Spotlight on…
Graphic: ESPN2

Fill Pavilion with Aggie blue

Come to the game if you can or watch it on TV — national TV, a first for Aggie men's basketball playing at home. Tipoff is 8 p.m. Thursday (March 7) vs. Long Beach State. The game will feature two of the top four scorers in the Big West Conference: UC Davis sophomore guard Corey Hawkins and Long Beach State senior guard James Ennis. "This is an exciting milestone for our athletics program and the university as a whole," Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi says. Tickets, promotions and other details. [ More, with video… ]

NEWS SUMMARY

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

STATE OF THE CAMPUS: Big initiatives on the horizon

The chancellor delivers her fourth State of the Campus address, saying there is much to feel good about and more to come this year, as the university continues to turn challenges into opportunities. One of them — the 2020 Initiative — has been under study for more than a year, and the chancellor declared in her prepared remarks: "The time is right to move forward with our plan for thoughtful and careful growth between now and 2020." Katehi says she sees another opportunity in her proposal to establish a World Food Center here. [ More… ]

Yudof appeals to federal government: Stop the sequestration

UC President Mark G. Yudof urges Congress and President Obama "to reach an agreement that will stop the sequester and ensure that federal research and educational funding is not indiscriminately harmed." … Watch postdoctoral researcher Lucas Arzola speak out against the cutoff of federal funding. … Fact sheet on impacts to UC. [ More… ]

Tahoe clarity best in 10 years

Lake Tahoe's clarity improved in 2012 for the second year in a row, and its waters were the clearest in 10 years, according to UC Davis scientists. Last year's average annual clarity level was 75.3 feet, or a 6.4-foot improvement from 2011. [ More… ]

Golden retriever study suggests neutering affects health

Neutering, and the age at which a dog is neutered, may affect the animal's risk for developing certain cancers and joint diseases, according to researchers from the School of Veterinary Medicine. … Another study from the school has solved a long-standing mystery of dog evolution. [ More… ]

Researchers uncover earliest tobacco use in the Pacific Northwest

Native American hunter-gatherers living more than a thousand years ago in what is now northwestern California ate salmon, acorns and other foods, and now we know they also smoked tobacco — the earliest known usage in the Pacific Northwest, according to researchers in the Department of Anthropology and the Genome Center. [ More… ]

PROVOST'S FORUM: 'Contested Politics of Knowledge'

The provost hosts a March 7 symposium on the prospects and pitfalls of transforming the public university through "engaged scholarship," which builds and applies knowledge in ways that both inform social change and reflect critically on the politics of knowledge itself. [ More… ]

Art lecturer presents 'foodies' exhibit at Mondavi Winery

Art lecturer Bryce Vinokurov, a Boston transplant, creates a body of work called Foodies in Exile, inspired by the Northern California landscape and the emergent national fixation with the sustainable food industry and culture. Next week his work goes on display at the Mondavi Winery. [ More, with slide show… ]

NEWS BRIEFS: Survey continues, 'strengthening community' comes next

The response rate for the Campus Community Survey is up to 34.5 percent, and next week the campus begins a series of Strengthening Campus Community Forums. … The administration and the ASUCD launch the UC Davis Jobs Initiative, including an effort to boost the number of student jobs on campus. … New laboratory safety policies take effect systemwide today (March 1). … Get the latest on the Shared Services Center, at a new series of brown bags. … Two professors, a staff member, a graduate student and an alum are named to advisory committees in the search for the next UC president. … Conversations with Writers next week turns into a conversation with bloggers. … You have until March 15 to spend all the money in your 2012 flexible spending accounts for health and dependent care expenses. [ More… ]

DIRECTIVES and ANNOUNCEMENTS

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Town halls to aid search for chief campus counsel

Two town halls are scheduled for Thursday, March 7 — on the Davis and Sacramento campuses — to discuss the qualifications that UC Davis should be looking for in the next chief campus counsel. … Materiel Management and the bookstore are taking orders for caps, gowns, tassels and hoods, for use by faculty and administrators in spring commencement. [ More… ]

EVENTS

The arboretum: 'Urban greening' and first plant sale of the season

Design tour and workshop, March 2; Member Appreciation Sale, March 9

The public's input is sought on east end improvements, due for construction this summer. … The plant sale offers first pick of the area's largest selection of attractive, low-water, easy-care, region-appropriate plants, including Arboretum All-Stars. [ More… ]

'Civil Rights and the Future of California'

Thursday, March 7, noon-1:30 p.m., UC Center Sacramento

Presented by Patricia Gandara and Gary Orfield, co-directors of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA. Register by March 4. [ More… ]

FLASH: A New Choreography

March 7-17, Main Theatre, Wright Hall

Graduate and undergraduate students perform in Granada Artist-in-Residence Qudus Onikeku's new work, which, like his others, is derived from the violent energy that he experienced growing up in Lagos, Nigeria. [ More, with slide show… ]

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