SoCal Minds

A higher-ed peoloton offers a look-see at SoCal minds

From Oxy

Phew, it's summer and an ostensible pause in the seasons of anxiety for collegiate aspirants. But some work never ends, and, for some fun-seeking college counselors, a work-vacation offers an opportunity to see up-close what's on SoCal Minds via a rolling, 400-mile tour of regional campuses. The folks over in Eagle Rock are hosting a stop on the bicyclist look-see, a grownups' peloton aimed at getting a personal-professional view of what's new at spots like the Claremont collective, the universities of Redlands and LaVerne, Oxy, Caltech. LMU and USC. So what, in hyper-conscious fashion, should the schools know about what the 19 visiting pros from 13 states have to say about them as they undergo their seventh annual cycling whistle-stop tour of schools? Because this is the age of blogging, the East Coast Gray Lady offers a big forum for the observations of group members...

College counselors cycling 400 miles in tour of area campuses 

Click here for NYT 'Choice' blog, with dispatches from biking counselors

For Earth Day, scholarship, history, activism

From UCLA, Chapman, UCR, Cal State Fullerton, Scripps, Cal Poly Pomona, the Autry

Oh, the ink's gushing and the electrons are racing as the planet marks the 40th Earth day. And across the Southland, from Orange to Riverside to Westwood and points all around, area schools are making lots of hay while its partly cloudy and even a little showery with lots of events, activism and activity on how we all can live cleaner, better and more thoughtfully and efficiently for the environment's sake. The green movement that's enshrined in Earth Day really has taken root, as the growing number of Bruins earning environmental science degrees attests, school officials say, noting that number has gone from 10 students in the program's inaugural year of 2006 to 230 such majors now. The huge changes in the nation's green views have proven dizzying to pioneers, whose valuable memories have been recorded in just-released oral histories, again, in Westwood, as part of what itself is an increasing field of 'environmental history' as described in a blog out of Griffith Park. In Orange, the campus is in the midst of an international, three-day examination of global climate change, especially in the aftermath of the Copenhagen push to draft international accords dealing with key world environmental concerns on food, fuel, finance and the flu and other pandemics. Links follow to a sampling of area campuses' event outlines as posted online.

In Westwood, a boom in interest, award of green degrees

Bruins preserving the memories of environmental pioneers 

In Griffith Park, perspective on environmental history

In Orange, a major conference of global climate change

In Fullerton, recycling, composting and a sustainability tent

In Riverside, a full slate of environmental awareness events

In Pomona, a week of green programming

In Claremont, a focus on fruit, chats on lawn and sustainability

Bah, which schools are happy, stressful, got buzz?

From Claremont McKenna, Pomona & UCLA

What's with the zeitgeist in Claremont? Or maybe the question should be, What's with the American fascination about ratings, rankings and lists -- aside from the media manufactured attention grabbing that these gigs generate? Just in time for the academics to boast about or belittle the various annual ratings and rankings by certain publications, there are a couple of cyber lists that are worth a mention for Friday water-cooler fodder. Says the Daily Beast, based on criteria that barely eke beyond the risible, Southern California campuses, especially those out in Claremont, are among the Happiest, while others are the most Stressed Out. Let's cut to the chase: Claremont McKenna tops the bliss list, followed by Harvard, Pomona, Harvey Mudd and Scripps, with Caltech (8), Oxy (12), UCLA (13), UCI (16), Pitzer (22), UCSB (28) and USC (31) following. On the other hand, the high anxiety crowd is said to be topped by Stanford, Columbia and MIT, with Caltech (9), USC (18), UCLA (30) and UCSB (41) following. Not quite sure of what to make of another set of measures that are said to tap the 'buzz' detectable online, in social media and other ways about schools, though Pomona shows up No. 6 on this list, which also mentions Oxy (45), Claremont McKenna (66), Harvey Mudd (80), Pitzer (92) and Scripps (93), allegedly following the tops of Wellsely, Williams, Colorado College and Oberlin; among the universities, UCLA hits this list at No. 14. And while deciding what to make about the U.S. News & World Report and other such list-mania that's popping up, well, a good dose of perspective from the Bruins on the topic, put together by the always readable Claudia Luther. By the way, we're not linking here to every school's post on this topic, just a sample few.

In Claremont, just one of the kvelling reports on the Happiness list 

From Pomona, a favorable nod from monitor of the 'net 'buzz' about schools

Click here to see the 'Beast' list of Happy schools

Click here for the 'Beast' list of Stressful campuses

Bruins put magazine, publications' school ratings in perspective

New president promises 'cultivation of genius'

From Scripps

Is there more pep in their step, more focus in their minds and more dedication to the 'cultivation of genius?' Sure hope the 850 or so women out in Claremont got an inspiration from the weekend's inauguration of the school's eighth president, Lori Bettison-Varga, (shown on right) a geologist, educator and advocate for undergraduate research and the 21st Century role of women scholars and leaders. In her inauguration address, delivered during the last week of Women's History Month and as part of a year dedicated at Scripps to the 'genius of women,' she  pledged that her tenure at the top-notch liberal arts institution for women will be noteworthy for its: founding a center on women's research and leadership; focusing on increasing the number of women scientists; and building even more on the school's relationships with its partners in the Claremont consortium of schools. 

