Regents to hold public talks on campus...

The UC regents will conduct two public comment sessions Wednesday and Thursday, during the board's first visit to UC Davis in four years.

The regents are slated to arrive in Sacramento on Wednesday and begin their visit with a 1:30-2 p.m. public comment period at the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center. They also have scheduled a public comment period for Thursday morning, from 9-9:30 a.m., at the Activities and Recreation Center.

The regents also will spend Wednesday touring the campus and participating in an "informal dialogue" with faculty. They plan to cap the day with dinner and a Mondavi Center performance of the Kronos Quartet and the UC Davis Chorus.

The second day begins with an 8-9 a.m. breakfast and dialogue with undergraduate students. Following the public comment period, they will take part in a student-led tour of the ARC and get an overview of ARC funding and UC Davis athletics and recreational activities.

Also Thursday morning, the regents will participate in a 10-11:15 a.m. discussion of graduate student challenges and constraints as viewed by both faculty and graduate students, as well as a presentation on the Certificate in Business Development program.

The regents will then spend Thursday afternoon at the UC Davis Medical Center. The visit to the Sacramento campus will begin with lunch, followed by a series of roundtable discussions on four key topics: community engagement, medical education, clinical care and research.

The board's last official visit to UC Davis was in April 2001.

Academic Senate to convene next week

The next regular meeting of the Representative Assembly of the Davis Division of the Academic Senate will be held 3-5 p.m. Monday in the Moot Courtroom of King Hall. A copy of the meeting call is located online for review at http://www.mrak.ucdavis.edu/senate/ra/042505_mtg_call.pdf.

Faculty encouraged to take part in technology survey

The UC Davis Faculty Survey of Instructional Technology Use was launched last week in an effort to determine and address the technology needs and priorities of faculty members.

Created by members of the Educational Technology Subcommittee of the Campus Council for Information Technology, the survey is composed of 22 questions on topics including: instructional use of the Internet, educational technology resources, classroom presentation resources, as well as on the applicability of certain barriers and incentives affecting use of educational technology tools.

It should take about 20 minutes to complete, said Dan Simmons and Catherine VandeVoort — chairs of the Acadmeic Senate and Academic Federation, respectively — in an April 14 letter to senate and federation members, urging them to participate in the survey.

They wrote: "In particular, your responses and comments will be used to determine how to help you as faculty with your uses of information technology in support of teaching and research. All input and comments will be extremely helpful, whether you use technology extensively or only occasionally in your classes."

Three survey respondents will be selected through a random drawing to receive a certificate provided by Information and Educational Technology for Mediaworks services. Certificate recipients will get to use the services of Mediaworks professionals (up to $250 or $500, depending on the certificate awarded) to create an instructional module or other resource to help each recipient reach his or her teaching goals.

The survey is located at http://learning.ucdavis.edu/survey/, where it will be posted through May 6. Questions can be directed to Andy Jones, chair of the CCFIT Educational Technology Subcommittee, at aojones@ucdavis.edu.

A summary of the survey results will be available in June.

Jared Diamond to speak

Jared Diamond, the influential evolutionary theorist from UCLA, will deliver a lecture on "When Societies Collapse" at 8 p.m. May 16, in Mondavi Center.

In his best-selling book Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond took on one of history's most profound questions: Why do some societies succeed and grow wealthy, while others struggle in poverty? In his new book, Collapse, he addresses the opposite issue: Why do successful societies sometimes disintegrate and decay?

A professor of geography, Diamond won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction in 1998 for his book Guns, Germs, and Steel. Diamond has received numerous other such national honors, including a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant. In 1999, he received the nation's highest civilian award in science, the National Medal of Science, for his landmark research and breakthrough discoveries in the field of evolutionary biology.

'Bike to work' week set

For those who ride their bikes to work, mark down May 18 as Bike to Work Day on your calendar. A free lunchtime event is offered to participants from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Central Park in downtown Davis.

The first 500 registrants for the May 18 event in Davis will receive an e-mailed voucher good for free food and prize, a free T-shirt and a bike messenger bag. Event T-shirts will be available for pickup from B&L Bike Shop in Davis.

"In Davis we are planning a true community-wide celebration of just how much the bicycle means to this community," said Bill Fairbairn, executive director for the Yolo Transportation Management Association.

For more information, visit http://www.bike comuteweek.com.

Campus holds popular bicycle auction

UC Davis will sponsor a bike auction at 8 a.m. Saturday, April 30. More than 350 abandoned and unclaimed bikes of many types, descriptions and conditions will be available. The viewing begins at 8 p.m. and the bidding follows at 9 a.m.

