News briefs
12 March 2003
April 12 is Cal Day
Cal Day is the Berkeley campus’s annual Open House. It’s the day the campus shows off its labs, lecture halls, and museums, offering a variety of free activities, lectures, sports, and demonstrations for people of all ages and inclinations. Even longtime faculty and staff enjoy the opportunity to stroll the grounds and take advantage of the wealth of events offered. A complete schedule of events will be available online at www.berkeley.edu/calday after April 1.
Deadline nears on mercury-devices swap
The Office of Environment, Health and Safety (EH&S) has partnered with East Bay MUD to reduce the campus’s use of mercury-containing devices, which can lead to contamination of San Francisco Bay.
Campus departments that register with their department safety coordinator by April 23 will be able to exchange their mercury thermometers for mercury-free replacements in May, free of charge. EH&S will also pay for the disposal of certain other mercury-containing chemicals and devices for departments that sign up by the deadline.
To register, contact your department safety coordinator or download a registration form at ehs.berkeley.edu/mercuryfree.html. Completed forms are due to EH&S by April 30. For information, call 642-3073.
Charter Day bash on Sproul Plaza Friday
The 135th anniversary of Charter Day will be celebrated on Friday, March 14, with a noontime birthday party on Sproul Plaza. A cast of UC Berkeley “celebrities” — Nobel laureates and student-athletes — will be on hand to pass out free cupcakes to attendees.
The presentation of the Elise and Walter A. Haas International Award and the Peter E. Haas Public Service Award, normally part of the Charter Day ceremony, will take place this year at Cal Day on Saturday, April 12. The Cal alumni procession, also traditionally held on Charter Day, will take place on Saturday, Oct. 4, during Homecoming & Parents Weekend.
UC Day in Sacramento rated a big success
This year’s UC Day (March 3-4) had the largest turnout in the event’s history, with more than 500 UC alumni from throughout the state gathering in Sacramento to carry the university’s legislative and budgetary priorities to elected officials. Alumni delegations visited the office of nearly every state senator and assembly member to discuss a wide range of concerns, from support for UC Merced to funding for enrollment growth systemwide.
Eighteen top UC undergraduate researchers were honored as part of the event, as were State Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, Assemblywoman Carol Liu, and State Senator John Vasconcellos — named UC “Legislators of the Year” — for their support of UC.
Henry May memorial is March 24
A memorial for professor emeritus of dramatic art Henry May will be held at 3 p.m., Monday, March 24, in Zeller-bach Playhouse.
In addition to teaching at Berkeley for nearly 30 years, May was an Emmy-winning scenic designer for stage and television, collaborating with the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright, Orson Welles, Leonard Bernstein, and Igor Stravinsky. For information, call 642-1677.
I-House to screen Nigerian documentary
KQED Frontline/World will present a screening of “Things Fall Apart,” at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, March 20, in the International House auditorium.
In the wake of the fiasco of the recent Miss World Pageant in Nigeria, the documentary presents Nigeria, in all its contradictions and pain, from the perspective of its women.
A moderated discussion will follow the screening.
For information or to reserve free tickets, call 642-9460 or e-mail ihprogra@uclink.berkeley.edu with your name, phone number, and e-mail address.
New visiting-scholar reporting rules
In anticipation of new Immigration and Naturalization Service reporting requirements, all visiting scholars, effective April 1, must register directly with the Visiting Scholar and Postdoc Affairs (VSPA) office, in 336 Sproul.
For detailed procedures, visiting-scholar definitions, a list of benefits and privileges, and VSPA program information, see vspa.berkeley.edu. For other information about these changes, contact Sam Castaneda at samc@uclink.berkeley.edu or 643-9681.
For the record
The Awards column in the March 6 Berkeleyan listed only 9 of the 10 faculty who won 2003 Sloan Research Fellowships. The tenth campus winner is Aviv Nevo, in economics. Additionally, we misidentified fellowship winner Lion Pachter; he is an assistant professor in the math department.
In our Feb. 20 issue, it was incorrectly stated that Thomas Malinowski, who won a Rhodes Scholarship in 1989, was the first Berkeley winner since 1964. In fact, Michele de Coteau — currently director of the Multicultural Engineering Program on campus — was named a Rhodes Scholar from Berkeley in 1988.