concordtom said:

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My kid is Berkeley bound.
Please help me assemble a list of special classes or activities she should work to fit in.

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Congratulations Tom!

concordtom said:

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Big C said:

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I forget (we may have discussed this already): Does she play a band instrument?

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Yes, She's a clarinet in high school band.
Her great grandfather was a flute and piccolo in the 38 rose bowl parade. She's going to focus on the Cal academic workload first year and see.

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If she's interested in Cal Band, she should at least talk to them and consider joining as a freshman. Yes, the band is a big time commitment, but it also provides a great support system to help students adjust to being at a university with 30k students.
Congrats to your daughter for getting into Cal!

glutton said:

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concordtom said:

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Big C said:

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I forget (we may have discussed this already): Does she play a band instrument?

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Yes, She's a clarinet in high school band.
Her great grandfather was a flute and piccolo in the 38 rose bowl parade. She's going to focus on the Cal academic workload first year and see.

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If she's interested in Cal Band, she should at least talk to them and consider joining as a freshman. Yes, the band is a big time commitment, but it also provides a great support system to help students adjust to being at a university with 30k students.
Congrats to your daughter for getting into Cal!

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Thx! Because of the family legacy, whom she actually has the middle name of, it would be cool for some of us older ones.
I wonder how hard it is to even be accepted. I'm no judge but I wouldn't think she's a strong musician. She did 3 years of band and orchestra.

AunBear89 said:

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Two English classes with Adam Duritz. He was always chatting up the girls, and talking about his band, Mod-L Society I think.

Cool dude. Spent some evening in group study sessions with him. And he put some of us on the guest list for a couple of local gigs (I want to say Starry Plow, but that might have been later in their evolution when saw them there).

In answer to the OP, whom I have on ignore: leave her alone. Let her live her own path - it's a different place and she will find her own way. Just be there to support her, but get the ef out of her way with this foolishness. Don't turn her into you.

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Wow. On ignore? I considered you to be a like-minded poster.
Did you need to include that fact, or did you just do so to be unkind? I guess a prior insult you delivered was genuine and not a slip of the tongue. Duly noted.

As for my child, as if you have a clue what our relationship is!!

But I'm glad I was able to stir up some fun memories for you.
Keep spreading your goodwill!

82gradDLSdad said:

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Is Harry Edwards still around? I may not have thought Sociology was interesting but coming from a Catholic high school into a 500 person class made an impression. So did Harry's still buffed 6'6" 200+ lb frame. But what got me to the "we aren't in Kansas anymore ' mode was Edwards responding to some white kid taking a stance opposite his by blaring out, "Poor little white boy...!!!". I'd have your daughter take one of those classes. Congratulations to your daughter. She must take after her mom. ;-)

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Very on point for Edwards to respond to someone challenging him with a racial slur. I don't see anything admirable in that anecdote.

He sold out John Carlos and Tommie Smith and let them take all the heat after the Mexico Olympics protest in 1968.


*I bought this after seeing it a documentary about his life.

How so?

I recall years ago reading an interview with John Carlos where he said something to the effect Edwards was the organizer but after he and Tommie Smith executed the protest and took the major backlash, Edward's layed low.

bencgilmore said:

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Leon Litwack was incredible (RIP). I'm pretty sure Fillipenko is still teaching chemistry, and he's pretty awesome too (he takes the big game titration *very* seriously).

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Pretty sure Alex doesn't teach chemistry......less of course there is a "Black Hole Chemistry" course.

bearister said:

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I recall years ago reading an interview with John Carlos where he said something to the effect Edwards was the organizer but after he and Tommie Smith executed the protest and took the major backlash, Edward's layed low.

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I looked up all 3 names and found this article which said in 2018 he was working with Colin Kaepernick.

Wow, someone should do a retrospective on his life. I mean, Kaepernick got slaughtered!

A lot of people criticized Michael Jordan for being a marketing figure rather than a political one. But last time I checked he's a very rich man.

It poses an interesting question.
MLK got slaughtered, too, but his protests were vital! When to get along and when to work with. Did Edwards ever play nice? Maybe when he was agreeing to appear on TV.
Okay, someone who knows or has an informed opinion can jump in.

https://andscape.com/features/harry-edwards-mexico-city-olympics-sports-activism-john-carlos-tommie-smith-1968/

Did you mention your daughter's study interests? If she is interested in computer science, geometric design and modeling, computer graphics, computer aided cornea modeling and visualization, medical imaging, or virtual environments for surgical simulation, I understand that Professor Brian Barsky is top notch! And as a bonus, he has unique views on the Cal Sports program.