The event will be held behind Trans-portation and Parking Services on Extension Center Drive. TAPS hosts two bike auctions annually, one in the fall and one in the spring. Those interested are strongly encouraged to arrive early for the viewing.

Call (530) 752-BIKE for more information about the bike auction.

Federation seeks to laud distinguished achievement with Meyer award

The Academic Federation recently announced a call for nominations for the 29th annual James H. Meyer Distinguished Achievement Award. The award will be presented in the fall and carries a stipend of $1,000.

All members of the university community are invited to nominate a member of the Academic Federation. The award is based on a distinguished career in research and/or public service. Past recipients are not eligible.

Nominations are due May 15 at the Academic Federation Office, located in 356 Mrak Hall.

For more details about the nomination packet requirements, call (530) 752-2233.

Service Fair invites donations

Participants and donations are sought as UC Davis prepares for the 2005 UC Davis Service Fair — to be held 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 3 in Freeborn Hall. The theme for this year's fair is "Service with Style." The event provides an opportunity for departments to promote and market their services to the campus community.

Departments wishing to participate can order standard or deluxe table space packages, available for $160 to $175. Fees offset the cost to rent the hall and run the event.

Door prizes of all sizes also are sought. Items will be displayed throughout the fair, and a drawing will be conducted at the close of the event. Past prizes have included T-shirts, trips and campus services. To donate an item, contact Holly Hennessy, (530) 752-0372 or hchennessy@ucdavis.edu.

Or, for additional details about the fair, contact Lina Layiktez, (530) 752-4552 or lclayiktez@ucdavis.edu.

ADMAN conference challenges participants to 'Be all You Can Be'

Registration officially closes today for the ADMAN Mid-Management Conference for 2004-05, themed "Be All You Can Be — Challenges/Opportunities/Rewards." But space is still available for the conference, running May 3 and 4 in the ARC ballroom.

The conference will focus on leadership and on building team spirit, morale and empowerment and levity in the workplace and in employee's lives. The conference is designed to provide tools for getting the most out of the challenges or opportunities life presents.

Speaker information is available at the ADMAN Web site: http://adman.ucdavis.edu.

Registration costs $140. Up to 200 people can attend each day, and a free shuttle bus will be offered from the medical center to the ARC.

For more details, contact Nancy DeHerrera, (916) 734-7886 or nancy.deherrera@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu, or Eleanor Sandoval, (530) 752-1364 or ecsandoval@ucdavis.edu.

Volunteers needed for Race Across America effort to promote organ donation

Team DonateLife, a group of surgeons and physicians from UC Davis Health System training for the 3,047-mile, 24th annual Insight Race Across America bike race, is looking for volunteers to help with local and national events.

The first event is a fund-raising community bike-ride on April 30 along the American River Parkway. Community ride volunteers are needed to register riders, hand out drinks, snacks, water bottles, T-shirts and other gifts.

Volunteers also are needed to help with a silent auction at the dinner-and-dancing gala on June 11 at the Hyatt Regency. And there are crew-member jobs, such as van drivers, bike mechanics and massage therapists, for volunteers able to commit more time to the week-long, cross-country race, starting June 21.

For about a week, the team will relay race 24 hours and more than 400 miles per day. The team will travel from California through Arizona; cross the American heartland through Kansas City, St. Louis and Indianapolis; pass through the historic grounds of Gettysburg; and finish on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. The team's riders will endure challenging environmental conditions and test their physical and mental capabilities.

Team DonateLife is riding for a cause — to promote organ donation and transplantation. Members of the team include Richard Perez, transplant surgeon and director of the UC Davis Transplant Center; Massimo Testa, sports medicine and former international bike team physician; and orthopedic surgeon and 1980 Olympic speed skating champion Eric Heiden.

Other team members also have ties to the Transplant Program. Lorenzo Rossaro and Christopher Bowlus are transplant specialists in internal medicine. Paul Duncan is an operating room nurse who specializes in transplant surgery. Felix Battistella is a trauma surgeon. Jeff King is the clinical coordinator of Pharmacy Services. Phillip Wolinsky is an orthopedic surgeon, and David Cosca and Kim Cusimano practice in the UC Davis Sports Medicine Program.

The team has established a non-profit foundation and is working to raise $100,000. To learn more, see http://www.teamdonatelife.com.

UC Davis Retirees' Association to hold spring meeting, elect new officers

The UC Davis Retirees' Association spring meeting is set for May 2.

Michele French, executive director of policy and program design at the UC Office of the President, will present the talk "Perspectives on Changing Retirement Plans." In addition, the association will hold its election of officers for 2005-06. The meeting starts at 2 p.m. in the ARC. For details, contact Corinne Cooke at (530) 756-4571.