Poetry book release celebrated

Andy Jones and Brad Henderson, lecturers in the University Writing Program, will hold a poetry book reading at the John Natsoulas Gallery in Davis from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10. Their new book, Split Stock (January 2006), is a dual collection of poems and the first book in the Natsoulas Press' New Poetry and Art Series. Attendees will get to meet Henderson and "Dr. Andy," a talk show host on the campus-based KDVS radio station. Guests can also meet the artists — Deborah Hamon, Robert Ranson, Frank Damiano and others — whose work is featured in the book. An author performance and signing will follow the reception.

The John Natsoulas Gallery is at 521 First St. in Davis. For more details, call the gallery at (530) 756-3938.

Derek Moore pinned Stanford's Juston Johnson in the final seconds of the 141-pound match to cap the UC Davis wrestling team's 38-6 victory over Stanford at UC Davis' Pavilion on Jan. 27. UC Davis' record has been lifted to 4-6 with a 2-2 Pac-10 record. Stanford's season record drops to 5-4 and its Pac-10 record now stands at 2-1. The UC Davis wrestling team will host Oregon State today at 2 p.m. and Oregon at 7 p.m. — both matches will be held at the Pavillion.

Last year, UC Davis, which is in the third year of a four-year D-I transition, beat Stanford in football, basketball and men's soccer.

Aggie wrestlers slam Stanford

Andy Jones and Brad Henderson, lecturers in the University Writing Program, will hold a poetry book reading at the John Natsoulas Gallery in Davis from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10. Their new book, Split Stock (January 2006), is a dual collection of poems and the first book in the Natsoulas Press' New Poetry and Art Series. Attendees will get to meet Henderson and "Dr. Andy," a talk show host on the campus-based KDVS radio station. Guests can also meet the artists — Deborah Hamon, Robert Ranson, Frank Damiano and others — whose work is featured in the book. An author performance and signing will follow the reception.

The John Natsoulas Gallery is at 521 First St. in Davis. For more details, call the gallery at (530) 756-3938.

Derek Moore pinned Stanford's Juston Johnson in the final seconds of the 141-pound match to cap the UC Davis wrestling team's 38-6 victory over Stanford at UC Davis' Pavilion on Jan. 27. UC Davis' record has been lifted to 4-6 with a 2-2 Pac-10 record. Stanford's season record drops to 5-4 and its Pac-10 record now stands at 2-1. The UC Davis wrestling team will host Oregon State today at 2 p.m. and Oregon at 7 p.m. — both matches will be held at the Pavillion.

Last year, UC Davis, which is in the third year of a four-year D-I transition, beat Stanford in football, basketball and men's soccer.

Research awards set

Applications are being sought for the Academic Federation Research Grant Program — Innovative Developmental Awards. These awards provide support for federation members in research titles to conduct exploratory research in new areas for which they currently have insufficient preliminary data for a competitive grant application to extramural sources. It is expected there will be five to seven awards ranging between $3,000 to $10,000 each. More information can be found at www.mrak.ucdavis.edu/acadfed/awards.cfm.

UC regents modify exec compensation structure

A new salary structure approved by UC regents on Jan. 18 sets the 10-campus system on a path to bring executive salaries in line with elite private and public universities.

Under the plan, regents will compare UC compensation with about two dozen mostly private universities, including Harvard, Stanford and MIT. The measure will give UC President Robert Dynes the authority to raise salaries of senior managers each year. As it is now, UC's governing board must approve salaries above $168,000; under the new plan, Dynes alone would be able to gradually raise executive pay so long as it does not exceed a salary range pre-approved by the regents.

The lowest range is set from $131,000 to $191,000; the highest from $495,000 to $792,000.

UC said the move is part of a broader plan to gradually increase university salaries for faculty, administrators and other employees to compete with other prestigious universities. Regents looked at 284 executive salaries for UC chancellors, deans and other administrators and found that 74 percent were below the median salaries of people in similar positions at the comparison schools.

"The regents are taking a very hands-on approach to the issue of compensation," Regents Chairman Gerald Parsky told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Under the plan, there will be constraints placed on how much of an increase can be provided to individuals as well as limited overall budgets for salary increases for the $168,000-plus group at each campus.

A s a next step, regents will consider how they will disperse state funds remaining for executive salary increases. They also will determine where to place other executives in the salary structure, including medical school administrators and those working at the national laboratories that UC manages for the Department of Energy.

Class podcasting now available on campus

Instructors have long recorded lectures onto audiocassettes, which students could then take home and listen to. This year, however, a team from Information and Educational Technology (IET) is working to improve how that is done.

Building on the success of the Fall Convocation podcast, the team has developed an MP3 pilot project for class lectures, hoping that the popularity of MP3 players will make lectures available to more students.

MP3s are computer files that can be downloaded and listened to on a computer or other electronic device. Invented in 1991, this type of file was designed to reduce the amount of data required to represent audio, while maintaining its sound quality. MP3s are the type of files downloaded to iPods. "Podcasting," a term derived from iPods, involves subscribing to a series of MP3 files, which are then automatically delivered to the subscriber.

