Staff Enrichment
Fiscal Closing Workshop
This one-session, 21/2 hour workshop sponsored by Accounting Services will assist participants in becoming better acquainted with the campus fiscal closing process. Anyone involved in fiscal closing should attend.
Workshop dates and times are as follows:
April 9, 9-11:30 am
April 16, 9-11:30 am
April 17, 1:30-4 pm
April 18, 1:30-4 pm
April 23, 9-11:30 am
April 24, 1:30-4 pm
April 25, 9-11:30 am
April 30, 9-11:30 am
May 1, 1:30-4 pm
May 2, 9-11:30 am
Workshop enrollment forms have been mailed to campus departments. The forms also are available on the Web at http://128.32.241.113/ficltrng.html or by calling 642-2853.
Health*Matters Lunch And Learn Series
There is no charge and enrollment is not required for the following classes. All take place from 12:10 to 12:55 p.m. Bag lunches welcomed. For more information call 643-4646.
Strength Training
With Dynabands
April 12, 234 Hearst Gym.
Participants will learn a routine using dynabands and handweights to use at home or the office for muscle tone and strength.
Safer Sex in the 90s:
* Women Who Have Sex
With Women
April 3.
* Women and Men Who Have Sex With the Opposite Sex
April 10.
* Men Who Have Sex With Men
April 17.
Each class will offer pointers on how to communicate effectively with a current or potential partner and how to practice safer sex without spoiling the fun. The program will include discussion about the connection between alcohol and drug use and risky behavior. Resources and safer sex kits will be provided. All sessions will take place at the Tang Education Center.
Employee Development and Training
For more information, for copies of the 1995-96 Employee Development and Training catalog or for information on how to enroll in classes, call 642-8134.
Personal Time Management
April 5, 8:30 am-noon.
Learn techniques for analyzing time use, determining priorities in the work setting, planning and making the most of peak energy times of the day and learning when to delegate.
New Horizons
For Current Employees
April 5, 8:30 am-noon.
For those interested in an upward or lateral job change or working in another department, this class may provide the answers needed regarding new opportunities for current employees.
Resolving Conflicts--for Staff
April 10, 8:30 am-4:30 pm.
Participants will discuss and analyze typical workplace conflicts, assess styles of dealing with conflict, learn to select a strategy for dealing with conflict that is appropriate to the situation and use case studies and role plays to practice effective listening and speaking skills.
Participating in Teams:
Skills for Effective Teamwork
April 17 and 24, 8:30 am-4 pm.
Through exercises, videos, lectures and small group discussions, participants will learn the basics of teamwork, including team dynamics, roles and behavior, and how to help create effective team meetings, solve team problems and effectively manage conflict.
Computer Classes
For information or registration forms, call 642-7355. Course descriptions and sign-up forms also are available online through the Workstation Support Services web server: http://wss-www.berkeley. edu.
Macintosh Full-Day Classes:
Microsoft Excel 5.0 (Beginning)
Filemaker Pro (Beginning,
Advanced)
Aldus PageMaker 5.0 (2 days)
Macintosh Half-Day Classes:
Macintosh Fundamentals (using
System 7.5)
Microsoft Word 6.0 (Beginning,
Intermediate)
Microsoft Excel 5.0 Worksheets
(Intermediate)
IBM PC (DOS) Half-Day Classes:
Windows 3.1 (Beginning)
IBM PC (DOS) Full-Day Classes:
Microsoft Excel 5.0 for Windows
(Beginning, Intermediate)
Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0
(Fundamentals, Intermediate)
Care Services
For more information on workshops and groups offered by Care Services or to enroll, call 643-7754.
Elder/Adult Dependent Caregivers Support Group
Thursdays (ongoing), noon-1 pm.
For faculty or staff who are providing one or more forms of ongoing assistance to an adult in their lives. Weekly attendance not required.
Adoptive Parents Support Group
Call CARE for time and dates; new members welcomed.
Topics discussed include transracial issues, talking about adoption, developmental stages and open, closed and international adoptions.
Health Beat
Back Talk
Take this quiz to test your knowledge of preventing and treating back pain:
1. Most people will experience back pain at some time in their lives. True or false?
2. If you have a backache, you should consult your doctor immediately. True or false?
3. People with back problems should stop exercising and stay in bed until the pain is gone. True or false?
4. An X-ray can usually show what is wrong with an aching back. True or false?
5. A good lifting technique (knees bent, back straight, and object held close to the body) will guarantee a safe lift. True or false?
6. Walking can help prevent
back pain.
True or false?
