Berkeleyan
New Briefs
12 January 2006
Nominations sought for Faculty Research Lectureship
Each year, the Academic Senate elects two distinguished faculty members to share their research with the campus through the Faculty Research Lectureship, the highest honor the Senate's Berkeley Division accords its members. Nominations are currently being sought, from any member of the Division, for the 2006-07 Faculty Research Lectureship; the deadline is March 3.
Address nominations to the Faculty Research Lectureship, Academic Senate, Berkeley Division, 320 Stephens Hall, MC 5842. For information, contact Diane Sprouse at 643-5461.
UC President Emeritus David Saxon dies
David S. Saxon, a physicist who became UC president and leader of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, died Dec. 8 in Los Angeles following a lengthy illness. He was 85.
Born in 1920 in St. Paul, Minn., Saxon joined the UCLA faculty in 1947; three years later, he was dismissed for refusing to sign a UC loyalty oath. He took a position with the U.S. government's National Bureau of Standards. When the California Supreme Court invalidated the loyalty-oath requirement, Saxon rejoined the UCLA faculty, in 1952. There he served as chair of physics, dean of physical sciences, and top academic administrator. He became UC provost in 1974 and served as the university's president from 1975 to 1983.
A detailed obituary can be found at universityofcalifornia.edu/news/2005/dec08.html.
Workplace health and safety book available
The Labor Occupational Health Program (LOHP), a labor and community-outreach program at the School of Public Health, has published a new resource for unions, community groups, and activists wishing to promote workplace health and safety while building their organizations. The 180-page book, Tools of the Trade: A Health and Safety Handbook for Action, includes examples of successful workplace health-and-safety campaigns around the country, strategies for actively engaging workers in advocating for their own protection, and tools for winning safety improvements. It is available for $25 (shipping included). To order or for information, visit www.lohp.org or call 642-5507.
Unions, UC hammer out agreements
The Coalition of University Employees (CUE) reached a tentative agreement Dec. 16 with UC on a contract for clerical employees set to last through Sept. 30, 2008. Under the agreement, UC clerical employees will receive wage increases of approximately 12 percent over the next three years (contingent upon state funding), including a 3.5 percent increase retroactive to Oct. 1, 2005, when other UC employees received increases. UC library assistants and other clerical employees will receive additional market-equity increases for the first two years of the agreement to help address salary lags.
The agreement is one of four new UC labor agreements. Librarians reached a tentative agreement with UC on Dec. 9; nurses ratified a new contract Dec. 17; research-support and technical employees ratified Dec. 22.
UC websites offer background on current issues
Information on a number of current issues can be found on University of California websites. They include: findings of the UC President's Task Force on Faculty Diversity, which recently completed visits to nine UC campuses (www.universityofcalifornia.edu/facultydiversity), avian influenza (universityofcalifornia.edu/everyday/avianflu), Gov. Schwarzenegger's plan to "buy out" the 2006-07 student-fee increases approved by the UC regents and CSU trustees (www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/2005/nov16a.html), and the awarding of the Los Alamos National Laboratory management contract to a team led by UC and Bechtel (www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/labcontract/lanlcontract.html).
Free, trial RSF gym memberships offered through January
Berkeley faculty and staff have until Tuesday, Jan. 31, to sign up for a free trial membership (Jan. 2-31) to the Cal Rec Club, providing access to the Recreational Sports Facility, campus swimming pools, and the Fit Center at Strawberry Canyon. For details, visit calbears.berkeley.edu/calrecclub/crcpromos.asp or call 642-7796.
UC Families online newsletter covers work/life issues
UC Families is a new online newsletter and resource for faculty, staff, and students at UC campuses who are balancing academic goals or careers with family life. Its homepage (parents.berkeley.edu/ucfamilies/) provides links to family resources on UC campuses, UC-wide policy and benefits information, and archives of past online discussions and advice from parents. Subscribers can post questions or discuss such topics as managing work and family responsibilities, planning the optimal time to start a family, finding advice on progressing academically as a student parent, returning to academia after having a baby, or advocating for flexible work arrangements for ladder-rank faculty in the UC system.
Revised personnel policies are in effect
The University of California has finalized revisions to personnel policies on Performance Management (PPSM 23) and on Classification of Positions (PPSM 36), which went into effect Dec. 1, 2005. Among the changes instituted, the revised PPSM 23 emphasizes the role of performance expectations and goals in the written performance-appraisal process, and in the identification of options for acquiring additional skills and knowledge to foster growth and improvement. The policies and Universitywide procedures are online at atyourservice.ucop.edu/employees/policies/staff_policies/index.html. Revised campus procedures will be posted on the Human Resources website, hrweb.berkeley.edu/hrpolicy.htm.