Dean Segura Steps Down

Thursday, December 08, 2022

The message below was prepared by the EVC last week. Yours truly is catching up:

Segura to Step Down as Dean, Remain on Faculty

His six years leading the Luskin School has been marked by a deep commitment to equity, diversity and academic excellence

December 1, 2022

Gary Segura has decided to end his time as dean of the Luskin School for personal reasons. Here is a message sent to the UCLA Luskin staff and faculty by UCLA Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Darnell Hunt:

Dear Colleagues:

I write to share the news that Dean Gary Segura, who has led the Luskin School of Public Affairs since January of 2017, has informed me of his decision to step down as dean and return to the faculty. His last day will be Dec. 31, 2022. We will share plans for interim leadership of the school as soon as they are in place.

In his nearly six years as dean, Dean Segura has fostered within the Luskin School a deep commitment to academic excellence and to equity, diversity and inclusion. Under his leadership, the school has enrolled an accomplished and highly diverse group of students in its programs and appointed renowned scholars in areas such as poverty and inequality, immigration, criminal justice, education policy and more.

Dean Segura has helped to cement the Luskin School’s status as a leader in research, teaching and practice across the areas of social welfare, urban planning and public policy. Recognizing growing demand for the Luskin School’s programs, in 2018 he led the development of the undergraduate major in public affairs, which provides a multidisciplinary foundation in social science theories, data collection and analysis.

Additionally, the school launched a certificate program in data analytics in fall 2021 and added a new dual master’s degree program offered jointly by our Urban Planning Department and the Urban School of Sciences Po in Paris.

Dean Segura also co-founded the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute in 2017 to address inequities and spread awareness of the most critical domestic policy challenges facing Latinos and other communities of color.

Chancellor Block and I are grateful to Dean Segura for advancing the public affairs disciplines at UCLA and for his work to deepen the Luskin School’s impact on communities near and far. Please join me in thanking Dean Segura for his leadership and wishing him well on his next chapter.

Source: https://luskin.ucla.edu/segura-to-step-down-as-dean-remain-on-faculty.

To hear the text above, click on the link below:

https://archive.org/details/big-ten/segura.mp3

What AI Has to Say About the Two Issues Facing the Regents & An...

Thursday, December 08, 2022

Desk Set

The 1957 movie Desk Set reflected the "automation scare" of that era, the fear that computers would displace workers, in the case of Desk Set, librarians.

There have been recent concerns about artificial intelligence programs writing student papers or even professional papers. The AI program chatGPT has become available, so yours truly asked it about the two issues now facing the Regents:

What arguments can be made for the Regents to block UCLA's move to the Big Ten?

1. Loss of tradition: UCLA has a long and storied tradition in the Pac-12, and leaving the conference would disenfranchise alumni, current students, and fans of the team.

2. Financial concerns: The Big Ten is a more competitive conference and requires a much higher financial commitment from its members. UCLA may not have the resources to make such a move, or may not be able to generate enough revenue to justify the move.

3. Recruiting: The Big Ten is a more competitive conference, and UCLA may not be able to attract the same caliber of recruits as it does in the Pac-12.

4. Loss of rivalries: UCLA has strong rivalries with other Pac-12 teams, and leaving the conference would mean the loss of those rivalries.

5. Lack of geographical fit: UCLA is located in the western United States, while the Big Ten is composed of mostly midwestern teams. This could create logistical issues for travel and scheduling.

Student workers are on strike against the University of California. What can be done to settle the dispute?

1. Establish a formal dialogue between the university and student workers. The university should offer to meet with student representatives and listen to their grievances.

2. Develop a plan that outlines a fair settlement for student workers. This should include wage increases, improved working conditions, and measures to protect student workers from exploitation.

3. Offer a clear timeline for implementing the proposed plan.

4. Establish a system of monitoring and accountability to ensure that the university is upholding its commitments to student workers.

5. Consider providing financial compensation to student workers for any losses incurred during the strike.

6. Ensure that any settlement is in accordance with existing labor laws, and that student workers are aware of their rights under the law.

I also asked chatGPT about contemporary automation displacement:

Given the pace of technical progress, should university professors worry about being replaced by artificial intelligence?

University professors should not be overly concerned about being replaced by artificial intelligence. Technology is advancing at a rapid rate, but AI is not yet capable of completely replacing professors. AI is still limited to relatively simple tasks, such as grading basic multiple choice exams and providing automated feedback. Furthermore, AI is still not capable of critical thinking or providing more in-depth, nuanced feedback on complex topics. University professors provide a valuable service to students and will continue to do so for some time.

You can go to https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/ and set up your account.

To hear the text above (read by a computer), click on the link below:

https://ia601402.us.archive.org/25/items/big-ten/artificial.mp3

Sometimes No (US) News is Good News - Part 9 (Change Coming?)

Friday, December 09, 2022

With all the other things going on at UC and the world, it may be hard to recall the law school revolt against the US News and World Report rankings. However, a report in the Washington Post suggests that US News is considering changing its methodology in view of the revolt. Excerpt:

First, Yale University’s top-ranked law school declared it would end cooperation with the U.S. News & World Report rankings. Within hours, Harvard University’s law school, ranked fourth, followed suit. Then, what began as a high-profile protest against the rankings became a mass revolt that now encompasses four University of California law schools, four from the Ivy League and several other big names in legal education. On Friday, the University of Washington law school, ranked 49th, and the University of Pennsylvania’s, ranked sixth, became the latest to join the rebellion.

...Other law schools have echoed those points, claiming that the ranking formula rewards those that recruit affluent students, who tend to take on less debt, and fails to give proper credit to schools that recruit students from modest economic backgrounds and prepare them for careers in academia or public service.

... Behind the scenes, law deans say, U.S. News is reaching out to them about their concerns. “They have a business to run, and right now, they have a crisis of credibility,” said Austen Parrish, law dean at the University of California at Irvine. He said U.S. News representatives called him to discuss criticism after Parrish announced the school would decline to answer questions for the next version of the ranking...

In a brief statement to The Washington Post, U.S. News said Friday it will continue to rank all fully accredited law schools, regardless of whether schools provide the data it seeks. “The methodology for our rankings has evolved over the last 30 years and will continue to evolve to meet the needs of all students,” U.S. News said. It said details about any changes would be made closer to the release of the next set of law school rankings in the spring...

Full story at https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/12/03/law-schools-protestus-news-rankings/.

To hear the text above, click on the link below:

https://ia601402.us.archive.org/25/items/big-ten/law%20change.mp3