If you are retiring soon, the Retiree Center has an invitation for you. If you know people who retired after July 1 last year, we’d very much appreciate it if would let them know about this same invitation.

It’s an invitation for you and a guest to attend the annual New Retirees Reception for campus and UC Davis Health employees — all those whose retirement dates are from July 2, 2018, to July 1, 2019.

The New Retirees Reception will be from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, June 20, in the Conference Center Ballroom on the Davis campus. Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Ralph J. Hexter will offer remarks.

The Retiree Center has set up two RSVP links, each offering the opportunity to receive a special retirement certificate signed by Chancellor Gary S. May and to provide your email address for the purpose of receiving newsletters and other notifications (say, for day trips, campus tours, volunteer opportunities and special programing).

Responses are due by June 13.

• “RSVP Yes” if you will attend. Your certificate, if you opt for one, will be available at the reception.
• “RSVP No” if you will not attend but would still like to receive a certificate (to be available for pickup at the Retiree Center during the week of June 24) or provide your email address.

Summer institute on active learning

Registration has opened for this year’s Summer Institute on Teaching and Technology (SITT), an all-day event for faculty. Presented by Academic Technology Services, the 2019 SITT is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 13. Admission is free and includes lunch.

“With a nod to the new Teaching and Learning Complex coming in 2022, which will include multiple classrooms configured for innovative and active learning, we’ve chosen as our SITT theme ‘Building in Active Learning,’” said Andy Jones, who hosts SITT.

Faculty presenters will focus on pedagogical strategies, best practices with UC Davis Canvas, data-driven teaching, hybrid and online classes, active learning with technology, and more. The keynote speaker will be Karen Pollack, associate vice provost for online education, Pennsylvania State University World Campus.

The registration form is here. Space is limited.

‘Swipe’ or ‘Pay It Forward’ to fight hunger

Faculty and staff — and students able to help their fellow students — are invited to “Pay It Forward” (by buying ASUCD Coffee House meals for students in need) or “Swipe Out Hunger” (by making contributions at university-operated food service outlets).

●︎ Pay It Forward — The Coffee House started this program with pizza slices at the Ciao counter, inviting customers to pay for extra slices; for every extra slice that someone pays for, the Coffee House gives a voucher to the ASUCD Pantry, to give to students in need.

The Pay It Forward pizza program began in the spring of 2016 and has delivered some 1,000 vouchers for students in need. “Now that we’ve been doing that for a few years, we wanted to offer other options,” said Lauren Woods, front-of-house manager at the CoHo.

With the expansion, customers are invited to Pay It Forward for regular burritos at the TxMx counter, sandwiches at the Fickle Pickle Deli and build-your-own salads at Croutons.

●︎ Swipe Out Hunger — All Student Housing and Dining Services food operations are participating in this annual campaign, whereby customers are invited to contribute in $1 increments, with cash or Aggie Cash, or by swiping their credit cards. This year’s campaign runs through June 13.

“No UC Davis student should ever have to miss a meal,” the Swipe Out Hunger organizers state on a flier. “Support long-term solutions to end hunger in our community.” The organizers said contributions will go to Aggie Meal Share, the ASUCD Pantry and Fruit & Veggie Up!

Mental health ‘Gatekeeper Training’

Six sessions of “Gatekeeper Training” are scheduled on the Davis campus in June.  The program is aimed at equipping faculty, teaching assistants and staff with the skills and knowledge “to comfortably and confidently speak to students about mental health concerns and then refer them to appropriate mental health resources.” The term “gatekeeper” derives from the fact that TAs, faculty, and staff often serve as students’ gateways to help.

The free training is offered as part of a study sponsored by the Division of Student Affairs.

Each session runs two hours and will be held at either the Memorial Union or the Student Health and Wellness Center. Here is the schedule:

• Tuesday, June 18 — 10 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m.
• Wednesday, June 19  —  10 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m.
• Wednesday, June 26  —  10 a.m.-noon
• Thursday, June 27  —  10 a.m.-noon

If you or your department is interested in a training, send an email to the study team, specifying one training date and time. In return, you will receive an email from “Support UCD Wellness Study” with the subject line, “Invitation to a UC Davis Pilot Study of Training to Support Student Mental Health,” and instructions for completing a pretraining questionnaire.

For more information, contact Professor Carolyn Dewa by email, or you can send an email to her research assistant, Bushra Shaikh.

CORRECTION: Commencement 2020

The Dateline UC Davis story “Commencement Consolidation in 2020” (originally posted April 30) gave the wrong dates for undergraduate commencements in 2020 and implied there would be one undergraduate commencement each day of the three-day commencement period. The correct dates are Friday through Sunday, June 12-14, 2020, but the exact scheduling of the three ceremonies is still being worked out and will be announced this summer. The consolidation has no effect on this year’s commencements.

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