Program Chair:
  Christopher Bradford
September 1, 2011  


October 7-9
Club Visit to SF Chinatown

This Week...
September 8, 2011
Gary Bagley, US State Department
"Update of State Dept. Activities"

Upcoming...
September 15, 2011
Susan Pietsch-Escueta
"The Fight to End Epilepsy"
Executive Director of the Epilepsy Foundation

September 29, 2011
New Generation
"Doctor Colby Smith D.D.S."

October 6, 2011
Richard Hotaling,Director
"USMC Devil Pup Program"

Save the Date...
October 7-9, 2011
Club visit to San Francisco (Chinatown)

THE WINDMILL—Sept. 1, 2011
Before our first meeting in September, we had so much fun greeting each other that we got a late start. Prez Ed Jackson, however, guaranteed us a 1:30 finish so we held our ground. PP Jim Collins led us in our flag salute (the flag being in the proper spot). Marsha Hunt provided a beautiful invocation, asking for a blessing on our club and reminding us not to lose our sense of humor. Prez Ed announced that YOE (PP Ernie Wolfe) has been admitted to a local hospital and we’ll have to wait for details. I sure hope he’s back next week, because publishing this Windmill is not easy. Maestro Lenny led us in “God Bless America” which rang out sweetly. PP Steve Day, who had greeted us at the door, reminded us to rustle up our checks for the Paul Harris Drawing and buy our Circus Vargas tickets before they’re all gone—you can bring your checks next Thursday. A couple of Elementary School visits were announced—contact New Generations Chair Colby Smith for information. YOD announced we are currently making reservations for the meals and entertainment on the San Francisco Chinatown Rotary Trip (Oct 7-9), so please record your choices on the WVRC website or call Dwight Heikkila, Club Service Chair, right away. Dwight thanked Pauline Harris and the Auxiliary for the excellent Summer Fun Party last Saturday night at Leo Tseng’s house (after which, Leo left for parts unknown).

Prez Ed acknowledged our Membership Chair, Steve Scherer, for leading District 5280 in recruiting new members this year. Maintaining our momentum, Steve inducted Ms. Mirabelle Segovia, with New York Life, as our newest member. She is a double threat, both sweetening our gender mix and reducing our average age. Prez Ed gave us a few minutes to enjoy our swordfish after PP Eric Loberg regaled us with a redneck joke. When I was above Cayuga’s waters, we used to call the crew team “rednecks” for an obvious reason, but (oarsman) Eric failed to mention that.

John O’Keefe next stepped up to introduce our speaker, Mr. Vijay K. Dhir, Ph.D., Dean of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science at UCLA.  Dean Dhir came out of the gate quickly, showing us a graph of the decline in domestic students earning Graduate Engineering Degrees—20% over the past 10 years. We do have more graduate engineering students at UCLA than decades ago, but many are foreign students who now are more likely to return to their country of origin, where there may be more need and opportunity. Our students cite a lack of academic financial support and lower salaries in engineering relative to MBA grads, but there is also the problem of domestic students not doing as well in math and science (in one local school, 70% of 7th graders failed math). Other countries are often willing to pay more for engineering brains than we are.

Why should we worry—well, there are a “few” little engineering problems we haven’t conquered yet like sustainable energy, climate change, clean water, the cost of healthcare, along with the fact we haven’t built a nuclear reactor in 30 years. Dean Dhir did present some bright spots, however, including a “smart cane” that records your exercise activity and warns a caregiver if you fall. UCLA has contributed more than its share to these areas and outreach, holding a Summer Tech Camp on campus, tutoring and encouraging high school and Elementary school students, developing a joint program with the Anderson business School, providing online graduate learning opportunities, and last year producing more engineering Ph.D.s per faculty than any other school. According to US News and World Report, UCLA ranks #8 among public universities in engineering despite the fact it is only 1/3 the size of the largest schools. It has grown nine externally-funded Research Centers and received Research Awards totaling $150,000,000.

Thank you Dean Dhir-another reason to be proud of our UCLA!

—Ed Jackson

ROTARY DISTRICT 5280 LEADERSHIP 2010-11
Westwood Village
Mailing address:
P.O. Box 24114, Los Angeles, CA 90024-0114

Meets: Thursday, 12 Noon, UCLA Faculty Center
480 Charles Young Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90095

Club President - Ed Jackson
(800) 214-3810
bossman1983@gmail.com

President Elect - open

Vice-President/Club Service
Dwight Heikkila
(310) 820-6090
dwightah@hotmail.com

Secretary – Aly Shoji
(310) 301-3014
ashoji@support.ucla.edu

Treasurer - Don Nelson
(310) 472-9488
dncpa@adelphia.net

Past President - Gordon Fell
(310) 475-7344
cpa@gafmail.com

Community Service - John Heidt
(310) 474-0938
jheidt@heidttores.com

International Service –Abraham Carons
(213) 925-7582
abecarons@yahoo.com

Vocational Service - Steve Pettise
(323) 620-1858
pettise@verizon.net

New Generations Service
Colby Smith
(310) 794-4387
colby.smith.dds@gmail.com

Rotary Foundation Chair - Steve Day
(310) 670-5013
sday@hcohn.com

Publicity/Public Rel. – Mike Newman
(310) 208-7723
mnewman@dhwnlaw.com

Membership - Steve Scherer
(310) 556-2055
steve@sbl-law.com

Executive Secretary - Ernie Wolfe
(310) 277-3910
erniehisself@aol.com

WVRC Auxiliary - Pauline Harris
(310) 279-1178
jmhpbh@verizon.net

ROTARY INTERNATIONAL
PRESIDENT:
Kalyan Banerjee

DISTRICT 5280 GOVERNOR:
Brad Robinson


NEARBY MAKEUP SITES: Monday, Beverly Hills, BH Hotel, 9641 Sunset / Tuesday, Inglewood, Hollywood Park Casino, 3883 W. Century Blvd, Inglewood / Wednesday, Century City, Hyatt Regency Century City, in the Breeze Cafe, Culver City, Raddison Hotel, 6161 W Centinela Ave, CC, or  Wilshire, The Ebell, 743 S. Lucerne Blvd, LA / Friday, Santa Monica, Riviera Country Club, 1250 Capri Dr, Pacific Palisades
For information about on-line makeups, www.recswusa.org