Academic Senate Advances New Degree,
Hosts Communications and Supercomputing Leaders

By Paul K. Mueller | February 6, 2006

The UCSD Academic Senate met Tuesday and approved a joint motion by the Committee on Educational Policy and the Graduate Council to establish a combined five-year degree program focused on international studies.

The new program would lead to a bachelor’s of arts degree in international studies and a master’s degree in international affairs. The senate advanced the motion with no dissensions and no abstentions, and it will now go the system-wide senate for final approval.

Senate Chair Jean-Bernard Minster introduced Marsha Chandler, senior vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, who spoke briefly on the governor’s 2006-07 budget – which should allow both cost-of-living and merit increases as well a reduction in student fees – and updated the assembly on the status of ongoing searches for campus leadership positions, including about 100 faculty searches.

Minster then discussed the UC Representative Assembly’s position on executive compensation, which encourages transparency, shared governance, fairness, and a focus on merit. The assembly will also examine faculty welfare issues, he said, including the future of the University of California retirement system.

The vote for the new five-year degree program was preceded by some timely guest speakers: Stacie Spector, associate vice chancellor of University Communications and Fran Berman, professor of computer science engineering and director of the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC).

Recent news items have focused on the SDSC’s role in supporting Calit2, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Geisel Library, and other organizations in high-technology research initiatives; while University Communications has been handling the UCSD portion of news stories about compensation practices across the UC system.

Spector, who spoke first, described her background in national, state and local politics and media relations – including a stint at the White House for the Clinton administration – and described how her 10 years in Washington, D.C. (and growing up in L.A.) had helped prepare her for her role at UCSD. “The departments of government are much like university departments,” she said, with a common mission but sometimes competing priorities.

“We have incredible bragging rights,” she said, speaking of the university’s numerous achievements, “and it’s our job to get those stories out.” She described her office’s resources, including an on-campus studio for radio and television interviews with faculty experts, and encouraged faculty and staff to use University Communications contacts and expertise to help publicize their people, events, awards and accomplishments.

Addressing senate questions about news stories critical of UC compensation, she said that the newspapers involved had been provided with complete and accurate information, but their stories didn’t always reflect that. “That’s their right,” she said, “it’s their story. We just have to tell the truth, and be honest about what we do.”

Berman, in her presentation, described SDSC’s role in predicting, analyzing and responding to catastrophes, citing the center’s work for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. SDSC collaborated with the Red Cross, Microsoft, and other groups to organize and consolidate data sources – to help make sense of the flood of information that accompanied the floodwaters.

SDSC, said Berman, is a leader in the new world of “cyberinfrastructure,” which is a combination of data resources and the “glue” holding them together – integrating software, systems and organizations.

As a National Data Cyberinfrastructure Center, said Berman, the San Diego group supports the new era of educational communication, “which requires unprecedented integration,” with the basic task of turning “the deluge of data” into information and then into knowledge.

With no special committee reports, reports of faculties or petitions of students to consider, the Academic Senate adjourned, with its next meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 28.