Results tagged “ucr” from Raincross Square

Four area colleges -- including three in Riverside -- received high marks in the latest college rankings from U.S. News & World Report.

2001
Carillon Tower - UC Riverside


2005
California Baptist University

UC Riverside, California Baptist University, La Sierra University, all located in Riverside, and the University of Redlands, were each ranked within their respective categories, including:

• UC Riverside -- 86th in "Best National Universities" and 9th in "Up-and-Coming Schools"
• Univ. of Redlands -- 8th "Best Universities -- Master's (West)" and 2nd "Great Schools, Great Prices, Universities -- Master's"
• California Baptist Univ. -- 41st in "Best Universities -- Master's (West)"
• La Sierra Univ. -- 1st in "Racial Diversity, Universities -- Master's (West)"

For UCR, the "Up-and-Coming" ranking validates what many on campus already know, but yet hasn't quite translated into off-campus circles. For example, the newly-appointed dean of UCR's College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Thomas Baldwin, told the following to The Press-Enterprise:

Indeed, the ranking should come as no real surprise to those close to UCR, as the campus has consistently ranked among the top universities nationwide over the past decade in receiving Fellows from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), one of the most distinguished honors in the scientific community. In several recent years, UCR has received the most appointments, beating out such stalwarts as MIT, Princeton, Yale, Harvard and UC Berkeley.

Related

• UC Riverside


• University of Redlands


• California Baptist University


• La Sierra University

Previous

• RaincrossSquare.com - UCR moves up in rankings (Oct. 2007)


• RaincrossSquare.com - UC Riverside given high marks (Aug. 2006)

Final approval was given this past week by the University of California for what will become the state's sixth UC medical school. Set to open in 2012 at UC Riverside, the new school will be the first public medical school established in California in over 40 years and will build upon the current UCR/UCLA Thomas Haider Program in Biomedical Sciences established at UCR in 1974.

2007
UC Riverside

Approval of the school comes during the first week in office for new UCR Chancellor Timothy P. White, who is taking the reigns from acting chancellor Robert D. Grey. White says searching for a "highly regarded pioneer in the medical field" to lead the medical school will begin immediately.

Formerly the president of University of Idaho, White was hired in May by the UC Board of Regents to replace France A. Cordova, who became president at Purdue University last July. Cordova was instrumental in launching the initial planning for UCR's medical school in 2003.

The program will use existing facilities upon opening in 2012 with construction of a new medical school complex planned to begin in 2010. The complex will be located on 40 acres at the northeast corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Chicago Avenue at the western edge of the UCR campus. Completion and occupancy of the new complex is expected by 2015.

Related

• Riverside Press-Enterprise - UCR medical school wins UC Board of Regents' final OK (July 18)


• UCR - School of Medicine

Previous

• RaincrossSquare.com - Regents endorse med school for UCR (Nov. 2006)

Rising seven spots from last year, the University of California at Riverside continues its upward climb in the latest rankings of the nation's top higher-learning institutions as compiled by Washington Monthly. The #15 ranking is another indication that UCR -- and the UC system in general -- remains one of the top public educational institutions in the nation.

2007
UC Riverside

But this is not your typical college rankings. No, it's not the usual rankings based upon money, popularity or prestige alone, but one that includes tangible results, particularly in terms of social mobility and community service:

The Washington Monthly list ranks 242 national universities according to three primary categories:

• performance as an engine of social mobility
• fostering scientific and humanistic research
• promoting an ethic of service to country

As such, 8 of 10 schools in the UC system are ranked, including 3 in the top 5: UCLA (2), Berkeley (3) and UC San Diego (4).

While 2 others rank in the top 15: UC Davis (8) and UC Riverside (15).

UC Santa Barabara (36), UC Irvine (49) and UC Santa Cruz (76) round out the UC rankings.

Locally, other large schools ranked as follows: USC (24), Pepperdine (56), University of San Diego (97), Caltech (141), San Diego State (145) and University of La Verne (186).

Texas A&M ranked first. But many other well-known national colleges didn't fare so well: Texas Tech (217), DePaul (150), Wake Forest (122), Arizona State (113), Boston College (109), Rice (103), Auburn (86), Princeton (78), BYU (68), Purdue (46), Vanderbilt (39) and Duke (29).

Two highly-regarded Ivy League schools -- Yale and Harvard -- were listed at 38th and 27th respectively.

Also of note were the rankings of a few local liberal arts schools: Claremont McKenna College (6), Pomona College (46) and Harvey Mudd College (65).