MSaviolives said:

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Did you mention your daughter's study interests? If she is interested in computer science, geometric design and modeling, computer graphics, computer aided cornea modeling and visualization, medical imaging, or virtual environments for surgical simulation, I understand that Professor Brian Barsky is top notch! And as a bonus, he has unique views on the Cal Sports program.

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On my second trip to Cal, two incredible professors in CS.

Dan Garcia - I had him for CS10 Beauty and Joy of Computing. Designed for students (almost all freshman, with at least one glaring exception) who aren't fluent in coding to get an understanding and hopefully interest in it. Dan is a phenomenal lecturer and the TAs he brings on are simply amazing. If you're interested, I wrote about that class here.

Eric Paulos - Here is a bio on Eric. Just a really cool guy, smart and an awesome outlook. Eric was an undergrad at Cal on my first tour, so pretty cool how life can come full circle. During Big Game Week Eric invited me to talk to one of his classes and lead a cheer. I'm not 100% a fool, so I brought Malik McMorris with me.

Dan Mulhern teaches an awesome Leadership class at Haas (you don't need to be a Haas student) UGBA 155. It's a fantastic course, with a great mix of students. I learned some incredible lessons and made great friends in that class who are my friends today. For four months in the fall of 17, it was the best three hours of my week. I actually was disappointed when the class was over each session. I wrote a little about it here.

I had a phenomenal class at Cal my last semester, LS22 Science, Sense and Sensibility, taught by three professors, the headliner being Nobel Laureate Astrophysicist Saul Perlmutter. I wish everyone in the country could take that class it was such a great education in the truest sense of the word. Saul just published a book based on the class, Third Millenium Thinking, recommend you check it out. In the category of youth is wasted on the young... The class was Mon and Wed from Noon - 1:30. On Mondays the class would be 1/2 hour shorter, and Saul would hold office hours. I never missed an office hour - spend a 1/2 hour with a Nobel Laureate who also happened to be a great guy - yes, absolutely! There were maybe, 6 or 7 people each week who would attend (in a class of about 100 people). I never got why more people didn't go, it's why you go to Cal!

Without a doubt old school favorite professor was Steve Miller. Professor Miller was a luminary of the highest order who brought much acclaim to Cal. He taught a huge lecture course Athletics in Ancient Greece (i want to say Classics 180) designed to get people interested in classics. While a lot of athletes were in the class, it was no mic class. It wasn't hard, but you had to go every class (totally worthwhile) and you had to memorize a lot (not my strong suit). Miller was the quintessential college professor. When he passed away a couple of years ago, I wrote this about him. If you don't want to click on that, here is the main part:

Quote:

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Professor Miller was simply the quintessential college professor. He cared about his students, he cared about what he taught; he had what all of us should- a vocation that is also an avocation. My first class with him was Fall of 1990, Athletics in Ancient Greece. In Wheeler Hall, with 300 other underclassmen, Professor Miller brought antiquity to life. That class is what turned me on to being a Classics major.

Classes were only a small part of what made him special. Yes, he was a titan of classic archeology, reviving one of the four Ancient Olympic sites, Nemea, which was his life's calling. I spent part of a summer there, working in the cellar welding shelves, which didn't seem super glamorous, but was great being out of the sun! We'd stay up late talking, with some wine of the region! I visited several times, most recently October 2018 where we had a wonderful lunch and he opened up the site for me, to take in by myself. It was a moment I'll cherish.

I could tell a hundred great stories from those undergrad days... the Greek Easter parties at his house, where we few undergrads were always the last to leave, finishing his beer while he did the dishes! Him joining us on Friday afternoons at the Bears Lair... watching football games together...

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Mike Pawlawski and I still talk about his class to this day. Professor Miller left a huge mark on the field of Classics and on Cal. I last saw him on a business trip to Athens in 2018. I made a point of taking a day to head down to Nemea (one of the ancient Olympic sites; he rescued) to see him. I'm so glad I did. Our lunch could have easily gone on into the evening, over a few more bottles of Nemean wine.

bearsandgiants said:

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Astro 10 - Alex Filippenko, if he's still teaching. Guy won teacher of the year at least a few times in the late 90s when I was there. Incredible class.

