June 2009 Newsletter
Dear Reader,
This week revealed the impact on UCR from the Governor's new budget proposals, and they will be severe. The expected budget impact is now nearly double what was expected just two weeks ago.
The failure of the May 19 ballot initiatives was interpreted by the Governor as a voter mandate to slash programs without increasing taxes. Proposed cuts to the University of California's state general fund budget have gone from a projected $321.5 million to net $619 million loss over FY09-10 and the remainder of FY08-09. When combined with unfunded mandates, the overall reduction to the UC system approximates $800 million over a 14 month period.
Chancellor Tim White, in a letter to the UCR campus community, stated these cuts feel like an "anti-stimulus package." He went on to say that "Developing human capital and knowledge is the way to recover and strengthen the economy."
The voices of support from our community for the UCR Palm Desert Center and our programs have been gratifying. Because of this, we will not put our aspirations on hold during this challenging time. We will sharpen our focus and our efforts to serve the Coachella Valley on those programs and activities which will have the most impact. For example, we will continue to work to formalize a Regional Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UCR Palm Desert, leveraging the entrepreneurship activities that have been centered here since our doors opened. This support for small business innovation and growth will help the valley economy recover, but we will have to seek external funding to grow this initiative to its full impact.
This crisis will not be faced with fear and withdrawal, but with renewed commitment and focus on service and leadership from the University of California, Riverside.
MBA Students Complete Degree Journey
UCR PDGC congratulates six MBA students who will celebrate graduation on June 12 at UCR. The group is the third graduating class from the MBA program at the Palm Desert Center, since it opened its doors in 2005.
The graduates are Christopher Platamone, Scott McCabe, Fudi "Scarlett" Yang, Kamarat Jermsirisakpong, Tracy Fuller and Michael Criste.
"UCR's Anderson Graduate School of Management is delighted to welcome six new members to its alumni base," said David Stewart, Dean, UCR A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management (AGSM). "We are especially proud that these students are part of the Coachella Valley economic community. AGSM is the flagship business school of all of Inland Southern California and our new graduates are part of our contribution to the vitality and economic development of the region. To our graduates I say congratulations. Job well done."
To learn more about the MBA and new EMBA programs, call (760) 834-0975.
UCR MFA Professor Releases New Book
Creative Writing visiting professor Mary Yukari Waters, who teaches in the MFA program at UCR PDGC, has had her debut novel published. "The Favorites", is in bookstores now.
"The Favorites" begins its setting in Japan in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The novel explores the complex ties between three generations of women in a Japanese family. The two elderly matriarchs, Mrs. Kobayashi and her sister-in-law Mrs. Asaki, have a delicate, politely strained relationship based on a life-altering decision: after the death of her first husband, Mrs. Kobayashi agreed to give her second daughter, Masako, to Mrs. Asaki to raise. Faced with the devastating loss of both her beloved husband and younger child, Mrs. Kobayashi clung to her oldest daughter, Yoko, who grew into a poised, vivacious young woman and went on to marry an American man. Now a mother herself, Yoko brings her 14-year-old daughter, Sarah, to visit her family in Japan during the summer. Sarah then learns the family secret, and observes the carefully constructed walls that have been erected between the family members, walls that will be cracked when a terrible tragedy strikes.
Booklist calls Waters, "a graceful, subtle writer, gifted at limning the intricate connections between women bound together by blood or marriage."
Waters is also the author of the acclaimed short story collection "The Laws of Evening," and has appeared in the Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Stories and the Pushcart Prize Stories numerous times, and is widely anthologized.
Free EMBA Information Session
Working professionals with at least seven to 10 years work experience who want to earn their MBA are invited to attend a free information meeting about the new UC Riverside Executive MBA, which is now accepting applications for fall 2009.
The next information session is Thursday, June 18 at 5:30 p.m. at the UC Riverside Palm Desert Center, 75-080 Frank Sinatra Drive, Palm Desert. Light refreshments will be provided and parking is free.
The Executive MBA is offered by UCR's A. Gary Anderson School of Management at UCR Palm Desert Center. The Executive format is crafted for working professionals, allowing students to earn an MBA degree in less than 22 months by attending five alternate Friday/Saturday residential sessions per term and three one-week extended residential periods.
To RSVP for an information session, call Agam Patel at (760) 834-0975, e-mail emba@ucr.edu or visit www.agsm.ucr.edu/emba/.
"Buckworld One" Hip Hop Theater Comes to UCR PDGC
"Buckworld One," a theatrical performance featuring nine dancers and four poets from the Inland Empire, krumped its way to UCR Palm Desert's stage on Saturday May 30 for a crowd of more than 100 people.
"This hip hop theatre performance fused krump dancing with spoken word and interactive video projections to tell a story," said Rickerby Hinds, playwright and UCR Professor of theater. The play engages issues like the family, creation, war, the media, and fratricide in an attempt to tackle the age-old question, "Why Are We Here?"
The audience was moved to tears by a tribute from the dancers to a fallen member of their crew, "Cornbread." The tribute included videos and photos of Cornbread with Eric Clapton's, "Tears in Heaven" playing in the background.
"It was great to see that a story about young men and women growing up hard in San Bernardino could have such a resonance to an audience in Palm Desert," said Hinds. "It reminds us that we're not as different as they want us to believe we are, and ultimately it is up to us to be change if we want to make change."
Buckworld One was developed through the CaliFest Theatre Workshop under the guidance of Hinds when he happened onto inner-city youths participating in this new hip hop dance style at a small local church. Hinds said when he witnessed the intensity, passion and athleticism of the dance he saw an opportunity for good theater.
"Thanks to the Arts & Letters Lecture Series and our Creative Writing MFA program, the Palm Desert Center is known as a hub and a home for the writing arts throughout the Coachella Valley" said Dick Hebdige, Director of Arts and Interdisciplinary Programs at UCR Palm Desert. "In coming years we'd like to match that reputation for excellence in the visual, performing and media arts and on Saturday night Rickerby's troupe set the bar high on every count. This is theater for the 21st century - art made between a rock and a raw place. I can think of no better argument for why art matters than Buckworld".
The University of California has been active in the Coachella Valley for nearly 100 years, initially supporting the agriculture industry and more recently impacting modern growth issues through research in areas such as transportation, air quality, and energy and water conservation. The UCR Palm Desert Center, established in 2005, provides graduate education to the Coachella Valley through its innovative Executive MBA and MFA degrees.