UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE

News for Faculty and Staff of the University of California, Riverside

November 6, 2013

UC Riverside Welcomes UC President Janet Napolitano New president visits UCR as part of a listening and learning tour

University of California President Janet Napolitano met with UC Riverside faculty, staff, students and selected community members on Monday, Nov. 4, to familiarize herself with the personality and character of the River-side campus.

This is part of a listening and learning tour that will take Napolitano to every campus and national labora-tory in the state’s premier higher education system. She had breakfast with students, heard from a panel of faculty members, met with the deans of the colleges, and discussed staff concerns. In the evening she visited with community members before returning to Oakland, the headquarters of the UC system.

“The conversations have been frank, substantial and quite useful,” Napolitano wrote in a note to the chan-cellors of all 10 campuses.

“The president’s visit is a chance to get a 360-degree view of campus,” said Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox, who himself is in his first few months of leadership of the campus. “UCR is an institution on the move,” he said. “We have a great set of traditions, tremendous faculty, students and staff. We are going to make an impact in com-ing years.”

One of the highlights was with students of Professor Juan Felipe Herrera, California’s current poet laureate. Napolitano sang and laughed with them as they read poetry together. “It was like a deep workshop,” said Her-rera, who has been holding workshops in towns all over California as part of his two years as poet laureate.

In a separate faculty panel, members of the UCR Academic Senate briefed Napolitano on the damage done by several years of declining investments in California’s higher education system, as well as UCR’s unique chal-lenges in teaching a highly diverse student population.

The president visited and observed in the labs of Associate Professor Anandasankar Ray, who works with mosquitoes that carry human disease, and in Distinguished Professor Susan Wessler’s hands-on learning lab, named after Neil A. Campbell and located in the University Laboratory Building.

UC President Janet Napolitano poses with Scotty Highlander

Staff Assembly President Robert Wolfer, along with several staff colleagues, met with Napolitano to talk about the need for professional development and career advancement for UCR staff. “She was open and recep-tive to hearing about the concerns here,” he said. She asked questions to clarify points, and she reflected on her own experiences. She let us do most of the talking.”

Last week Napolitano – the former head of Homeland Security — announced $15 million in non-state money to be split evenly between support for graduate student recruitment, post-doctoral fellowships, and as-sistance for undocumented students.

That made an impression on Italia Garcia, 23, who is a senior studying political science and an activist on behalf of undocumented students who are called “Dreamers” because they came to the U.S. with their parents as young children and are trying to pursue their college dreams despite obstacles resulting from their legal status.

“This is a huge step in the right direction,” Garcia said of the new money for undocumented students. “She is not just showing her support verbally, but in the way undocumented students need it the most, which is financially.”

Napolitano stopped at the Chicano Student Programs office, where she met students Nelson Guevara and Alyssa Gray. They said they were happy to be included in the visit, even if only for a brief stop. Napolitano asked them questions about the kinds of programs offered at Chicano Student Programs; both students said they are taking a wait-and-see approach to Napolitano’s presidency.

A group of about 20 peaceful protesters, some holding signs against deportation, gathered at the bell tower and walked to the School of Medicine Education Building while Napolitano was inside talking with students.

But the first female UC President also has admirers.

“I’m a fan,” said Tina Aoun, a senior majoring in creative writing with a minor in Middle Eastern and Is-lamic Studies. She was one of about 12 students who ate breakfast with Napolitano on Monday.

“I went in there very intimidated and scared,” said Aoun, 22. “But she is actually very charming and so in favor of the students and what we want,” said Aoun. “She is so intelligent. She has an incredible education and an incredible background.”

Aoun said the students did most of the talking. Napolitano listened, took notes and followed up on their comments.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About UCR’s Homecoming and Scot FestThe complete, comprehensive guide to the events of Homecoming 2013

By Ross French

By now it is fairly common knowledge that UCR will celebrate Homecoming on Nov. 16. The weeklong celebra-tion of all-things-UCR will begin on Tuesday, Nov. 12, with Scotty’s birthday party. A full day of campuswide celebration on Saturday, Nov. 16, will include the Highlanders men’s basketball team hosting the Montana State Bobcats at 4 p.m. in the Student Recreation Center.

We’ve compiled the most comprehensive list of UCR Homecoming events to provide the fullest Homecom-ing experience possible. To view the whole list, go to ucrtoday.ucr.edu/18197.

In the meantime, here’s some trivia to rev up your Highlander pride:

• More than 65,000 invitations were sent out to alumni, parents and friends of the cam-pus.

• RSVPs are required for some events; for others, RSVPs are encouraged.

• Some events are limited in the number of guests who can attend and may be sold out.

• In addition to homecoming, Saturday is also Parents’ Day at UCR, highlighted by the meeting of the UCR Parents Association.

In Year of Transition, UCR Pipe Band Continues to Make a Name for ItselfWhitelaw’s solo piping championship is one of the highlights of 2013

By Ross French

It’s been a year of transition for the UCR Pipe Band. Despite a number of younger members leaving to pursue careers or continue their education elsewhere, the band stayed busy and continued to add to its trophy case.

