News briefs
23 July 2003
Campus lifts SARS-related enrollment, travel limits
With the risk of SARS greatly reduced and worldwide travel restrictions eased, the Berkeley campus has been able to remove all SARS-related summer travel and enrollment restrictions.
The campus has been monitoring the SARS situation throughout the summer and has been able to increase offers of enrollment for its summer sessions and UC Extension programs as regions came off of the Centers for Disease Control list of travel advisories. Campus policies are based on CDC advisories and alerts.
On June 25, the CDC downgraded its advisory for Taiwan to a travel alert, and then on July 15 removed the alert as well. Taiwan was the last of the SARS-related advisories or alerts.
During the summer, the campus SARS task force developed detailed protocols and procedures. Information on the status of the SARS outbreak, the campus’s response, and reminders of where to go for information will be made available to students and others as they return to Berkeley for the fall semester.
New OHR website helps track policies, programs
To help managers and supervisors stay on top of rapidly changing business practices on campus, the Office of Human Resources has created a “time-sensitive” website that includes information on recently implemented policies and programs (hrweb.berkeley.edu/manage/timesensitive.htm).
The site provides answers to basic questions managers and supervisors may have, including: what is changing, what are the impacts, what do I need to do, and where can I get more information?
Currently posted on the site are details on academic case tracking, consolidated billing, eRecruit (see story on page 1), Staff and Academic Reduction in Time (START), and vacation-leave accrual reporting. More information will be added as new programs are launched.
TriP Commute Store closes
Due to budget cuts and operational constraints, the Berkeley TRiP Commute Store, on Center St. near Shattuck Ave., closed on June 27. The store — jointly funded by the City of Berkeley and the university — sold mass-transit tickets and passes and answered thousands of commute-related inquiries each year.
Faculty, staff, and students can purchase BART tickets and AC Transit passes at the campus’s Parking and Transportation office (2150 Kittredge St. at Oxford St.). The general public can visit Andronico’s and Safeway supermarkets or the Ecology Center in Berkeley to buy these items.
Parking and Transportation offers many incentive programs to encourage employees to use alternative transportation, including discounted parking (for those occasional days when driving to campus is necessary), free campus shuttle rides, reserved spaces and discount rates for carpoolers, pre-tax programs, and transit subsidies. For information, visit www.berkeley.edu/transportation.
UC Provost King to return to Berkeley
C. Judson King announced on July 1 that he is retiring after eight years as systemwide provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, effective July 27, to become director of the UC Berkeley Center for Studies in Higher Education on a part-time, post-retirement appointment.
UC President Richard C. Atkinson, requesting that King delay his move to Berkeley, will ask the Board of Regents to approve a recall appointment so that King can continue in his post until a successor can be named.
Since joining the University of California in 1963, King has served in a variety of academic and administrative posts, including chair of Berkeley’s Department of Chemical Engineering, dean and provost at Berkeley, and vice provost. Atkinson named him provost and senior vice president in 1995.
As provost, King has overseen a number of significant university initiatives, including initial academic coordination for the system’s 10th campus at Merced; a dramatic expansion of the university’s summer and education abroad programs to help meet enrollment growth pressures and foster international education; and implementation of new admissions initiatives, including adaptation to the requirements of Proposition 209, the Eligibility by Local Context (ELC) program, and comprehensive review.
King has also been responsible for the initial design and guidance of the university’s many outreach programs designed to expand access to more qualified California students.
Accreditation awards high marks to Tang Center
University Health Services/Tang Center has received maximum accreditations from the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) and the International Association of Counseling Services (IACS).
In its summary report, the AAAHC, the major accreditation agency for outpatient health centers in the U.S., called the Tang Center a “beautiful, spacious and well-maintained facility…with a range of services unique for a campus health center,” giving it highest marks in all categories, including health care policy, practice, and administration; urgent care services; pharmaceutical services; health education; and occupational health, among other areas.
The AAAHC accreditation takes place every three years; the IACS every eight years.
Report shows UC is ‘engine for economic growth’ in state
“California’s Future: It Starts Here” is an independent report on the breadth and depth of the university’s contribution to California’s economic growth, health, and community resources. Among its findings are that UC’s impact on the state economy exceeded $14 billion last year; that the system was responsible for 2 percent of all employment in the state (nearly 370,000 jobs); and that its more than 100 libraries make it the largest educational library system in the world.
The full report, as well as an extended summary of its findings, are online at www.universityofcalifornia.edu/itstartshere.
Updated Melvyl catalog goes live
The California Digital Library’s new online Melvyl-T catalog is now live, offering enhanced search, display, and interlibrary-loan options, plus updated data on the millions of books, journals, and other holdings in the libraries of UC campuses.
Melvyl-T contains more than 23 million records for items held by the libraries of the 10 campuses of the UC system, as well as materials from Hastings School of Law, the Center for Research Libraries, Lawrence Berkeley Lab, the California Academy of Sciences Library, the California Historical Society Library, and the Graduate Theological Union Library. Records from the California State Library are scheduled to be added this summer.
The legacy Melvyl catalog will continue operating until August in parallel to the new version. Once the original version has been retired, Melvyl-T (for Transition) will become simply “Melvyl.” Melvyl-T may be found at melvyl.cdlib.org, as well as via the digital libary’s website (www.cdlib.org).
Farm Trails map to Napa, Solano, Yolo counties
Break up a drive to the further reaches of Yolo and Solano counties — or even to the well-trod backroads of the Napa wine country — by paying a visit to a livestock petting zoo, agricultural museum, alpaca ranch, or u-pick produce operation. A colorful “Napa Yolano Harvest Trails” map produced by UC’s Small Farm Program will guide you to those and many other interesting and productive stopovers between Benicia and Dunnigan, Calistoga and Davis. Dates, hours, and addresses of more than a dozen farmers’ markets in those areas are an added gloveblox plus. For information, phone the Small Farm Center at (530) 752-8136 or email sfcenter@ucdavis.edu.