News briefs

06 November 2002 |

CSAC applications due Nov. 8
The Chancellor’s Staff Advisory Committee (CSAC) is recruiting new members to serve three-year terms beginning in January 2003. Applications will be accepted through Friday, Nov. 8. All non-academic career employees on the Berkeley campus, with the exception of the executive-tier appointees, are eligible to apply.

CSAC includes staff from different control units and programs. As a confidential committee, it advises the administration on non-bargainable staff issues, providing staff input during the process of formulating and implementating policy.

Information, and electronic copies of the application form, can be found at csac.chance. berkeley.edu; interested staff can also contact Laurie Kossoff ( kossoff@uclink.berkeley.edu) or Anne Aaboe (anua@socrates.berkeley.edu).

Panel discussion to look at rising health-care costs
Blue Shield of California and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association will host a panel discussion on rising health-care costs, moderated by journalist Bill Kurtis. Panelists include Professor James Robinson of the School of Public Health, Allen Feezor of CalPERS, Blue Shield CEO Bruce Bodaken, and other health-care and public-policy leaders. New research revealing key cost drivers in California health care will be released for the first time. The event will be held from 9:45 to 11:15 a.m, Wednesday, Nov. 13, at Alumni House. For reservations, call (415) 229-5090 or email kathy.moore@blueshieldca.com.

CALS Project tutor training set
With the help of volunteer tutors, the CALS Project brings one-to-one and small-group tutoring to campus employees who want to improve their writing, speaking, listening comprehension, reading, and/or math skills. Tutoring is scheduled at times and locations convenient to tutors and learners.

The next tutor training for volunteers begins Wednesday, Nov. 13. For information, contact Jane Griswold at 643-5280, or jgris@uclink.berkeley.edu. A full program description is at http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/learning/cals/cals.htm.

Author Michael Pollan will lecture, speak on panel, Nov. 12 and 13
The Avenali Lecturer for 2002-03, Michael Pollan, will speak on “Cannabis, Forgetting and the Botany of Desire” at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 12, in 1 Pimentel Hall. The following evening he will participate in a panel discussion on “The Ecology of Food” moderated by Candice Slater, director of the Townsend Center for the Humanities. Co-panelists include Catherine Gallagher, professor of English, and Ignacio Chapela, assistant professor of environmental science. The discussion will take place at 4 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 13, in 315 Wheeler Hall.

PBS series featured at I-House screening, town meeting
International House will kick off its partnership with the PBS series “Frontline/World” with a screening of Andrei Codrescu’s “Romania — My Old Haunts,” a segment from the series. A town meeting with students, scholars, and members of the campus community will follow. The screening and town meeting will be introduced and moderated by series editor Stephen Talbot. The event takes place on Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium at International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Admission is free, but reservations are required; phone 642-9460 for information.

Gift to enhance Jewish studies
Berkeley has received a $5 million gift that will support a multidisciplinary program featuring visiting Israeli scholars while funding fellowships and research grants in Jewish studies. Alumna Helen Diller’s gift is the largest single gift to date supporting Jewish studies at Berkeley.

“This significant endowment will allow us to expand and strengthen our scholarly program in Jewish studies,” said Chancellor Robert Berdahl. The campus does not currently have an undergraduate major or minor in Jewish studies, but it does offer many relevant courses in departments such as Near Eastern studies, history, and comparative literature, as well as a joint doctoral program in Jewish studies in cooperation with the Graduate Theological Union.