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May 24, 1999
Community studies prof Patricia Zavella featured prominently in a recent Los Angeles Times story entitled "Sex, Sexuality, Homosexuality Emerge as Hot Topics for Latinos." The article cited Zavella's essay about how two Latinas learned about sex as an example of a new wave of Latino scholarship that is delving deeper into the private and personal.
Cosmologist Joel Primack and astronomer Sandra Faber were both quoted in an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about the implications of recent developments in cosmology, including the discovery of the most distant galaxy ever detected, nearly 13 billion light-years from Earth. Primack and Faber both took part in the recent "Cosmic Questions" conference in Washington, D.C., which brought together theologians and scientists to exchange views on the nature of the universe. Primack helped organize the conference.
The Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group's Brian Latta was featured in a front-page photo in the San Francisco Chronicle, rescuing a group of peregrine falcon chicks from the Antioch Bridge. The accompanying story explained that the birds were removed from their nest to prevent them from falling into the San Joaquin River and drowning when they test their wings. They will be raised by foster falcons.
Daniel Press of environmental studies was quoted in a recent Sacramento Bee article about efforts to preserve open space in the Sacramento area. He says the story generated more calls from researchers and people in public agencies who wanted additional information than any other media exposure he's gotten.
The discovery of new planets outside the solar system continues to generate news stories, and reporters often turn to professor of astronomy and astrophysics Douglas Lin to interpret the findings. Most recently, Lin was quoted in a New York Times article about the impact of the latest findings on the field of planetary science.
A story in the San Jose Mercury News about two California sea otters headed for an aquarium in Denver featured Long Marine Lab's head trainer Billy Hurley and senior trainer Heather Norman. The sea otters were rescued by the Monterey Bay Aquarium after being orphaned as pups, but efforts to release them back into the wild failed. Hurley and Norman have been retraining the pair for life in a public aquarium.
Elliot Aronson's latest major career award from the American Psychological Association prompted the Santa Cruz County Sentinel to splash the news across its front page. Look also for upcoming coverage in the San Jose Mercury News' weekend magazine, West. . . . Aronson's colleague in psychology, Anthony Pratkanis, has fielded a string of media calls recently and has done interviews with "The Infinite Mind," a public radio program that was preparing a show on persuasion. He also spoke with a reporter from Gannett News Services regarding a story pegged to Memorial Day about the violent content of many national anthems. . . . Oh, and Jean Fox Tree's work on the role of the word "oh" in speech was picked up by Zest magazine.
Arboretum director Ron Enomoto made an appearance on KION Channel 46, showing reporter Romney Dunbar around the Arboretum in the "Travels with Romney" segment on the evening news.
The Santa Cruz County Sentinel ran a profile of associate professor of computer engineering Kevin Karplus, focusing on his car-free lifestyle. Karplus relies exclusively on his bicycle and buses for transportation and maintains that it is not as difficult as most people think it is to get around without a car.
Ronnie Lipschutz's acerbic op-ed about Clinton's public statements regarding the Kosovar conflict appeared in the Santa Cruz County Sentinel.
Biologist Don Croll was quoted in a Santa Cruz County Sentinel article about humpback whales in Monterey Bay. Humpbacks have been seen breaching close to shore in Capitola, the article said. Croll said an abundance of krill, the whales' main food source, should make this a good year for whale watching.
The Sentinel also published an opinion piece by professor emeritus of chemistry Joseph Bunnett, who noted that UCSC has always had faculty who were highly respected in their fields and engaged in serious research, even in the early years when the campus had a reputation as a "hippie haven."