On Campus (July 8, 1983)

              On Campus
FOR THE UC SANTA CRUZ COMMUNITY
July 8, 1983
Outstanding in
his field
Agroecologist Stephen
Gliessman has just been
named by Chancellor Sinsheimer as the first recipient of the
Alfred E. Heller Chair in
Agroecology. Established with a
$375,000 gift from independent investor Alfred Heller, the endowment will help Gliessman and his
team of researchers to devise a
system of "sustainable" agriculture
and to free American farmers from
their dependence on costly and
damaging petroleum products.
At UCSC's Farm and Garden, the
agroecology team is combining
knowledge of ecology and ecosystem productivity with the study
of farming techniques of different
cultures—from the ancient Mayans
in Mexico to the local backyard
gardens of immigrant Chinese and
Italian families.
The team's goal is to find out
precisely why those less
manipulative systems are successful in producing crops year
after year, and how they can apply
such agricultural folk wisdom to
modern production practices.
Donor Heller has long been interested in the problem of environmental protection in the face
of advancing technology. He was
the founding president of California
Tomorrow, the statewide organization that advocates a balance between environmental quality and
economic progress.
Heller has served on the California State Highway Commission and
on the boards of the Planning and
Conservation League and the
Nature Conservancy.
With interest earned from
Heller's endowment, Gliessman
plans to bring to campus visiting
lecturers in insect ecology, biological controls, and soil ecology, as
well as support his summer
research and write a new textbook.
A driving force behind the
organization and the formalization
of UCSC's agroecology program,
Gliessman received his Ph.D. in
plant ecology from UC Santa Barbara. Before coming to Santa Cruz
two years ago, he spent ten years in
Central America. Five were spent in
Tabasco, Mexico, at the Colegio
Superior de Agricultura Tropical,
where he was chairman of the
ecology department and director of
the agroecosystem research
program.
Before that, Gliessman supervised vegetable and coffee production
on an experimental farm in Costa
Rica and managed a commercial
nursery in Guadalajara, Mexico.
[Photograph] Stephen Gliessman
Foreign student
homes needed
If you have a spare bedroom and
a desire to become friends with
a visitor from Japan or Europe,
then you have room for a foreign
high school student hoping to
spend next year in America. The
American Institute of Foreign
Studies is urgently seeking homes
for dozens of Japanese, Dutch and
German students, some of whom
have been planning their American
year abroad for years.
The male and female students,
between 15 and 18 years old, will
arrive in Santa Cruz at the end of
August, and will attend various
Santa Cruz county high schools.
All of them speak English, and will
perfecting their fluency while
studying in Santa Cruz.
As a host, you'll provide a place
to stay, along with two meals a day.
The students will have money for
all personal expenses and will be
expected to help out in your home.
The AIFS provides a counselor and
other services for the students and
their families. Host families are
eligible for foreign-study scholarships, should their own children
wish to study abroad.
The students need to be placed
as soon as possible—some as early
as July 14. If they don't find an
American home by then, they won't
be able to come. For more information on AIFS's Academic Year in
America program, contact Kathy
Novelo at 336-2532 or 336-8193.
On Campus will revise its publication schedule for the summer
months, coming out monthly instead of biweekly. The next issue
will be distributed on Friday,
August 5. Deadline for submissions
is Monday, July 25, at 5 p.m.
Material may be submitted in
writing to Karen Rhodes, Editor, On
Campus, Public Information, Carriage House. Items submitted via
UNIX A may be mailed to account
pio.