93106: Campus Notes

New restrictions on potential J-1 visa holders require an academic sponsor for international scholars coming to UCSB, including conference attendees. Enrolled students on J-1 visas, who have to be screened by the admissions process, are not affected by this requirement, explained Mary Jacob, director of the Office of International Students and Scholars. An academic sponsor is required for each visiting faculty member, postdoc, researcher, or conference attendee, she said. For details, call her at x2929.

Howard Giles, professor of communication and an active reserve officer with the Santa Barbara Police Department, received two outstanding police service awards for 2005. He has also been promoted to lieutenant, the top-ranked officer in the reserve unit.

Melvin Oliver, dean of social sciences, and Lorraine McDonnell, professor of political science, were selected to join two dozen leading scholars on a panel of the National Academies. More details on the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education panel, which considers questions of national policy and advises the federal government, are at <www7.nationalacademies.org/dbasse/DBASSE_Membership.html>.

PUBLICATIONS

Sucheng Chan, professor emerita of Asian American and global studies, has mined more than 30 years of teaching and administrative experience in a field she pioneered to write “In Defense of Asian American Studies: The Politics of Teaching and Program Building” (University of Indiana Press, 2005).

Valerie Hobbs, a retired lecturer in the Writing Program, has published “Defiance” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005), the story of a boy battling cancer who finds liberation in unusual friendships.

TRANSITIONS

Laura Haston, formerly assistant dean for academic programs of the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, has been promoted to assistant dean of the school. She has been with the Bren School since 1996.

IN MEMORIAM

Susanna R. Baumgart, a senior artist in geography, died on Dec. 1, 2005, in a Santa Barbara hospice. The native of Los Angeles was 57. She was hired at UCSB in 1998 as a senior artist, and employed her talents in writing, photography, and painting on behalf of the department while battling cancer. She is survived by sons John and David Ritchy, and two brothers, Ted and John Baumgart.