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February 10, 1997

Headliners

UCSC astronomers in the news: January witnessed a burst of media coverage of the pioneering work at UC Observatories/Lick Observatory. At a meeting in Toronto, postdoctoral researcher James Lowenthal met the press at a news conference about the "Hubble Deep Field," the Hubble Space Telescope's most probing view yet into the far reaches of the universe. The Associated Press and Scripps-Howard News Service carried Lowenthal's comments across the country. . . . Reporting on the same meeting, the San Francisco Chronicle mentioned Sandy Faber's role as a member of a team using Hubble to reveal that a black hole probably exists at the core of every galaxy. . . . On the ground, Steve Vogt has joined a Keck observatory team--led by alumnus Geoffrey Marcy--to extend the search for planets around nearby stars. The Washington Post spoke with Vogt at length about the technical wizardry needed for the search to succeed. . . . Finally, Michael Bolte, gaining renown as an expert on the ages of the oldest stars, penned a commentary for Nature about the most ancient denizen of the Milky Way yet studied--not U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond, but rather a star whose age may lie between 13 and 21 billion years.

Arts dean Ed Houghton has spent a lot of time with area media recently, discussing the newly opened Music Center. In recent weeks he's been quoted in the San Jose Mercury News, Santa Cruz County Sentinel, and City on a Hill Press. Architect Frank Zwart also spoke about the Music Center for a segment on KSBW Channel 8.

Laura Mitchell, who came to UCSC this year from the University of Dallas to coach the women's basketball team, described in a profile in the Santa Cruz County Sentinel her impressions of UCSC. "There is a completely different type of personality here, there's no snobbiness, the kids are friendlier," Mitchell said. "In Dallas they wanted a male coach, they would never consider a single mom a good role model." Mitchell, who has a three-year-old son, says she loves coaching despite the long hours and meager pay and predicts the Slugs will make the Division III playoffs in three years.

The transport of toxin-laden mud from Richmond, California, to Mobile, Arizona, prompted residents of those communities to form a unique alliance that ultimately changed public policy. In a story in the Valley Times of Pleasanton, Manuel Pastor of Latin American and Latino studies, who studies environmental justice, said he'd never before heard of a successful partnership between residents of two towns who fought back--and won.

Susan Friedman took her UCSC photography class to Half Moon Bay in October. The Half Moon Bay Review liked the photos so much that they showcased a number of them in a full-page spread in December.

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