Related

• Washington Monthly - 2007 College Guide


• Washington Monthly - 2007 National University Rankings


• Washington Monthly - 2007 Liberal Arts College Rankings


• UC Riverside - Official Web site

Previous

• RaincrossSquare.com - News - UC Riverside given high marks (Aug. 2006)

This year marks the 100th anniversary for UC Riverside's Citrus Experiment Station, which began as a tiny outpost at the foot of Mt. Rubidoux in 1907. Over the years, the station has grown in both scope and acclaim:

UCR's unique citrus collection
Los Angeles Times

Established by the State of California during the region's citrus heyday, the research station planted the seeds for present-day UCR, which began accepting students in 1954 and officially became a general campus of the world-renown UC system in 1959.

Even with the transformation into a full-fledge UC campus, the research center today retains its vital role in citrus and plant research. It also houses one of the most diverse citrus collections in the world:

Related

• Los Angeles Times - A juicy business: UC Riverside's citrus center experiments with designer fruit


• UCR - Campus Web site


• UCR - Citrus Research Center/AES 'Centennial Celebration'


• UCR - Citrus Variety Collection


• Restaurant Omakase

Palm trees, snow-covered mountains, sunny blue skies, citrus groves and mild temperatures -- no where else but Southern California. But this isn't Los Angeles nor even Orange County. In fact, it's Inland Southern California -- once simply referred to as the "Orange Empire."

A row of palm trees is silhouetted
against the mountains above
Highland Friday morning.
Terry Pierson/The Press-Enterprise

For well over a century, the Orange Empire's landscape -- combined with a distinctive and clever citrus marketing cooperative -- has proven the perfect palette and climate in enticing Americans to eat, sleep and think oranges as well as lure frigid easterners westward to enjoy the warm Southern California sunshine. And with postcard-perfect vistas, valleys and views, it's no real surprise why.

So, grab your snowboard and come get some mountain air Southern California style. Oh, and don't forget the sunscreen!

Related

• Photo Galleries - RaincrossSquare.com


• UC Riverside - Citrus Variety Collection


• Big Bear Mountain Resorts

Redlands

Riverside

Riverside

Redlands

A planned medical school for UC Riverside cleared an important hurdle last week as the Regents for the University of California approved initial plans for what would become the state's sixth UC medical school and first new one in over 40 years.

The unanimous endorsement by the Regents means UCR can continue finalizing its plan as well as hire a dean and develop curriculum. A final plan is expected to be delivered to the Regents in late 2007, which will then be forwarded to the California Postsecondary Education Commission for final approval.

Building upon the current UCR/UCLA Thomas Haider Program in Biomedical Sciences, UCR expects to begin enrolling its first full class in 2012 with degrees awarded beginning 2016. Plans are to have 384 medical students and 160 graduate students by 2022.

The future medical school, which comes on the heels of an advisory group's recommendation that UC boost overall medical school enrollment as well as plan for at least one new medical school, is an important step in addressing a projected shortage of as many as 17,000 physicians statewide by 2022. It also opens the door for a key economic incubator for UC Riverside and Inland Southern California in general.

Related

• Riverside Press-Enterprise - Medical school funding reported (Nov. 18)
• Riverside Press-Enterprise - Regents ratify med school (Nov. 17)
• Riverside Press-Enterprise - Med school 'right thng to do' (Nov. 15)
• UC Riverside
• UC Riverside - School of Medicine
• University of California

Previous

• RaincrossSquare.com - Endorsement boosts proposed med school (Sept. 2006)
• RaincrossSquare.com - UCR unveils med school proposal (May 2006)

A proposed medical school for UC Riverside received an important endorsement this week as an advisory group recommended the continuation of planning to the UC Regents:

The proposal, which is expected to go before the UC Regents for approval in November, is envisioned as a major step in closing the gap in both the lack of adequate medical educational facilities statewide as well as the shortage of physicians in one of the nation's fastest-growing regions.

Related

• Riverside Press-Enterprise - Advisors recommend UCR medical school to regents
• UCR - Health Sciences Initiative

Previous

• RaincrossSquare.com - UCR unveils med school proposal (May 2006)

California's UC campuses, including UC Riverside, each earned high marks in a recent college guide issued by Washington Monthly.

2001
Carillon Tower - UC Riverside

Promoted as a counter-list of sorts to the one produced by U.S. News and World Report -- which weighs heavily toward private institutions -- the Washington Monthly list ranks 245 national universities according to three primary categories:

• performance as an engine of social mobility
• fostering scientific and humanistic research
• promoting an ethic of service to country

In other words, are the schools doing what they're intended to be doing -- producing quality, well-rounded students and future leaders as opposed to simply chasing research/alumni dollars (which invaribly favor private institutions)?

