San Diego-based franchise operator The UPS Store teams with the nonprofit counselors at SCORE to offer guidance to small business customers about finding a mentor. The campaign at UPS’s 4,300 stores is part of National Mentoring Month. More details at theupsstore.com/score. … Hotel operator and industry consultant Robert Rauch, president of R.A. Rauch & Associates, joins the editorial boards of Commercial Construction and Renovation magazine and Destination Elite Magazine. Rauch is the personality behind Del Mar-based hotelguru.com website, an invaluable source for trends and developments in the hospitality industry. He knows hotels from the inside out. … Just a reminder that the San Diego Venture Group will explore the investing climate in the year ahead at its breakfast meeting set for Jan. 23 at the Del Mar Marriott. The panelists will include presenters from the National Venture Capital Association as well as corporate venture group Google Capital. This is the place to be, if you’re involved in venture investing. For more information, go to sdvg.org. … University of California, San Diego Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Alan Houston is scheduled to give the first in a series of seven free lectures held on campus exploring “The Good Life” running Jan. 22 through March 5. Houston’s talk is titled “Ben Franklin and the American Dream.” The annual lecture series “examines life as we would like to live it,” according to a news release on the program. Albert Pisano, dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering, gives the final lecture, titled “Engineering as a Force for the Public Good.” For more information, navigate on over to roosevelt.ucsd.edu/publicevents/. And while we’re on UC San Diego, we note that President Barack Obama and the first lady invited Chancellor Pradeep Khosla and other college and university presidents to a White House meeting Jan. 16 to discuss how educators and others can increase the number of deserving students attending college. … Finally, the La Jolla Music Society continues its celebrity recital series with the appearance of world-class violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Sam Haywood at the Balboa Theatre on Feb. 7. The two will perform the selected works of Beethoven, Stravinsky and Tartini as part of a world tour. Details and ducats at ljms.org. … Till next week!
Contributing Editor Tom York pens the SDBJ Insider. You can reach him via email at tyork@sdbj.com or tom.york@gmail.com.