UC eyes Sudan disinvestment

The UC Board of Regents voted Jan. 19 to tell its foreign investments fund managers that it has strong concerns about university dollars being invested in companies engaged in significant business relationships that help make it possible for the Sudan government to continue acts of genocide in Darfur.

As an additional step, the regents will establish a task force to consider a more detailed plan to identify a specific list of offending companies and divest from them as well as the legal and financial implications of divestment upon the university.

The proposal for Sudan divestment was first presented by student regent and UC Davis law student Adam Rosenthal at the regents' meeting in November 2005, at which time the board directed the UC Office of the President to investigate divestment and report back in January.

Members of the University Sudan Divestment Task Force, which will include representatives from the regents, the treasurer's office, the general counsel, students, faculty, the UC Retirement Plan Advisory Board, the regents' investment advisory committee and external fund management, will be announced in the coming days.

Gerald Parsky, chairman of the Board of Regents, said, "The regents' action to formally notify their external fund managers about their concerns about the investment of university funds in these companies represents a strong measure for putting the university on record in opposition to the acts of genocide and violence in Sudan, while maintaining the regents' fiduciary obligations."

Student awards

Students, faculty and staff at UC Davis are invited to nominate candidates for the annual Mary Jeanne Gilhooly, Veloyce Glenn Winslow, Jr., and Margarita Robinson Student Leadership Awards. These awards publicly recognize the outstanding senior woman, the outstanding senior man and outstanding juniors. A committee, appointed by the vice chancellor for student affairs, chooses the recipients for leadership, service, and scholarship.

The recipients will be announced at the end of May, and honored June 6. Nomination forms are available at the MU Information Desk; Student Programs and Activities Center, 457 Memorial Union; Student Affairs, 476 Mrak Hall and at studentawards.ucdavis.edu. Nominations are due to the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, 476 Mrak Hall, by 5 p.m. Feb. 8.

Work-life discussions

The campus will hold the following noontime brown bag discussions in the weeks ahead:

• Feb. 2: "Are you singing the "Career Blues?" Learn about proven techniques and career resources to help you be happier in your current job. The instructor is Deb Bachman and the location is TB 121 Classroom Trailer.
• Feb. 2: "Keeping Sane in the Sandwich Generation." Caring for children and parents at the same time takes determination and desire. Participants will learn about ideas and strategies to help you be a great caregiver as well as how to take care of yourself. The instructor is Peggy Phelps and the location is in the North Silo's Cabernet Room.
• Feb. 9: "Heart of the Matter: Preventing Heart Disease." In this workshop, one will learn about the risk factors for cardiovascular disease and how to prevent them. The instructor is Maxine Barish and the location is in the North Silo's Cabernet Room.

UC families newsletter

UC Families is a new online newsletter and resource for faculty, staff and students at UC campuses who are balancing academic goals or careers with family life. See it at ucfamilyedge.berkeley.edu. The UC Families home page provides family resources on UC campuses, UC-wide policy and benefits information, and archives of past advice and discussions.

Jepson prairie training

Classes to train docents to lead spring tours at Jepson Prairie Preserve will be held weekly on five Tuesday evenings, 7 to 9 p.m., beginning Feb. 7 at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area Headquarters at 45211 Chiles Road in Davis. Jepson Prairie is preserved and managed by the Solano Land Trust in cooperation with the UC Natural Reserve System and is currently featured in the exhibit "Hotspot" at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. For details, call (707) 432-0150 ext. 202, or send an e-mail to kirsti@solanolandtrust.org.

Optical research funded

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded $9.5 million over 3 1/2 years to UC Davis, MIT and commercial partners to develop new high-speed devices for ultrafast optical communications, imaging and other applications.

"We will be prototyping a compact, optical arbitrary waveform generator capable of communicating at unprecedented bandwidth, potentially 10 thousand times faster than the fastest commercial communications system today," said co-principal investigator S.J. Ben Yoo, professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the UC Davis Center for Information Technology Research in the Interests of Society.

Yoo's research group will use technology invented at UC Davis to design, build and test thumbnail-sized chips that can encode data at rates up to 100 terahertz, which is 10 thousand times faster than devices currently available.

Silva named to board

Former UC Davis School of Medicine Dean Joseph Silva has joined the ranks of expert civilian physicians and scientists serving on the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board, an 18-member committee providing advice to the Department of Defense on the prevention of diseases. Silva, who led the medical school at UC Davis until last year, will serve on a subcommittee focusing on infectious disease prevention and control.