Berkeleyan

News Briefs

01 March 2006

March 1 Cozzarelli lecture postponed

The Faculty Research Lecture by Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology Nicholas Cozzarelli - "Giant Proteins That Push DNA Around: Bullies of the Nuclear Playground - scheduled for Wednesday, March 1, has been postponed until further notice. For information on the lecture series, visit www.urel.berkeley.edu/faculty.

Philosopher Stroud to deliver Faculty Research Lecture

Barry Stroud

On Wednesday, March 8, Professor Barry Stroud will discuss some of the central ideas of his philosophical work in a Faculty Research Lecture titled "Human Understanding and the Way Things Are." The talk is free and open to the public; it takes place at 5 p.m. at the Bancroft Hotel, 2860 Bancroft Way.

Stroud, the Willis S. and Marion Slusser Professor of Philosophy, lectures widely on the theory of knowledge, metaphysics, and the history of modern philosophy. His 2000 book, The Quest for Reality: Subjectivism and the Metaphysics of Colour, was the subject of a major international conference, and a symposium at an American Philosophical Association meeting. Stroud is also author of Hume (1977), The Significance of Philosophical Scepticism (1984), and two volumes of collected essays. He has taught at Berkeley since 1961.

Clerical employees ratify multi-year contract

UC clerical employees have ratified a new multi-year contract through Sept. 30, 2008. Under the agreement, reached Feb. 16, 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. 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 allows UC clerical employees to continue to receive the same level of health benefits given to all UC employees and maintains the university's salary-based approach to health-care premiums, whereby those who earn less pay less for the same health coverage. The new contract also prohibits CUE from conducting strikes against the university, including strikes in sympathy with other unions, for the life of the agreement.

UC Berkeley Foundation accounting move to BFS simplifies gift information for campus

The UC Berkeley Foundation moved its accounting to the Berkeley Financial System in February to better manage gift information and make it easily available to campus financial staff. Now the deposit, acceptance, recording, and transfer of Foundation gifts will be the same as those for the regents. Foundation fund reports will be available through BAIRS in March, with training offered beginning on March 15. Collaborating on this project were staff from Budget and Finance, Business and Administrative Services, the Controller's Office, Information Systems and Technology, and University Relations. Information on the new procedures, reports, and training is at foundation-bfs.berkeley.edu.

Registration is open for March 18 First Aid/CPR training

The student organization American Red Cross @ Cal is sponsoring an all-day training for certification in First Aid and CPR on Saturday, March 18, in 234 Hearst Gym. The training is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and costs $50, with a $20 deposit to be paid at least a week in advance. To register, RSVP by Wednesday, March 8, to melmelie@berkeley.edu or husainm@berkeley.edu. Mail the required deposit, with name and e-mail address, to 1829 Berkeley Way, Apt. E, Berkeley, CA 94703; if writing a check, make it out to "American Red Cross @ Cal."

Students make clean sweep of 2006 Fabilli-Hoffer awards

Three students took home the honors in this year's Lili Fabilli and Eric Hoffer Essay contest. The judge for the campus prize, open to students and staff, named three first-place winners and awarded each a $1,000 prize.

In response to this year's topic, "Looking Forward to Looking Back," linguistics grad student Karen Sullivan "[blended] a fascinating lesson on an Amerindian language with a meditation on looking backward," the judge wrote. English- department undergrad Jacqueline Palhegyi's "pleasantly deceptive" piece embodied "a great series of observations about the writer's current life and how they will be transformed in memory." And another English undergrad, Zachary Gordon, combined wit and "a sharp tongue" with "a very strong point about memory and experience."

PFA screens Women of Color Film Festival this week

The campus's annual Women of Color Film Festival takes place Thursday, March 2, through Sunday, March 5, at Pacific Film Archive. In its 11th year, the festival showcases innovative work of a diverse group of female directors, writers, cinematographers, and producers. Admission to most films is $8 for non-members. New York documentary filmmaker Christine Choy will participate as the festival's first artist-in-residence. An associate professor at New York University, Choy directed the Academy Award-nominated documentary film Who Killed Vincent Chin? and helped to found Third World Newsreel. For details, see bampfa.berkeley.edu/pfa_programs/2006wocff/ index.html.

For the record . . .

Our listing of UC camps for summer 2006 (in the Feb. 9 issue) omitted one offered by the UC Botanical Garden - the Green Stuff Day Camp for 10- and 11-year-olds. That session is offered the week of Aug. 7 to 11, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For information call 643-2755 or visit botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/education/educationCamp.shtml.