Palm Desert Center

Inaugural Literacy Festival Slated for November 21

Join the Coachella Valley Literacy Network as it embarks on a journey to inspire and encourage youth and the community to read at the inaugural Literacy Festival from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 21 at the Coachella Library.

The theme of the festival is "Plantando Palabras, Cosechando Futuros" (Planting Words, Harvesting Futures).

Local literacy service providers will have informative and interactive booths, and the event will also feature free books, cultural entertainment and a guest appearance from award-winning author, distinguished poet, UCR Creative Writing professor Juan Felipe Herrera.

 Created by UCR PD, the Coachella Valley Literacy Network is comprised of various community literacy programs, the network is focused on increasing literacy rates and supporting and strengthening literacy efforts in the region. The festival is one of many ways the group is committed to promoting literacy in the valley.
 
In addition to the Coachella Valley Literacy Network, co-sponsors for the festival include the Riverside County Library System, and First 5 Riverside.

The Coachella Library is located at 1538 Seventh in Coachella.  For more information about the Literacy Festival and the Literacy Network, visit www.palmdesert.ucr.edu/literacy .

Distinguished Educator, International Health Expert Appointed Medical School Dean at UCR

G. Richard Olds, M.D., an internationally recognized tropical disease authority and chair of the Department of Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, has been appointed vice chancellor of health affairs and founding dean of the medical school at the University of California, Riverside.

Dr. Olds will assume his new position by Feb. 1, 2010.

“This is a momentous step forward for the medical school, for the UCR campus and for the future of Inland Southern California,” said Chancellor Timothy P. White. “Dr. Olds brings to UCR wide-ranging leadership experience in medical education and research, as well as a worldwide reputation in the fields of international health, infectious disease and parasitology. He is an educational innovator with entrepreneurial talent and boundless energy, traits that will be essential for building this medical school.”

As chair of medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Olds leads one of the institution’s largest academic departments, with 11 separate divisions and 280 faculty training more than 800 medical students, 100 residents and 70 fellows. The department last year carried out more than $27 million in research funded by the National Institutes of Health and had more than 100,000 patient visits in a range of medical specialties and subspecialties. Olds is also chief of medical service at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, which is currently ranked tenth in the country in quality among all academic medical centers.

Olds, whose appointment has received regental approval, said he was attracted to UC Riverside by the opportunity to build a new medical school with a vision toward training doctors for the future needs of health care. “Health care is going to change in the United States and we will need a different paradigm for training physicians. There could not be a better time to build a new medical school,” he said.

“UCR has taken on two additional challenges that most medical schools would not take on – trying to fill the region’s physician workforce shortage with robust residency programs as part of the medical school and actually improving the health of the community we serve,” Olds said. “These are both large challenges and that is part of the excitement of coming to Riverside.”

The mission of the UCR School of Medicine is training a diverse physician workforce and developing research and health care delivery programs to improve the health of medically underserved populations. The University of California Board of Regents approved establishment of the medical school in summer 2008 and it is projected to enroll its first incoming class of 50 medical students in fall 2012.

White emphasized the need of the medical school to expand and diversify the region’s physician workforce. “We will build a medical school that produces physicians trained to practice here with a clear emphasis on prevention, and with cultural competency and sensitivity to our unique and diverse population in Inland Southern California. Dr. Olds, as am I, is personally committed to these values and to the vital role of the medical school in expanding access to health care,” White said.

The UCR medical school will be built on the foundation of the existing UCR/UCLA Thomas Haider Program in Biomedical Sciences, which has been in place since 1974. The program offers the first two years of medical school instruction to admitted UCR students, after which students transfer to the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA to finish their M.D. degrees. 

UC Riverside Launches Solar Energy Research Initiative

UC Riverside took a new step toward sustainable technologies with the formation of a new research initiative into solar energy at a kick-off ceremony held on Thursday, Nov. 5 in Riverside.

The Southern California Research Initiative for Solar Energy (SC-RISE) will utilize Bourns College of Engineering-Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT)’s long-established role as an “honest broker” to establish alliances that can advance the effective utilization of solar power in southern California. CE-CERT Director Matthew Barth will lead the initiative and leverage the center’s nearly two decades of environmental research and successful technology development.

Sustainability has been identified by UCR Chancellor Timothy P. White as a major goal of the university and the City of Riverside has made an initial funding commitment to the effort.

“We applaud the City of Riverside and Riverside Public Utilities for their forward thinking in partnering with the university on this initiative,” said Reza Abbaschian, dean of UCR’s Bourns College of Engineering. “It represents the kind of collaboration that universities, municipalities and other organizations must continually develop in order to ensure the new knowledge we create is used effectively for the benefit of the community.”

Combining research, technology assessment and workforce training, SC-RISE will serve as a regional focal point for solar energy research, applications, demonstrations and education. With key collaborations with the city, local solar energy companies, other academic institutions and Japan’s Tohoku University, the initiative will form the nexus of academic, governmental and commercial interest in affordable solar power in the region.