Answers:
1. True. Four out of five Americans will experience back pain at least
once in their lifetime. Common conditions and risk factors that may cause back pain include:
* being overweight or out of shape,
* poor posture,
* improper bending and lifting techniques,
* stress and tension,
* back injuries from slips, falls or accidents, and
* medical conditions such as kidney stones, infections or arthritis.
2. False. Most backaches will go away in a few weeks, with or without medical attention. However, you should call your doctor if you experience the following symptoms:
* pain, numbness or tingling that radiates down an arm or leg,
* constant pain that does not lessen when you're lying down,
* back pain after a trauma, such as a fall or car accident
* vomiting or fever associated with back pain, or
* difficulty urinating.
3. False. Most low back problems should not be treated with prolonged bed rest. Usually one or two days is sufficient. Lie on your side or back with your knees supported.
To reduce pain and swelling, use ice rather than heat. Anti-inflammatory medications may also provide some relief.
Gradually increase your activity level and start walking as soon as possible.
4. False. Usually X-rays are of little value (exceptions are when trauma may have caused fractures). An x-ray shows bones and calcium-containing tissues, but it does not show the discs, ligaments and muscles which are often the source of pain.
5. False. Objects may be too heavy, large or awkward to be lifted safely by one person.
Even if a person has the muscular strength to do it, the load on the discs of the spine or other tissues may be too great.
Back injury prevention depends not only on proper technique but also on good job design, including lightening the load to be lifted, using dollies or mechanical lifts, or getting help from a co-worker.
6. True. Low impact, aerobic-type exercise such as walking, daily stretching exercises and strengthening exercises for your stomach and back muscles can help prevent back pain. Other prevention tips include:
* Maintain a healthy weight. Obesity is hard on the joints and on the muscles in your back and abdomen and can cause poor posture.
* Avoid standing or sitting long hours. Use a foot stool to support one foot for tasks requiring standing. Sit with good posture in a chair that provides lower back support and is low enough for you to place both feet on the floor. Use a back support pillow or foot rest, if needed.
* Change positions frequently. Move and stretch every half hour or so.
* Sleep on your side with your knees bent or on your back with a pillow under your knees. Choose a mattress firm enough to support your spine.
* Think before you lift. Bend your knees, hug the load and lift with your legs. Push or pull a heavy object. To turn, pivot your feet, don't twist your spine. To avoid lifting overhead, use a stool or ladder.
For More Help
* Your Back Matters. Three-session back care workshop including preventive self-care and exercises. Wednesdays, April 10, 17, 24, 3 to 4:30 pm. Free. Call Health*Matters at 643-4646 to enroll.
* Your Back Matters Self-Care Kit includes fact sheets on prevention exercises, back savers on the job, products to pamper your back and self-care tips for low-back pain. Order from Health*Matters at 643-4646.
* "Low Back Pain" video demonstrates proper lifting and provides guidelines for maintaining good posture. Available to departments from Health*Matters or for individual viewing at the University Health Services Self-Care Resource Center. Call 643-4646 for more information.
Health Beat is produced by University Health Services.
Next month's topic:
"Catching Those ZZZs"
Campus Memos
The following are titles of memos recently mailed to deans, directors, department chairs and administrative officers on the chancellor's mailing lists.
For copies, contact originating offices.
Deans and directors memos also are available on Infocal under "campus directives." Connect to Infocal via Gopher, WWW or telnet software at infocal.berkeley.edu. For assistance using Infocal, call 642-8507.
Questions about memos should be directed to Aileen Kim, 642-3100, or email to aileen_kim@ maillink.
March 11. New Visiting Scholar Procedure and Fee, from Joseph Cerny, dean of the Graduate Division.
March 12. Recruitment for Staff Representatives for Charter Anniversary Ceremony Staff Procession, from Carol T. Christ, the vice chancellor and provost, and Horace Mitchell, vice chancellor--business and administrative services.
March 14. Nominations Due for Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Awards, from Horace Mitchell, vice chancellor--business and administrative services.
Benefits
CAll For UCRS Board Candidates
Employees who are active members of the University of California Retirement Plan (UCRP) but are not members of the Academic Senate are invited to run for election to the University of California Retirement System (UCRS) Board.
By Monday, April 15, interested candidates must submit a brief biographical statement and a petition signed by at least 50 active UCRP members who are not Academic Senate members.
To request a nomination packet, email Mary De Shaw at mdeshaw@ uclink.berkeley.edu or call 642-9478.
The non-Academic Senate members of UCRP will vote in June to fill one vacancy.
Candidates may be from any UC location except Los Alamos National Laboratory. Incumbent representative Robert Drake is from Los Alamos and the two non-Academic Senate representatives must be from different locations.
