January 20, 1997

Of Note

Tom Vani, vice chancellor for Business and Administrative Services, was elected to the position of board member of the Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce at its 35th annual Awards Dinner Dance and Auction on January 18. He joins UCSC staff member Jennifer Blanke, operations manager of Community Planning and Land Development, who was elected to serve a third year on the board. Outgoing board member Elizabeth Irwin, director of public information and assistant to the chancellor for external relations, received a certificate of recognition for her service to the board.

A two-day fruit-tree workshop for the home gardener will be offered on February 7 and 8. Orin Martin, manager of the Alan Chadwick Garden, will offer tips for beginning gardeners and those who want to improve their skills. The emphasis will be on dwarf fruit trees, especially apples and pears, and he'll cover everything from rootstock and variety selection to planting, pruning, training, harvesting, and basic care. The workshop begins with a slide show, lecture, and question-and-answer session in the Horticulture Building on Friday evening and continues on Saturday with a demonstration in the Chadwick Garden, followed by an opportunity for hands-on experience under the supervision of Martin and other staff. The cost of the workshop is $50, or $40 for members of the Friends of the Farm and Garden or Monterey Bay Master Gardeners. Enrollment is limited, and the registration deadline is January 31. To register by phone, call (408) 459-3240 or (408) 459-3376. To register by mail, send a check payable to the UC Regents to CASFS, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064-1077, Attn: Pruning Workshop.

Encyclopedia Britannica is now available online to faculty, students, and staff through 1997. Whether or not the subscription will be continued beyond 1997 will depend on how heavily it is used. This is both the most scholarly and most usable of online encyclopedias. It's authoritative, comprehensive, and has extensive, carefully selected bibliographies to prompt further research. It's also easy to access via the Web and has thousands of hypertext links to related information on the Internet. Britannica Online is available from any campus Web station at http://www.eb.com. For more information, call the reference desks in McHenry Library, (408) 459-5171 or the Science Library (408) 459-2886.

Online workshops are being offered at McHenry Library. These free weekly sessions provide an introduction to some of the many online resources available to users. Open to students, staff, and faculty on a space available basis. To enroll in the following courses or for more information, e-mail Deborah Murphy at damurphy@cats.ucsc.edu. Introduction to Online Research: Jan. 31; Advanced Online Research: Jan. 24 or Feb. 7; Looking for Love: A Valentine's Day Salute to Online Searching!: Feb. 14; There's Got to Be Something on My Topic: Feb. 21; Library Research and the World Wide Web: Feb. 28.

Peggy Laughlin, supervisor of teacher education for the Education Department, will lead a group of preservice and experienced teachers to the village of Teotitlan del Valle, Mexico, located in the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountains and situated in the Valley of Oaxaca, on July 13-26. This project is sponsored through the University Research Expedition Program at UC Berkeley and aims to investigate how traditional knowledge can be a model for developing math, science, and social science curricula in the U.S. that is more relevant to English-language learners who are of Mexican descent. At the same time, the project provides an opportunity to evaluate the impact of cross-cultural experiences on the participant's own teaching strategy. Participants will stay with families who speak Spanish and Zapoteco in simple houses with shared rooms and hot showers. Meals will be prepared by cooks working for the project. Those with interest and/or experience in multicultural education and who have a high proficiency in Spanish, as well as sensitivity and respect for other cultures, are invited to participate. Writing and interviewing skills are also helpful. The cost to participate is $1,175. For more information, contact Peggy Laughlin at (408) 459-5467 or by e-mail at pclaugh@cats.ucsc.edu.

The Center for Cultural Studies Colloquium Series continues with a presentation by Wendy Brown, professor of women's studies, on the topic "Was Marx's Reality Objective?" on Wednesday, January 22, in the Oakes Mural Room. The session begins at noon, with a 30-40 minute presentation beginning at 12:15 p.m., followed by discussion. The center supplies coffee and tea, and participants are encouraged to bring a bag lunch. Cultural Studies is sponsoring two additional talks this week: Jirina Smejkalova, of the History Department of Central European University, will give a talk titled "The Other Monster: American Feminism in the Post-Communist World" on Tuesday, January 21, at 4 p.m. in the Cowell Conference Room; and Winifred Woodhull, of the Literature Department at UC San Diego, will speak on the topic "Transfiguations of the Maghreb" on Wednesday, January 22, at 4 p.m. in the Oakes Mural Room. For more information, call (408) 459-4899.

Candidates for the position of assistant professor of art history will be presenting a series of lectures for the campus community. The following lectures all take place in the Cowell College Conference Room: Jennifer Gonzalez, "Archaeology, Ethnography, or History? Rhetorical Artifacts in Contemporary Installation Art," Monday, January 27, 2 p.m.; Lisa Saltzman, "Greenberg's Gift: Laocoon and the Trojan Horse," Friday, January 31, 1 p.m.; Alla Efimova, "Idea against Materia: On the American Consumption of Post-Soviet Art," Monday, February 3, 2 p.m. For more information, call (408) 459-4564.

--Compiled by Mary Ann Dewey

Return to the Currents home page.

Go to UCSC's home page.