“We did well this year, taking several top-four finishes in band competitions. Our soloists won the aggregate awards at a number of games,” said Pipe Major Mike Terry.

But of all the awards, perhaps the most impressive was that of Ian Whitelaw, the band’s director of music and a lecturer in the UCR Department of Music. A professional piper, Whitelaw won the Western United States Pipe Band Association (WUSPBA) Solo Aggregate title for the second consecutive year.

The performance that put Whitelaw over the top came at the 50th Scottish Highland Gathering & Games in Pleasanton over Labor Day weekend in Pleasanton, Calif. Whitelaw swept the professional solo piping competi-tion, taking the crown in the Piobaireachd (the classical music of the great Highland bagpipe), March, Strath-spey & Reel (MSR), and Hornpipe/Jig set. In its 148th year, the competition is one of the largest on the West Coast. Competitors from around the globe participate, and judges hail from Scotland, Canada and the United States.

“That performance was indicative of the quality of piping he is capable of producing,” Terry said.

Whitelaw said his song selections played a large part in the competition. “It’s similar to a singer on Ameri-can Idol. They can sing well, but if they sing the ‘wrong’ song, they go home. It is as simple as that,” he said.

“It is always a difficult task to sweep any contest due to the nature of the competition and the subjective rules of engagement – the judges always have differing ideas about what they like,” Whitelaw added. “Sweeping the contest does not happen all that often – it is fun when it does.”

The overall trophy resides in the office of CHASS Dean Stephen Cullenberg. It is a recognition that Whitelaw doesn’t take lightly.

“I think he is a big fan of the bagpipes, as well as music in general. I truly appreciate and value his support

The UCR Pipe Band at Homecoming

for me as well as the pipe band,” he said. “The program that has been developed is unique and serves the stu-dents and the community.”

Cullenberg was quick to commend Whitelaw as a musician and a teacher.

“Ian Whitelaw is perhaps the premier piper in the country and he brings great distinction to our campus through his teaching of our students,” he said. “I am honored to prominently display his trophy in my office. Ian’s excellence reminds all of us Highlanders of the need to push ourselves toward greatness in whatever en-deavor we choose to pursue.”

As the band’s director of music, Whitelaw oversees the music and style of the band as well as shepherding the growth of band. While many members have a connection to UCR as staff, faculty, student or alumni, many others come from across Southern California, united by their shared musical interests

UCR has had bands compete at three different grades in recent years, including the beginning grade 5, grade 4, and finally adding a grade 3 band two years ago. The grade 4 band has won the WUSPBA champion-ship several occasions and the grade 5 band is the defending champion for 2012. The grade 3 band, which went on a hiatus recently due to a shortage of drummers, is expected to resume competition soon.

“Our Grade 3 competitive unit was primarily made up of younger musicians, and we had a number of col-lege and high school-aged musicians who moved on in life to pursue careers, go to college or graduate school. So that unit felt the largest impact,” Terry said. “We have one young lad deployed to Afghanistan, another who moved to Chicago, it’s just a natural occurrence.”

Even with its slightly diminished numbers, the band plays a busy schedule that features public appearances throughout the Inland Empire, including performances at graduation ceremonies for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department as well as UCR events such as the Chancellor’s Convocation and Commencement ceremo-nies. Their competition schedule included appearances at the Queen Mary Scotsfest in February, the Orange Country Scotsfest in May, the San Diego Scottish Highland Games in June, the Scottish Highland Gathering & Games in Pleasanton in September, and the Seaside Games in Ventura in October.

The band also hosts its own Harry Moore Pipe and Drum competition each spring at Canyon Crest Country Club in Riverside. The event is named after the band’s first drum sergeant, who died in 2008.

Among the most emotional and moving moments were the band’s participation in two funerals for Inland Empire law enforcement officers. The band was invited to play at the funeral for Riverside Police Officer Mi-chael Crain on Feb. 13. Members of the band also played with police and fire agency pipers and drummers at the funeral of San Bernardino County Sheriff Detective Jeremiah McKay on Feb. 21. Both were slain by former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner.

“We were honored to be part of these solemn events,” Terry said. “We hold in high regard the heroes among us who daily put their lives at risk to keep us safe.”

While the competition season has wrapped up, the band still has several performances on the schedule, including veterans celebrations and parades, holiday events, and UCR’s Homecoming on Nov. 16.

Bagpipe classes are offered each quarter through the UCR Student Recreation Center.

In the meantime, Whitelaw is staying busy. In November he will take part in the Angus MacDonald bagpipe competition in San Diego (he is a six-time champion). In January he is looking at a trip to Kansas City to com-pete in the United States Gold Medal piping contest. That contest, which Whitelaw won in 2006, features about

30 competitors from around the world, and is judged by Scottish adjudicators.

