfriends," and had a role in the film "The Rundown" in 2003. Stephen will next be seen in the upcoming films "Safe House" and "Battleship."
'05 Gabe Estrada is a web developer at Loyola Law School. There, he plays a key role in coordinating institutional web-related activities and is responsible for setting up the architecture of the law school's umbrella site as well as the internal web portal used by faculty and staff. He also works with other university departments to help them develop new websites and improve existing sites. Prior to working for Loyola, Gabe worked for the UCR Office of Alumni and Constituent Relations as the communications and technology specialist.
Devising a healthy future… Join the UCR Alumni Association for Life Wendy Auyeung Suljak ('01 Biology, '03 M.B.A.) Proud UCR Alumni Association Life Member Wendy Suljak is currently a sales representative in the medical supplies division of Covidien, a global health care product company. Since receiving her M.B.A. from UCR, she has found her niche in medical device sales and marketing, working in increasingly responsible positions for several companies as a market research analyst, senior product manager and marketing manager. Wendy lives in the Bay Area. "UCR gave me my start by recognizing and helping me to develop my talents. My UCR mentors shaped my interest in medical marketing and gave me eye-opening experiences that guide my business practices today. I became a life member of the Alumni Association with deep appreciation and gratitude for scholarships and fellowships that made my education possible." Become a lifetime member. To join, call (951) UCR-ALUM (827-2586) www.alumni.ucr.edu/membership
'06 Guillermina Gina Nunez is an assistant professor of anthropology at UT-El Paso. In February 2011, she was recognized as one of 12 emerging scholars in the United States and as a Professor of Purpose by Diverse Issues in Higher Education, a publication that provides coverage, commentary and analysis of higher education for and about underrepresented and historically excluded groups. She also was the recipient of a 2007 Texas Compact Faculty fellowship for excellence in service learning, an IMPACT faculty fellowship at UT-El Paso in 2008 and a faculty fellowship from the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education in 2010. She has taught at UT-El Paso since 2005.
'08 Brian Baldwin recently completed intermediate and advanced jet training at Training Air Wing 2 Naval Air Station in Kingsville, Texas.
It's easier than ever than ever to nominate a fellow UCR alumnus(a) for an Alumni Award of Distinction. If you know an alumnus(a) who has made a difference in the lives of others through outstanding professional, personal or community contributions, please let us know. The deadline to submit names to the Alumni Office is March 16. The award categories are: Distinguished Alumnus Award, Outstanding Young Almnus Award and the Alumni Service Award.
Recipients will be honored at the Fourth Annual Chancellor's Dinner, which will be held in the fall. Nomination forms and more information on each award category are available at www.alumni.ucr.edu
Howard H Hays Jr., known to all as "Tim," died in October. He was 94.
Mr. Hays was a nationally respected journalist and owner and publisher of The Press-Enterprise, leading the paper to a Pulitzer Prize and two important Supreme Court victories. His career there spanned more than five decades.
He was one of a group of community leaders responsible for lobbying for the establishment of a University of California at Riverside. Over the years he served as a founding member of the UCR Board of Trustees. He also supported the creation and collections of the UCR/ California Museum of Photography. He established an endowed scholarship fund in honor of his father and another endowed fund to support the UCR Honors Program.
In 1966 he founded The Press- Enterprise Lecture, which brought national figures in journalism to speak each year at UC Riverside. Speakers included Ben Bradlee, Katherine Graham, George Will, Howard K. Smith, Geneva Overholser, Clarence Page and many others.
The lecture is endowed as the Hays/Press-Enterprise Lecture in honor of its founder.
One of the most famous stories about Tim Hays, who was a humble man, is that he sometimes gave financial support to the campus anonymously. His managing editor at the newspaper once pressed to file a lawsuit against the university seeking the release of the name of an anonymous donor.
Tim Hays finally had to admit that there was no need to sue.
"I'm your man," he said.
Mr. Hays is survived by his wife, Susie, of St. Louis; two sons, Bill Hays of Newport Beach, Calif., and Tom Hays of New York City; and a brother, Dan Hays of Riverside.
A video tribute is at www.youtube.com/watch?v= zM9KKga_5QY.
For oral history interview, visit: www.ucrhistory.ucr.edu/hays.htm
John Holland, alumnus and former UCR Alumni Association president died in October. He was 72.