SC-RISE will begin with a three-fold mission:
• Research – collaborate with government agencies and industry to advance photovoltaic electricity technology and other renewable energy concepts
• Demonstrate – assess and evaluate new technologies, offering end users independent information on efficiency and performance for various purposes
• Training – assist regional colleges and others to inform technicians, end users and the public about solar energy concepts, installations, maintenance, and operations

By representing multiple perspectives, SC-RISE will identify the technical, infrastructure and other barriers to the full embrace of solar technologies in our region. The goal of SC-RISE is to stimulate the adoption of green solar energy across sun-kissed Southern California through a variety of activities including research, education, pilot projects and other technology demonstrations.

UCR's Anderson Graduate School of Management Named in "The Best 301 Business Schools"

The A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management (AGSM) has been named one of the nation's premier schools of business according to the 2010 edition of The Princeton Review's book, "The Best 301 Business Schools." The book went on sale Oct. 6, 2009.

"We are very pleased that our program has been recognized by The Princeton Review," said David Stewart, dean of UCR's School of Business Administration, which includes AGSM. "It reinforces our reputation as a national-class business school and as the flagship school in our region. It is also a tribute to the success of our dedicated faculty in providing students with opportunities to develop as leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs."

The book compiles the results of more than 19,000 interviews of business school students during the past three academic years, and on school-reported data. The 80-question survey asked students about their school's academics, student body and campus life, themselves and their career plans. The Princeton Review does not rank schools academically or hierarchically in its guidebooks.

The book includes two-page profiles of the schools with write-ups on their academics, student life and admissions, plus ratings for their academics, selectivity and career placement services. In the profile of AGSM, the Princeton Review editors wrote: "Combine the Southern California climate with a 'fantastic school' and it's easy to understand why the A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management at UC Riverside gets such high marks from students."

One student remarked in the survey that AGSM professors "...care very much about their students' learning and understanding of the course material." Another said, "You get real interaction with professors, and all of the students know each other, which allows for tighter bonds and networks."

The business schools at the University of California's campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine and Los Angeles were also named to the Best 301 list.

UC Riverside's School of Business Administration comprises the A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management and the undergraduate program in business administration, the largest in the UC system. In addition to its full-time MBA program, a 22-month accelerated executive master of business administration degree (EMBA) was introduced by AGSM in fall 2009, and plans are underway to offer a future master of accounting degree.

AGSM is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International. 

MFA Program Brings Award-winning Author to UCR PDGC

Join the Coachella Review, the literary journal of the MFA program at UCR Palm Desert, for a spirited reading, conversation and book signing with acclaimed writer, Dan Chaon, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, December 3 at UCR PDGC.

A finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the 2006 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Chaon is the author of four books of fiction, including “Fitting Ends,” “Among the Missing,” and “You Remind Me of Me.”  His latest book, the national bestseller “Await Your Reply,” was recently featured as one of the best books of the fall on the Today Show and was called "ambitious, gripping and unrelenting" by the New York Times. 

In addition to “Await Your Reply” making the best seller list, “You Remind Me of Me” was also named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, The Christian Science Monitor, and Entertainment Weekly, among other publications. Chaon's fiction has appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize, and The O. Henry Prize Stories. He was also a finalist for the National Magazine Award in Fiction. Chaon lives in Cleveland, Ohio, and teaches at Oberlin College, where he is the Pauline M. Delaney Professor of Creative Writing.

Both the event and parking are free. For information, call 760-834-0590.

"Uncovered: A Pageant of Hip Hop Masters"

On Friday, November 13 about 85 people gathered at UCR Palm Desert for a performance of “UNCOVERED: A Pageant of Hip Hop Masters.” 

“Uncovered” recreates life-sized versions of classic album covers from several hip-hop artists including: Run DMC, Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, Salt ‘N Pepa, Biggie, Tupac, and Jay Z. The recreations were accompanied by a DJ’s mix of songs from each album while dancers displayed moves that were popular during the album’s release.

“Live actors, dancers, and DJ’s transformed the space into a stage where the unbridled creativity of one of the most distinctive American cultural movements in this generation takes flesh, stands up, and is recognized,” said UCR associate professor and the producer of the performance, Rickerby Hinds. “Hip Hop in its original form was not a multi-million dollar enterprise. It was, and still is, about the act of reclaiming one’s environment and re-imaging it in creative, dynamic ways. “Uncovered” takes a giant step toward that recovery.”

Presenting this kind of cultural performance art is not just the goal of this campus, but an important role this campus should be playing locally, said Tod Goldberg, administrative director for the MFA program at UCR Palm Desert. “Uncovered is like nothing the Coachella Valley has seen before. We hope to bring out more of Rickerby’s productions to the desert,” said Goldberg.

For more information about the performers and background on the event, call Kali O’Campo at 951-660-8085 or Rickerby Hinds 951-830-1248. 

What's Happening at UC Riverside

It's not just the world-class faculty and facilities that make UC Riverside the place to be - it's also the thriving arts community, the one-of-a-kind special collections and lecture series that attract experts from around the world. It's the concerts, film festivals, dazzling dance performances, and thought-provoking theater. To learn more about these events and more visit UCR Happenings.  

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