Dateline archive:

Budget cuts, power outage, farmers market — 3.26.09

UC Davis FRIDAY UPDATE

3.26.2009

News and information for faculty and staff


This issue of Friday Update is appearing a day early because the campus is closed tomorrow for Cesar Chavez Day. Last week many recipients received Friday Update a day late because of a problem with a campus e-mail server.

— The Friday Update team

Spotlight on…

Dr. Andy's missionAndy Jones

Meet Andy Jones, poet, radio show host and a lecturer with the English department, University Writing Program and Technocultural Studies, who tries to bring a creative, individual touch to teaching. [ More… ]

NEWS

Provost's 2009-10 budget letter calls for $19 million in cuts

In a budget letter to deans and vice chancellors this week, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Enrique Lavernia calls for cutbacks totaling nearly $19 million for 2009-10. The cuts will come on top of $33 million in permanent reductions in 2008-09. [ More… ]

Administrator recovering after fall during power failure

Assistant Dean Maureen Miller of the College of Letters and Science is recovering at home after a fall in a dark stairwell during a campuswide power failure March 23. Meanwhile, campus utility officials say they are ready to try again to finish the substation work that led to the blackout. [ More… ]

Human power: 'Wheel' potential for this sustainability initiative

Groundskeeper Mike Griffith is among the one-quarter of Davis campus employees who bicycle to work. But when he gets to work, he keeps on pedaling on his work bike — a professional-grade three-wheeler with a custom-made cargo bed for hauling work gear and loads of dirt and mulch. [ More… ]

Yiyun Li: Tales of death in China

In 1996, Yiyun Li came to the United States to study immunology. Twelve years later, the UC Davis assistant professor of English is more at home with books than test tubes, a rising novelist gaining nationwide attention. [ More… ]

Relay for Life raises funds to fight cancer

Laura Housfeld first took part in the American Cancer Society Relay for Life after losing her mother to cancer. In 2004, the UC Davis student helped bring the relay to campus. This year the annual relay is set for April 4 and 5 on Toomey Field, and 200 teams will walk or run on the track for 24 hours to honor those stricken by the disease and to raise funds for cancer research and patient programs. [ More… ]

Brain wave patterns can predict blunders, new study finds

Everyone makes an occasional error due to lack of attention. Now a team led by a researcher at UC Davis, in collaboration with the Donders Institute in the Netherlands, has found a distinct electric signature in the brain that predicts such an error is about to be made. [ More… ]

Aggie football announces its 'most ambitious' schedule

UC Davis Athletics is describing the Aggies' 2009 football schedule as "the most ambitious" in school history, with an early-season home game against Montana, along with the previously announced road games against Fresno State and Boise State. Season tickets are on sale now. [ More… ]

Avoid and evolve: Behavior and markings keep competing carnivorous critters from being someone else's lunch

How do the many carnivorous animals of the Americas avoid competing for the same lunch, or becoming each other's meal? Two UC Davis researchers say that avoidance strategies have been a driving force in the evolution of many carnivores, influencing such factors as whether species are active during daytime or nighttime, inhabit forests or grasslands, and live in trees or on the ground. [ More… ]

DIRECTIVES

No new directives were issued this week.

EVENTS

East Quad Farmers Market returns next week

Every Wednesday, April 1 through June 3, 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m., East Quad

Buy fresh, locally grown produce right here on campus. UC Davis is also hosting many food- and beverage-tasting events during the spring quarter, as well as workshops on how to grow vegetables, fruits and nuts at home. [ More… ]

Solo Explorations: MFA acting candidates present free performance

Friday and Saturday, April 3 and 4, 8 p.m., Studio Theatre, Mondavi Center

The UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance presents Solo Explorations, four new interdisciplinary works by graduating Master of Fine Arts acting candidates. [ More… ]

R. Bryan Miller Memorial Symposium

Thursday and Friday, April 2 and 3, ARC Ballroom

Sponsored by the Department of Chemistry, this symposium honors the memory of Professor R. Bryan Miller and his impact on research and education in the chemical sciences. A student poster session is scheduled for the afternoon of April 2, and five scientific speakers and a plenary lecture are planned throughout the day on April 3. [ More… ]

Exhibition and conference on indigenous photography

Exhibition: April 3 through Sept. 3, C.N. Gorman Museum

Conference: Saturday and Sunday, April 4 and 5, Sciences Lecture Hall

"Visual Sovereignty: International Indigenous Photography" is coming to campus as an exhibition and a conference, both free and open to the public. The conference will feature more than 30 of the world's foremost American Indian, Australian Aborigine and New Zealand Maori photographers in panel discussions on a variety of topics. [ More… ]

More calendar listings…