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^ THIS!

Not that I would actually know because I haven't taken the course. I've seen Alex speak at Cal Days and Foothill College several times. He's a great ambassador for astronomy & cosmology (although I think his cosmology/cosmetology joke is getting tired). But his lecture on the LIGO findings shortly after they were released was simply amazing.

I BEGGED my daughter to take Astro 10, but she never fit it into her busy schedule. What a slacker! Just because she double majored and achieved a Cal 3.96 GPA is NO EXCUSE!!! Kids these days! Plus, it was said that Filippenko actually kinda put the screws to kids in this class and demanded WAY MORE math than anyone really expected or felt was reasonable for such a course. But I cannot honestly say. Just what I heard.

I was a history grad - 88. So many superstar professors. Gerald Feldman. Slottman. But I always thought the greatest was Martin Malia (RIP).

TandemBear said:

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bearsandgiants said:

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Astro 10 - Alex Filippenko, if he's still teaching. Guy won teacher of the year at least a few times in the late 90s when I was there. Incredible class.

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^ THIS!

Not that I would actually know because I haven't taken the course. I've seen Alex speak at Cal Days and Foothill College several times. He's a great ambassador for astronomy & cosmology (although I think his cosmology/cosmetology joke is getting tired). But his lecture on the LIGO findings shortly after they were released was simply amazing.

I BEGGED my daughter to take Astro 10, but she never fit it into her busy schedule. What a slacker! Just because she double majored and achieved a Cal 3.96 GPA is NO EXCUSE!!! Kids these days! Plus, it was said that Filippenko actually kinda put the screws to kids in this class and demanded WAY MORE math than anyone really expected or felt was reasonable for such a course. But I cannot honestly say. Just what I heard.

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Reminds me of Tim White's Anthro1 course, back in the day (Introduction to Physical Anthropology). People took it because they heard he was a good lecturer, then they ended up learning a lot more than they had planned. Professor White was also very approachable in office hours and then, for decades later, he would be on news programs, providing expert commentary on the latest origins-of-man discovery/theory. "Hey, he was my professor at Cal!"

bearister said:

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Any history class taught by Prof. William Slottman. He knew the names of thousands of students. My buddies and I drank with him at McNally's and went out to dinner with him once. He invited me to the Faculty Club for lunch years after I graduated. He cared about his students in a large school where you felt faceless to your teachers.

He was a dead ringer for Jack Benny, but funnier. His lectures were 2 parts history, one part stand up.




University of California: In Memoriam, 1995


http://texts.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb238nb0fs&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00073&toc.depth=1&toc.id=

*He did embarrass me once. He put me in his study section for a large history class 200+ (History 5 ?). I was dumb enough to get one of the first digital watches for my 21st birthday, a Pulsar. Prof. turns to me towards the end of the session and loudly says, "Mr. bearister, could you please look at The Obelisk of Time and advise." Much giggling by students. I wanted to shrink and disappear….but hysterical.

*The watch was a lemon. It literally ate batteries.

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Met him at Calso and also up the 9 on Euclid. His lectures were epic. Majored in Social Science as he was the Dean.
Had him over for dinner where he dubbed us "Priests of the Patty Hearst Shrine". More stories but I'll leave it there. Awesome man and helped make sense of what mattered.

sonofabear51 said:

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Grandfather was Professor Emeritus in Bacteriology and other Science & Math classes from the '40's - late '70's. Maybe some of older folks remember A. P. Krueger

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I am old enough (class of '72) to remember the name although I did not study STEM and to know that he was considered one of the greats.

Larno said:

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Big C said:

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bearister said:

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Any history class taught by Prof. William Slottman. He knew the names of thousands of students. My buddies and I drank with him at McNally's and went out to dinner with him once. He invited me to the Faculty Club for lunch years after I graduated. He cared about his students in a large school where you felt faceless to your teachers.

He was a dead ringer for Jack Benny, but funnier. His lectures were 2 parts history, one part stand up.




University of California: In Memoriam, 1995


http://texts.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb238nb0fs&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00073&toc.depth=1&toc.id=

*He did embarrass me once. He put me in his study section for a large history class 200+ (History 5 ?). I was dumb enough to get one of the first digital watches for my 21st birthday, a Pulsar. Prof. turns to me towards the end of the session and loudly says, "Mr. bearister, could you please look at The Obelisk of Time and advise." Much giggling by students. I wanted to shrink and disappear….but hysterical.

