Editor's note: The "new" Old Davis Road opened just after 4 p.m. today (Dec. 18). The "old" Old Davis Road remained open, for at least one more night.

Old Davis Road undergoes a big change on Monday (Dec. 17): The south loop road along the arboretum waterway will be closed, permanently. Traffic will be diverted to the “new” Old Davis Road, which provides a more direct route between the south campus and downtown Davis.

The new road is scheduled to open by 3 p.m., coinciding with the closure of the old road — which henceforth will be reserved for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Signs will point drivers to the new road. You can "see" the new road now, on the online campus map (if you don't see the revised map, refresh your browser). We've also prepared these directions:

• If you are coming from Interstate 80 or La Rue Road, headed for downtown Davis, do NOT turn left on Mrak Hall Drive. Instead, keep going straight on Old Davis Road, past the Vanderhoef Quad, the Conference Center and the Hyatt Place hotel. From there, the new road goes in between parking Lots 5 and 5A, to A Street.

• If you are coming from downtown, headed to the south campus, take note that the “old” Old Davis Road, on the other side of the A Street Bridge, is blocked off. You cannot turn right. Instead, keep going straight, in between Lots 5 and 5A, past the hotel, the Conference Center and Vanderhoef Quad. This will put you at the signal at Mrak Hall Drive. From there, turn right to go to Mrak Hall or keep going straight to La Rue Road and I-80.

Earlier coverage. Other closures (California Avenue and parking Lot 3) during winter break.

Holiday memo: Heat, lights, coffee, buses and more

The heat? It’s going down over the holidays. Coffee? It will be on most of the time. Buses? Unitrans and the shuttle to and from the medical center will be on reduced schedules, and the Davis-Berkeley shuttle, unlike in previous years when it shut down over the holidays, will keep running (and will even add service on two Saturdays).

Thermostats will be set back, where appropriate, as an energy-saving measure, from next Friday evening, Dec. 21, until Wednesday morning, Jan. 2. So, if you are working, remember to dress appropriately for what may be a chilly office.

If you’re not going to be here, or your department is closed completely, remember to turn off the lights and office equipment before you leave, so the campus can save even more energy.

Read more, including complete schedules for coffee, food, Unitrans, the UC Davis-UC Davis Medical Center shuttle and the Davis-Berkeley shuttle, plus the ARC, UC Davis Stores and Repro Graphics.

Senate holds online forum on publishing policy

The Davis Division of the Academic Senate has opened an online forum on a proposed new open access publishing policy. The policy, per a systemwide proposal from faculty members in conjunction with the University Committee on Libraries and Scholarly Communication, would apply to the dissemination of all scholarly work.

The committee is seeking feedback, via forums like the one at UC Davis, in order to inform a final version of the policy for presentation to the universitywide Academic Senate. The primary goal of the policy is "to increase the availability and impact of research produced by the University of California, without adding new costs or undue burdens on the faculty."

The forum is scheduled to close at 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 4. More information on the open access policy proposal is available here.

Information session for UCPath jobs

Recruitment is under way for people to work in the UC system’s new shared services center — and, toward that end, an information session will be held next week at UC Davis.

People are invited to attend in person or watch a live webcast, or they can watch it later after it is archived. The meeting is for anyone who is interested in applying to work at the UCPath Center or who is curious about the workings of a large-scale shared services operation. The UC center will support payroll, academic personnel, time reporting and human resources for all employees at all campuses and medical centers.

The center, based at UC Riverside, is under development. Recruitment is under way for 156 positions out of 500 that are due to be filled by the end of 2014; the university is giving priority consideration to current employees.

In this first round of recruiting, the application period closes Dec. 21 for managerial, technical and executive support positions, and Jan. 18 for all other positions. Search for UCPath Center jobs.

The information session at UC Davis is scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday (Dec. 17) in Ballroom A at the Activities and Recreation Center. People planning to attend are asked to RSVP.

The live webcast will be streamed here (note that this link will not be active until the time of the event). The information session will be available for viewing later on the UCPath Project at UC Davis website. 

Last chance for gift card prize!

Information technology officials are once again encouraging faculty and staff to take a short online course about computer security — and reminding that if you complete the course by the end of the year, you will have a chance to win a $50 gift card.

As of Nov. 30, more than 600 people had completed the Information Security Awareness course, which teaches, in a nontechnical way, how to protect Social Security numbers, bank and health account data, and other sensitive information stored in computers.

“Protecting your electronic data is at least as important as protecting your home or car from break-ins,” said Robert Ono, UC Davis’ IT security coordinator.

The UC Office of the President promotes the computer security course by providing $50 gift cards for monthly drawings — four cards a month, August through December, for people who complete the training. You can only win once, and the names of all nonwinners roll over to the next month’s drawing.

The course is available in the UC Learning Management System; search for “Information Security Awareness” (code DAC-TT0900). The LMS will record your name for the drawings.

Social Security withholding set to climb

UC payroll teams will deduct more from your checks for Social Security withholding, effective Jan. 1. For most UC employees, the change will take effect with the first pay date after Jan. 2.

Withholding goes back to the historical rate of 6.2 percent (from 4.2 percent), and the taxable wage base increases to $113,700 (from $110,100). All this could change, however, as a result of ongoing negotiations between the president and Congress to keep the federal government from going over the so-called fiscal cliff at year's end. As of today, no agreement had been reached.

Therefore, because UC payroll will be processed before the winter break, UC has no choice but to go ahead with the changes. The same thing happened last year; eventually, the government extended the 4.2 percent withholding rate, and UC subsequently adjusted employees' checks to return the overcollection of Social Security withholding, retroactive to Jan. 1.

Another extension, through 2013, would mark the third consecutive year of the 4.2 percent withholding rate — which was enacted as a "temporary" tax cut in 2011.

Other payroll changes effective Jan. 1:

• Employees earning $200,000 or more will see a 0.9 percent increase in their Medicare withholding, to 2.35 percent, under the Affordable Care Act.
• New California income tax rates will take effect, resulting from voter approval Nov. 6 of Gov. Brown's income and sales tax initiative, Proposition 30.

As for federal tax rates, UC will continue to use the 2012 schedule "until Congress and President Obama reach agreement, and the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) provides guidance for the federal tax withholding rates for 2013," according to a statement issued today (Dec. 14) by the UC Office of the President.

"As soon as the IRS publishes official guidance, the university will update our payroll system to begin withholding at the new tax rates," the statement declared. "The payroll system will not make any retroactive adjustments once the new rates are implemented."

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