UC Riverside Welcomes $15 Million in New Resources to Bolster Efforts to Re-cruit and Retain Students and Faculty“Dreamers” say a recent announcement by UC President Janet Napolitano shows a sincere effort to form a new relationship with immigrant students

by Kris Lovekin

It was welcome news at UCR that University of California President Janet Napolitano will authorize $5 million in non-state funds to help cover funding gaps for undocumented students.

“This is a huge step in the right direction,” said Italia Garcia, 23, who is a senior studying political science and also an undocumented student. “She is not just showing her support verbally, but in the way undocument-ed students need it the most, which is financially.”

Napolitano also announced $10 million to boost resources and support for graduate and postdoctoral re-searchers.

“I’m pleased that President Napolitano has chosen to invest in people,” said Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox. “These investments reflect the best traditions of the University of California, including access, excellence and scholarly endeavor.”

Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Dallas Rabenstein said the news about extra resources comes at a good time for UC Riverside, a campus growing the numbers of graduate students and faculty members signifi-cantly between now and 2020. Joseph Childers, the dean of the graduate division at UCR, said an increase in funding for graduate student recruitment will help UCR compete with other nationally recognized universities. “It will allow us to recruit strategically in the research areas we have identified as defining for UCR in the next 10 years,” he said.

Gov. Jerry Brown has already signed legislation authorizing state financial aid for “dreamers” or those students who came to California at an early age with their parents and then graduated from California high schools, but were denied financial aid for college.

“The California DREAM Act has eased the burden,” said 21-year-old Ana Coria, who hopes to graduate from UCR in political science this June. “But we still have to pay for books, housing and food. She was not completely surprised by Napolitano’s announcement, because undocumented students talked with Napolitano on her second day on the job, and asked her to do more to support them. “I think we were surprised that it hap-pened so quickly,” Coria said. “We expected it to take longer.”

Coria is the president of Poder (Providing Opportunities Dreams Education in Riverside), a UCR student organization that raises funds and awareness about the dilemma of students who cannot get access to enough financial aid because of their immigration status.

“When they announced her nomination I was upset,” said Coria. “I didn’t think her former role could be forgotten.” She said one announcement is not going to erase that view entirely. “But we had a lack of trust and a lack of relationship. It will take a while, but it is a good thing that she is trying to form that relationship. We will just have to wait to see where it goes from now.”

Italia Garcia said she generally supported Napolitano’s appointment even before the announcement, has been giving Napolitano the benefit of the doubt. The young activist immigrated to the U.S. when she was 10 years old and later was elected student body president of Riverside City College. She now studies political sci-ence at UC Riverside.

“She is being accountable to the undocumented populations,” Garcia said. “She is not ignoring the struggle, she is taking action.”

Napolitano’s announcement follows a series of “listening and learning” sessions Napolitano has held on campuses as well as at her Oakland office as part of an on-the-job orientation about the complex system of 10 campuses, five medical centers, three national laboratories and numerous research and agricultural stations that make up the University of California. She visited UC Riverside on Monday, Nov. 4.

There are an estimated 900 undocumented students currently enrolled on UC campuses, about 95 percent of them as undergraduates. Because they face many bureaucratic and economic issues that other students do not – and often need help navigating the system – Napolitano said she would set aside $5 million for resources such as trained advisers, student service centers and financial assistance.

“Consider this a down payment – one more piece of evidence of our commitment to all Californians,” Na-politano said in a statement. “UC will continue to be a vehicle for social mobility. We teach for California; we research for the world.”

The initiatives will be funded through one-time reserves that the president may allocate at her discretion. No tuition dollars or state funds will be used. “Some of my ideas are even larger in their reach, and will take more time in the greenhouse,” Napolitano said near the end of her remarks. “You’ll hear more about them at the regents meeting in November, and in the months after that.”

Art in the Gardens ReturnsFifteen artists will be selling everything from jewelry to ceramics to cigar box guitars on Nov. 10

By Sean Nealon

Fifteen artists will be selling their work during the annual Art in the Gardens event from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sun-day, Nov. 10, at the Botanic Gardens.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to view and purchase unique and beautiful art pieces and maybe shop early for the holidays while exploring the 40 acres of gardens,” said Karen Fleisher, a Friends of the Botanic Gardens board member.

The event is a fundraiser for the Botanic Gardens. A portion of the money from sales will be donated to the gardens.

Participating artists include: Jean Aklufi, fused glass; Carla Bender, jewelry; Richard Briggs, cigar box guitars; Brenda Cook, Botanical Perspectives; Bill Gardner, metalwork; Sandy Garcia, watercolor and hyper-tufa planters; Lucy Heyming, watercolor; Siri Khalsa and Lucy Heyming, glass art; Rebecca Kallinger, mosaics; Jennifer Katz, primitive silver jewelry design; Valerie Martinell, gourd art; Cathy Morford and Sandy Schnack, semi-precious stone, silver and gold jewelry; Sharon Muro, ceramic and paper art; Kelly Noble, ceramics and wood; Marijke Terwisscha, ceramic raku tiles; and Diane and John Wilson, heritage silver wear.