The UCRS Board serves in an advisory capacity to the UC president on matters concerning the UCRS plans, including the University of California Retirement Plan, the Defined Contribution Plan and the Tax-Deferred 403(b) Plan. These plans hold assets of over $23 billion and represent the retirement interests of approximately 165,000 UCRS members.
The UCRS Board consists of nine members: an officer of the university appointed by the UC president, three members selected by the Academic Senate from the nine campuses and two members from different university locations elected by active members of the plan who are not members of the Academic senate. The UCRS Board chair and vice chair are elected by board members.
The UCRS Board generally meets quarterly in Oakland at the Office of the President. Members serve without compensation, but are reimbursed for necessary expenses.
It's Been Five Years for Plus-Five
The first wave of retirements under VERIP, UC's Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Program, hit five years ago--April 1, 1991--under the program known as Plus 5.
One of the stipulations for participation in VERIP was the prohibition against taking a career position with the university for at least five years after retiring. Once five years had passed, an employee who retired under VERIP could return as a career employee.
VERIP retirees who are members of UCRP and who are rehired in career positions should contact UCRP to stop retirement income and annuitant insurances and enroll in career medical and dental insurance as active employees.
If individuals also are enrolled in Medicare at the time they are rehired, they no longer will receive reimbursement of Medicare premiums from UC and should contact their Social Security representative to inquire about their options.
Upon subsequent retirement, eligibility for annuitant insurances will be reinstated, and retirement income will be calculated based on additional time worked with adjustments for retirement income received.
VERIP retirees who are members of PERS and who are rehired in career positions should contact the Benefits Unit of the Berkeley Campus Personnel Office for more information.
For reference, VERIP retirement dates are listed below:
UCRP Plus 5:
* Non-Faculty: April 1, May 1, June 1 and July 1, 1991
* Faculty (including non-senate academics): July 1, 1991
PERS Plus 5: All employees--Oct.1, 1991
UCRP Take 5:
* Non-Faculty (including non-senate academics): Nov. 1, 1992
* Faculty: Jan. 1, 1993
UCRP VERIP 3:
* Non-Faculty (including non-senate academics): Nov. 1, 1993
* Faculty: July 1, 1994
Deaths
Wayne S. Boutell, professor emeritus of accounting, Haas School of Business, died March 12 of cancer at his home in Kensington. He was 76.
Boutell, who joined the Berkeley faculty in 1963, was a pioneer in teaching the use of computers in accounting, and many graduates remember him as the teacher who introduced them to computers.
Regarded as a friend and mentor by generations of students, he also taught Berkeley's introductory accounting course for many years. One of the largest courses on the campus, it regularly attracted 500 to 600 undergraduates.
In 1990, Boutell developed what became an annual prank in that course. He would come to the final exam in the fall term dressed in a Santa Claus suit and announce that he had a present for all the students: He would then give them the answer to two of the 50 questions on the test.
Boutell developed computer-based auditing methods and controls for accounting information systems and generalized audit software for instructional purposes. His research focused on auditing theory and practice, computer modeling and accounting information systems.
Boutell joined the Navy as a pilot based in North Africa during World War II after receiving his MBA from the University of Chicago. Following the war he became a CPA and a partner in the firm of Alexander, Grant & Co. (now Grant Thornton) in Chicago.
He received his PhD from Berkeley in 1963 and immediately joined the business school faculty. Upon his retirement in 1990, he was honored with the Berkeley Citation. After retirement, he continued teaching until December 1995.
When he wasn't giving lectures, holding office hours, writing textbooks or serving as an expert witness, he was usually outdoors. He ran his first marathon at 50, built and sailed boats, and regularly flew sorties in his private plane over the California coast and the mountains of Montana. For the past 21 years he spent his summers on Flathead Lake in Montana in the cabin he built with his wife and children.
He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Yvonne, his four children Peter, Russell, Kim and Leslie, and 11 grandchildren.
An avid supporter of Cal athletics, he often volunteered to recruit athletes and work on committees devoted to improving the athletic program. He and his wife have held season tickets to Cal football and basketball games for nearly 30 years. In honor of Wayne Boutell's love of the sports programs at Berkeley, contributions in his memory may be made to Bear Backers, Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, 117 Hearst Gymnasium. Donations may also be made to Hospice of Northern California.
At Boutell's request, there will be no memorial service.
Correction
The date of the memorial service for Francis Whitfield was incorrect in the March 13 Berkeleyan. The correct date is Friday, March 22. The service will be held in the Morrison Library at 4 p.m.