Dateline archive:

Picnic Day recap, MIND on PBS, academy award — 4.22.11

UC Davis FRIDAY UPDATE

4.22.2011

News and information for faculty and staff


Spotlight on…

Research showcase Photo: Dennis Somera

Try putting this together: clips from West Side Story, song, research about U.S. bombing tests, live narration and an audience survey about stereotypes. Dennis Somera, a doctoral candidate in performance studies, will do just that. His performance will be among 160 presentations at the revamped Interdisciplinary Graduate and Professional Student Symposium April 21-23. [ More… ]

NEWS SUMMARY

More stories at Dateline UC Davis and UC Davis News and Information

Picnic Day's future uncertain, despite sense of improvement

Student Affairs Vice Chancellor Fred Wood describes Picnic Day, on campus, as one of the calmest in recent memory. But, like other observers, he noted the entirely different atmosphere downtown — with lots of "unfamiliar faces," just like last year, people who came to Davis for a party, not the university's open house. Read more, and see a photo slide show of the family-friendly, campus side of Picnic Day. [ More… ]

Memorial service set for grad who died after head injury

A memorial service for UC Davis graduate and former Aggie baseball team captain Scott Heinig will be held on campus on Tuesday evening. Heinig, 22, of Davis, died Sunday as a result of a head injury. Read about the university and city's condolences and find a tribute to Heinig with information about the memorial service. [ More… ]

Chancellor Katehi elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi is among 212 newly elected members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the world's most prestigious honorary societies. Other inductees include jazz musician Dave Brubeck, actors Daniel Day-Lewis and Helen Mirren, and Nobel Prize-winning author Mario Vargas Llosa. [ More… ]

UC Davis offers admission to more freshman applicants

UC Davis offered admission to more freshman hopefuls for fall 2011 than last year, but still accepted fewer than one in two freshman applicants. The campus admitted 21,074 students, or 46 percent, of the 45,825 freshmen who applied for fall 2011, compared to 19,460, or 44.9 percent of 43,315 freshman applicants last year. Systemwide, 72,432 of 106,000 of freshman hopefuls have been offered admission. [ More… ]

Chancellor, campus present diversity-community awards

Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi last week recognized faculty, staff, students and a Davis resident for helping to create the kind of campus community where respect for others is paramount. "Thank you for creating this environment," Katehi said in presenting the Chancellor's Achievement Awards for Diversity and Community during a reception at her home the evening of April 15. And this Tuesday, the campus community gathered for its largest celebration of diversity: Soaring to New Heights. [ More… ]

PBS NewsHour features UC Davis autism research

The PBS NewsHour is airing a six-part special series on autism this week, featuring in-depth interviews with experts from the UC Davis MIND Institute. Topics covered include theories about causes of the condition, the alarming growth of autism rates in recent years and early intervention treatment programs available for autistic children at the MIND Institute. Watch the series online and read the extended interview transcripts. [ More… ]

Girls are less likely than boys to be placed on kidney transplant wait list

A large study of children awaiting organ transplants, conducted by researchers at the School of Medicine, has found that girls are significantly less likely than boys to be placed on the waiting list to receive a new kidney. [ More… ]

News briefs: Bike auction, Aggie Auction, Band-uh-Thon, Viridian open house

Upward of 7,000 newly admitted freshmen and their families were due on campus today (April 22) for Decision UC Davis. … More than 400 bikes are going up for auction on Saturday, April 30. … Aggie Auction, a fundraiser for athletics, begins with a preview today (April 22); all bidding is online this year, from April 29 to May 6. … The Band-uh-Thon on Saturday, April 30, will feature a raffle, face painting and carnival games — and great music by the band, of course. … Faculty and staff are invited to an open house next week for the Viridian apartments, another element of UC Davis West Village. [ More… ]

DIRECTIVES and ANNOUNCEMENTS

Announcements: Sexual Assault Awareness Month, release of inventions

During Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi reaffirms "our campus commitment to reducing sexual assault, as well as other types of sexual and gender-based violence" and invites the campus community to the annual Take Back the Night rally on Tuesday, April 26. ... Stan Nosek of the Office of Research clarifies the process by which the university determines how an invention might be released to an inventor in the circumstance where the university has determined that it does not intend to pursue that invention for patenting and licensing. [ More… ]

EVENTS

Arboretum on Wheels!

Sunday, April 24, 2 p.m., gazebo, Garrod Drive

The university's treasured trees (and plants) and a prized tradition (bicycling) come together in this program, with people invited to bring their bikes for a two-wheeled tour through the arboretum. In the event of rain, this event will be postponed to Saturday, May 28. [ More… ]

Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day

Thursday, April 28

UC Davis goes BIG and small next Thursday. It's a big day for our children, ages 8 to 12, who will be our special guests on Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day. The activities schedule includes a couple of opportunities to explore things that are very, very, very small. As in visible only through microscopes. Other programs include an interactive program of science and writing at the School of Education; a DNA lesson, using LEGO building blocks; and the Undergraduate Composers Concert. [ More… ]

Art Studio Lecture Series: Bill Berkson in Conversation with Renny Pritikin

Thursday, April 28, 4:30 p.m., Main Room, Technocultural Studies Building

Nelson Gallery Director Renny Pritikin will interview poet, critic, teacher and sometime curator Bill Berkson. Director of Letters and Science at the San Francisco Art Institute from 1993 to 1998, Berkson taught art history, critical writing and poetry, and directed the public lectures program there from 1984 to 2008. He is the author of 18 books and pamphlets of poetry. [ More… ]

More calendar listings…