Dateline archive:

Retirement plan, war on pain, global health — 11.13.09

UC Davis FRIDAY UPDATE

11.13.2009

News and information for faculty and staff


Spotlight on…

In a world of hurt pill bottle

Addiction to prescription painkillers now outpaces illicit drug abuse as a public health problem in the United States. This short documentary explores how UC Davis experts are advancing the war on chronic pain. [ More… ]

NEWS

Retirement contribution plan found lacking

Even with the restart of contributions and an assumed rate of return on investment of 7.5 percent, UC officials project a slide in the UC Retirement Plan's funded status to 61 percent by 2013. "Something does need to be done," Randy Scott of the UC Office of the President told an audience of nearly 200 at a campus retirement forum Nov. 9. [ More… ]

New UC Global Health Institute aims to prepare students to be world leaders

The University of California this week launched a new Global Health Institute with nearly $4 million in start-up funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The institute will include three centers of expertise, two of them co-directed by UC Davis faculty members. [ More… ]

Letter from the chancellor: On the sciences libraries restructuring

Chancellor Katehi addresses the sciences libraries restructuring proposal, saying: "It will be best for us to reset the consultation process in regard to the General Library's budget situation for 2009-10 and beyond." [ More… ]

Marching band debuts new uniforms — first redesign since 1982

The Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh! took delivery this week of "cool" new uniforms — featuring the first redesign since 1982 — and plans to debut them at this weekend's football game in Aggie Stadium. The new design features the latest campus logos, more dynamic colors, and cooler, more comfortable fabric. [ More… ]

Earth and Physical Sciences Building opens

With the Nov. 5 dedication of the new Earth and Physical Sciences Building, a new era dawned in the geophysical sciences at UC Davis. The three-story, $65.5 million building comprises 90,000 gross square feet and will provide a new home for the Department of Geology, as well as teaching laboratories and facilities for the geology, chemistry and physics departments. [ More… ]

Nominations sought for senate awards

The Davis Division of the Academic Senate has called upon its members to nominate their colleagues for the 2009-10 Distinguished Scholarly Public Service awards and Faculty Research Lecture Award. The nomination deadlines are 5 p.m. Nov. 30 and 5 p.m. Dec. 4, respectively. [ More… ]

In brief: Lighting safety walk, holiday food drives, open enrollment

The Police Department is looking for volunteers for its Nov. 18 Campus Lighting Safety Walk to identify places where lighting needs to be repaired or improved. Two campus organizations — Mail Services and the Activities and Recreation Center — are seeking donations for holiday food drives. And Nov. 24 is the last day of open enrollment for medical, dental, vision and legal plans, and flexible spending accounts. [ More… ]

On stage: Tribes and Corpo/Ilicito

The Department of Theatre and Dance is staging a double bill of performances Nov. 18-22 by its fall quarter artists in residence. Guillermo Gómez-Peña's Corpo-Ilicito: The Post Human Society 6.9 uses the human body as a site for political reinvention and poetic prophesying; Sara Shelton Mann's Tribes: the unified field is a journey into the past and future, investigating the spiritual basis of human origin. [ More… ]

Cave study links climate change to California droughts

California experienced centuries-long droughts in the past 20,000 years that coincided with the thawing of ice caps in the Arctic, according to a new UC Davis study that analyzed stalagmites from Moaning Cavern in the central Sierra Nevada. [ More… ]

DIRECTIVES

No new directives were issued this week.

EVENTS

Causeway Classic Blood Drive

Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 17-18, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Freeborn Hall

All students, staff, faculty and alumni are invited to donate. Every participant will receive a free T-shirt, a ticket to see Dolphins and Whales 3D: Tribes of the Ocean at the Esquire IMAX Theater in Sacramento, and a discount coupon for the GAP store at Davis Commons. Donors also will be entered in a drawing to win Apple iPod Nanos, IKEA gift cards, Habit Burger Grill certificates, Pluto's gift cards and more. [ More… ]

Engineering alum to give lecture

Monday, Nov. 16, 4:10 p.m., 1003 Giedt Hall

"A Discussion on 'Human Interface' Technology and Interaction" is the title of a lecture by Francis Lee, as part of the Dean's Distinguished Lecture Series, sponsored by the College of Engineering. Lee, a 1974 graduate, is chairman of the board of Synaptics, a Santa Clara-based designer of user-interface hardware for PCs and other electronic devices. [ More… ]

Vanderhoef lecture at I-House

Monday, Nov. 16, 6:30 p.m., International House, 10 College Park

The International House announced its new Vanderhoef International Lecture Series, with one talk annually — with the series' namesake, Chancellor Emeritus Larry Vanderhoef, as the first speaker. Vanderhoef's topic is "'It Changed My Life!' — University of Illinois Student, 1975" — based on a comment he recalls from his time on the Illinois faculty. A reception is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. with the talk following at 7 p.m. [ More… ]

More calendar listings…