Overall, the UC system is given high marks and has 4 schools ranked in the top 10: UC Berkeley (2), UCLA (4), UC San Diego (6) and UC Davis (10). While UC Riverside (22), UC Santa Barbara (57), UC Santa Cruz (68), UC Irvine (72) round out the UC campuses:

The No. 22 ranking for UC Riverside places it ahead of many highly-regarded colleges and universities, including Duke (23), Harvard (28), USC (33), Princeton (43), Pepperdine (78) and Emory (96).

The high ranking shouldn't be much of a surprise as UCR has consistently out-ranked many national universities the past 10+ years with regards to the number of faculty named fellows of the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

As a side note, 3 local schools also rank high on the Liberal Arts list: Claremont McKenna College (10), Pomona College (15) and Harvey Mudd College (17).

Related

• Washington Monthly
• Washington Monthly - College Rankings
• University of California
• UC Riverside

What started out in 1998 as a single retail outlet looking to fill a void in the local marketplace has since blossomed into a thriving Internet business serving all 50 states. Say hello to Riverside-based Organize.com.

Unlike many Web-based business models of recent memory, owner Terry Shearer is in this for the long haul and plans to grow the business in a more traditional manner rather than simply growing it "to increase the value of the company or stock without regard to sound operating decisions."

This is the exact type company Riverside would do well to support -- a company built on a strong foundation and with solid core values. Such is the type of company poised to grow into a large and stable business -- with homegrown roots to boot. And, with revenue projections of $10 million for 2006, we say Organize.com is on the right track.

2003
UCR / University Research Park

Another local business with a growing future is A-Check America, Inc., which began in 1998 with a handful of clients but now handles in excess of 3,000 customers nationwide.

The company, which specializes in employment screening and background checks, selected Riverside's University Research Park -- a 56-acre campus-style, business park that's part of the larger 856-acre Riverside Regional Technology Park -- for the location of its new headquarters:

Although it's imperative for cities to have a broad mix of employment opportunities -- small and large as well as local and afar -- probably the most important aspect for long-term prosperity is to support and nuture locally-based businesses. Local companies not only act as incubators helping to attract other similar businesses, but they are typically much more receptive and responsive to philanthropic and civic-minded needs within the local community -- a seemingly lost notion in many of today's corporate conglomorates.

And, with a bit of luck, a locally-based company could grow into the next Redlands-based ESRI or Riverside-based Fleetwood Enterprises -- or even the next Apple or Google.

Related

• Riverside Press-Enterprise - Applicant checker moving
• Riverside Press-Enterprise - Making room to grow
• The Business Press - Incubators hatch fledgling firms
• Inland Empire Economic Partnership
• University Research Park

After years of consideration, UC Riverside unveiled plans earlier this week for what could become the sixth UC medical school in California -- and the first since 1967 (UC Irvine).

The proposal, which now goes before the UC Regents later this year for approval, is envisioned as a major step in closing the gap in both the lack of adequate medical educational facilities statewide as well as the shortage of physicians in one of the nation's fastest-growing regions:

2001
UCR's Carillon Bell Tower

Currently, UCR teams up with UCLA's medical school in offering degrees via a cooperative agreement between the two campuses. The new UCR medical school is designed to build upon -- and eventually wean from -- that joint partnership, with the first class of graduates planned for 2016.

The road to approval will by no means be easy, and even faces competition from a similar proposal expected this year from fledgling UC Merced. And although the demand and need for a UC medical school within Inland Southern California is clearly apparent, UCR officials will need strong commitment -- politically and financially -- from the region's communities to ensure the proposal's approval and ultimate success.

Moreover, the establishment of a medical school would go a long way in strengthening the area's fast-rising economy, not too mention would be a nice feather in the cap for a region often overlooked in such state matters. But let there be no mistake, a medical school at UCR would be as beneficial to California as a whole as it would for the Inland region. And thus, the UC Regents and politicians in Sacramento would be wise to approve the establishment of such in the state's second most-populous metropolitan region.

Related

• UCR Web site
• Riverside Press-Enterprise - Medical school plan in UC hands
• Los Angeles Times - UC Riverside Seeks OK for a Medical School

A great photographic exhibit is currently on display at the UC Riverside/California Museum of Photography in downtown Riverside. The exhibit - Riverside in Pictures - takes a look at the changes in Riverside's landscape over the past 100+ years via historic and archival photos.

Among the various works used are some black & whites from none other than Ansel Adams himself. In addition, a collection of new photos were taken of various historical places by students from the CMPs "Upward Bound" program to demonstrate the city's transformation in a "Then & Now" type juxtaposition.

The exhibit runs through January 25, 2004.

The Musuem is located near City Hall on the Main Street Pedestrian Mall in downtown Riverside. Admission is free. The museum's address and phone are: 3824 Main Street / 909.784.FOTO