UC Davis will test its WarnMe emergency notification system at noon Wednesday, Oct. 16.

Students and employees are automatically registered to receive alerts through their campus email. You can add other contacts including personal email addresses and mobile numbers.

Students and employees are encouraged to verify and update their contact information on the WarnMe website (click on “Edit my WarnMe information now!”).

Parents, vendors, contractors and others can sign up for WarnMe notifications for the Davis campus. These notifications are sent only by text — and that’s also how you sign up, by texting UCDALERTS to 67283.

Disability survey: It’s no mistake

“What is your disability status?” It’s a question many faculty and staff at UC Davis, UC Davis Health and Agriculture and Natural Resources saw recently when logging into UCPath for the first time.

Now UC is asking again in a one-question, confidential survey sent by email Monday (Oct. 7) to all faculty and staff around the system — it’s just coincidence that UC just posed the same question at UC Davis, UC Davis Health and Davis-based ANR when UCPath came online at our locations.

“Please know that if you self-identified disability status when logging into UCPath, your information has been captured,” reads an announcement on the Human Resources website. “However, we still encourage you to complete the disability survey, especially if your disability status has changed since you submitted it to UCPath or you never self-identified as part of your initial UCPath login.”

UC conducts this survey every five years (federal law requires it, because UC receives federal funds). “The disability survey helps UC measure employment practices and recruitment efforts,” according to an FAQ on the HR website. “The quality of our data depends on the participation of as many faculty and academics as possible.”

Responses are due by Nov. 15. Did you overlook the survey? Look for an email from ucdisabilitysurvey@willistowerswatson.com (Willis Towers Watson is the survey administrator).

Police Accountability Board

News from the Police Accountability Board:

●︎ The annual report and executive summary for 2018-19 have been posted to the board’s website. Of note in this report: It includes detailed information in the section devoted to the PAB’s recommendations and questions to the police chief. The goal in including this level of detail was to increase the transparency of the PAB’s work and to provide follow-up on issues important to our campus and community. 

●︎ The board will hold its fall quarter public meetings, Wednesday, Oct. 16, on the Davis and Sacramento campuses. As is customary, the meetings will be held simultaneously, noon to 1 p.m., with some board members attending the Davis meeting and some going to the Sacramento meeting. Here are the locations:

• Davis campus — Garrison Room, Memorial Union (second floor)
• Sacramento campus — 3103 Education Building

Held each quarter during the regular academic year, the meetings provide opportunities for Davis and Sacramento campus community members and others, including people from the surrounding communities, to learn more about the board’s work and how to file complaints and raise concerns. The meeting format is informal and follows an "office hour" format — please feel free to bring lunch along with your questions and concerns.

Guidance on political activity

Election season brings this important reminder from UC officials about laws and policies that prohibit the university from engaging in political activities related to candidates, parties and ballot measures, either in support or opposition. These restrictions also apply to individual faculty and staff members acting in their capacity as representatives of the university and/or using university resources.

“Because of the upcoming election cycle, this advisory is timed to remind the university community of the applicable rules and about the importance of complying with them,” the Office of the General Counsel stated in an Oct. 2 advisory. “There are potential criminal and civil penalties for misuse of public resources, and, in the case of the rules that apply to tax-exempt organizations, the university’s tax-exempt status could be jeopardized (and tax penalties imposed) by an activity that constitutes electioneering.”

The advisory notes that UC, as a Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is prohibited by federal law from intervening or participating in any political campaign activity in support of or in opposition to a political candidate or party. That prohibition also applies to activities conducted by campus foundations and other Section 501(c)(3) organizations affiliated with the university.   

As a state entity, the university is prohibited by state law from using its resources for campaign purposes in connection with ballot measures that have qualified for the ballot. (The university is permitted to engage in legitimate informational activities, and the Board of Regents — during public meetings — may take positions on ballot measures, but university resources may not be used to campaign for or against a ballot measure.)

These prohibitions and how they apply to the university are more fully set out in the UC policy on Restrictions on the Use of University Resources and Facilities for Political Activities, and Legal Guidelines for UC Participation in Ballot Campaigns. 

Children’s hospital tops in surgery

The American College of Surgeons has reverified UC Davis Children’s Hospital as a Level I Children’s Surgery Center, the highest of three levels.

The verification extends for five years the Level 1 status the hospital first achieved in 2016. It was the first hospital on the West Coast to be so recognized, and today is the only hospital in California to have the designation.

The designation from the American College of Surgeons’ Children’s Surgery Verification Quality Improvement Program focuses on the nation’s first and only multispecialty standards of surgical care for pediatric patients.

Read the news release from UC Davis Health.

Happy New Year, from Repro Graphics

Repro Graphics has a gift for you: a personalized wall calendar for the new year!

Available to anyone with a valid Kerberos sign-in, the calendars (limit one per person) demonstrate Repro’s variable-data printing capability. Upon ordering, you’ll be asked to choose a university-themed image, and you can also attach a label to up to four dates per month, say, birthdays or anniversaries or other occasions that are special to you. You can also designate university holidays.

Orders are due online by Thursday (Oct. 31). Calendars will be delivered to mail stops for the Davis and Sacramento campuses. Any requests for calendars after Oct. 31 may be accommodated for an additional charge.

Now, for a word from our sponsor: Repro Graphics can produce custom calendars for departments for as little as $1 each (based on a minimum quantity of 300). Repro says: “Send us your photos and personalized dates and we promise to get your completed calendars back to you by the end of 2019.”

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