From hurricane relief to essays and student aid, Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef touched on a wide range of communications and crises during his first brownbag discussion of the academic year on Oct. 20.

Speaking to an audience of about 100 campus community members in the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center, Vanderhoef explained his motivations behind the My Personal Compass project. The initiative encourages campus community members to write about the beliefs that guide their daily lives and to then share them with the rest of the campus. (See http://mypersonalcompass.ucdavis.edu).

One reason he says he launched the effort this fall is that "deep listening" and "understanding" are in short supply in a war-time climate.

"We have come to a time in which we need this type of initiative," said Vanderhoef, likening the present day with the Cold War atmosphere of the 1950s when broadcaster Edward R. Murrow started a similar program to encourage dialogue. "In this project it is not agreement that is being pursued, but rather an understanding of other peoples' points of view."

On this note, Vanderhoef invited Gail Finney, a professor of comparative literature and German, and Clayton Halliday, the director of architecture for Architects and Engineers, to read their essays to the audience.

In his piece, Halli-day told of a transformative moment when he realized it was not "the end result that mattered ... but rather the act of trying something new and creative." In hers, Finney talked of collaboration — "in the largest sense, we are all in this together. We should act accordingly."

Both the essays and the brownbag session, Vanderhoef noted, are opportunities to spread dialogue on campus and beyond. The chancellor originally started holding brown bag discussions with employees back in the early 1990s when the university was suffering 25 percent budget cuts. In May 2004, he resumed the brown bags after a four-year hiatus. "You can come here and ask anything," he added.

Beyond essays, campus employees who volunteered in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort recounted to the crowd their experiences in the Gulf Coast. At last count, several campus employees and about 28 employees from the Medical Center, many of them physicians or health workers, have participated in relief efforts there.

"I've never seen destruction like that," said Dr. Douglas Gross, a physician and anatomy professor who recently spent one week in a Louisiana parish with a Bay Area church group.

The water and sludge there are toxic, Gross says, and the homes — the ones still standing — are full of mold. "You might think from the reports that things are getting back to normal, but it's not OK. A lot of people are really hurting. There is a tremendous sadness there."

Mike Bavister, a programmer at Shields Library, spent 18 days with a search-and-rescue team from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The first day he arrived his group — one of eight FEMA search-and-rescue teams — prowled through the flooded streets in boats and jet skis. Those teams rescued about 500 people that day, he added. "It was like an episode out of the Twilight Zone."

Julia Ann Easley, a senior public information representative in University Communi-cations, talked about the powerful impact of Red Cross volunteer experience.

"I saw new possibilities as I looked at all these people helping," said Easley, who performed media relations for the Red Cross. "Seeing new possibilities in people — that is what I want to carry with me."

In a question-and-answer session, Avi Singh, a political science major, asked Vanderhoef about potential Congressional cuts to student aid programs. "What is UC Davis doing about this?" said Signh.

Vanderhoef replied that the university is united with several other educational associations who are lobbying Congress to protect federal aid for students. As much as $15 billion could be cut from federal student financial aid programs if certain proposed budget adjustments are approved by the U.S. Congress, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

"I'm relatively optimistic that people will realize what a great investment education is," said Vanderhoef.

Plant biology major Jonathan Lai asked whether the UC system is offering incentives for continuing students pursuing teaching careers. The UC has rolled out programs targeting freshmen in the last year, aimed at graduating more qualified teachers, especially those in the sciences and mathematics.

Fred Wood, interim vice provost for undergraduate studies, said that incentives to attract students to careers in education are at the "discussion stage" in the UC system. He expects progress soon.

Another student asked Vanderhoef if the campus would decline to sell apparel made in "sweat shops."

"We try to ensure that all the apparel being sold is not from sweat shops," said Vanderhoef, noting campus efforts in this area. "It is a very important issue."