Classroom Technology Services and Mediaworks helped four Davis instructors record and post their fall quarter lectures, a process that became easier for the instructors to do themselves as the quarter went on. Victoria Cross, a pilot participant, posted her psychology lectures weekly in a process that "took about five minutes and seldom failed."

The goal, said CTS staff member Tim Leamy, "is to make uploading and downloading the files both simple and reliable," and it seems to be working: early surveys show that 10 to 25 percent of students downloaded recorded lectures each time they were offered.

Cross pointed out the usefulness of such lectures: one student, whose attendance was otherwise perfect, had to miss class for a funeral and found the podcast lectures "meant one less concern while he was out of town."

For those interested in podcasting, the IET Podcasting Team is expanding its MP3 program. For details, call Rodd Kleinschmidt at 752-8121 or e-mail him at rkleinschmidt@ucdavis.edu.

— from the IT Times

Eugene O'Neill documentary screening set

UC Davis will get a free sneak preview of a new PBS documentary about playwright Eugene O'Neill, followed by a question-and-answer session at 8 p.m. March 4 at Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center.

Filmmaker Ric Burns, collaborator and brother of documentary maker Ken Burns, will join his co-producers on Eugene O'Neill — O'Neill biographers Arthur and Barbara Gelb — to talk about the new film.

Advance tickets are required and can be requested from the Mondavi Center box office by phone, e-mail or in person. Mondavi Center anticipates that tickets will be available day of show.

The visit comes thanks to English professor emeritus Peter Hays, who spent 39 years teaching about the only American dramatist to get a Nobel Prize.

A contact at the Danville-based O'Neill Society asked Hays if UC Davis would be interested in offering the free preview.

The documentary is the inaugural event in The Forum@MC, a series of free lectures sponsored by Mondavi Center, in which visiting artists, lecturers and UC Davis faculty explore issues central to the performing arts in general and the performing arts at Mondavi Center in particular.

Women leadership symposium planned

On May 16 and 17, the UC San Francisco Center for Gender Equity will host "Women Leaders 2006: A Symposium for Women in University Settings," featuring some of the most highly respected and dynamic women leaders in their respective fields. This event will take place at the Parc 55 Hotel in San Francisco.

The conference will offer opportunities for education, inspiration, and connection for all university women — and particularly those at the University of California. Highlights include 30 workshops in three tracks — leadership, personal development and communication; a special reception; on-site bookstore; raffles and giveaways; and an exciting Women Artisans Galleria.

Keynote speakers include Linda Williams, associate president, UC, Office of the President; Angela Davis, teacher, writer, scholar, activist and author of five books, including "Women, Race and Class"; Winona LaDuke, Native American activist, environmentalist, economist, writer and vice presidential nominee of the United States Green Party; among others.

Robert Dynes, President of the University of California, will provide a special welcome address. For details, visit www.ucsf.edu/cge/wg/programs/wls/index.html or contact Victoria Auer at vauer@genderequity.ucsf.edu or (415) 476-5222. Early-bird registration ends March 10.

UC reinstates Doby after investigation

UC officials said Jan. 9 that they will reinstate Vice President for Student Affairs Winston Doby following an investigation into hiring questions. Doby had been placed on paid leave in November while the auditor looked into his role in the hiring of the son of UC's former top academic officer, M.R.C. Greenwood, who resigned in November amid questions about her hiring practices. A UC report subsequently found she should have recused herself from the 2004 hiring of friend and business partner Lynda Goff for a job at university headquarters in Oakland.

UC investigators also found that Doby improperly helped create a mid-career internship for Greenwood's son, James Greenwood, at UC Merced. However, investigators said there was no evidence Doby was influenced by the provost or personally benefited from the hire. The report said Doby appeared to be well-intended but his failure to recognize the sensitivity of the hiring showed bad judgment.

COSMOS program seeks student participants

Students who love math and science and excel in these subjects have a chance to spend four weeks in residence at a University of California campus this summer learning about astronomy, marine mammal biology, robotics, earthquake engineering, advanced mathematics and much more.

The California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS) is a residential program for talented and motivated students who are completing grades 8-12. The application deadline is March 16. (Note: Applicants who will be completing the eighth grade must have taken science and math courses well beyond their grade level to be considered for admission to the program.) The COSMOS mission is to motivate the most creative minds of the new generation of prospective scientists, engineers and mathematicians in California.

COSMOS programs are offered at UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Santa Cruz, and at UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering, and will run from July 9 through Aug. 5.

In the last five years, farm-to-school salad bar programs have taken root at many school districts across the country, Feenstra said.

"We are getting input from food service workers, Cooperative Extension personnel and others about future farm-to-school program needs," said Feenstra. "The data we gather for our survey will help food service directors and farm-to-school program leaders network within their regions and share information about program operations to help make decisions about whether to start a program or to improve an existing one."