ON CAMPUS AT UCI:Psychology student focuses on foster kids

Ask how many siblings she has, and UC Irvine undergraduate Megan Baker has to stop and count. There are 13 kids living in her parents’ home — a high number, even by the Bakers’ standards. Since 1998, her parents have cared for almost 200 foster children, and they’ve become permanent guardians to five. Baker has been a sister to them all.

“Normally, it’s a lot of fun,” she says, “but it can be intense.”

Removed from their homes because of abuse and neglect, many of these troubled children would have ended up in group homes if her family hadn’t taken them in. Baker understands why they act out — throwing tantrums, screaming or spitting at her, refusing to go to school. Much of what she’s learned about their care isn’t found in any textbook. It’s been a different kind of education; her experience has inspired a desire to improve mental healthcare for all foster children. After graduating in June with a degree in psychology and social behavior, she’ll go to medical school to become a psychiatrist.

“These kids need a large network of support, and psychiatry is one of the tools that can help them,” she says. “I will bring a unique perspective to the field.”

Baker has balanced her often hectic home life with stellar academic and athletic performance. A swimmer since age 7, she was on the women’s swimming and diving team for four years, as recently as 2005-06, although a shoulder injury and her academic status — she’s a fifth-year student — prevent her from competing this year. She was a Big West Scholar-Athlete four consecutive years and the 2006 Big West Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Baker belongs to UCI’s rigorous Campuswide Honors Program and Golden Key International Honour Society, joining in the society’s community service projects. For two years, she led a “Fun Fridays” program on campus, enlisting fellow students to baby-sit foster kids in Orange County so that caregivers could have a much-needed night off.

Baker herself has worked with troubled youths through jobs and internships; she’s an intern with the Community Service Programs Youth Shelter in Laguna Beach.

Her parents, who recently moved from San Diego to the Sacramento area, began taking in foster children when Baker was 12. She has never resented sharing attention with so many siblings.

“It’s like being on a team,” she says. “There are trials and triumphs. That’s where the camaraderie comes in. The depth of a relationship comes when you’re side-by-side, going through these experiences.”

Chancellor’s Distinguished Fellows Series

The 2006-07 Chancellor’s Distinguished Fellows Series continues with these upcoming speakers:

For more information, call (949) 824-6503 or visit www.chancellor.uci.edu/ cdfs.shtml.

Aging seminar

UCI gerontologist Dr. Kerry Burnight will speak on “Aging Brilliantly” at 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, March 7, in the Jewish Community Center of Orange County, 1 Federation Way, Irvine. Burnight is associate professor at UCI School of Medicine’s Program in Geriatrics and recipient of the “Rising Star of Medicine Award” from WomanSage for her work in the field of aging. The talk is free. For more information, call (877) 824-3627.

‘Olive Harvest’ screening

The Film and Video Center will show “The Olive Harvest,” directed by Hanna Elias, at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, March 8, in the Humanities Instructional Building, Room 100. Fatimah Rony, associate professor in the film and media studies department, will introduce the movie, and a question-and-answer session with the director will follow the screening. Tickets are $3-$5. For more information, call Kimberly Yaari at (949) 824-7418 or e-mail fvc@uci.edu.

Stephen Sondheim musical

The Claire Trevor School of the Arts will present “Sunday in the Park with George,” featuring music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, March 8-17, at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

The musical, directed by Eli Simon and inspired by the masterpiece of French pointillist painter George Seurat, earned the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and more than 10 Tony nominations. Tickets are $14-$30. Show times are 8 p.m. March 8-10 and March 15-17, and 2 p.m. March 10 and 17. For more information, call (949) 854-4646.

Exploring the Dred Scott case

African American Studies will present a conference on “Dred Scott: Citizenship, the Human and the Political A/Effect of Racial Blackness” Friday and Saturday, March 9 and 10, in the Humanities Instructional Building, Room 135.

The conference will explore the social, cultural and political ramifications of the case on the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision. Cheryl Harris, UCLA law professor, will deliver the keynote address March 10. The conference is free and open to the public.

For more information, call (949) 824-4279 or go to www.hnet.uci.edu/afam/.

Traffic talk

The Social Science Dinner Club will offer a talk on “What’s Wrong with Traffic Congestion” with David Brownstone, professor and chair of economics, at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 15, in the University Club.

Brownstone, a member of UCI’s Institute of Transportation Studies and Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences, will discuss the economics of traffic congestion and its effect on road pricing and building, illustrating his talk with a large-scale model of the Orange County freeway network. Tickets are $40. To make a reservation, call (949) 824-2511 or e-mail rswatez@uci.edu.

Honeybee expert to give lecture

Randolf Menzel of the Free University of Berlin will speak on “Little Brains with Bright Minds: Communication, Navigation and Learning in the Honeybee” as part of the UCI Distinguished Lecture Series on Brain, Learning and Memory at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 28, in the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

Sponsored by UCI’s Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, the public lecture series is organized by the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. The lecture is free and no reservations are required. For more information, call (949) 824-4275.

For more campus news and events, visit www.today.uci.edu.