*The watch was a lemon. It literally ate batteries.

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Slottman, in a speech to a campus group: "My class, 'Hapsburg Empire and Succession States' is what students here call a 'Mick'. I think that's short for something, but I'm not sure what. Okay, seriously, it's the easiest class on campus. I only ever flunked one student. A fairly well-known football player. I can't give you his name, of course, but it rhymed with 'Smartkowski'. I'm pretty sure his first name was 'Not'."

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"Mick" was around when I was at Cal '71 to '73, and my understanding is that it is short for "Mickey Mouse", i.e. an easy course.

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Yes, that is my recollection as well from 1968 to 1972. I can't remember any course I would characterize that way.

TY garden state. I think he retired in either '71 or '72.

Here is a link that summarizes his life and career. He was a busy guy.

https://oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb4d5nb20m;NAAN=13030&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00090&toc.depth=1&toc.id=&brand=oac4

I was there from 1965 thru 1969. The best professor I had was Professor Bean for California History.

MSaviolives said:

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Did you mention your daughter's study interests? If she is interested in computer science, geometric design and modeling, computer graphics, computer aided cornea modeling and visualization, medical imaging, or virtual environments for surgical simulation, I understand that Professor Brian Barsky is top notch! And as a bonus, he has unique views on the Cal Sports program.

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Molecular and Cell Biology.
I'll forward the note. Thx.

1970's Zoology prof was WILLIAM EAKIN, the world's foremost embryologist. Truly memorable. Numerous standing ovations. In the finest tradition of professors, no matter how eminent, teaching an undergrad survey class. On the other hand, my brother (UC65) took Physics survey from Edward Teller, who made it clear he thought this was beneath him, causing a mass exodus half way through the first lecture...

concordtom said:

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MSaviolives said:

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Did you mention your daughter's study interests? If she is interested in computer science, geometric design and modeling, computer graphics, computer aided cornea modeling and visualization, medical imaging, or virtual environments for surgical simulation, I understand that Professor Brian Barsky is top notch! And as a bonus, he has unique views on the Cal Sports program.

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Molecular and Cell Biology.
I'll forward the note. Thx.

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I'm sorry Tom--my post was a joke. Barsky is an old nemesis of Cal Football program.

Thomas Metcalf (emeritus now) for History of British Empire. Fascinating. Great lecturer. Accessible and responsive.

Robert Scalapino - Poli Sci - whether you agreed with his politics or not, he was a fair and terrific lecturer. Just brilliant.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention Reverend Fred Stripp (Rhetoric). I have a cassette tape of his last lecture. Yeah - his Rhetoric 20 class had many football players, but he made them work on their communication skills. He retired in 78 or 79. The Straw Hat Band played at his retirement function and there was a special ringing of the bells of the Campanile.

fredricbear69 said:

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1970's Zoology prof was WILLIAM EAKIN, the world's foremost embryologist. Truly memorable. Numerous standing ovations. In the finest tradition of professors, no matter how eminent, teaching an undergrad survey class. On the other hand, my brother (UC65) took Physics survey from Edward Teller, who made it clear he thought this was beneath him, causing a mass exodus half way through the first lecture...

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12.01.99 - Richard M. Eakin, a zoology professor who enthralled UC Berkeley students with costumed lectures, is dead at 89


https://newsarchive.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/99legacy/12-01-1999b.html





Richard M. Eakin - Wikipedia


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_M._Eakin

*I sat in on a lecture freshman year in '72 but I can't remember who he was dressed as.

William "Sandy" Muir"..RIP....my first class was Poli-Sci 1 and he got me engaged to a new and critical way of thinking. Also, I'm a defender of Harry Edwards....not only entertaining as a sports fan with great guest speakers, but Harry also got me thinking about issues from a different perspective.

Hubert Dreyfus, Philosophy class that dealt with Existentialism -- very popular, in a Dwinelle lecture hall. Three texts to read and write about: The Castle (Franz Kafka), another I don't remember, and Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. Dreyfus' brother Stuart taught Engineering and OR.