The event is free for members of the Friends of the UCR Botanic Gardens and $4 for nonmembers, which is the regular gardens admission cost. Parking is $2 in lot 13. Please note that not all of the artists are equipped to take debit or credit cards.

For more information about the gardens, including directions, visit gardens.ucr.edu.

UCR Business School Among BestSchool is among the top 295 business schools in the nation, according to the Princeton Review

By Sean Nealon

The School of Business Administration is among the top 295 business schools in the nation, according to the 2014 edition of the Princeton Review’s book, “The Best 295 Business Schools.”

“Our inclusion yet again in the Princeton Review’s rankings demonstrates the consistent trajectory our school is on towards success,” said Yunzeng Wang, interim dean of the School of Business Administration. “Much credit goes to the combined efforts of our administrators, faculty and staff in ensuring the ever-increas-ing quality of our academic programs.”

The Princeton Review does not rank the schools on a single hierarchical list from 1 to 295, or name one business school best overall. Instead, schools are selected based on their academic programs and institutional data they supply to Princeton Review.

The school profiles in “The Best 295 Business Schools” have rating scores in five categories that the Princ-eton Review tallies based on institutional data it collected during the 2012-13 academic year and/or its student survey for the book.

Students quoted talking about the School of Business Administration praised its “wide diversity of elec-tives,” “challenging” classes and “very accessible” professors who “care very much about their students’ learn-ing and understanding of the course material.”

Understanding of Global Warming Gains From Mayan ContributionBy Iqbal Pittalwala

Last month, Michael Allen, the director of the Center for Conservation Biology at UCR, traveled to Merida, Mexico. At the International Festival of the Mayan Culture 2013, he paid tribute to Arturo Gomez-Pompa, uni-versity professor and a distinguished professor emeritus of botany and plant sciences at UCR, who first alerted the world to the global consequences of tropical deforestation.

Gomez-Pompa devoted much of his professional life to the conservation and study of the forests in the Yu-catan Peninsula. Currently, he is the scientific advisor to the Center for Tropical Research at the Universidad Veracruzana, Mexico.

Widely known for his contributions to the biological sciences, he is passionate about the study of plant resources of Mexico’s tropics and is one of the pioneers of ecological conservation in Mexico. He is also instru-mental in maintaining a constant dialogue between scientists and the Mexican government where decisions

about the upkeep of protected areas are concerned.

The festival focused on the environment and the knowledge of the ancient Mayans about ecosystems. In his speech, Allen described the projects and research results that were generated by the ecological reserve, “The Garden of Eden,” that Gomez-Pompa founded in 1993 to allow researchers to understand more fully the influence of cyclones in the rainforest. Scientists working at the reserve explore new strategies to promote the conservation, management and restoration of biodiversity, ecosystems and ecological processes of tropical rain forests. Research carried out at the reserve helped scientists like Allen identify aspects of the ancient Mayans’ cultivation methods.

“The Mayans, who favored a strong relationship between man and the environment, used cultivation meth-ods that not only helped maintain optimal conditions on Earth, but also produced, based on scientific experi-ments carried out in recent years, better data for understanding global warming,” Allen said. “We had the op-portunity to scientifically observe the increase in plant biomass and carbon that resulted from the agricultural techniques of the ancient Mayan culture. There is a lot we can learn about global warming from the Mayans.”

At the festival, Gomez-Pompa received an acknowledgment for his work from the Secretariat of Urban De-velopment and Environment, the State of Yucatan. It was at UCR that Gomez-Pompa launched “Sustainability Maya,” a project aimed at promoting research on and the conservation of the Yucatan’s natural resources.

GETTING PERSONAL: Jennika CerdaJob: First Year and Orientation Programs Advisor

By Bethanie Le

A class of 2013 graduate with a B.A. in public policy, Jennika Cerda recently moved from full-time UCR student to full-time UCR staffer.

It was early September (only two months after graduation!) that the UCR alumna started working with Stu-dent Life as a first-year and orientation programs advisor.

“I work on the first-year mentor program,” Cerda said. “That entails pairing up first-year mentees with people who have completed their first year in UCR, and helping the first years with a smoother transition into college.”

She added, “I provide the mentorship between the two pairs.” Cerda also is training future orientation lead-ers and working on the family orientation program that will take place during the summer of 2014. “I’m going to be assisting family members, making sure they have the guidance or resources they need, and are comfort-able with sending their student to UCR,” Cerda said.

Like the first-years she’s mentoring, Cerda is easing into her post-graduate life. Thanks to the support of her staff and co-workers, however, her transition from student to staffer has been smooth so far.

“It’s just interesting. Now, I’m supervising my former [orientation leader and peer mentor] peers, and my former supervisors are my peers, ” Cerda said.

