News briefs

13 November 2002 |

Open Enrollment Fair
At the Open Enrollment Fair, Monday, Nov. 18, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at International House, faculty and staff can talk with medical-insurance-plan representatives, get details on their open-enrollment choices, and learn how the web can be used to manage benefits. Information about pre-tax plans that help limit cost increases will also be available.

If you have not yet received your open-enrollment packet, contact your Department Benefits Counselor. The deadline for making benefit changes is midnight, Nov. 30. Changes are effective Jan. 1, 2003.

Nov. 30 is academic-service-credit deadline
The deadline for faculty to request or appeal their academic-service credit is Nov. 30. This applies to faculty who provided temporary service that lasted at least six consecutive months and occurred prior to Jan. 1, 2001.

Eligible faculty were apprised of this allocation in March, but due to system limitations, some faculty were either not notified or the service-credit amounts they received were incorrect. For information, contact Art Leon at 643-7549.

New edition of the chancellor’s online broadcast
Tune in for a new edition of “Bear in Mind,” Chancellor Berdahl’s online radio show,at www.berkeley.edu/news/chancellor/bim/index.html.

Terrorism expert Michael Nacht, dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy, tells the chancellor what areas remain vulnerable a year after 9/11 and considers whether war with Iraq will distract from the battle against terrorism. In other segments: Randy Schekman, professor of molecular and cell biology, explains the “creative tension” embodied in Berkeley’s Health Science Initiative; anthropology graduate student Krisjon Rae Olson recounts her summer as a human-rights fellow in Rwanda; and Cal Performances Director Robert Cole reveals how he lures the likes of Yo-Yo Ma and Mark Morris to Zellerbach Hall.

Depression Screening Day is Nov. 20
Depression Screening Day on campus is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 20, in Stephens Lounge, Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union.

The free, walk-in screenings are open to campus and community. Conducted by mental- health professionals from University Health Services and the Alameda County Psychological Association, the screenings include a written self-test followed by an interview with a counselor. Referrals for follow-up evaluation and treatment are provided where necessary.

A presentation by Ron Elson, chief of psychiatry at UHS, entitled “Medical Treatment for Depression: An Update,” will take place at 3 p.m., also in Stephens Lounge.

For information call CARE Services at 643-7754, or Counseling and Psychological Services at 642-9494.

Big Game hoopla at Pier 39
A celebration to kick off this year’s Big Game takes place at Pier 39, located at Beach St. and The Embarcadero in San Francisco, from 1 to 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 17.

The marching bands, cheerleaders, and spirit groups from both Cal and Stanford will be on hand to entertain the crowds. And to honor the 20th anniversary of “The Play,” a recording of Joe Starkey’s animated call of the celebrated game-winning maneuver will be broadcast during the event.

Tickets for the Saturday, Nov. 23, Big Game will be on sale there at the College Shop. For information, call 642-9120.

U. of Tokyo Nobelist to give Segre Lecture
On Tues., Nov. 19, at 5:45 p.m., Masatoshi Koshiba of the International Center for Elementary Particle Physics at the University of Tokyo (and co-winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics) will give the Department of Physics’ Emilio Segré lecture in Pimentel Hall. His topic is “The Birth of Neutrino Astrophysics.” The Segré Lectureship enables the department to bring some of the world’s most important and influential scientific figures to the Berkeley campus.

‘Coming Home Queer’ registration, program submissions may be made online
Organizers of the “Coming Home Queer” conference at UC Riverside expect 600 participants to attend the Feb. 21-23, 2003, event, sponsored by the University of California Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Intersex Association.

Participants are invited to submit a program for inclusion at the conference; the deadline for submissions is Friday, Nov. 22. Visit cominghomequeer.ucr.edu for online call for programs and early registration.

New York Times execs to speak Nov. 18
The Graduate School of Journalism is sponsoring “Setting the Agenda? The New York Times and America’s View of the World” as the initial event in its Goldman Forum on the Press and Foreign Affairs series. Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr., the Times’s publisher, and Howell Raines, its executive editor, will appear in conversation with journalism Dean Orville Schell and Professor Mark Danner, director of the Goldman Forum, at 7:30 p.m. on Mon., Nov. 18, at Zellerbach Hall. Tickets are free to students and $10 each for the general public. They can be obtained by contacting the Cal Performances box office at 642-9988.