Spotlight on…

Plant detectivePhoto: Ellen Dean

Via this slide show, join Ellen Dean, curator of the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity, as she and her colleagues collect plants from a mountain meadow in the high Sierra. [ More… ]

NEWS SUMMARY

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

State commission confirms alumna to be chief justice

Twenty-six years after graduating from the UC Davis School of Law, Tani Cantil-Sakauye was unanimously confirmed Wednesday to be the next chief justice of the California Supreme Court. If approved as expected on the November ballot, she would become the first Asian American to lead the state Supreme Court and would give the court its first female majority. [ More… ]

UC Davis introduces tailgating as pilot program

Tailgating — one of college football's greatest traditions — comes to UC Davis this fall in a limited pilot program with family-friendly options. Highlighting the program is an expanded area for the Aggie Pride Festival, featuring interactive entertainment and food, and limited tailgating in one parking lot. Wine and beer will be permitted in two designated areas. [ More… ]

Retirement: Task force report due out soon

UC President Mark G. Yudof says the Post-Employment Benefits Task Force report and recommendations will be posted soon on the Future of UC Retirement Benefits website. In a letter this week, Yudof says change to the retirement system is a must, to avoid disastrous financial consequences. The president outlined guiding principles for change and suggested the possibility of a new pension option. [ More… ]

More wage violations at the Tercero II project

Assistant Vice Chancellor Clayton Halliday says UC Davis is glad to see the state taking action to ensure construction workers are compensated fairly for building the Tercero II student housing project. The campus architect issued his comments in the wake of state Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet's announcement last week that two more Tercero builders had committed wage violations. [ More… ]

Protein made by breast cancer gene purified

A key step in understanding the origins of familial breast cancer has been made by two teams of scientists at UC Davis. The researchers have purified, for the first time, the protein produced by the breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA2 and used it to study the oncogene's role in DNA repair. [ More… ]

Pioneering study finds small amounts of dairy antibiotics in groundwater

In the first large study to track the fate of a wide range of antibiotics given to dairy cows, UC Davis scientists found that the drugs routinely end up on the ground and in manure lagoons, but are mostly broken down before they reach groundwater. [ More… ]

UC Davis climbs to No. 6 in Washington Monthly's rankings

UC Davis has been recognized as among the top universities in the country for its contributions to society. The campus earned a No. 6 ranking in Washington Monthly's annual college guide and rankings, released Aug. 23. [ More… ]

Take a bus or train to Berkeley — and wear white!

Tickets, transportation, pregame celebration — find out what you need to know for the Aggies' historic football game at Cal on Sept. 4. As for what to wear, how about a special white T-shirt — on sale now at the bookstore and Pro Shop? And, for a preview of the Aggies' football team, check out tonight's free Blue-Gold Scrimmage at Aggie Stadium. [ More… ]

In brief: WarnMe false alarm, chilled water shutdown, wall calendar update, Sympa transition

The campus's WarnMe system delivered a false alarm to about 65,000 staff members and students on Aug. 20 ... Campus utility crews are planning a major shutdown of the chilled-water system today and tomorrow, affecting 26 buildings ... UC Davis' 2010-11 wall calendars are not back from the printer yet and are now expected in campus bookstores no sooner than the middle of next week ... Information and Educational Technology has mostly completed the transition of campus e-mail lists to Sympa software, except for a few special cases. [ More… ]

DIRECTIVES

No directives were issued this week.

EVENTS

Free concert on the Quad tonight

Friday, Aug. 27, 7:30 p.m., the Quad

The second and last event of the SummerMusic series, presented by the Mondavi Center in partnership with Summer Sessions, features two members of the Nortec Collective, a Tijuana, Mexico-based ensemble that fuses electronica and techno with the norteño and tambora music of northern Mexico. The Quad opens at 6 p.m. for picnicking. [ More… ]

Arboretum tour: Discover Plants from Down Under

Saturday, Sept. 11, 10 a.m., Wyatt Deck

A tour focusing on the Australian Collection, featuring specimens from western Australia. Its climate is similar to California's, thus making the Australian natives well suited for Central Valley gardens. [ More… ]

Tennis festival honors the late Harley English; registration under way now

Saturday, Oct. 2, Marya Welch Tennis Center

Registration is under way for the third annual Harley English Tennis Festival, an all-doubles affair that is open to everyone in the community age 18 and up. The festival's namesake, a professor emeritus of plant pathology, died in March, a month shy of his 99th birthday, and was widely referred to as the "dean" of retired faculty and staff tennis players. [ More… ]

More calendar listings…