Cerda is the embodiment of Highlander pride; she sees herself staying at UCR for the longhaul. “[Although] I want to go back and get my master’s in higher education, I do intend to come back [to UCR] afterward,” Cerda explained.

“I really love working at UCR because it is the place that I grew up and formed my independence and I like that I can give back to the students. It really gives me confidence that I’m doing something right.”

UCR Hosts Second Annual Collegiate Recovery ConferenceMore than 100 people attended the event hosted by UCR’s Healing Highlanders

By Konrad Nagy

UC Riverside’s Healing Highlanders, a student-run collegiate recovery community (CRC), hosted the second annual California Unified Collegiate Recovery Conference on Nov. 2 and 3 at the Highlander Union Building (HUB).

The theme of this year’s conference was “Weaving Networks of Support” and it promoted the education and outreach of CRCs and fostered support for students in recovery and their allies.

Audrey Pusey, associate director for residence life and student conduct and lead advisor of the Healing Highlanders steering committee, said the conference was inspiring.

“The tone set by the conference continues to reflect the energy and excitement of the growing population of students in recovery who are finding their way into collegiate recovery programs and thriving,” Pusey said. “It’s exciting to see more and more universities in the Western region bringing both their staff and students to this conference to find ways to either begin, or continue enhancing, their recovery communities.”

Fabiola Escobedo Torres, Healing Highlanders president, said he hoped the event inspired more students to seek support.

“It was a pleasure to host this past CRC and I feel that it was very successful. We were able to teach a lot of students on campus about the existence of the CRC, as well as educate them about addiction and help them to see it in a new light,” she said. “I think that it’s really important to have cooperation, and for allies and students in recovery to gain support for the movement. It makes a big impact.”

The keynote speakers of the conference were Ivana Grahovac and Dr. Akikur R. Mohammad. Grahovac is founder and director of Students For Recovery, the University of Michigan’s first collegiate recovery group. Mohammad is an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at USC’s Keck School of Medicine.

Pusey was particularly moved by Grahovac’s keynote address.

“Ivana Grahovac is a person whose long-term recovery has been a change agent within the state of Texas. Hearing of how she went from her own debilitating addictions to now assisting the University of Texas univer-sity system in creating programs for students in recovery on all of the UT campuses was truly inspiring,” Pusey said. “Her efforts are an example of what the Healing Highlanders hope to be a part of recreating within the UC and Cal State systems.”

Pusey was also pleased to meet Tiasha Caldwell, program manager for the UC Student Mental Health Initia-tive at the Office of the President in Oakland. Pusey said she hoped that Caldwell’s participation at the event could help promote similar projects and organizations at other UC campuses.

The Healing Highlanders is a self-funded group that centers on service, a major component of the recovery support program. All students in recovery from addictive disorders are welcome to join the group. Since its

inception in 2011, the Healing Highlanders has sponsored several events on- and off- campus and worked tire-lessly to build support groups and networks for students in recovery. The group’s efforts earned it two separate and unexpected $10,000 grants from the Stacie Mathewson Foundation in 2012 and 2013. Additional dona-tions to the program for the development of scholarships, programs and outreach are always welcomed.

Torres said that CRCs should be implemented on more college campuses.

“We have to help extend awareness. Different UCs have similar programs and I hope in the future that we can have a fully established program with more space and resources,” she said. “It’s sometimes difficult for students in recovery and allies to find support. The Healing Highlanders and CRCs are very helpful for getting people to know each other and make for a better college experience.”

For more information about the Healing Highlanders, contact Audrey Pusey at audrey.pusey@ucr.edu or (951) 827-4252, or Fabiola Escobedo Torres at fabiola.escobedotorres@email.ucr.edu.

Lab Expansion Celebrated With a Reception Generous gift makes possible the second phase of the Neil A. Campbell Science Learning Lab

By Iqbal Pittalwala

On Friday, Nov. 1, UCR celebrated the opening of the second phase of the Neil A. Campbell Science Learning Laboratory with a reception attended by about 50 people. Located in the University Laboratory Building, the Neil A. Campbell Science Learning Laboratory is named after a well-known biologist, author, and UC Riverside alumnus.

The lab is home to “The Dynamic Genome,” a laboratory-intensive learning program. In addition to offer-ing unique research experiences to freshmen and other undergraduate students, the Campbell Learning Lab provides outreach to local K-12 science teachers and students. The second phase of the lab will allow the lab to reach out to more students.

At the reception, Chancellor Kim Wilcox, CNAS Dean Marylynn Yates and Distinguished Professor of Ge-netics Susan Wessler delivered brief remarks to acknowledge donor Rochelle Campbell, who was also present at the reception and whose generous contributions helped fund the laboratory as well as the recent expansion project. The speakers highlighted the difference that the Learning Lab has already made to undergraduate students’ research experience and the excellent fit that UCR has been for the lab.

Did You Know? What’s the correct address to reach staff via Scotmail?

Scotmail directed to staff should go to the address digest@scotmail.com. There is one digest sent at noon.

