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UCSB Students Participate in Live Videoconference With Iraqi
University Students

Students at UC Santa Barbara had the rare opportunity in May to participate in a groundbreaking peace mission that brought them in direct conversation with their peers at the Islamic University in Baghdad via a live videoconference.

Titled “A Dialogue for Peace,” the live video-chat was an effort to establish an open public discourse that would connect and build relationships amongst the next generation of leaders in both countries.

Presented by UCSB's Center for Middle East Studies, the event included a screening of filmmaker Mark Manning's documentary, "The Road to Fallujah," followed by a discussion hosted by Manning.

Despite the late hour of the UCSB event, 9 p.m., due to the 10-hour time difference between Baghdad and Santa Barbara, about 100 students gathered to take part in the live video-chat.

The unscripted dialogue focused on how students viewed each other and each other’s countries. The video-chat went on until about 1 a.m.


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UCSB Programs Receive Awards at Statewide Sustainability Conference



Representatives from UC Santa Barbara accepted three awards at the 2010 California Higher Education Sustainability Conference. The June conference brought together 850 representatives of sustainability programs in the University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges systems.
UCSB received the following Best Practice Awards:

Student Sustainability Program, awarded to the campus's Program for Assessment and Certification for the Environment and Sustainability. Programs at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Santa Rosa College will also be honored in this category.
  1. Water Efficiency and Site Water Quality, awarded to the campus's Cheadle Center for Biological and Ecological Restoration for the San Clemente Ecological Restoration & Stormwater Management Project. Programs at UC San Diego, Cal State Northridge, and San Diego Community College District will also be honored in this category.
  2. Sustainable Food Service, awarded to the campus's Residential Dining Sustainability Plan. A program at Humboldt State University will also be honored in this category.


"So many UCSB students, staff, and faculty work tirelessly on campus sustainability initiatives," said Jill Richardson, UCSB's sustainability coordinator. "I am so thrilled to see them recognized for their efforts. All three projects, and the people behind them, are truly deserving of their awards."



UCSB

Two UCSB Buildings Receive LEED Certifications From Green Building Council

UC Santa Barbara's Life Sciences and Engineering II buildings have been awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED is the USGBC's rating system for designing and constructing the world's greenest, most energy efficient, and high-performing buildings.

A recent addition to the Engineering II building received LEED Gold certification in the New Construction category, while the Life Sciences Building received a LEED Silver certification in the Existing Buildings category.

Campus sustainability officials said that the Life Sciences Building certification is a result of a collaboration between UCSB's Physical Facilities division and the campus's Laboratory Research and Technical Staff (LabRATS) program.

Among the achievements noted during the LEED assessment of the Life Sciences Building were water savings of 29 percent; waste minimization strategies, including copy paper reuse; and design for day lighting of lab and office spaces.

Among the achievements noted during the LEED assessment of the Engineering II addition were water savings of 40 percent; more than 20 percent of building materials extracted and manufactured in and around the South Coast region; and recycling of 90 percent of construction waste from the project, diverting 150 tons of materials from landfills.

These are the seventh and eighth UCSB facilities to receive LEED certification.


UCSB Announces ‘Green Initiative' Grant Recipients

UC Santa Barbara's The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF) Grant Making Committee has announced its grant recipients for the 2009-10 funding cycle.

The committee, composed primarily of undergraduate and graduate students, received 27 applications for various campus sustainability projects from UCSB students, staff, and faculty. In the end, 13 projects were selected to receive funding.

Some examples of the TGIF-funded projects:
  • Plastic Bottle Reduction Project will install a filtered water spigot in the Arbor Store to encourage reusable water bottle use on campus, $2,450.
  • Hatlen LED Stage Light Project will replace two rows of traditional 1,000-watt stage lights with 116-watt LED stage lights, significantly reducing electricity used and heat generated, $22,800.
  • Multiple Building Waste Audits will allow a student group to sort and document the waste stream in 10 campus buildings as part of the process of fulfilling requirements for LEED certification, $10,200.
  • Wind Turbine Project will install the first UCSB wind turbine to power the White Mountain Research Station, $18,500.

    • The TGIF Committee is a student-majority governing body selected to oversee TGIF allocation of approximately $150,000 annually. For more information, visit http://sustainability.ucsb.edu/tgif.



    University wins California Environmental Leadership Award

    By Harry Mok, UC Office of the President

    Global Green USA is honoring the University of California for the environmental commitment the university has demonstrated through its academic, research and sustainability practices.

    The California Environmental Leadership Award recognizes the UC system for its 32 LEED green-certified buildings, more than any other university in the country, and its leadership in research and educational programs focused on climate change, clean energy and other sustainability issues.

    UC President Mark Yudof said winning the award is a “tremendous honor&rdquoo; that recognizes students, faculty and researchers who are transforming the University of California into a national leader for sustainable development.

    UC's systemwide sustainability policy includes mandates on energy efficiency, use of renewable resources, recycling, waste reduction, environmentally friendly construction methods and campus foodservice guidelines.


    UC Santa Barbara Offers Admission to 19,721 for Fall 2010


    The University of California, Santa Barbara has offered a place in its fall 2010 entering class to a total of 19,721 high school seniors. The prospective UCSB freshmen were selected from a total of 46,700 applicants –– the second-largest applicant pool in UCSB history. The campus expects its fall 2010 entering class to number about 3,900.

    Both the academic qualifications and the diversity of the applicant class accepted by UCSB continue to be at very high levels:
      * The average high school grade point average of applicants admitted is above 4.10, up from 4.01 last year.
      * The average total score achieved by applicants admitted by UCSB on the required SATR Test was 1909 out of a possible 2400, up from 1877 last year.
      * Of all applicants admitted, 52.6 percent identified themselves as members of a racial or ethnic minority group –– up from 51.8 percent last year. (Individual applicants to UC are not identified to the campuses by race or ethnicity until after admission decisions are made.)
    Admission to UC Santa Barbara is becoming increasingly competitive. While in recent years around 50 percent of all freshman applicants were accepted, this year just 42 percent were offered a place in next fall's entering class.


    UC Center for New Racial Studies to be Located at UCSB


    With a $1.73 million grant from the UC Office of the President, a new multi-campus research program is preparing to launch at UC Santa Barbara. The UC Center for New Racial Studies (UCCNRS) will support innovative race and ethnicity research and teaching throughout the UC system. Making its official debut in July, the center is a part of UCSB's Institute for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research, the campus's organized research unit for social science.
    "“The idea is to create a network, a research institute that spans the entire UC system,” said Howard Winant, professor of sociology and director of the center. “We recognize that hundreds of current UC faculty and thousands of UC students continue to do cutting-edge research on these issues. Our goal is to support their work and to help generate a new account of race and racism in California and, ultimately, beyond it as well.”

    The center is guaranteed funding for five years, with each year focusing on a different area of research emphasis. For the 2010-11 academic year, the theme is "The Nation and Its Peoples: Citizens, Denizens, Migrants," and research will center on issues related to immigration, citizenship, and the racial dimensions of national identity. Themes to be addressed in subsequent years include "Race Neutrality and Race Consciousness," "The Racial State," "Race, Gender, Class Intersectionality," and "Global Raciality: Empire, Post-Coloniality, and Identity."

    "The current social, political, and cultural environment –– in the age of Obama –– is quite different from what it was during the Civil Rights era. The interest in race has diversified and been transformed in the 21st century," Winant said.

    More information about the Center for New Racial Studies can be found at http://www.uccnrs.ucsb.edu.




    -UCSB Public Affairs

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