Cal State trustees seek cure for 'bottleneck' courses

They are the courses that can drive students to distraction, not to mention to failure or to drop out altogether.

And the students who do poorly -- either through failing or withdrawing -- are slowing the progress of others working toward graduation.

Addressing so-called bottleneck courses that are high in demand but have a high failure rate emerged as a key to addressing the needs of these students during a discussion by the California State University Board of Trustees, meeting in Long Beach on Tuesday.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2013-14 budget proposal provides $125 million in new funding for the Cal State system, with $10 million directed to boost online learning. Officials said that increasing the use of online classes, Internet-based virtual laboratories and Internet counseling will help.

But identifying which courses are the greatest hinderances is proving more of a problem. Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White said about 30 courses across the system have been identified as having a high rate of failure, with students receiving D’s, F’s or withdrawing from school.

But officials said campuses are still gathering information and a report is due in April. Preliminary indications point to lower division, freshman math and U.S. history classes as among the most problematic, said spokesman Mike Uhlenkamp.

“You get students who think they want to be an engineer but can’t hack it,” Uhlenkamp said.

Frequently those students tie up seats before dropping the class or fail and try to repeat it. It was not as clear why so many students are failing history, but reports from the system’s 23 campuses are expected to provide some answers, he said.

Some trustees voiced concern about the headlong sprint toward online learning with no real outline of where money should be spent.

“I’m concerned we’re going to be spending money on yesterday’s ideas,” said Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who attended the meeting along with the governor.

Brown pointed to a pilot project at San Jose State University to offer online math classes in partnership with the Silicon Valley online education start-up Udacity as a system-wide model.

Cal State “has the opportunity to be a leader,” said the governor. “It has much more flexibility than other systems. The door is open and San Jose State is leading the way.”

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Cal State Long Beach president finalist for LSU post

Cal State Long Beach President F. King Alexander has been recommended to become the next president of Louisiana State University, Long Beach officials announced Tuesday.

A presidential search committee presented the recommendation this week to the LSU Board of Supervisors, which is expected to consider Alexander’s candidacy at a special meeting March 27. He was expected to visit the Baton Rouge campus later this week to meet with students, faculty and staff.

Alexander, 49, was attending a meeting of the Cal State Board of Trustees on Wednesday but did not want to comment ahead of the LSU board’s final vote.

Alexander was among a pool of 100 candidates that was narrowed to a list of 35, before emerging as the committee’s consensus finalist to succeed interim president William Jenkins.

“Our goal was to find a candidate that understands the tradition and practices of higher learning, but also embraces the changing market place and is willing to lead our great university through those changes,” R. Blake Chatelain, chairman of the search committee, said in a statement released by LSU. 

“We are looking for a proven professional who is a collaborative leader, a great listener and an optimist about the future of LSU. We think we have found that individual.”

If his candidacy is approved, he would lead both the 30,000-student LSU campus and the 10-institution LSU system, which includes several campuses, a law center, and research and health science centers. 

The position includes a salary of $550,000, as well as housing and a car allowance.

“This is an exciting period at a difficult time for higher education,” Alexander said in a statement. “LSU is positioned better than many public institutions in the United States to lead the Land Grant mission into the next 50 years.  LSU has developed a great reputation due to the work of its faculty and staff and the quality of its students and I would be honored to be a part of that cohesive team as it moves into the future.”

Alexander became president of the Long Beach campus in 2006. He previously was president of Murray State University. The Louisville, Ky., native received a doctorate in educational leadership and policy analysis from the University of Wisconsin.

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Santa Barbara City College wins prestigious award

Santa Barbara City College on Tuesday was awarded the Aspen Prize —  a prestigious award recognizing high achievement among community colleges.

The award, which Santa Barbara City College shared with Walla Walla Community College in Washington, is in recognition of the schools’ success in student learning outcomes, degree completion, transfer rates and for facilitating minority and low-income students success.

Both were selected from more than 1,000 community colleges nationwide. The award was announced at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.

“Santa Barbara City College and Walla Walla Community College offer outstanding models for achieving exceptional levels of student success at a time when our nation needs community colleges to do even more than they have in the past,” said Josh Wyner, the executive director of the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program.

