UCI names dean of social sciences...

UCI names dean of social sciences school

Barbara Anne Dosher, a UC Irvine professor and chair of the

school’s Department of Cognitive Sciences, will take over as the new

dean of the School of Social Sciences in September.

The announcement last week paves the way for Dosher to replace

William Schonfeld, who served as dean for 20 years and retired at the

end of June to resume teaching.

Dosher is a nationally known expert on the mechanics of

information retrieval in human memory and attention.

As dean, Dosher said she will focus on raising local and national

awareness of the schools’ research and educational programs,

increasing the number of full-time scholarly faculty, and developing

the resources to enhance the academic programs and national and

international visibility of departments and centers within the

school.

“I look forward to creating partnerships with the faculty, staff

and students of the school and with the wider campus and community

that will support innovation and excellence in both new and existing

programs,” Dosher said in a press release.

Dosher joined the UCI faculty in 1992.

Study shows sluggish growth in e-commerce

The gold rush in e-commerce is over, and the results have proven

to be less lucrative than many had hoped, a UC Irvine study shows.

The results of the study, sponsored by the Center for Research on

Information Technology and Organizations at UCI and the International

Data Corp., were announced last week.

The key message that can be drawn from the study is that early

predictions about the growth of e-commerce -- buying and selling

online -- were overly optimistic.

While the Internet has grown dramatically, the study found that

e-commerce is still very shallow, accounting for only a small share

of most companies’ sales and purchases.

“The study reveals that the engine of e-commerce growth is humming

along but at a slower rate than was anticipated in its early days,”

said the research center’s director, Kenneth Kramer, in a press

release. “However, the widespread diffusion we found leads us to

believe that there is a solid market for e-commerce products and

services, it is just a market that needs to mature.”

-- Compiled by Deirdre Newman