Mr. Holland graduated from UCR in 1962. He received his teaching credential from California State University, Hayward, in 1968. He taught photography and art at Loara High School in Anaheim, and in the Cal State and community college systems. In 1972 he opened his own graphic design firm and had a robust career in design, art and marketing. Mr. Holland designed the current logo for the UCR Alumni Association as well as the 50th Anniversary Pioneer Alumni Reunion Memory Book. He was a member of the UCR Alumni Association Board of Directors and served as president from 1977-78.
He is survived by his wife, Adele; two sons, Gray and Rod; and two granddaughters, Emma and Kate.
Memorial gifts can be made in John's memory to the UCR Alumni Association Scholarship Fund. Checks should be made to the UCR Foundation with "Alumni Scholarship Fund in memory of John Holland" in the memo line, and can be sent to the UCR Alumni Association at 2203 Alumni and Visitors Center, Riverside, CA 92521
Katherine Siva Saubel, a Cahuilla elder, ethnobotanist and friend of UC Riverside students, died in November. She was 91.
Ms. Saubel served for many years on the Chancellor's Native American Advisory Committee, spoke frequently at the annual Medicine Ways Conference and shared her knowledge of Cahuilla art, language and culture with UCR students.
In 2002, Ms. Saubel was awarded the Chancellor's Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the University of California.
The daughter of a Cahuilla medicine woman, Ms. Saubel was the co-founder of the Malki Museum and the Malki Press and a scholar who lectured throughout the world on the Cahuilla language and culture. She was the first Native American female to graduate from Palm Springs High School. She lived on Morongo tribal lands near Banning until her death.
She is survived by her son, Allen; four grandchildren; two great- grandchildren; and two great-great- grandchildren.
In many ways, Marc Rzepczynski is your average 26-year-old UCR grad. He bought a condo in January, has a girlfriend he adores and loves his job, even though it keeps him away from his friends and family in Southern California for months at a time.
But such is the life of a professional baseball player. And as a key member of the 2011 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals, he has no plans to change anything.
"The fact that I have won a World Series really hasn't sunk in yet," said the left-handed relief pitcher. "It is a childhood dream to play in the World Series. I hate to use this word, but it is kind of cool."
Rzepczynski (pronounced Zep-chin-skee) was part of the 2007 Highlanders' team that won the Big West championship and went to the NCAA Tournament. A fifth-round pick in the 2007 draft by the Toronto Blue Jays, he left school early to pitch in the minor leagues, but returned to UCR in the off-season to finish his studies. He received his bachelor's degree in business in 2008.
"Not many big leaguers have their degrees, so that was a big thing for me," he said. "I am hoping to play a long time, but my career could end tomorrow, so I have my degree to fall back on."
He quickly rose through the Toronto system, reaching the majors in 2009. The Toronto media, no doubt perplexed by his 11-letter last name, nicknamed him "Scrabble."
"I was very fortunate to be in the big leagues after less than two years in the minors," he said. "Being 23 years old and in the big leagues, I couldn't ask for anything more."
In July 2011, his pitching caught the attention of the Cardinals' brass, which made him the lynchpin of an eight-player trade with the Blue Jays. Coming out of the bullpen, he helped the Cardinals win 23 of their last 31 games to earn a spot in the playoffs.
After a rough postseason debut, where he admits that he was "wrapped up in the scenery" of the playoffs, Rzepczynski allowed just four hits over his next 11 appearances. His biggest moment came in the first game of the World Series when he came in with two runners on base, one out, and the Cardinals nursing a 3-2 lead over the Texas Rangers. He struck out the next two batters to end the threat.
While his pitching got him noticed, it was his surname that catapulted him into the public eye. It was mispronounced by announcers, opponents and even his own manager. Some avoided it entirely by calling him "the lefty" or "Scrabble." The New York Times printed a story on that theme, noting his name is worth 30 points in the game, but is only possible if you use the blank tile.
Rzepczynski is the fourth UCR alumnus to play on a World Series winning team, joining John Lowenstein (Baltimore, 1983), Troy Percival (Anaheim, 2002) and Dan Runzler (San Francisco, 2010).
"Runzler texted me the night that we won," he recalled. "He said, 'congrats, enjoy it and soak it all in, because it is going to fly by really fast.'"
Illustration by Zach Trenholm
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