The program lauded Santa Barbara City College’s success with its burgeoning population of Latino students — over 30% of the student body — who graduate and transfer at higher rates than the national average.

Overall, over half the students who attend the college and transfer to four-year colleges attain a bachelor’s degree within six years of graduating high school. About 64% of first-time, full-time students transfer or graduate within three years — above the national average of about 40%.

Both Santa Barbara City College and Walla Walla Community College will receive a $400,000 prize to support their programs.

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Driver in crash that killed USC student to be arrested

The driver of a Ford Explorer involved in a collision that killed a USC honors student will be arrested on suspicion of drunk driving when she is released from the hospital, a Los Angeles Police Department detective said Monday.

The woman, in her 20s, whose name was not released, was driving an Explorer that smashed into the right side of a Ford Mustang carrying Xinhai Huang, 22, about 3:30 a.m. Sunday, killing him, police said.

It appeared that the woman had been drinking, said Los Angeles police Det. Jimmy Render.

The crash occurred at Hyde Park and West boulevards, about six miles southwest of USC. Huang, a junior, was an honor student and on the dean’s list at the school, university officials confirmed. He was majoring in electrical engineering.

 "We grieve for a promising life cut short, and for his parents who have lost their son," the statement read.

The suspect was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and is in stable condition, Render said. She will be arrested upon release, police said.

“This gives us some time to build a case,” Render said.

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UC faculty leaders blast legislation on online education expansion

In a crossing of swords between academics and politicians, the University of California’s top two faculty leaders on Friday strongly criticized legislation that would allow students bumped from overcrowded core courses at state schools to instead take online courses from other colleges or private companies.

The bill, authored by state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), “raises grave concerns,” Robert L. Powell and Bill Jacob, the chairman and vice chairman of the UC system’s faculty Senate, wrote in a letter to colleagues. Among other things, “the clear self-interest of for profit corporations in promoting the privatization of public higher education through this legislation is dismaying,” they said.

The Steinberg legislation, introduced Wednesday amid strong national interest, proposes a special review panel, comprised of faculty from UC, Cal State and community colleges, to determine which online courses are worthy of academic credit.

The goal is a list of up to 50 basic undergraduate courses that students could take online for UC, Cal State or community college credit if they cannot gain enrollment into those courses on campus.

Powell, a chemical engineering professor at UC Davis, and Jacob, a mathematics professor at UC Santa Barbara, rejected that plan as an assault on the power of UC’s Academic Senate to determine whether transfer courses cover the right material with the same rigor as UC courses do.

“There is no possibility that UC faculty will shirk its responsibility to our students by ceding authority over courses to any outside agency,” they wrote.

The two, who are the faculty representatives on the UC Regents board, said they were not consulted in advance of Steinberg’s announcement but said they plan to meet with his staff soon.

The faculty union at the Cal State system previously expressed similar concerns.

Rhys Williams, Steinberg’s spokesman, said Friday that the bill specifically gives California faculty control, albeit in a new way, over which online courses should be approved and that “nobody is trying to take away power from the faculty.”

He said the senator's office “embraces the opportunity to discuss” the bill with faculty leaders and that its details might change as a result.

However, he said the senator remains committed to the legislation’s goal of helping students.

“Students and middle-class families are in desperate need of action to break the bottlenecks that are preventing timely graduation and ultimately increasing the burden of student debt,” Williams said.

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City College of S.F. strives to retain accreditation

City College of San Francisco -- the largest community college in the state and possibly the nation -- faces a deadline Friday to prove that it should retain its accreditation.

A scathing report in June by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges found that the school, which serves about 80,000 students and has been heralded by supporters for its commitment to access and affordability, was riddled with problems. Among them: paltry financial reserves, a dearth of leadership, a slow-moving style of democratic governance and a lack of defined learning outcomes that can be tracked to determine meaningful success.

Leaders of the 78-year-old college and a special trustee charged with guiding reforms have been pressing hard for change ever since. While they concede they have not solved all the problems the commission had asked them to by Friday's deadline, they are hopeful that enough progress has been made to avoid closure.

