Carnegie Scholar named Law profesor Madhavi Sunder was selected April 25 as one of 20 Carnegie Scholars for 2006. Each member of the new class will receive grants of up to $100,000 to pursue Islam-centered research themes over the next two years. Sunder, who wrote the book, The New Enlightenment: How Muslim Women are Bringing Religion and Culture Out of the Dark Ages, studies human rights, legal theory and Islam. With the new funding, Sunder will expand her research on women and Islam. Yolo County growth A Metropolitan Transportation Plan workshop will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Monday, May 15, at Freeborn Hall on campus. The Metropolitan Transportation Plan is a 23-year plan for transportation improvements in our six-county region. Sponsored by the Sacramento Area Council of Governmnts and Valley Vision, the event is free and open to the public. The Metropolitan Transportation Plan workshop is billed as an opportunity to shape how regional leaders spend money on roads, highways, public transit and community improvements. For details and registration, see www.sacog.org/mtp, or call (916) 325-1634. Chancellor, students talk Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef will hold his quarterly dialogue with students from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday in King Lounge in the Memorial Union. Eric Zamora, student assistant to the chancellor, said, “The topic for this quarter is a little bit different than traditional dialogues in that we are not focusing solely on one topic” but on a variety of issues. Students are welcome to send questions in advance to Zamora at ejzamora@ucdavis.edu. Craft Center open house The UC Davis Department of Campus Recreation will hold an open house and registration party Saturday to kick off the registration process for its summer youth and teen programs. The event takes place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the UC Davis Craft Center, South Silo, off Hutchison Drive. For details, call (530) 754-7458 or visit campusrecreation.ucdavis.edu. Berkeley workers get raise About 180 of the lowest paid employees at UC Berkeley are receiving pay increases up to 20 percent, following a decision to raise the baseline wage for career and limited-appointment employees to $11.25 per hour. In announcing the increases April 21, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau said that campus employees face significant challenges with the high cost of living in the Bay Area. His decision to raise the baseline wage affects primarily food service employees, a group whose lowest hourly rate was previously $9.39. Other employees receiving the pay increases include staff in a small number of clerical, technical and other service-related jobs. The increases are retroactive to April 1. Judge rules on bias case A federal judge in California on April 18 ruled that a public law school may deny recognition to a student group that refuses to abide by anti-bias rules. The ruling came in a dispute between the University of California’s Hastings College of Law, which bars officially recognized student groups from discriminating on the basis of religion and sexual orientation, among other factors, and the campus chapter of the Christian Legal Society. Students who engage in “unrepentant homosexual conduct” are barred from the group. Conflict of interest eyed On June 8, the UC Board of Regents will hold a public hearing on the adoption of amendments to its Conflict of Interest Code. The hearing, which begins at noon, will be held in Conference Room 8332 at 1111 Franklin St., 8th Floor, Oakland. The most significant possible changes would affect development officers, filing requirements for principal investigators, and employees at Los Alamos National Laboratory. To view the proposed amendments, visit www.ucop.edu/ogc/coi/2005-06%20coitoc.html. Nurses negotiations UC ended its first round of scheduled labor negotiations with the California Nurses Association on April 20 in Sacramento. The session was a “reopener” of four specific issues—wages, health benefits, meal and break periods and retiree health plans—that were mutually agreed upon by UC and the CNA during last December’s contract agreement between the university and its more than 8,500 nurses. For information, visit www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/2006/apr20.html.