New ‘locally designated official’

Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi has named Wendi Delmendo as UC Davis’ “locally designated official” responsible for receiving and reviewing whistleblower complaints and whistleblower retaliation complaints.

Each UC campus is required to have such an official, pursuant to the systemwide Policy on Reporting and Investigating Allegations of Improper Governmental Activities (Whistleblower Policy), and the companion Whistleblower Protection Policy.

Delmendo succeeds Assistant Executive Vice Chancellor Bob Loessberg-Zahl, who is transitioning to a new assignment.

Delmendo, an attorney, continues to serve as chief compliance officer-general campus, overseeing the Sexual Harassment Prevention Education Program and general campus efforts to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Clery Act, Title IX and information privacy laws.

She previously worked for employment law firms, and since coming to UC Davis, has served as a labor relations consultant and as research compliance officer, before becoming chief compliance officer-general campus.

How to reach Delmendo: telephone (530) 752-9466, fax (530) 752-0853, e-mail wjdelmendo@ucdavis.edu.

Award nominations sought

The Academic Federation has called for nominations for its 2011 awards for excellence in teaching and research, while the Office of Graduate Studies and the Academic Senate’s Graduate Council are looking for the outstanding graduate student teaching assistant.

The federation awards are given to nonsenate faculty members in recognition of contributions to the Davis campus’s teaching and research missions. The deadline for nominations is 5 p.m. Jan. 21. Each award comes with a $500 stipend.

The federation welcomes nominations from anyone in the campus community: students, alumni, faculty and staff. For the teaching award, the federation especially encourages nominations from students.

The official calls for nomination are available here, providing information on eligibility and qualifications, as how you can go about nominating someone. Questions? Contact Debbie Stacionis, (530) 754-4791 or dstacionis@ucdavis.edu.

In nominating people for the 2011 Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award, each nominator must have direct experience with the nominee’s teaching. Nominations are welcome from anyone in the campus community, and students are especially encouraged to nominate their instructors. Self-nominations are acceptable.

“We believe that this is a tremendously important award because it honors outstanding graduate students, reminds the campus that teaching is a central part of the university’s mission, and can inspire students and professors to give increased attention to the educational process,” professors Jeffery Gibeling and Andre Knoeson said in inviting nominations.

The nomination deadline is Feb. 18. Former recipients are not eligible for nomination.

More information, including the nomination packet for the 2011 Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award. Questions? Contact Puriie Conley, (530) 752-8761 or
paconley@ucdavis.edu.

Parking fines up, ticket count down

Yes, campus parking fines went up $3 effective Dec. 7 (to $43 for most tickets), but Transportation and Parking Services also wants you to know that its parking officers in 2009-10 gave out the fewest number of tickets in 14 years.

The ticket count for the last fiscal year came to 22,611, down from 28,850 in 2008-09, for a decrease of about 21.6 percent.

The downward trend is continuing this year, with TAPS handing out 6,642 tickets from July through October. At that same rate, the 2010-11 ticket count will come to 19,926.

In 2002-03, TAPS handed out more than 39,000 tickets, but the number fell significantly the next year when TAPS implemented its courtesy notice program.

TAPS is still issuing courtesy notices — 2,249 in 2009-10 — usually to first-time offenders, acknowledging that they may not be familiar with the campus and its parking rules and regulations, according to Cliff Contreras, TAPS director.

As for the higher parking fines, Contreras said the extra $3 will go directly to the state, as required by Senate Bill 857, which came out of the Legislature’s last regular session. The bill mandates the $3 surcharge until July 1, 2013, with the money to go toward courthouse construction.

With the new surcharge, the state will be taking $11 from every parking fine: $7.50 total for courthouse construction and $3.50 for jails.

Read the official UC Davis directive on the parking fine increase.

Hate crime investigated

Campus police are investigating a hate crime involving vandalism in a residence hall. A residence adviser discovered the vandalism in the early morning hours of Dec. 11 — after students had left for winter break.

A crime alert indicates an unknown person or people “wrote and drew derogatory words and pictures across a picture of the victim and on an adjacent white board in the hallway.”