UC Berkeley (Audio)

The full proceedings of the 2016 Commencement for the Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley, featuring keynote speaker Shirley Weber, a member of the California State Assembly. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Education] [Show ID: 31013]

Student evaluations of teaching are widely used in academic personnel decisions as a measure of teaching effectiveness. Research shows that these evaluations are biased against female instructors by an amount that is large and statistically significant. Philip Stark, Professor of Statistics and Associate Dean at the UC Berkeley shows that gender biases can be large enough to cause more effective instructors to get lower scores than less effective instructors. Series: "Center for Studies in Higher Education" [Education] [Show ID: 30870]

Mark Schlissel, President, University of Michigan, presents the academic leader’s perspective on the direction of undergraduate education at the research university and ways to understand how individual students are doing using data. Series: "Center for Studies in Higher Education" [Education] [Show ID: 30811]

UC Berkeley scientists have identified a key culprit responsible for the fluid loss and resulting shock that are the hallmark of severe – and potentially fatal – dengue virus infections.

Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Show ID: 30055]

Why do geysers erupt? Loops in their plumbing.

Volcanologist Michael Manga and his students have studied geysers in Chile and Yellowstone National Park, threading sensors and cameras into the boiling water, and have come up with an explanation for why geysers erupt periodically. They’ve even built a laboratory geyser that erupts every 20 minutes. The key: the loops and bends in their plumbing. Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Show ID: 30061]

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes filmmaker Oliver Stone for a discussion of his career as director, screenwriter, and producer. Stone describes formative experiences, talks about different aspects of the filmmaking process including working with actors, writing screenplays, and postproduction. He focuses on the themes that have drawn him, and emphasizes the distinction between a historian and dramatist who works with historical materials. He concludes with a discussion of recent works including Alexander and the 10-part documentary on The Untold History of the United States. Series: "Conversations with History" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 30881]

Do you need a doctorate to become a professional? In a growing number of fields, especially in health areas, the answer is yes. For example, new US audiologists and physical therapists who until recently just needed master’s degrees now must have doctorates to enter professional practice, and several other fields appear to be moving in this direction. As a result, doctoral enrollments in these areas have skyrocketed since 2000. This presentation, an expansion of Ami Zusman’s earlier work on professional doctorates, discusses who and what are driving the creation and expansion of these new degrees, how they compare to older doctoral degrees, and their outcomes and implications – for access to professions, quality of client care, future doctoral requirements, and the meaning of a doctorate. Series: "Center for Studies in Higher Education" [Education] [Show ID: 30869]

Hundreds of Berkeley's international students showed up at Memorial Stadium Saturday for a training camp especially designed for them: "American Football 101." The one-hour Student Orientation event, hosted by the Berkeley International Office and Cal Athletics, offered the students instruction and practice in football drills led by Golden Bear players. The one-hour training is intended as a fun way to familiarize students with a sport that most of them have had little or no exposure to, growing up in foreign countries. Saturday's practice drills included punting, passing, receiving, blocking, sprinting, goal-kicking, and a lot of positive reinforcement from the player "coaches."

Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Show ID: 30054]

New research led by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that the shape of some animals' pupils could reveal whether one is hunter or hunted.

An analysis of 214 species of land animals shows that a creature's ecological niche is a strong predictor of pupil shape. Species with pupils that are vertical slits are more likely to be ambush predators that are active both day and night. In contrast, those with horizontally elongated pupils are extremely likely to be plant-eating prey species with eyes on the sides of their heads.

The study, led by vision scientist Martin Banks, UC Berkeley professor of optometry, in collaboration with the United Kingdom's Durham University, presents a new hypothesis as to why pupils are shaped and oriented the way they are. Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Show ID: 30057]

The Indian higher education system is facing a crisis that is affecting its ability to build world class higher education institutions. Issues relating to quality, access and equity are some of the significant challenges .C. Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University in India, examines these issues with a view to understanding as to how public policy, regulatory and governance reforms in higher education can help India build, nurture and develop institutions of global excellence. Series: "Center for Studies in Higher Education" [Education] [Show ID: 30874]