In inaugural pledge, a vision for more women leaders, scientists, reasearch

Local colleges get low marks on sustainability

From Claremont McKenna College

Here's a way to either demonstrate research independence or maybe how to tee-off the homeys: The folks at the Roberts Environmental Center have turned their scrutiny from corporations, industries and even nations and focused now on the sustainability practices of top liberal arts colleges nationwide. They gave top marks for green thinking and doing and social consciousness and vision to Williams (A+), Bucknell (A-), Amherst (B+), Colorado (B+) and Gettysburg (B+) colleges. But the researchers zinged local institutions, giving mediocre marks, at best, to: Pitzer (C), Harvey Mudd (C-), Scripps (D) and Occidental (D-). Ouch. To be clear, in methodology terms, the study relies on publicly available information on sustainability issues, particularly as places post it on web sites. Nations, industries and corporations have gotten clued in to internet reporting of this information because of an international, industry-supported initiatives. Colleges have their own similar programs but the researchers criticized schools for their haphazard, fuzzy efforts on sustainability and transparency. By the way, U.S. News and World Report rankings were used to determine which were the top 50 liberal arts colleges. And the researchers left their own institution out of the study and they clearly say why.

Criticism for haphazard, fuzzy public reporting of work on green, social consciousness issues 

The Chronicle of Higher Education take on sustainability study

$6 million in gifts to joint science department

From Claremont McKenna College, Pitzer & Scripps

The largest academic enterprise of the Claremont Colleges, a joint effort that combines biology, chemistry and physics in a single department, has just gotten a total $6 million funding boost from donors, $5 million from the Sidney J. Weinberg, Jr., Foundation and a $1 million matching gift from the Roberts Challenge. The donations will support student and faculty research and engagement, as well as providing support for a new dean for the joint science department, which advocates say offers small class sizes, rigorous teaching and research and the opportunity for students to work across disciplines.  

Boost for Claremont Colleges' combined biology, chemistry, physics enterprise

Tales of boy on 'Schindler's List,' female nomad

From CSULA & Scripps

The world never goes quite as planned and two speakers will offer a reminder of the tragedy and opportunity to be found in the unexpected life.

In East Los Angeles at 6 tonight, as part of an effort to examine the formation of American identities and cultures, Leon Leyson, aka Leib Lejzon, will discuss his journey from Holocaust survivor to Los Angeles school teacher. The now-retired educator, who was 10 at the outbreak of the war, was brought at 13 to an enamelware factory run by a German industrialist. He was the now-legendary Oskar Schindler, the humanitarian who helped save the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust. Leyson was the youngest of these survivors. He'll trace his remarkable life story, which brought him through a displaced-persons camp to the U.S., through his service with the U.S. Army in Korea, to Los Angeles, where he studied at LACC and graduated from what is now Cal State LA. The program is free and open to the public.

Photo: Leon Leyson / The Jewish Week, New York

LA teacher, youngest of those aided by Oskar Schindler, will recall Holocaust experience

In Claremont, as part of the programming for a yearly theme of the "Genius of Women," author Rita Golden Gelman will speak Thursday night at 7:30 on how, on the edge of a divorce in 1986, she quit an elegant life in Los Angeles, sold everything she had and became a female nomad. She now lives without possessions except those she can carry, a permanent address, or a plan about where she's headed next, though she does aim to relate to different cultures around the world and to encourage high school grads to hit the road and experience the planet before they go on with their adult lives. Gelman has lived in a Zapotec village in Mexico, slept with sea lions on the Galapagos Islands, skirted mines in Nicaragua and observed orangutans in Borneo, according to the notes for the program, which is free and open to the public.

Female nomad to tell of unfettered life, global travel, importance of exploring by young

Pomona, Pitzer, Scripps haul in the Fulbrights

From Pomona

For the elite liberal arts colleges, the tally means a lot; it can offer another indication of academic preparation, ivy-tower prestige, just how adventuresome students on a given campus can be. Anyhow, the folks in Claremont take note that their students graduating in 2009 have won the most Fulbright Fellowships -- 15 of them -- among those attending liberal arts colleges; evidently six students received but turned down the awards for merit, scholarship and leadership, allowing young people to pursue international study. Besides Pomona's haul, students at nearby Pitzer nabbed a dozen of the Fulbrights and there were nine for scholars at Scripps. The published records-keeper of the Fulbright Awards is the Chronicle of Higher Education, which also requires a subscription to see its full lists. The big-research universities, of course, pull in their share of Fulbrights, too, with Northwestern students winning 32 and the guys and gals in Hyde Park at the University of Chicago garnering 31, as did scholars at Brown; Stanford and Michigan each had 28 Fulbrights. The folks at Scripps note in passing that they did on par with UCLA and ahead of USC, where the campus paper says there were eight Fulbrights.

Among liberal arts schools, Pomona tops Fulbright awards with 15

Scripps ranks No. 8 among liberal arts colleges for Fulbrights 

Pitzer lauds its 12 Fulbrights for '09, two from class of '08