The UC Board of Regents will make a visit to the UC Berkeley Campus June 11 and June 12. The meeting will begin with a public input session at 10 a.m., followed by presentations on the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory and the Undergraduate Education Initiative. Forums will be held on the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society Institute, planning academic strategies and the future development plans for the campus.
Additionally, the UC Regents committee on Grounds and Buildings will meet to discuss taking action on a feasibility study in order to recommend policies on UC systemwide green building standards on clean energy. They will also discuss plans for a parking lot expansion for the UC Davis Medical Center. Other items to be discussed include UC Irvine’s computer science building and student center expansion, UC Santa Cruz’s habitat conservation plan for a faculty housing project and UC Davis’ Tercero Housing project. There will also be an update regarding the seismic replacement for the Snidecor Hall office wing at UC Santa Barbara.
Lt. Gov. will speak at Marshall commencement
Lieutenant Governor Cruz M. Bustamante will speak at the Thurgood Marshall College commencement ceremony on June 14. Cruz, elected in 1998, is one of the highest-ranking Latino officials in the nation. Prior to his current post, he was elected the first Latino speaker in the California Assembly in 1996.
President of the Institute of the Americas Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow will also speak on June 14 for the 85 graduates of the International Relations/Pacific Studies Graduate School at Robinson Auditorium. Davidow, who holds the rare personal rank of career ambassador, has worked to improve relations with Latin America.
The Earl Warren College commencement ceremony will also be held on June 14 with senior Hazel Guisto, who was selected to be speaker by about 900 of her fellow graduates.
The John Muir College graduation ceremony will be the first, held on June 15 with student speakers Nick Lieberkenecht and Corrie Kent.
Delivering the commencement address for Eleanor Roosevelt College will be political analyst and author John Stoessinger, who was also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Speakers for the Office of Graduate Studies and Research include Chancellor Robert C. Dynes, Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies Richard Attiyeh and professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Academic Senate Chair Joel Dimsdale.
Revelle College’s commencement will round up the UCSD graduation ceremonies for 2003. Professor and Chair of the Department of Cognitive Science Edwin Hutchins will speak on “”The Importance of Knowing Why You Showed Up.””
Revelle holds thirty-eighth watermelon drop
The 38th annual watermelon drop will be held June 4 to mark the end of the year and will be followed by Revelle College Provost F. Thomas Bond’s retirement party. The event is a Revelle College tradition that began in 1965. Bob Swanson, a professor of physics, had asked his Revelle all-freshman class: “”If a watermelon was dropped from a 7-story building, where would the farthest piece land?”” and “”What would be the velocity on impact of the watermelon?”” Every year, students try to answer that question by choosing a “”Watermelon Queen”” to drop a watermelon from Urey Hall.
Following the event, Bond will hold his retirement party, marking the end of 20 years as the provost of Revelle College.
School of Medicine heads study on schizophrenia
A $20 million grant was recently awarded to a consortium of seven academic research centers, led by the UCSD School of Medicine, to study the genes that cause specific behavioral abnormalities found in schizophrenia patients.
The grant will be distributed by UCSD amongst research centers in Harvard, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, UCLA, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, University of Pennsylvania and University of Washington, Seattle.
Research under this grant will focus on specific genetic abnormalities that occur in schizophrenic patients, rather than the broad area of the disease’s genetics.
The five-year grant, awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health, will allow researchers to study specific traits or physiological markers distinctive to schizophrenics and their family members who are unaffected by the disease.
“”Because we’d be able to identify genes, a functional genetic approach and understand abnormal function of these genes, we’ll be able to aim treatment to most functions areas of brain and the receptors it involves,”” Braff said. “”It will be used to tailor treatments to a type of deficit.””