Berkeleyan

News Briefs

06 September 2006

New staff cash-award program launched

The Berkeley Campus Spot Award program allows supervisors, co-workers, or faculty to nominate employees for cash awards recognizing special one-time achievements. The program, announced on Sept. 1, features a cash award of $250 (before taxes).

The criteria for nominating employees are consistent across all units and were developed with input from campus managers, supervisors, and staff. Because the UC systemwide funding that supports the program was bargained into salaries for represented employees, only non-represented employees are eligible for Spot Awards.

For details and frequently asked questions, visit recognition.berkeley.edu.

Instructional grants available to faculty

Two teaching-grants programs are available to Berkeley faculty for the 2006-07 academic year.

The Instructional Minigrant Program provides rapid access to modest funds of up to $1,000 for small-scale projects to improve existing courses, develop new courses, evaluate instruction, and/or assess curricular needs.

Instructional-Improvement Grants provide funds (up to $3,500) for innovative projects designed to directly and significantly affect teaching and learning - by, for example, developing materials for new and existing courses or developing new modes of instruction. All faculty members, including lecturers, are eligible to apply.

The grants programs are sponsored jointly by the Academic Senate's Committee on Teaching and the campus Office of Educational Development. Both programs receive, review, and act upon applications on a rolling basis throughout the academic year. Guidelines and applications are available online at teaching.berkeley.edu/grants. For information, contact Steve Tollefson in the Office of Educational Development (403 Sproul) at 642-6392 or tollef@berkeley.edu.

New rec-swim schedule in effect at Spieker pool

Cal Recreational Sports has announced new recreational-swim hours for Spieker pool. As of Sept. 4, the hours for rec swim have been extended and the number of available lanes reduced (with remaining lanes to be used for practice by the men's and women's water polo teams). On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, "noon" swim now begins a half hour earlier, at 11:30 a.m., and ends as before at 1:10 p.m; Tuesday and Thursday evening swim hours have been extended until 8:25 p.m.; on Sundays the hours are now 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., with the most lanes (18) available from noon to 4 p.m. For details on the changes (which also affect the Group X Water Exercise and classes at Hearst West pool), see newscenter.berkeley.edu/goto/Spieker06hours; for a current schedule in PDF form, see newscenter.berkeley.edu/goto/swim06sked.

1906 San Francisco earthquake photos on view at North Gate

Photographer Edith Irvine arrived in San Francisco by boat on the morning of April 18, 1906, only hours after the great temblor, and over several days recorded more than 60 stunning images of the aftermath of the quake and fire. For the first time in California, photographs from that series are on view, in an exhibition at North Gate Hall through Oct. 8.