Shannon Bradley

Early in my career, I had the wonderful job of preparing political segments for Jim Lehrer, Robin MacNeil and Judy Woodruff for the PBS nightly program, then called the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.  It was great fun because I got to pre-interview smart and connected people about issues of the day and recommend who should be invited to appear on the program that night.  Jim and Robin were first rate, of course, but the host who I admired the most was Judy.  She was calm, authoritative and classy.  She brought out the best in guests by presenting politics with such grace that she made it seem like the noblest of professions.

Well, some 20 years later, I’ve been thinking about Judy a lot as we launched a new political series, Prime: Vote on our YouTube original channel, UCTV Prime.   Each segment features the faculty of the University of California using their expertise to analyze what’s happening on the 2012 campaign trail.  We began the series in March with video commentaries from three UC professors on issues including the high cost of austerity, incumbents’ responsiveness to voters and the economic impact of immigration.

With today’s premiere of “Political Messaging on the Economy,” UCTV Prime moves from commentary into analysis, with me playing the role of the esteemed Ms. Woodruff as I talk to political scientists Lynn Vavreck of UCLA and Thad Kousser of UC San Diego about how Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Barack Obama are crafting their economic messages to appeal to voters.   It’s great talk from engaging professors who clearly enjoy politics. Thanks, Judy, for showing us how it’s done.

Learn more about UCSD-TV and UCTV Prime:Vote producer Shannon Bradley.

Ron Reagan at UCSD's Revelle Forum

February 6 would’ve been President Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday and, while his name is so often invoked in political discussions, there’s still plenty to say about the man as, well, a man.

In his new book “My Father at 100,” the President’s youngest child Ron sets out to do just that, and he stopped by UC San Diego Extension’s Revelle Forum at the Neurosciences Institute to share some of his most endearing memories and frank opinions with Phyllis Pfeiffer, publisher of the La Jolla Light newspaper.

The affable Reagan describes the complicated, yet loving relationship he enjoyed with his father, even as his own political views veered decidedly to the left. A compelling storyteller like his father, Reagan steers clear of nitty gritty politics and lets us in on his own journey to understand the more private side of this very public man. It’s a respectful yet compelling conversation that all will enjoy, no matter what your politics.

Revelle Forum: Ron Reagan

Summertime at UCSD is sweet.   The campus is quiet, lunch lines are short, parking is easy, and…most important for us, we mostly air re-runs in July and August.  All of that freed us up to focus on creating a new magazine-style series, premiering this fall, that honors UC San Diego’s 50^th anniversary. The six-part series, called  UCSD@50, premieres September 13, with a new installment  every six weeks through June of 2011.

As with all of my favorite magazines, this program will offer an eclectic menu of stories — some serious and some light-hearted –  all centered around our goal of sharing what excites us about this place. In the upcoming months, look for reports from Rich Wargo (Science), John Menier (Arts & Humanities), Jennifer Ford (Health and Medicine)…and yours truly on Public Affairs.

I’m starting the first show with a piece on UCSD’s Center for Community Well-Being. This group, run by Bud Mehan and Mike Cole, is a collection of faculty, staff and students who are doing research and service projects in Southeastern San Diego.  We spent some time with UCSD undergrads tutoring at Gompers Preparatory Academy, the middle school in Chollas View that’s modeled after our own Preuss School.

We also showed up for the first Community Market at the Jacobs Center, where free food and clothes were distributed to needy families under the guidance of the CCW’s Makeba Jones and her partners from Project Safe Way.

And finally, we visited the Town and Country Learning Center in Mountain View where Mike Cole and Srinivas Sukumar, from Cal IT 2, work with kids after school.  It was great to visit these communities and see UCSD folks engaged in finding ways to improve the lives of fellow San Diegans.

Also in the first show, Rebecca Tolin reports on the ground-breaking work that Eric Courchesne and Karen Pierce are doing at the UCSD Autism Center of Excellence. This husband-and-wife team has made startling discoveries about the brains of autistic children and what can be done to help those who are most at risk.

Later in the first show, Ken Kebow takes us to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where Dean Tony Haymet describes research on underwater plants that could lead to new medicines, and how new high-tech robots will help monitor the health of the oceans.

Oh, and Rachel Bradley (no, no relation) profiles Giancarlo Ruiz, a UCSD staffer who produced a film that was screened at Cannes! How cool is that? And yes, he made it on his own time.  Thanks to Sherman George for telling us about him.  Sherman retired awhile back but is still a presence around here…something we all appreciate.

So…lots going on here this summer. Next up is Chancellor Marye Anne Fox coming to our studio September 2 to tape her segments as the honorary host of our first program.  UCSD @50 will start airing Sept 13….just a week before the students come back (good!) and parking gets difficult again (not-so-good).

Van Jones, the green-jobs guy who worked briefly in the White House on environmental issues, used late-night humor throughout his rousing speech on what’s ahead if we don’t embrace alternative energies soon. Hint – higher gas prices will be the least of our problems. With the Gulf coastline covered in muck, this talk is especially timely. Be sure to watch Van Jones: The Green Collar Economy.

For more programs on energy policy, click here.

Gold Standard

For those of us committed to saving the Golden State, there’s some great information on how California got into the recurring budget crisis and what could be done to detangle the legislative mess in Sacramento. Four professors from UC San Diego lay it out on California in Crisis: Can It Be Fixed?

For more programs on the economy, click here.

Thanks again, UC Santa Cruz, for being so welcoming!

To learn more and watch additional online videos, visit the State of Minds series page.

We spent a good part of last week shooting for State of Minds at UC Santa Cruz. What a gorgeous campus!

Our contact there, Guy Lasnier, was extremely helpful in arranging locations for our host segments and in setting up our interview with Olga Nájera-Ramírez, the anthropologist who just finished a beautiful documentary on Folklórico dance. We’ll feature clips from her film in our show, along with stories from Rich Wargo on Jose Restrepo, a UC San Diego structural engineer who surveyed the earthquake damage in Chile; Paul Pfotenhauer’s piece on the new, green Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science at UC Davis; and a segment from our newest correspondent, Carla Yarbrough at UC Riverside, on researchers who are creating the perfect grass – green turf that doesn’t need much water.

Here’s our crew, Matt Alioto (right) and Ken Zukin (left), along with Guy Lasnier (center), as we set up at Terra Fresca Restaurant for the intro into Paul’s story on food and wine:

Here’s Guy (closest) being drafted into carrying gear with Matt and Ken out to a scenic vista overlooking the Great Meadow.

We chose this spot to introduce Carla’s piece on drought-tolerant turf (from left to right, Matt, Ken, Guy):

Here’s a post-interview shot with Olga Nájera-Ramirez (center), her former graduate student, Russell Rodriguez (left), and me (right). I talked with the two of them about making “Danza Folkórica Escénica: El Sello Artístico de Rafael Zamarripa,” a documentary featuring the acclaimed folklórico choreographer. Olga and Russell first met Zamarripa as young folklórico dancers more than 30 years ago. Their film traces the development of this traditional Mexican dance form through Zamarripa’s experiences and artistic productions.

And finally, a fan spies on our production:

Read more about the visit and see additional photos at this article from UC Santa Cruz.

- Shannon Bradley

Watch online videos of all Writer’s Symposium by the Sea programs and learn more about the series.