Pacific in the Press | Oct. 8, 2019

Quote of the Week

"Benerd College will build upon Pacific's reputation for excellence in education and take advantage of creative collaborations to design exciting
and novel programs."

— Maria Pallavicini, The Record, Oct. 4, 2019

Examples of how University of the Pacific was represented in the news media in recent days:

"Pacific merging two programs to offer new online educational options," The Record, Oct. 4, 2019: Pacific interim President Maria Pallavicini and Benerd College Dean Patricia Campbell were quoted in this story about the formation of the new college. "Benerd College will build upon Pacific's reputation for excellence in education and take advantage of creative collaborations to design exciting and novel programs," Pallavicini told The Record. "The two units will leverage their strengths to provide a wide variety of in-demand courses, certificates and degree programs to meet the continuing education needs of undergraduates, educators, professionals and adult learners in the community." CaravanNews.com also published a story: "University of the Pacific merging school, college to enhance access to education: Benerd College will focus on innovative, flexible online, hybrid educational programs," CaravanNews.com, Oct. 3, 2019.

"Column: California's fire insurance market reaches a crisis," Los Angeles Times, Aug. 29, 2019: The Center for Business and Policy Research's Jeff Michael was quoted in this commentary on the rising cost of homeowner insurance. "If your insurance has gone from $2,000 a year to $6,000 or $8,000 a year, that's several hundred dollars a month out of your disposable income," Michael told the Times. "It's affecting real estate markets, it's definitely made properties more difficult to sell. That can create a number of impacts on communities by slowing down growth." And some affected counties are already seeing stagnant growth "so this is doing their local economies no favors—and I don't think it has reached equilibrium yet."

"Prehistoric Baby Bottles Are Newly Discovered Part of Late-Stone Age Diet," The Great Courses Daily, Oct. 4, 2019: History's Ken Albala was quoted throughout this story about a study in Nature that found vessels resembling sippy cuts dating back to 5,500 B.C. "Recent studies of human DNA and archaeological remains suggest that gathering was equally if not more important than hunting; that is, leafy vegetables, tubers, and fruits that made up a significant proportion of the diet as evidenced by absence of vitamin deficiencies and general good health," Albala told the outlet. "The conclusion is that humans have always been omnivores, and we still are. ... It's only recently that archaeologists have been able to recognize vitamin deficiencies like scurvy or rickets from examining human bones, and even more recently that geneticists have been able to trace back human genes thousands of years and extrapolate information about the human diet."

"Californians should pay more attention to water," California Policy Center, Oct. 3, 2019: McGeorge second-year law student Darin Dupont authored a commentary on California water. It concludes: "We need to look beyond the present and start managing water for the future by working towards the implementation and investment of new and updated infrastructure, and continue to have discussions as a whole state on the importance of water in our lives."

"The Democratic 'Gut and Amend' Supermajority Morphs into One Party ... No Voters Needed," City WatchLA.com, Oct. 3, 2019: McGeorge alumnus and adjunct professor Chris Micheli was mentioned in this commentary and a section of an earlier piece by Micheli was quoted: "One of the controversial occurrences during the annual California Legislative Session is so-called 'gut-and-amend bills.' According to the Legislative Counsel, these measures are defined as 'when amendments to a bill remove the current contents in their entirety and replace them with different provisions.'"

"Annual Expanding Your Horizons conference inspires girls to 'follow your curiosity'," MirageNews.com, Oct. 4, 2019: School of Engineering and Computer Science Dean Steven Howell was mentioned in this story about the San Joaquin Expanding Your Horizons conference hosted on the Stockton Campus. About 500 girls were on campus to learn about science, technology, engineering and mathematics in the 27th annual installment of this event presented in partnership with the Lawrence Livermore and Sandia national laboratories.

"Davis Jazz & Beat Festival set for Oct. 11 and 12," Daily Republic (Fairfield), Oct. 3, 2019: A feature story on the Davis Jazz and Beat Festival mentions that the Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet will perform. The story was reprinted in the Davis Enterprise.

"Pacific women's basketball picked No. 3 in WCC preseason poll," The Record, Oct. 2, 2019: Women's basketball coach Bradley Davis was quoted in this story about the team being picked No. 3 in the pre-season rankings. "It's good to know the coaches in our league know and respect what we're trying to do at Pacific," Davis told The Record. "You can't put too much emphasis on these things. But right now we look pretty good on paper, and we'll see what happens." Junior guard Valerie Higgins and junior forward Brooklyn McDavid were selected for the preseason all-conference team.