Dateline archive:

Nursing school leader, zoo vets, blood drive — 6.20.08

UC Davis FRIDAY UPDATE

6.20.2008

News and information for faculty and staff


Spotlight on…

Video: 'Captive Audience' presents new challenges for our zoo vets

More than 54,000 local viewers tuned in to "Captive Audience," a campus News Service documentary featuring UC Davis zoo docs that premiered this week on KVIE-TV. The 26-minute program will repeat this Sunday at 6 p.m., but you can also watch it on the Web at any time. [ More… ]

NEWS

Alumna tapped to lead new UC Davis nursing school

The UC Board of Regents this week approved the appointment of Heather Young, a nurse leader, educator and scientist from Portland, Ore., as associate vice chancellor for nursing at UC Davis. Young, a nationally recognized expert in gerontological nursing and rural health, began her medical education at UC Davis, graduating in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in dietetics. [ More… ]

Social sciences dean search to continue into 2008-09

The national search for a new dean to oversee the Division of Social Sciences has been extended into the 2008-09 academic year, and an interim dean will be appointed in the coming weeks. After a leading candidate declined to accept the position for family reasons, the campus decided to extend the recruitment. Outgoing Dean Steven M. Sheffrin has agreed to serve until Aug. 1. [ More… ]

Planting the seeds of change: A campus legacy

Suddenly, it seems, we live in a "sustainable" world. There's sustainable coffee, cocoa, seafood, tote bags, furniture — even sustainable jet fuel. But the sustainability movement had its roots in agriculture, where this new concept was a source of contention and controversy. UC Davis students, faculty, staff and alumni have been part of the movement from the beginning. Read their story. [ More… ]

Birdsong expert flocks with royalty

Peter Marler, professor emeritus of neurobiology, physiology and behavior, is a new foreign member of the Royal Society — the British equivalent of the National Academy of Sciences. Marler, who helped establish the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience in 1989, has conducted groundbreaking research proving that birds learn their songs from other birds and that certain monkeys have distinct alarm calls for different kinds of predators. [ More… ]

Free printer exchange program promotes new energy-efficient models

Campus departments that are using outdated HP printers can exchange the energy-hogging models for new HP printers at no charge. The UC Davis Materiel Management Department developed the printer replacement program in conjunction with Hewlett-Packard as part of the campuswide sustainability initiative. New printers are estimated to save 70 percent on energy and 35 percent on paper. [ More… ]

SmartSite adds online forum for questions, ideas, comments

The campus has created two new online resources to help faculty, staff and students expand their use of SmartSite, an online collaboration and course management system. One is a Web site for the two-month-old SmartSite Oversight Committee, and the second is a community forum where SmartSite users can pose questions, suggestions and comments for the committee's consideration. [ More… ]

Campus employees invited to sign up for Craft Center classes

The Craft Center's summer lineup includes almost 50 classes in ceramics, woodworking, welding, glass, screen printing, jewelry, textiles, photography and various other arts and crafts. Summer offers faculty and staff an opportunity to work more closely with the craft instructors because fewer students are on campus. Registration opens at 12:30 p.m. June 23. [ More… ]

Students reveal 'why I won't graduate': finances, tough academics and missing mentors

More than one in 10 UC Davis undergraduates wonder whether they'll make it all the way to graduation, according to a recent survey. Of the nearly 6,000 students that responded to the survey, 13 percent said they were not confident that they'd earn a degree here. Their most common concerns? Academic and financial difficulties and a lack of mentors or guidance. [ More… ]

Run silent, run deep

UC Davis graduate student Bekah Shepard will be piloting a mini-submersible into the depths of Pavilion Lake, British Columbia, this month as part of an expedition to map strange life forms. Her deep-water research could give clues to the history of life on Earth and other planets. Shepard and undergraduate Natalie Stork, who both study under UC Davis geology professor Dawn Sumner, are part of a NASA-led team that will use one-person "Deepworker" submersibles to do their mapping and sampling. [ More… ]

DIRECTIVES

No new directives were issued this week.

EVENTS

Shooter incident training session offered for campus employees

Tuesday, June 24, noon, Freeborn Hall

The UC Davis Police Department is offering a 90-minute brown-bag presentation to help members of the campus community learn how to survive a potential shooting incident on campus. [ More… ]

Author to tell a whale of a tale for children

Wednesday, June 25, 1 p.m., Hutchison Child Development Center

The Hutchison Child Development Center is inviting families to come hear Stefanie Cruz read her book, Delta and Dawn: Mother & Baby Whales' Journey, an illustrated volume about the humpback whales that wandered into San Francisco Bay last year. [ More… ]

Give a pint (of blood), get a pint (of ice cream)

Wednesday and Thursday, June 25 and 26, 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., bloodmobile on the Quad

Please consider donating blood during next week's ASUCD-Davis community blood drive. Everyone who donates will receive a coupon for a pint of Baskin-Robbins ice cream. [ More… ]

More calendar listings…