UCLA Luskin Faculty and Staff Newsletter

Welcome to the first UCLA Luskin internal newsletter. This web page will be updated often with new information as it becomes available. Feel free to bookmark this page and check back as often as you like. I will send emails every couple of weeks with all the new information, and a reminder to come visit.

The newsletter is designed to share interesting, fun information among the faculty and staff. It’s a way to share ideas and stories that others may find interesting, and to also share things from Frank that people may not know are happening in the School.

There are no real guidelines as to what will be shared, and we are open to posting on a variety of topics. Please stop by the Dean’s suite any time to share any story ideas you have.

Exclusive Video from the First Annual UCLA Luskin QuizBowl ShowDown
In a stunning (some people would call it lucky!) come-from-behind victory, Urban Planning won the inaugural QuizBowl ShowDown. Over 100 people crammed into Room 2355 to watch their favorite professors, staff and students compete against each other. Lingering in last place all night, in a competition dominated by Social Welfare and Public Policy, Urban Planning pulled out a victory in the last round – they know their state capitals! The Dean’s Office organized the proceedings, Frank provided the pizza and beer, and all proceeds benefited the departments’ end of year student celebrations. Student cheering sections chanted encouragements to their teams all night long (and there was a lot of trash talking too!).

Thank you to these faculty & staff competitors: from Social Welfare, Laura Abrams, Gerry Lavina, & Ian Holloway; from Public Policy, Sarah Reber, Mark Peterson, & Maciek Kolodziejczak; and from Urban Planning, Robin Liggett, Brian Taylor, & Robin McCallum.

Facebook photos (if you’ve got more photos – send them our way!):

Video from the event

On Writing
Earlier this year at a lunch for visiting Professor Michael Dukakis, the discussion turned to the poor writing habits of some college students. To be fair, times are changing, and with technological advances, communication styles are different than they used to be. The questions posed, however, was ‘do Professors have time to teach proper writing skills while sticking to their curriculum?’ Do students make time to read, which only leads to stronger communication skills and greater knowledge of words?’

Common sense tells us that reading makes us smarter, but in a world filled with reality television, texting and other technological advances, is it possible our students are not learning the basic skills of writing beginning at a young age? I fear that by the time my daughter is in college she will actually believe that this sentence – IDK. C U L8er – is proper English. If you had to google “IDK” you are not alone. Also, you are old.

David Ogilvy, who is considered an advertising legend, believed that the better his employees wrote, the further they’d advance in his company. In 1982 he sent a memo to all of his employees at his advertising agency, Ogilvy & Mather. The memo was titled, “How To Write” and included 10 writing tips (listed below).

These might be worth sharing with Luskin students. Perhaps one of the tips below will resonate or inspire. As Luskin students graduate and begin to explore Professional opportunities, an email is sometimes the first impression they will make. A poorly written email or cover letter is the first impression, and done poorly may be the first – and last – impression of our students.

So, these writing tips are not just for writing papers, they’re also for communicating in other facets of life. After all, people who write well, do well.

David Ogilvy’s Writing Tips
“Woolly minded people write woolly memos, woolly letters and woolly speeches. Good writing is not a natural gift. You have to learn to write well. Here are 10 hints:”

1. Read the Roman-Raphaelson book on writing. Read it three times. (The Dean’s office has a copy of this book for those who would like to read it)
2. Write the way you talk. Naturally.
3. Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.
4. Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.
5. Never write more than two pages on any subject.
6. Check your quotations.
7. Never send a letter or a memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning — and then edit it.
8. If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it.
9. Before you send your letter or your memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do.
10. If you want ACTION, don’t write. Go and tell the guy what you want.

After Hours
In 2007, Professor Lois Takahashi and her husband, Dave White, founded the Rosalynd Winery in Napa Valley. White, who is Rosalynd’s winemaker, focuses on a small lot of pinot noirs and chardonnays sourced from the Russian River Valley and Napa Carneros. And, clearly he knows what he’s doing as Rosalynd was recently selected as “Best Pinot Noir, Napa County” by Bohemian Magazine. If you’re itching to try this award-winning wine, Rosalynd – named after the main character in White’s 2007 novel, The Good Life: A Chris Garrett Novel – check out the web site: http://rosalyndwinery.com/ .

Dave White making greatness.

Back in March, Urban Planning Professor Michael Storper spent two days as a guest lecturer at the School of Public Affairs at the University of Costa Rica, in San Pedro Montes de Oca, San José, Costa Rica.  Storper was asked to do all of his lecturing in Spanish, which he did by borrowing from his Portuguese.  Needless to say after two days of lecturing, a presentation of his new book, meeting with the students, and meeting with the professors, all in Spanish – Storper was ready to relax on the Osa Peninsula. There he saw abundant wildlife — macaws, toucans, dolphins, and lots of surfing crocodiles.  According to Storper, “the surfers didn’t seem to mind”.

Michael Storper in a question and answer with students, University of Costa Rica

Luskin Kids
Also Congratulations to Social welfare field faculty member Michelle Talley who announced the birth of her adopted son, Aiden Shawn, who was born March 18, 2013. He is healthy, happy, growing, and changing everyday.

Aiden Shawn

College Bound
Rowena Barlow in the business office won’t brag about her son Nathaniel, but she should. He was accepted to UCLA, UCSB, Berkeley and NYU. He made his decision to attend Berkeley in the fall. Congratulations to Rowena and her family!

Also from the business office: Belinda Vigil’s daughter, Lauren, is graduated from Quartz Hill High School in May. She was on the Principal’s List with a 3.6 GPA for her senior year, and was accepted to a number of universities including Cal State San Bernardino, California State Monterey Bay, and Sonoma State, but chose to go to California State University, Northridge. She is majoring in Anthropology with an emphasis on Archeology. She hopes to participate in the many field studies that Cal State Northridge has to offer including travel to Mexico and perhaps Egypt which is her dream destination. Eventually, Lauren would like to earn a PhD, become an Archeologist, and travel to Egypt.

Runner’s Digest
It all started during the Fall in Michigan where apple cider doughnuts were abundant. Social Welfare Professor Alfreda Iglehart realized that she may have eaten one too many doughnuts, and decided she needed to do something about it. One of her fellow classmates would run 3 miles a day, and Alfie figured she could easily do that.

“I didn’t make it a quarter of a mile before I was out of breath,” Iglehart recalled. “That was in March. By August I could run six miles without stopping.”

That six miles has turned into 37 marathons completed, 27 half marathons and 2 ultra marathons, including the Avalon (Catalina) Benefit 50-Mile Run where she finished second in her age group. She has traveled the world to compete in the races from New York City to Mt. Rushmore to Beijing, Bangkok and Iceland.

The goal is to run 40 marathons. But first up is the Rio de Janeiro Half Marathon in July.

Alfreda Iglehart displays her running medals in her fifth-floor office.