Some staff to receive extra $350 in pay

For the second year in a row, UC Davis is giving $350 each to eligible nonunion employees on the main campus, in recognition of their work and accomplishments.

The payments are due to be made on Sept. 19, either by direct deposit or check, whichever way the recipient normally receives his or her pay. For employees who work less than full time, the $350 payment will be prorated, depending on the percentage of appointment.

Taxes will be taken out. That means a net of about $200 for full-timers.

To be eligible for a payment, an employee must meet three criteria:

• Employed in a nonrepresented career or partial-year career position (nonprobationary) as of Oct. 1, 2006.
• Employed in a nonrepresented career or partial-year career position on the payout date, Sept. 19.
• Recipient of a performance appraisal of satisfactory or better for the period July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006.

Staff recognition money for members of the CX, SX, RX and TX bargaining units is included in their contracts. The UC Davis Health System runs its own staff recognition program (details are available online, www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/hr/hrdepts/admin/recognition_program.html).

On the main campus, the program will cost about $1.1 million to make the $350 payments to some 3,000 full-time-equivalent positions.

Campus's Washington Monthly ranking rises

UC Davis moved up to No. 8 from No. 10 in Washington Monthly's third annual list of national universities. Four of the top 10 schools were UC campuses. Unlike U.S. News & World Report, Washington Monthly does not focus on SAT scores, admissions rates or alumni giving. Instead, it emphasizes factors like social mobility, research and service.

Washington Monthly's top 10 schools are — 1) Texas A&M; 2) UCLA; 3) UC Berkeley; 4) UC San Diego; 5) Pennsylvania State University; 6) University of of Michigan; 7) Cornell; 8) UC Davis; 9) Stanford and 10) South Carolina State.

Reynoso honored for career

UC Davis will bestow its highest honor on law school professor emeritus and former California Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso at a gala tomorrow honoring his lifetime achievements. The tribute will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Mondavi Center.

Reynoso served as the inaugural Boochever and Bird Chair for the Study and Teaching of Freedom and Equality at the UC Davis School of Law from 2001 through his retirement in December 2006. He was a professor of law at the University of New Mexico from 1972 to 1976 and at UCLA from 1991 to 2001.

The son of migrant farmworkers, Reynoso was born in 1931. He graduated from Pomona College in 1953, earned his law degree from UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall in 1958 and devoted the next five decades of his life to immigration and civil rights.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will include tributes from some of the most important figures in California's labor, legal and legislative communities, including Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, José Padilla, executive director, California Rural Legal Assistance, and state Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles.

Registrar updates Web site

The Office of the University Registrar will unveil an upgraded Web site on Sept. 24 — see registrar.ucdavis.edu. Randall Larson-Maynard, senior editor for the registrar, said, "The site is much cleaner, easier to navigate, and has a more complete set of registration-related information for students, faculty, staff, alumni and the general public. One addition of note is the new site index page which gives access to every major information link on the entire site on one page."

Tahoe Center 'green'

The new home of the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center has been named one of only five science laboratories in the world to receive a Platinum LEED Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

The building council recognizes several levels of energy- and environmental-design excellence; platinum is its highest award. Located in Incline Village, Nev., the Tahoe Center is a 45,000-square-foot facility that houses UC Davis research laboratories and a free, public education center. The building is the first in Nevada to be rated platinum and one of only 26 worldwide.

Grad coordinators gather

The Office of Graduate Studies is inviting graduate program coordinators to a conference titled "Opportunities and Challenges Facing Graduate Program Coordinators at UC Davis."

Organizers announced that the guest speaker will be psychologist Mitchel Adler, from MindBody Intelligence, who will explore how raising self-awareness and promoting self-care can improve our performance, health and well-being, while optimizing our sense of joy and connection in our work.

The conference is free, but reservations are required by Sept. 25; direct them to Mary Reid, student affairs officer, Department of Computer Science, (530) 752-7224 or mmreid@ucdavis.edu.