To paraphrase Friedrich Nietzsche, what did not kill UCI may have made it stronger. A year and half after state spending cuts forced the university to downsize by about a fifth, or by $45 million, UCI is on a hiring spree. “We’re recruiting more faculty than we ever have,” Provost Michael Gottfredson says. UCI is seeking up to 90 professors from “top 20” schools in “highly targeted” areas, including regenerative medicine, energy and environment, materials chemistry and world history. The hiring would more than offset about 40 faculty positions lost in recent months through attrition. UCI cut more than 450 non-teaching jobs but Gottfredson said the university has emerged more efficient, particularly in IT and use of space. With state allocations stabilizing, UCI believes it now has a relative cost advantage over most competitors, which also are under budget constraints …
Before giving his golf game a lift with a near-miss performance in his Chevron World Challenge at Sherwood CC in Thousand Oaks, Tiger Woods gave a lift to some of his closest supporters. In meetings with the boards of his OC-based Tiger Woods Foundation and Tiger Woods Learning Center, Woods repeated his intent to replicate the Anaheim learning center concept. Two campuses opened recently in Washington, D.C., and more are planned. As when Woods met with the foundation board in July, he thanked the directors for their support, focused on business and didn’t allude to his personal situation. If Woods follows his usual practice, the foundation will get all or most of his $650,000 Chevron winnings, although the take would have been $550,000 more if he’d prevailed over Graeme McDowell in sudden death …
Some recovery: Following Cal State Fullerton’s economic forecast of a “painful crawl,” Chapman U has weighed in with “a slow slog” and UCLA sees things “slightly weaker in the near term” …
Chapman’s signature forecast conference again drew a big crowd to the OC Performing Arts Center. Does the Insider dare suggest that Essie Adibi, whose ballroom dancing exploits were projected on screen, is beginning to upstage fellow prognosticator (and fellow ham) Jim Doti? …
Mindy and Glenn Stearns opened their Newport Coast mansion to more than 600 guests for two nights of parties that featured performances by Cirque du Soleil trapeze artists and a 16-member gospel choir, and took in gifts for Project Happiness. “We’ve been blessed,” said Glenn, who has more than survived in the mortgage business. “We have been able to hire nearly 400 people and open 40 offices over the past two years and we wanted to celebrate the start of the holiday season with the people that have supported us throughout the years, over the peaks and through the valleys” …
Bowers Museum has founding father Ben Franklin’s bifocals, microscope, Bible, chess set, a 1746 copy of Poor Richard’s Almanac and dozens of other personal gadgets and items. The exhibit runs from Saturday through March 13.
