Fellowships available for junior faculty

Junior faculty are invited to apply for fellowships offered by the Hellman Family Foundation.

The fellowships provide support for research by promising faculty at the assistant professor rank. Full-time assistant professors, except for those in the schools of law, medicine and veterinary medicine, are generally eligible.

The deadline is April 13. The range of last year’s total awards was $10,000 to $26,000—the program expects a somewhat similar range this year. It is expected that the 2009-10 fellowship recipients will be annouced this June.

For more information and to apply, visit academicpersonnel.ucdavis.edu and click on “awards and fellowship,” then look for the Hellman fellowships link. For questions, call (530) 752-9984 or e-mail sdgray@ucdavis.edu.

Soar to New Heights; buy tickets by April 3

Organizers are reminding the campus community that tickets for Soaring to New Heights are being sold only at the Freeborn Hall box office, and not through department representatives.

Tickets cost $5 and are being sold on a first-come, first-served basis through April 3. You can buy them in person or by phone: (530) 752-1915 ($5 charge per entire phone order). No tickets will be sold at the door.Soaring to New Heights is the campu’s annual diversity celebration.

The event features entertainment, an international buffet and information tables, plus presentation of the Diversity and Principles of Community Achievement Recog-nition Awards and the Calvin E. Handy Leadership Award.

Soaring to New Heights is presented by the Office of Campus Community Relations.

More information: (530) 752-2071 or occr.ucdavis.edu/soaring.

Wastewater penalty for UC Davis

UC Davis will pay a mandatory penalty of $27,000 to the California Water Quality Control Board for violations of effluent limits at the campus’s wastewater treatment plant between April and December 2008.

The violations, technically described as “non-serious violations,” were triggered automatically when effluent samples slightly exceeded the monthly limits for electrical conductivity set by the wastewater discharge permit then in force.

Campus officials said the problem was caused by salt in the water, and that investments in water and wastewater improvements should prevent the violations from recurring.

Since 2000, the campus has spent a total of $23 million to construct and then expand the wastewater treatment plant. About $300,000 has been invested in testing and reducing salt discharges from the central steam plant.

Since Jan. 1, 2009, the campus has operated under a new wastewater discharge permit.

“We expect to be in full compliance with the new permit,” said David Phillips, director of Utility Services.

The university will ask the water board for approval to use the penalty monies for ongoing projects to improve Putah Creek, as allowed under state law.