Berkeleyan

News Briefs

13 April 2006

Diversity forum, May 9, will launch project on campus staff issues

A day-long, campuswide forum on "Diversity in Action: Strengthening Excellence in our Workplace" will be held Tuesday, May 9, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Pauley Ballroom, Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union. Staff, faculty, administrators, and students are invited to attend and to offer their input on priorities and criteria to guide a new project on equity and diversity among campus staff.

The keynote speaker will be Nancy "Rusty" Barcelo, vice president for minority affairs and vice provost for diversity at the University of Washington. The day will feature additional talks, group discussions, and panel presentations on such issues as workforce development, diversity in management, mentorship, and the lessons to be gleaned from a faculty work/life study funded by the Sloan Foundation.

"This effort will require a thoughtful, collaborative strategy among all members of the campus community," Chancellor Birgeneau said in a recent e-mail message announcing the forum. "Your participation and leadership are crucial to maintaining the uppermost standards in public higher education for the Berkeley campus."

Supervisors are encouraged to grant two hours of administrative leave, based on operational needs, to permit employees to attend the forum. To register for the forum, sponsored by the Office of the Chancellor and the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate, e-mail gabrams@berkeley.edu or call 642-9605. For the forum schedule and other details, visit cci.berkeley.edu/news/index.html.

UC to host staff web chat on long-range planning on April 18

UC staff members are invited to provide input to the UC 2025 planning process during a systemwide web chat, noon to 1 p.m., Tuesday, April 18. Participants can join in by visiting www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/uc2025/webchats.html at the appointed time. The chat will be led by the co-chairs of the UC planning effort, Acting Provost Rory Hume and Senior Vice President for University Affairs Bruce Darling.

The planning initiative is designed to identify the long-term challenges and opportunities facing the UC system and to better equip the institution for success in 20 years. Those interested in participating may visit
universityofcalifornia.edu/news/uc2025 to learn more about the UC 2025 planning process. Those unable to participate in the web chat may submit online comments at the site; transcripts of each chat will be posted afterward. Similar web chats for UC faculty and alumni were held earlier this academic year; a student chat was held on April 10.

Campus talk on engaging 'disengaged' students is available via webcast

Emory University Professor Mark Bauerlein spoke last week at the College of Letters and Science's Spring Colloquium on "Engaging the Disengaged." A webcast of his presentation will be available in advance of part two of the colloquium (webcast.berkeley.edu/events), at which faculty will respond to Bauerlein's presentation and discuss innovative methods of engaging students in the classroom (3:30 to 5 p.m., Wednesday, April 19). Bauerlein is the author of a recent Chronicle of Higher Education article on student alienation in a culture dominated by web communications, video games, television, and wireless devices.

RSF massage center now open daily

The massage-therapy center in the Recreational Sports Facility is now offering appointments on Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. The center - located on the mezzanine level - will continue to be open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (except for 3 to 4 p.m.) and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. To schedule an appointment, see calbears.berkeley.edu and select "massage" on the left-hand side, or call 642-7796.

Comprehensive campus arts news and listings available online

UC Berkeley Arts News, a monthly bulletin of the Consortium for the Arts/Arts Research Center, is online at bampfa.berkeley.edu/bca/artsnews.html. Its announcements of selected arts-related events are updated throughout the month to reflect event changes, corrections, and late-breaking announcements.

For the record . . .

In last week's issue, in an article about the potential impacts of the proposed NASA budget for 2006-07 on the Spaces Sciences Laboratory, we asserted that there have been no space-shuttle flights since the Columbia disaster in 2003. In fact, one subsequent mission has flown: STS-114 in summer 2005.