U S News And World Report Magazine

UC Irvine is the nation's eighth best public university, up from No. 9 last year, according to the annual U.S. News & World Report's ranking of the country's leading public and private universities. Leading the list are UC Berkeley and the University of Virginia, which tied as the two top public universities. "I think the good news is that the University of California comes through so well in these rankings," UCI Chancellor Ralph J. Cicerone said. U.S.

California public schools dominated a national ranking of high schools released Friday, countering the usual depiction of the state's schools as lagging behind their counterparts elsewhere in the country. In a first-ever ranking of high schools by U.S. News & World Report magazine -- best-known for its influential and controversial ranking of colleges and universities -- 23 of the top 100 schools in the nation were from California, including 10 from the Los Angeles area.

The UCLA Anderson School of Management said Thursday that it had appointed Pennsylvania State University business school Dean Judy Olian to lead the school. As dean of Pennsylvania State's Smeal College of Business since 2000, Olian oversaw the school's undergraduate, MBA and PhD programs, UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale said. She led a fundraising campaign for a $68-million facility for the school that opened this summer. "Dr.

Jonathan D. Varat, dean of the UCLA School of Law since 1998, has resigned and will return to full-time teaching. Varat, 57, a constitutional law scholar on the UCLA law faculty since 1976, announced his resignation in an e-mail message to colleagues last month, shortly after a routine university review of his five years as dean. "The review included gratifying praise by many and blunt reservations by some," he wrote.

The quest to replace John Akers as head of International Business Machines Corp. has intensified, as some executives have quashed speculation that they are candidates for the job while new candidates have emerged. Paul Stern, the controversial, no-nonsense chairman and chief executive of Northern Telecom Ltd., is seen as a top contender being considered by IBM's search panel, industry analysts said.

Iowa has reason to be proud. The greatest players from Iowa's last Rose Bowl team have gone on to even greater things. Chuck Long is a quarterback for the Rams. Ronnie Harmon is a running back for the Chargers. And Rob Houghtlin coaches St. Mary's Quadzilla, a championship rugby team. For quadriplegics. It should come as no surprise that Houghtlin is doing something so worthwhile with his free time and with his life.

A false debate has broken out between those who say a key goal of any attack against Iraq would be the creation of an Iraqi democracy and those who believe the world is ultimately more secure if reliable authoritarians can be found in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East to protect American interests. The answer lies somewhere between.

UC Irvine Chancellor Laurel L. Wilkening, who oversaw a campus lauded for its twin Nobel prizes two years ago but tarnished by a fertility clinic crisis that became a national scandal, announced Wednesday that she will leave her post--and higher education--by next summer.

Poor education, traffic congestion, air pollution and economic inequality put Los Angeles behind most major U.S. cities as a safe and sound home for children, according to a ranking by a national environmental group released Tuesday. Los Angeles received a C- grade on the Kid-Friendly Cities Report Card issued by Washington-based Zero Population Growth, which lobbies for causes ranging from a national population control policy to fighting urban sprawl. That mark placed L.A.

Poor education, traffic congestion, air pollution and economic inequality put Los Angeles behind most major U.S. cities as a safe and sound home for children, according to a ranking by a national environmental group released Tuesday. Los Angeles received a "C-" grade in the Kid-Friendly Cities Report Card issued by Washington-based Zero Population Growth, which lobbies for causes ranging from a national population control policy to fighting urban sprawl. That mark placed L.A.