May 31, 1999

Conference season keeps UCSC busy during summer months

By Francine Tyler

Some 10,000 visitors from 30 different countries are expected to come to UCSC this summer to participate in nearly 60 camps, conferences, institutes, and outreach programs.

The 10-week conference season lasts from June 20 to August 28 this year. Its diverse offerings range from a conference focused on the origins of the universe to youth camps for academics or sports.

The conference program generates roughly $3 million annually for UCSC. Conference guests purchase food and services from the campus and occupy the 2,400 beds at UCSC's eight residential colleges. Income from the summer season helps to offset room-and-board rates charged to UCSC students by about $200 each year. Income is also returned to UCSC's colleges to help support student programs.

Approximately 60 percent of summer bookings come from UCSC Extension, Summer Session, and academic programs sponsored by faculty and staff. Sports teams, businesses, youth groups, and government and professional organizations make up the remaining 40 percent.

For information about this summer's conferences or about services offered by the Conference Office, call (831) 459-2611 or go to www.ucsc.edu/conference. This year's conferences include:

• Johns Hopkins University Institute (June 27-July 16, July 18-August 6). Johns Hopkins' Institute for the Academic Advancement of Youth, Center for Academic Advancement, draws students from 42 states and 39 countries who are in grades seven and up and are within the top 2 percent of their age group academically. For their studies, participants choose from subjects ranging from engineering design to neurobiology or psychology. The program at UCSC is one of six such summer residential programs sponsored by the Center for Academic Achievement in the U.S. www.jhu.edu/gifted
• Nike Sports Camps (June 27-August 20). More than a dozen separate residential and day camps are offered for youths in swimming, tennis, and volleyball. Participants train at UCSC's sports facilities and also enjoy off-campus activities such as beach swimming and volleyball, casino night, and a field trip to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. www.ecamps.com
• Avance (July 2-July 31). This intensive four-week residential program enhances academic achievement for students from migrant families who are overage for their grade in school. The fifth-to-seventh-grade students live at UCSC's Cowell College while learning math and science concepts and gaining skills in language, computers, and conflict resolution.
• SOFIA-Star Formation Workshop (July 12-17). NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and the German space agency DLR are working to create SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy), a Boeing 747-SP aircraft modified to accommodate a 2.5 meter reflecting telescope. When operational, SOFIA will be the largest airborne telescope in the world, giving scientists new opportunities to study the origin of stars and planets and to ultimately understand how life arises in the universe. The conference is cosponsored by the SOFIA project and by NASA's Center for Star Formation Studies, a consortium of researchers working to construct a comprehensive theoretical model of the process of star formation. It is not open to the public. www.astro.ucla.edu/meetings/SOFIA_Star_Formation99/
• Niigata Daiichi (July 20-August 8). Some 110 students with the prestigious Japanese secondary school Niigata Daiichi study English and U.S. culture through English Language International, UCSC Extension. This is the tenth year Niigata students have come to UCSC. www.ucsc-extension.edu/eli
• Dickens Universe (August 1-8). At the 19th annual conference at UCSC, distinguished Dickens scholars will discuss Charles Dickens's novel Barnaby Rudge. Sponsored by the Dickens Project, the conference features lectures and seminars, an evening film series titled "The Cinema of Revolution," a book fair, daily workshops for teachers, Victorian teas, and a Victorian dance with live music. The program is designed for teachers as well as the general public. humwww.ucsc.edu/dickens/index.html

• California Rural Legal Assistance (August 2-6). California Rural Legal Assistance is a group of lawyers and other professionals who represent farmworkers and the rural poor. The group has championed the rights of farmworkers and other impoverished people in courtrooms, classrooms, fields, and the state's legislative halls since 1965. www.crla.org
• Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) Forum 1999 (August 15-20). The 13th annual SCO Forum, titled "The New Millennium Now!," features SCO's most comprehensive program ever, with all events, seminars, and keynote sessions focused on the future of Unix systems and network computing. Conference information tracks range from network computing and the Y2K problem to UnixWare 7 and Project Monterey. More than 2,000 people are expected to attend. www.sco.com/forum1999/

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