A Pacific Gas and Electric Co. project on campus this week will result in a controlled release of gas — and a noticeable but harmless gas smell in the air — for several minutes.

The gas release will be Thursday (Oct. 18) off Bioletti Way south of Hutchison Drive where PG&E is rerouting 80 feet of pipe to accommodate the Tercero Dining Commons 2 construction project.

Aaron Lester, senior project manager with Design and Construction Management, said the exact timing of the release is uncertain, but should be sometime Thursday morning. The pipeline work is taking place behind a construction fence, so there is no impact to traffic.

A PG&E notice states: “During the gas main install, there will be a controlled release of gas, which causes a loud hissing noise. This hissing noise will only be heard for a few minutes. During this time the smell of natural gas will be evident, but harmless.”

Reaching out to our veterans

UC Davis wants you: Staff and faculty members who are veterans of the military, UC Davis is asking you to self-identify as veterans in a new campaign aimed at recruiting and retaining veterans as employees and cultivating more career opportunities for them.

A new webpage, “Veteran Outreach and Self-Identification,” includes the headline: “You served your country. You serve the university. Now, let us serve you.”

The call for self-identification comes from Human Resources, the Veteran Constituency Group on the Davis campus and the Veteran Employee Association at UC Davis Health.

The webpage includes a link to a form to self-identify and, at the bottom of the page, a “Vet Count” of how many veterans have self-identified to date (and in which military branch they served).

Veterans also are invited to tabling events next week and the first week on November on the Davis and Sacramento campuses where they can self-identify, receive lapel pins (pictured above) and talk with others in the UC Davis veterans community. The tabling events:

• Tuesday, Oct. 23 — Lobby, Betty Irene Moore Hall, 2570 48th St., Sacramento, noon-1 p.m.
• Wednesday, Oct. 24 — UC Davis Farmers Market, Quad, Davis campus, noon-1 p.m.
• Thursday, Oct. 25 — New Employee Welcome, Conference Center, Davis campus, 7:30-9 a.m.
• Monday, Nov. 5 — Quad, Davis campus, noon-1 p.m.  

The webpage states: “UC Davis strives to support its military community, including veterans, and dependents and family members of military personnel. We’re also working to improve outreach to the veterans community, in hopes that we can recruit and cultivate their leadership and diverse perspectives at UC Davis.”

Check out the webpage for links to UC Davis veterans resources, as well as state and federal resources, and a “Meet the Veterans” section, featuring some of our employees.

New Year’s gift from Repro Graphics

The winners: a robin by Steven Collins, a financial analyst in Finance, Operations and Administration; and a ladybug by Daniel Oberbauer, who graduated from UC Davis last spring with a Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology and now works full time as a photographer/videographer with the Undergraduate Education communications team. You can choose the robin or the ladybug for your calendar or one of eight other university-themed images, including bicycles parked in snow!

Repro Graphics has been offering calendars like these since 2010 to show the print shop’s variable-data capabilities. This is what allows Repro Graphics to customize each calendar to highlight four dates per month — whichever four dates the customer chooses — and to add the image of the customer’s choice.

The calendars are available to all staff and faculty, limit one per person. Calendars will be delivered to mail stops on the Davis and Sacramento campuses.

Orders are due by Wednesday, Oct. 31, via this website. Any requests for calendars after this date may be accommodated for an additional charge. Repro Graphics also wants you to know it can produce custom calendars for your department or unit, starting at just $1 each (based on minimum quantity of 300). Contact Repro Graphics by email or phone, 530-752-COPY (2679).

Beware of phone, email scams

UC Davis police are warning of widespread telephone and email scams that have victimized students in recent months. If you receive email, phone calls or other messages requesting that you send someone money, it is almost certainly a scam.

These scams do not specifically target students and have been reported nationwide. One common variation is a recorded phone message in Mandarin Chinese but there are many others in circulation. Police said they had received four reports of phone scams since the beginning of summer, and a report of attempted fraud on the community site ULoop.edu came in recently. 

The messages may say that you have gotten a job offer, are about to be arrested, that you have won a prize, that you may get an apartment, that someone needs help transferring money or that your visa is about to expire. In all cases, the scammer will, sooner or later, demand that you send them money in some form, including as gift cards for Amazon, iTunes, Walmart, Target or other retailers.  

Police advise: Do not send money in any form in response to such requests. If you think you have been a victim of fraud, or have information about such a crime, call the Police Department by phone, 530-754-2677.

Police Accountability Board meetings

The UC Davis Police Accountability Board will hold its fall quarter public meetings this Wednesday (Oct. 17), one on the Davis campus and one on the Sacramento campus.

The meetings will be held simultaneously, noon to 1 p.m., with board representatives in attendance at each. Here are the locations:

• Davis campus — Garrison Room, second floor of the Memorial Union
• Sacramento campus — 3103 Education Building, 4610 X St.

Held each quarter during the regular academic year, the meetings provide opportunities for Davis and Sacramento campus community members and others, including people from the surrounding communities, to learn more about the board’s work and how to file complaints, and to raise concerns.

The meeting format is informal — please feel free to bring lunch.

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