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September 13, 1999
A television documentary in the National Geographic Explorer series, broadcast recently on NBC, featured professor of biology Burney Le Boeuf. The show focused on Le Boeuf's studies of shark predation on elephant seals at Año Nuevo Island, done in collaboration with Peter Klimley of UC Davis.
Sociology's Monica Casper stole the show in a recent Chronicle of Higher Education story about new reproductive technologies. The lengthy article, which also mentioned Donna Haraway of history of consciousness, referred to Casper's book about fetal surgery and gave her views prominent display.
Arboretum manager Brett Hall was featured in several articles about Amborella, a rare plant propagated at the Arboretum that was recently recognized as the most primitive living flowering plant. Research on the plant, conducted at Washington State University, was the focus of articles in the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, and the Santa Cruz County Sentinel, and the Sentinel also ran a story that focused more closely on the Arboretum's role in making specimens of Amborella and other rare plants available to researchers.
Ellen Moir of the New Teacher Center was quoted in a San Jose Mercury News story about California's new tougher K-12 math curriculum.
UCSC's Predatory Bird Research Group was featured in articles in the San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco Examiner, Sacramento Bee, Contra Costa Times, and the Monterey County Herald about the official removal of the peregrine falcon from the endangered species list.
Jonathan Fox of Latin American and Latino studies was quoted in a Los Angeles Times story about the troubles of the Inter-American Foundation.
The Los Angeles Times tapped UCSC experts again recently when a reporter turned to economist Rob Fairlie while analyzing the paper's findings regarding minority business ownership in Los Angeles.
The San Jose Mercury News ran a long article about new facilities at Long Marine Laboratory, including the Center for Ocean Health and the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. The story featured the comments of Gary Griggs, director of the Institute of Marine Sciences, and assistant professor of biology Mark Carr.
In the wake of the death of John F. Kennedy Jr., Anthony Pratkanis of psychology was tapped by the Buffalo News for a story on how the media cover celebrities. . . . Pratkanis also fielded a call from the Miami Herald about petition drives under way in Florida for anti-affirmative action ballot proposals. One is identical to Prop. 209, but three similar initiatives would prohibit only race-based affirmative action, with no mention of gender. . . . And yes, that was Pratkanis's photo on the front page of the Santa Cruz County Sentinel, accompanying an article about the social dynamics of hate crimes that cited his expertise in the area.
A series of riots in Texas prisons prompted a reporter with the San Antonio Express News to call psychology's Craig Haney for comment on prison conditions.
An article in the Santa Cruz County Sentinel about the high concentration of endangered species in the Santa Cruz area featured the comments of graduate student Grey Hayes, Arboretum curator Steve McCabe, and director of UCSC's Natural Reserves Maggie Fusari.
The UCSC-based UC College Prep Initiative has gotten coverage from Channel 47 in Fresno, and the Fresno Bee, as well.