UCSC Alumni Assoc - LA Chapter

Minutes of UCSC Alumni Association, LA Chapter, 10/22/00
Annual Business Meeting

Members in attendance:

Meeting called to order at 11:00 AM.

Welcoming to meeting by Claude Zachary, President of Chapter The general purpose of the Los Angeles Chapter is to provide a forum for communication and community between the alumni and the campus.

Also note that we are one of three alumni chapters with a web page: http://alumni.cse.ucsc.edu/~franz/

Highlights from the 1999-2000 year include:
March 2000 - Broadway Tour and Tea
Toured the historic theatre district of Broadway in downtown 
Los Angeles with the Los Angeles Conservancy.  Followed the 
tour with tea at the elegant Biltmore Hotel.  We were joined by
Chancellor Greenwood for this event along with Lindsay Doran.  
A very elegant, educational, and fun outing.  This event was 
organized by Ann Reinhart.

May 2000 - Wine Tasting at the Museum of Contempory Art
We were hosted by the current director of MOCA, Jeremy Strick, 
for our annual wine tasting.  Jeremy Strick and his wife are 
both graduates of Cowell.  The wine featured at the tasting 
was from Saintsbury (founded by alumnus David Graves).  We 
were joined by Chancellor Greenwood for this event.

July 2000 - Camping trip to UCSC Reserve in Big Sur
A group of fourteen alumni from the southern california area 
went on a group camping trip.  They spent time hiking, 
speaking with the caretaker of the reserve, and enjoying 
the beauty of the Big Sur coastline.

August 2000 - An evening concert at the Hollywood Bowl
The Chapter enjoyed an evening of music and community under 
the stars at the Hollywood Bowl while listening to the 
Tony Bennet / Diana Krall concert. 


Past summer trips have included:
July 1999 - Sea of Cortez Trip
A five day cruise around the Sea of Cortez learning more 
about the local wildlife, marine life, and each other.

July 1998 - Santa Cruz Island Trip
A long weekend spent out on Santa Cruz Island with 
Professor Burney Le Boeuf.


Upcoming Events:  Plans for 2000-2001
November/December 2000  Live Taping of TV Show
Live taping of the Drew Carey Show or "Whose Line is it Anyway?"

February 2001  A locally held lecture by a UCSC Professor.
If you have any suggestions as to whom you would like to have 
visit please let us know!

May 2001  Annual Wine Tasting

July 2001  Annual Summer Trip 
Ideas for this trip at the moment are to visit the Research 
facility at Lake Tahoe, the Wrigley Research Center on Catalina, 
or Santa Cruz to attend Shakespeare Santa Cruz.  We are looking 
to do only one of these trips - please provide input as to which
you would like to see occur.

August 2001  Annual Hollywood Bowl Outing

Other events
There will also be other informal events including:  

Potlucks, 
happy hours,
movies, 
plays, 
concerts.


Upcoming Meetings:  Plans for 2000-2001
Roz Helfand speaks about her ideas for a group of politically 
minded alumni to meet and develop action plans on how the Los 
Angeles Chapter can play a greater role in shaping the future 
of UCSC than we currently are.  Issues of concern are:

mandatory grades/ possible end of the narrative evaluation system
student population issues/ over-crowding of campus:

The need to balance the mandated admitance rate with the 
preservation of open-space at UCSC and UCSC's uniqueness.
the trend of the campus in focusing more on science and 
engineering and less on the arts and humanities


Roz wants the group to meet to establish a way of focusing their 
energies to find out what role we can have in shaping the future 
of UCSC.  Roz passed around a sign-up for people interested in 
participating to sign.  Roz will contact interested members and 
arrange an organizational meeting.  Roz will then present the ideas 
raised to the Chapter as a whole.

It is suggested that an electronic forum for this discussion and 
others be created.  Some people want to contribute but do not have 
unlimited time.  An electronic forum will allow people to participate 
at their convenience.

Claude encourages participation from all chapter members.  We welcome 
all ideas and input and participation.  The more information we collect, 
the greater the feedback we can provide the campus.

Campus Updates
Ken Feingold did a brief presentation of events at the campus:

Student union is being built where the Bay Tree Bookstore 
parking lot once was.  It is due to be completed soon.
Housing at College 9 is now open.  The dedication will 
take place in about a month.
Student population is now 11,000, up by approximately 
250 students.  About 1000 of the students are graduate students.


Renee from the Alumni Council provides some insight into current 
events at UCSC:

The Grade Issue 
During the winter quarter the faculty senate met and had a oral 
vote regarding the grade issue, it passed, however the vote was
questioned due to the method by which it was taken and other issues.  
The faculty senate meeting in the spring quarter was closed down by 
student protestors as a result of how the winter quarter meeting 
was conducted.  The issue of grades/narratives was then sent to a 
mail vote of all senate members.  This mail vote was invalidated 
due to arguing of senate members regarding the wording of the 
ballot.  The faculty senate is now in the process of redoing the 
mail ballot vote - this time focusing solely upon the issue of 
mandatory grades.  If this issue passes (which seems likely), there 
will be a vote/discussion regarding the narrative evaluation system.
As for now the future of the narrative system is undecided.  What 
we can do to help is contact emeritus faculty members and encourage 
them to vote against the mandatory grades and to preserve the 
narrative evaluations if it comes to a vote.

Claude Zachary informed us that the Alumni Association is 
endorsing Prop. 39.

Alumni News of Note
Kent Nuygano, UCSC Alumni, has been appointed conductor of 
the Los Angeles Opera for the 2001-2002 Season.  He will be 
conducting a minimum of three operas.

Election of Officers for 2000-2001:

President - Claude Zachary
Vice President - Fran Zandonella
Treasurer - Jennifer Brow
Secretary - Michele Ploessel
Webmaster - Fran Zandonella
Vice President of Technology at Large - Lisa Buschmann
Vice President of Travel at Large - Ken Feingold

New Board elected.

Other announcements:

Roz Helfand invites all alumni on behalf of the City of West Hollywood to
the Human Rights Speakers Series.  Speaking at the event will be recipients
of the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize Doctors Without Borders who will speak on the
issue of "Access to Medical Care:  A Human Right".  The event is Thursday,
November 2, 2000, at 7 p.m. at the Wyndham Bel Age Hotel.  A dessert
reception will immediately follow the event.  Admission and valet parking
are free.  Please RSVP to 323-848-6823 by Friday, October 27, 2000.

Members are invited to tour the gardens, museum, and library at the
Huntington.

Website:
The UCSC Alumni - LA Chapter website is at:

http://alumni.cse.ucsc.edu/~franz

Next Meeting:
The next meeting is set for Sunday, December 3, 2000, at 4 p.m. at
Michele's apartment.

The meeting is adjourned at 11:30am.

webmaster: franz@acm.org
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