Joseph Gusfield, founding chair of the sociology department at UC San Diego, has died. He was 91 years old. Gusfield was an internationally renowned sociologist and one-time activist, whose analysis of social movements remains a foundation for the study of contemporary “culture wars.” Gusfield is also known for his seminal work on drunk driving.
Following a comprehensive nationwide search, the University of California, San Diego announces the appointment of Becky Petitt as Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (VC-EDI), effective March 23, 2015. She will serve as the lead senior executive responsible for providing a holistic and integrated vision on all major equity, diversity and inclusion efforts. Petitt brings to UC San Diego 24 years of progressive leadership experience in diversity work across the university community, most recently at Texas A&M University as Associate Vice President for Diversity.
In 1965, an ambitious young composer drove down California’s coast to check out university music programs. At UC San Diego, Roger Reynolds and his partner, Karen, were impressed with plans for a new kind of music department. A few years later the department was equally impressed with Reynolds.
Nearly 200 UC San Diego volunteers gathered at Howard Pence Elementary School on Sunday to revitalize the school’s garden, paint murals on the playground and much more. The service project, held as part of the campus’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, was organized by Volunteer50 and the Center for Student Involvement to educate students about the impact they can make in the local community. Following the Day of Service, about 500 campus members represented UC San Diego in the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade, celebrating “Freedom Through Education.”
After 25 years of successfully helping students, the University of California, San Diego’s Sexual Assault and Violence Prevention Resource Center (SARC) is expanding its services to provide crisis intervention and advocacy to faculty and staff, in addition to students. Due to the expansion of services, as well as a recent call to action by University of California President Janet Napolitano to have a system-wide consistent model for the prevention and response to sexual assault and violence, SARC has changed its name to CARE: Advocacy Office for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and Misconduct.
We’ve all seen them. The senior scientist with his back turned away from the audience, trying to explain a data-filled slide to a puzzled group of nonscientists that has long ago tuned him out. Or the junior professor, head down, reading a lecture word for word in a monotone voice from behind the podium.