UC’s super power is driven by green

The U.S. Green Building Council’s Northern California Chapter named the University of California one of its green building Super Heroes for helping to propel the sustainability movement.

More than 140 buildings on UC campuses and locations are LEED certified, the most of any university in the country. LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a certification program created by the U.S. Green Building Council to evaluate a building’s environmental and sustainable attributes in a holistic way.

UC’s leadership in green construction stems from its Policy for Sustainable Practices, which mandates that new construction and renovations be LEED certified.

Enacted in 2003, UC’s sustainability policy also includes directives for clean energy, sustainable transpor-tation, climate protection, sustainable operations, waste reduction and recycling, environmentally preferable purchasing, sustainable food service and sustainable water systems.

The policy’s goals by 2020 are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels, divert all solid waste away from landfills, procure 20 percent of food from sustainable sources and reduce potable water use by 20 percent. After 2020, UC is committed to be carbon neutral as soon as possible.

Meeting these goals has transformed UC into a test bed for sustainability while saving more than $128 mil-lion in energy costs, reducing waste and conserving resources.

The Top: Halloween Costumes on Campus Welcome to Inside UCR’s newest feature, The Top!

Each issue, we’re presenting a list of UCR staff and faculty favorites— from walking spots to Zen gardens to events. This week, we’re featuring the top costumes roaming around campus this Halloween season. If you have a favorite spot you’d like featured or an activity you’d like to share, email lille.bose@ucr.edu.

1. Angel and Flapper

When asked why these UCR students picked their costumes, Marcus Pennington, the angel, answered, “I am a cheap grad student and this was all already in my closet.” The flapper, Stefani Andrews, said,“I like to dress up, and really it was because I wanted to wear the fishnets and gloves.”

2. Banana

UCR student Howard Chung left people smiling when they came across him in his banana costume. That was his motivation for dressing up on campus this Halloween season. “I’m just trying to do something funny for the day,” Chung said.

3. Lumberjack

Ricardo Lopez, UCR student, chose to be a lumberjack this Halloween. “I feel like lumberjacks are under-rated during Halloween. Not a lot of people dress up as them,” Lopez explained.

4. Queen of Hearts and Devil

Sheila Anthony (devil) and Michelle Martinez (Queen of Hearts), employees from Dining Services, brought the Halloween festivities to the HUB with their costumes. When choosing her Halloween outfit, Anthony wanted something “simple,” she said. And Martinez was inspired by the television series “Once Upon a Time” when she was deciding what to wear on Halloween.

5. “What Do the Sox Say?”

Margene Mastin-Schepps, executive director of marketing and creative services, showed off her Hallow-een spirit with her costume, and her support for the Boston Red Sox winning the MLB World Series. “What Do the Sox Say?” is a take on the viral music video, “What Does the Fox Say?” Mastin-Schepps enthusiasti-cally added, “What do the Sox say? Boston, Boston, Boston Strong! Congratulations!”

6. Grotesque Character

Luis Sanz, creative director in the Office of Strategic Communications, said his costume wasn’t of any particular character. “My kids were both dressing up for school and my daughter was a bit embarrassed to go in a costume. She said that she would dress up only if I dressed up for my office too. I called her dare, took the cape that I used for the Renaissance Faire. My son gave me the mask, which is some kind of deformed devil. I had to put it on because a promise is a promise. I walked around the office without saying anything so people were trying to guess who this grotesque character was. It was funny.”

7. Healthcare.gov Computer Troubles

“Healthcare.gov 404 File Not Found” — that’s what Kris Lovekin, director of media relations, wore for Halloween. She chose her costume because “the computer troubles in Healthcare.gov are about the scari-est thing I can think of.” She added, “This is an important piece of legislation and it’s having a really rough rollout. I decided to wear it to work because one of my committees was having a costume contest. And I won! (Thanks to the smoke-free committee for my gift card.)”

8. Grass Man

Dubbed ‘Grass Man,’ the anonymous person beneath the shrubbery gave UCR students a scare by blend-ing in with the plants on campus. We thought it was Senior Public Information Officer Ross French, but he said, “I never wore a Halloween costume. I don’t know what you are talking about. I was sitting at my desk all day long.”

9. Cheetah

Arielle Hom, Latitude 55 manager, used her Halloween costume as an excuse to wear her new cheetah-print sneakers. “I really wanted to wear my new shoes and this cheetah costume matches it perfectly,” said Hom excitedly.

10. Cowgirl

To UCR student Sophia Parks, dressing up as a cowgirl does not happen just once a year. “I’m from Mur-rieta and people usually dress like this so this isn’t really a costume for me,” Park stated.

11. Wayne’s World

Christy Zwicke (with fellow video producer Christina Rodriguez) had this to say about dressing up as Wayne and Garth from “Wayne’s World”: “Wayne’s World is one of my favorite movies; I grew up head bash-ing to Bohemian Rhapsody. And it’s directed by a woman!” SCHWING!!!

