News Briefs

New Cal Parents Chairs

Peg Skorpinski photo

Fall 2005 | Meet Sylvia and Fred Chow, new co-chairs of the Cal Parents Advisory Board. The Chows are parents of Thomas, who will graduate in 2006. Thomas is a double major in classical languages and urban planning and is a member of the University Symphony Orchestra.

Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost

Paul R. Gray, UC Berkeley executive vice chancellor and provost, has decided to step down from his position on July 1, 2006, to return to teaching and research in the College of Engineering. Gray has guided the campus through significant enrollment growth, managed years of state budget cuts to the instructional program, and overseen the hiring or reappointment of nearly all the current academic deans.

Dean of Students

After more than 25 years on campus, Dean of Students Karen Kenney left Berkeley last September to become director of Girls Inc. of the Island City, in Alameda. Berkeley Registrar Susanna Castillo-Robson is serving as acting dean of students while Berkeley conducts a search for Kenney’s replacement.

Save the Dates

Cal Day — April 22, 2006
Parents Weekend — October 6-8, 2006

California Memorial Stadium Renovation

On Nov. 9, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau unveiled highlights of a master plan to refurbish historic California Memorial Stadium and released the conceptual design for a new building directly across from the stadium that will bridge the disciplines of law and business in new ways. These, along with a landscape design and public open-space plan, are the key elements in the planned transformation of the southeast corner of the campus. Renovation of the 82-year-old stadium is driven by the need for both seismic safety improvements and modernization. The plan is to preserve the historic character of the stadium while creating a first-rate facility that improves life safety, enhances the game-day experience for fans, and provides football and 12 other men’s and women’s intercollegiate teams with space for a state-of-the-art training, coaching, and sports medicine center.

Construction News

Groundbreaking for the new C. V. Starr East Asian Library — part of the Chang-Lin Tien Center for East Asian Studies planned for the heart of campus — began this September. The library is scheduled to open in fall 2007.

Stanley Biosciences Bioengineering Facility

Construction crews are on track to complete the exterior of the new Stanley Biosciences and Bioengineering Facility, which will house the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research (QB3), the Department of Bioengineering, and the Bio-Nanotechnology Center.

Work on the Underhill Parking Facility and Playing Field started in August. The parking lot is scheduled to be available in early 2007, and the recreational sports field, designed for multiple sports, should be complete at the end of the spring semester 2007. The playing field part of the project will provide open recreational space for all the students who live in the densely populated Southside area.

UC News Web Site in Spanish

The UC Office of the President has launched a UC news site in Spanish to serve the needs of Spanish-speaking alumni, parents of students, and the public. Go to www.ucnewswire.org/spanish.html.

“Bear in Mind”

Beth Burnside and Chancellor Birgeneau on "Bear in Mind" (Bonnie Powell photo)

“Bear in Mind” is a webcasted program (video, audio only, or transcript) that allows Chancellor Birgeneau to explore areas of interest on campus and discuss salient topics with staff and faculty. In the photo above, taken at BIM’s October program, the chancellor and Vice Chancellor for Research Beth Burnside discuss such issues as stem cell research and the ethics of university-industry partnerships. All past programs are archived on the BIM site: www.berkeley.edu/news/chancellor/bim/.

Senior Class Gift

The Class of 2005 set a new record with its senior class gift by raising $85,479. And that’s not counting a matching gift from Dick Blum ’58, M.B.A. ’59, a dedicated alumnus and UC regent. That’s the largest senior gift since the tradition began in 1874.

Fifty senior volunteers led the campaign by reaching out to their classmates — an opportunity that gave them valuable experience with a broad range of campaign strategies including marketing, direct- and e-mail solicitation, publicity, and campaign web site management.

Student Fee Increase

On Nov. 16, the UC Board of Regents approved fee increases for 2006-07 to help preserve the quality of the instructional program and rebuild after years of state budget cuts. The Regents voted to increase mandatory systemwide fees by 8 percent ($492) for resident undergraduates, bringing these fees to $6,633 for the year. With additional fees charged by individual campuses, average fees for next year are estimated to be $7,294. For details and non-resident costs, see www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/2005/nov16a.html.

Cal Parents Web Site

Don’t miss the new Cal Parents web site that we launched this past summer. This comprehensive parent portal will help you locate resources and support services, give you news of campus events and information about visiting, and provide an easy-to-navigate gateway to the entire campus. Go to calparents.berkeley.edu.

New L&S Executive Dean

Genevieve Shiffrar photo

George W. Breslauer, a political scientist and a specialist on Russia at the University of California, Berkeley, has been appointed executive dean of the campus’s largest academic unit, the College of Letters and Science. He began Aug. 1. For the past five years, Breslauer has served as dean of L&S’s Division of Social Sciences. He will retain that post while working with the deans of the college’s other divisions — arts and humanities, physical sciences, biological sciences, and the undergraduate division.

“George Breslauer has distinguished himself in every dimension of his campus citizenship—as scholar, teacher and mentor, and public servant,” said Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Paul Gray. “This is a tremendous boon for the entire campus.”

Men’s and Women’s Basketball

Leon Powe

The 2005-06 Cal men’s and women’s basketball season has just begun. Men’s star Leon Powe returns to action this year, and the women’s team, led by new head coach Joanne Boyle, promises to be highly competitive. Season and single-game tickets are now on sale; call 800/GO BEARS or go to CalBears.com, where you can also find schedules for both teams. We look forward to seeing you at Haas Pavilion this season. Go Bears!