Being a Stat major, I was privileged to take two graduate-level courses from Jerzy Neyman, founder of the department and one of the key figures in the development of modern statistical theory. I dreaded being called up to the board to work a problem. This shows how old I am. I took two classes from someone who earned their undergraduate Mathematics degree at the University of Kharkov in pre-revolution, Tzarist Russia/Ukraine.

One of the most popular classes on campus these days is EPS 7, Introduction to Climate Change, taught by Prof. David Romps. One appealing feature of this course is that everything is online and you can watch the lectures when it is convenient for you.

gardenstatebear said:

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Larno said:

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Big C said:

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bearister said:

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Any history class taught by Prof. William Slottman. He knew the names of thousands of students. My buddies and I drank with him at McNally's and went out to dinner with him once. He invited me to the Faculty Club for lunch years after I graduated. He cared about his students in a large school where you felt faceless to your teachers.

He was a dead ringer for Jack Benny, but funnier. His lectures were 2 parts history, one part stand up.




University of California: In Memoriam, 1995


http://texts.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb238nb0fs&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00073&toc.depth=1&toc.id=

*He did embarrass me once. He put me in his study section for a large history class 200+ (History 5 ?). I was dumb enough to get one of the first digital watches for my 21st birthday, a Pulsar. Prof. turns to me towards the end of the session and loudly says, "Mr. bearister, could you please look at The Obelisk of Time and advise." Much giggling by students. I wanted to shrink and disappear….but hysterical.

*The watch was a lemon. It literally ate batteries.

---

Slottman, in a speech to a campus group: "My class, 'Hapsburg Empire and Succession States' is what students here call a 'Mick'. I think that's short for something, but I'm not sure what. Okay, seriously, it's the easiest class on campus. I only ever flunked one student. A fairly well-known football player. I can't give you his name, of course, but it rhymed with 'Smartkowski'. I'm pretty sure his first name was 'Not'."

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"Mick" was around when I was at Cal '71 to '73, and my understanding is that it is short for "Mickey Mouse", i.e. an easy course.

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Yes, that is my recollection as well from 1968 to 1972. I can't remember any course I would characterize that way.

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we all knew what the "micks" were. History 17 but you had to show up.
Anything with a "10" was a mick…..well until I took Music 10.
Easiest classes were in biz ad and accounting. Did well in Native American Studies 50 with Slagell and African American Studies 50 with Banks but two of my favorite professors….oh and my Subject A prof Polly Griest.

GoCal80 said:

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One of the most popular classes on campus these days is EPS 7, Introduction to Climate Change, taught by Prof. David Romps. One appealing feature of this course is that everything is online and you can watch the lectures when it is convenient for you.

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sounds challenging

On Harry….had a friend that took his course and had the audacity to postulate that men get paid more in professional sports due to higher demand and notion that consumers want to see the best in their sport…:earned him a fat C+

cal83dls79 said:

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On Harry….had a friend that took his course and had the audacity to postulate that men get paid more in professional sports due to higher demand and notion that consumers want to see the best in their sport…:earned him a fat C+

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While I enjoyed hearing Harry Edwards' perspective, it was clear that he would not have enjoyed hearing mine.

Eastern Oregon Bear said:

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concordtom said:

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My kid is Berkeley bound.
Please help me assemble a list of special classes or activities she should work to fit in.

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I don't think my list of best classes from the late 1970s would have much relevance today and my favorite profs are all retired or worse.

Most famous prof? Glenn Seaborg, though asking him questions about basic chemistry when he dropped into our freshman Chem 4A labs was pretty intimidating. After all, he was in the periodic table at the time.

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Jack Citrin

Big C said:

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cal83dls79 said:

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On Harry….had a friend that took his course and had the audacity to postulate that men get paid more in professional sports due to higher demand and notion that consumers want to see the best in their sport…:earned him a fat C+

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While I enjoyed hearing Harry Edwards' perspective, it was clear that he would not have enjoyed hearing mine.

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No chip on his shoulder.

82gradDLSdad said:

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Big C said:

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cal83dls79 said:

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On Harry….had a friend that took his course and had the audacity to postulate that men get paid more in professional sports due to higher demand and notion that consumers want to see the best in their sport…:earned him a fat C+

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While I enjoyed hearing Harry Edwards' perspective, it was clear that he would not have enjoyed hearing mine.

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No chip on his shoulder.

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My first week(s) at Cal (1977) there were protests when Edwards had been denied tenure. There was another professor who also had been denied tenure and the protests included him, but I forget his name.