12. No-Face

Dressed as No-Face from the Japanese animated fantasy film “Spirited Away,” the anonymous UCR student’s outfit proved to be a campus favorite as many requested pictures with the amazingly accurate cos-

tume.

Who Says?UCR staff and faculty weigh in on the issues of the day via media outlets at home and abroad

“Astronomy is a little bit like archeology ... as we dig deeper into the sand, we are probing earlier periods in history.”

Naveen Reddy, assistant professor of astronomy and physics, on UCR’s discovery of the most distant known galaxy and the value of studying such distant galaxies

LOS ANGELES TIMES

“The Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck telescope complement each other and pave the way for finding more and more of these distant galaxies. By looking, we essentially look back in time. The further away we look, further back in time we look.”

Bahram Mobasher, professor of astronomy and physics, on his team’s return to the Keck telescope in No-vember and December 2013 to examine other galaxies at even larger distances

CBSNEWS.COM

“I would define happiness as a combination of pleasure as well as meaning. Pleasures are generally short lasting, and meaning can be generally long-lasting. By meaning I mean meaningfulness in your life.”

Sonja Lyubomirsky, professor of psychology, defining happiness

SCOPE

“I never wanted to be the kind of academic who just writes these small articles that are for internal diges-tion. I wanted to take the information I was learning, which I found to be interesting and fascinating, and share it with those who are outside the ivy walls.”

Reza Aslan, associate professor of creative writing, on his latest book, “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth,” which came to the attention of many after a video of his controversial Fox News interview went viral

PRESS-ENTERPRISE

“The usual rule is when you’re in a hole, stop digging, but the state GOP seems to be digging a hole for itself.”

Shaun Bowler, professor of political science, on California’s GOP Congressional delegation and how Cali-fornia’s 15 GOP members were split almost down the middle with eight yays and seven nays

NPR

“The findings confirm our hypothesis that experience and acquired knowledge from a lifetime of decision-

making offset the declining ability to learn new information.”

Ye Li, assistant professor of management and marketing, on how, being older is better when making money decisions due to the gain in life experiences making up for the decline in the ability to learn of new materials

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

“People need to look at the flip side. Every fire reduces the fire hazard in some region of the forest.”

Richard Minnich, professor of geography, on the 10-year anniversary of the Old Fire, a 91,000-acre fire fanned by Santa Ana winds that destroyed hundreds of homes and caused six deaths between Oct. 25 and Nov. 2, 2003

LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS

“What makes this discovery particularly noteworthy is that we mapped out a landscape of bioessential ele-ments in the ocean that was far more perturbed than we expected, and the impacts on life were big.”

Timothy W. Lyons, professor of biogeochemistry, on a UCR-led study that quantifies the toxic ocean con-ditions during a major extinction 93.9 million years ago

PHYS.ORG

Research and ScholarshipUCR Astronomers Help Discover the Most Distant Known Galaxy

UCR’s Bahram Mobasher, professor of physics and astronomy, and Naveen Reddy, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, are members of a team that has discovered the most distant galaxy ever found. The galaxy is seen as it was just 700 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was only about 5 percent of its current age of 13.8 billion years.

In collaboration with astronomers at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A & M University, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, Mobasher and Reddy identified the very distant galaxy using deep optical and infrared images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Results appeared in the Oct. 24 issue of the journal Nature.

Economist to Study Effectiveness of Rural Poverty Program in Brazil

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) of the United Nations has awarded UCR economist Steven M. Helfand a $70,000 grant to determine the effectiveness of programs aimed at reducing rural poverty in Brazil.

The project is part of a seven-country study in Latin America that will examine potential synergies between rural development programs funded by organizations like IFAD and the World Bank and a new generation of

anti-poverty programs in the region called conditional cash transfers.

Helfand, associate professor of economics, is focusing on the developmental and agricultural economics by evaluating the United Nations organization’s agriculture and sustainability project that is aimed at breaking the cycle of poverty and whether there are greater impacts on alleviating poverty when such programs work with efforts like IFAD’s Community Development Project for the Gavião River Region (PROGAVIÃO).

Researchers Quantify Toxic Ocean Conditions During Major Extinction 93.9 Million Years Ago

By looking at the chemistry of rocks deposited 93.9 million years ago, a research team led by UCR biogeo-chemists Timothy W. Lyons, principal investigator on the project, and Jeremy D. Owens, a former UCR gradu-ate student who is now a postdoctoral scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, reports that oxygen-free and hydrogen sulfide-rich waters extended across roughly 5 percent of the global ocean during this time period. This quantification of 5 percent is far more than the modern ocean’s 0.1 percent but is much less than previous estimates for this event.

The research suggests that previous estimates of oxygen-free and hydrogen sulfide-rich conditions, or “eux-inia,” were too high. Nevertheless, the limited and localized euxinia were still sufficiently widespread to have dramatic effect on the entire ocean’s chemistry and thus biological activity.

A grant to Lyons from the National Science Foundation supported the study.