The reforms have caused a rift on campus, with many students and faculty protesting proposed reductions of teacher ranks and salary cuts as contrary to the school's values. In a spirited protest to City Hall on Thursday, they derided the commission and other outsiders pressing reforms as "carpetbaggers." But college leaders counter that the school's values won't be worth much if it is forced to close. The accreditation commission is expected to determine its fate in June.

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UC San Diego council seeks divestment from firms with West Bank ties

UC San Diego’s student government joined a widening movement urging the university system to divest from companies that some student activists contend are violating the human rights of Palestinians and aiding Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.

After a sometimes angry debate that went past 1 a.m. Thursday, the Associated Students’ council voted 20 to 12 with one abstention to endorse a resolution that seeks to end UC investment in such companies as Northrop Grumman, Alliant Techsystems and General Electric. The students contend that these companies provide technology, weapons or other products the Israeli military uses in the Palestinian territories.

Last week, a similar measure was passed by the student government at UC Riverside and one was approved at UC Irvine in November. However, those advisory measures have no power over the UC regents, who control the university’s massive portfolio and have said they will not take any divestment action involving Israel.

Supporters of Israel complained that the UC San Diego measure was unfair and divisive. Leaders of the campus group Students for Justice in Palestine, which lobbied for the resolution, issued a statement that applauded the vote, saying it was “in solidarity with Palestinians seeking freedom and justice.”

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UC seeks president with 'creativity, courage ... and limitless energy'

Is it a call for a superhero or a university administrator?

The UC Regents on Thursday released their formal set of qualifications they are seeking in candidates to replace system President Mark G. Yudof, who is retiring in August.

The ambitious description of a successor could excite some potential candidates or scare away some who are not Superman or Superwoman.

The UC president, the document declared, “must be a visionary leader with the judgment, creativity, and courage to enhance the quality and reputation of the University as one of the preeminent public research universities in the world.”

He or she also “must understand and have demonstrated support for outstanding scholarship and possess the highest intellectual capacity; have extraordinary communication skills ... and maintain limitless energy and enthusiasm, courage, and stamina.”

No specific candidates were discussed publicly Thursday.

The regents recently set up committees to gather input from faculty, staff and students during the search process.

Yudof, who has held the position for five years, has cited his health and other reasons for stepping down. He plans to teach law at UC Berkeley.

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Shootings near UC Riverside leave 1 dead, 1 injured

A Chino Hills man armed with two handguns allegedly opened fire in an apartment complex near UC Riverside on Wednesday night, killing one resident and wounding another “for no apparent reason,’’ authorities said.

Daniel John Jones, 44, was visiting an acquaintance in the apartment complex in the 5300 block of Canyon Crest Drive in Riverside when he entered the first victim’s apartment about 7:20 p.m. and allegedly opened fire, according to Sgt. Dan Russell of the Riverside Police Department.

Jones then walked to a landing between apartment buildings and shot a second person, again “for no apparent reason,’’ Russell said in a statement Thursday.

Jones fled the scene in his car and, moments later, was involved in a minor traffic collision on the Moreno Valley Freeway, near University Avenue, police said.

After Jones pulled over on an offramp, a passing motorist offered to help him. Jones, who the
witness described as intoxicated, then allegedly demanded the other motorist’s car keys and pulled out two handguns. The motorist ran to safety, police said.

Pi day: Caltech students string paper chain across campus

They have met in secret for months.

Using a basement in Caltech student housing, they have gathered supplies and tried to recruit more to help. Everything they have done has been kept under wraps (literally), stuffed in cages buried under butcher paper no one would look at twice.

But Thursday morning, under the cover of darkness at 4 a.m., they unleashed their plan.

In the latest manifestation of self-proclaimed Caltech nerd-dom, a group of undergrads strung a chain of 15,000 colored paper loops across the campus in honor of Pi day. There are nine colors, each one representing a number.

The multicolor chain should be in order, representing the digits of Pi going 15,000 digits deep.

For the uninitiated, Pi is the digit that’s mostly often simplified to 3.14 (hence, March 14) and is used to calculate the circumference of a circle. The decimal can go out forever and mathematicians have figured it out to the 10 trillionth number so far.