Senate Makes Plans for Committee Consolidation
The Academic Senate reviewed plans for reorganization in a presentation given by Senate Vice Chairman Walter Yuen during the Senate’s Nov. 1 meeting. Yuen, along with other members of the Reorganization Task Force, established last October, plan for the combination of 18 committees into six, hoping to make the senate more efficient and to improve communication.
Reorganization Task Force Chair Claudia Chapman said many areas are targeted for improvement.
“There were too many committees with too small a focus and not enough communication,” she said.
The new plan will be implemented by Fall 2002 pending approval of the Legislature on Dec. 4.
“Getting this thing approved is really just the beginning,” Yuen said. “It is my eternal hope that many faculty will join and make this work.”
Senate members discussed clarifying the language of the By-Laws that define who on campus is entitled to membership in the senate and a seat on committees. Members also considered what distinguishes senate business from academic business. The need for a direct line of consultation between all divisions of the Academic Senate was also addressed.
“It is our hope,” Yuen said,” that this will close the loop on all the restructuring we’re proposing so the senate can improve itself.”
Local Businesses Award UCSB Students
Graduate and undergraduate students received approximately $55,000 in scholarships from the UCSB Affiliates, an organization of local businesses committed to improving university education.
The group awarded 24 students through 13 different scholarships and fellowships including the Dr. Pearl Chase Award, the Santa Barbara North Rotary Club Charitable Foundation Scholarship, Nancy Brown Environmental Graduate Dissertation Fellowships and the Pharmacology Award.
“We are happy and proud to recognize their accomplishments and to help them achieve their educational goals,” UCSB Affiliates President B. Jo Dake said.
The students were awarded based on their “commitment to learning and their high level of academic achievement,” Dake said.
UCSB Affiliates, composed of 438 members, was founded in 1960 by local business professionals who wanted to increase the prestige of UCSB and the surrounding community by strengthening the relationship between the two. It is supported by UCSB’s Office of Community Affairs.
ICS Studies Doppler Effect for Buildings’ Structural Integrity
Institute for Crustal Studies researcher Kim Olsen and her team are currently working on creating a three-dimensional model of the Los Angeles Basin to study how energy from an earthquake dissipates throughout the region.
Olsen has discovered that the Doppler effect applies to earthquakes, which travel through the ground in waves.
The ICS coordinates the work of research scientists from numerous organizations to better understand the earth’s crust. ICS studies the outermost few kilometers of the earth’s crust, the geological makeup of Santa Barbara and its surrounding areas, and deals with issues involved with research such as mineral resources, public safety and environmental quality.
ICS researchers travel to many of the world’s most geologically active sties to conduct research they hope will give them a greater understanding of natural processes.
Researchers at ICS also study how earthquake faults propagate and how energy from an earthquake dissipates. Their research may help architects to build safer earthquake-resistant buildings.
In addition to coordinating research on campus, ICS works extensively with NASA, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey Hazard Reduction Team and the Southern California Earthquake Center.