News That Is Better or Worse Than Expected Influences Health Decisions

Kate Sweeny, assistant professor of psychology, finds that unrealistic pessimists are less likely to take pre-ventive action after receiving good news. This discovery poses a serious dilemma for health care professionals: Should they withhold accurate risk information from unrealistic pessimists to avoid undermining their percep-tions of the severity of their potential consequences and ultimately their motivation for preventive behavior?

Sweeny along with co-author Amanda Dillard, assistant professor of psychology at Grand Valley State Uni-versity, wrote on “The Effects of Expectation Disconfirmation on Appraisal, Affect, and Behavioral Intentions.” The piece, an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis, a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, scholar-ly, international society based in McLean, Va., was published in October in the online edition of Risk Analysis: An International Journal.

Sweeny and Dillard are the first to demonstrate that how an individual reacts and responds to objective risk feedback may depend on initial expectations prior to the feedback.

Riverside County Master Gardeners Visit the Entomology Research Museum

About a dozen members of the Riverside County Master Gardeners paid a visit to the Entomology Research Museum on Oct. 19. The visitors were interested mostly in a presentation on the interactions between the mu-seum and the public, and what the museum can do for those who are not academics. Established in 1923, the UCR Entomology Research Museum contains some 3 million specimens, and serves as a repository for voucher specimens associated with research conducted by faculty, staff, and students at the University of California. Besides insects, it maintains a small collection of arthropods such as spiders, centipedes, and scorpions.

Awards and HonorsCynthia Larive Appointed Divisional Dean

Cynthia Larive, a professor of chemistry, has been appointed the divisional dean of chemistry, mathemat-ics and physics and astronomy in the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. Her appointment began on Oct. 1. Previous to this appointment, she chaired the Department of Chemistry; Eric Chronister has been named the chair of the department.

Kristine Nicholls is GSOE’s Assistant Director of Teacher Education

Kristine Nicholls started work at the Graduate School of Education as the assistant director of teacher education on Oct. 1. She came to UCR after four years as administrative manager in the Riverside County Office of Education instructional services unit. She has two bachelor’s degrees, a master’s in education with a bilin-gual emphasis from Cal State San Bernardino and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from UCR’s Graduate School of Education.

During her time as a Ph.D. student, she was the chancellor’s Distinguished Fellow, and worked as an in-structor and teacher supervisor in the teacher education program. She has earned many awards and honors as a teacher and administrator. She is fluent in Spanish and English and has had extensive experience working both locally and statewide on issues related to differentiating instruction to support the academic achieve-ment of all students, including English learners, those who are learning English at the same time they are being taught academic content in English.

NIH Awards $1.7 million to Neuroscientist for Visual Perception Research

Aaron Seitz, associate professor of psychology, has been awarded a five-year, $1.7 million grant by the Na-tional Institutes of Health to continue groundbreaking research that may lead to new therapies for individuals with amblyopia (lazy eye), dry macular degeneration and cataracts.

His NIH research grant, “Integrating Perceptual Learning Approaches into Effective Therapies for Low Vi-sion,” will support further study of how different mechanisms of perceptual learning interact, and will explore better treatment options for individuals with visual defects.

By the end of the grant, he hopes to have developed a broader understanding of how multiple sensory systems collaborate; have defined better treatment options for people with low vision; and have developed new models that better explain how multiple areas in the brain contribute to perceptual learning and what training would be beneficial.

Alumnus Honors Father with Gift to Business School

Chris Lam, a 1991 graduate of UCR’s School of Business Administration, has agreed to give the school $25,000 for student scholarships.

Lam, owner of Hayward-based Pucci Foods, a seafood distribution company, created the Y. Van Lam En-dowed Scholarship Fund in honor of his father.

The scholarships will be used to recruit and retain business students who demonstrate excellent scholarly work, leadership and commitment to civic duty and cultural understanding.

Two Grants to UCR Boost Scientists’ Efforts in Developing Improved Cowpea Varieties

UCR scientists have received two grants totaling nearly $7 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to continue their work on developing better yielding varieties of cowpea. This research will allow UCR to directly impact cowpea production in several countries in Africa. The grants support USAID’s agricultural research and capacity-building work under Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative.

The first $5 million grant creates the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Climate-Resilient Cowpea and supports a new, five-year, cowpea-breeding project with partners in four West African nations: Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal. The second grant, titled “Genetic improvement of cowpea to overcome biotic stress and drought constraints,” extends a 10-year project and brings additional funding of $2 million over four-and-a-half years to UCR through the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Grain Legumes as a subcontract with Michigan State University, East Lansing.

UCR scientists who are a part of this research include: Timothy Close, professor of genetics and the princi-pal investigator of the $5 million grant, and Philip Roberts, professor of nematology and principal investigator on the $2 million USAID grant. Close and Roberts will also be joined by Stefano Lonardi, a professor of com-puter science and engineering and a co-principal investigator, who will help process large amounts of data that the research projects will generate.