Berkeleyan

News Briefs

01 November 2006

Duke's Keohane honored with Clark Kerr Award

Nannerl Keohane, president of Duke University, has received the Clark Kerr Award for Distinguished Leadership in Higher Education, with a campus presentation ceremony scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 1.

During her years at Duke (1993-2004), its standing as a top-ranked national research university grew significantly. Already a leading research institution, Duke moved beyond its campus into surrounding neighborhoods, involving faculty and students in teaching and mentorship programs dedicated to improving public schools in Durham, N.C.

A firm believer in equity and diversity, Keohane helped raise $2 billion to support, among other programs, financial aid for Duke students, more than 40 percent of whom receive financial assistance.

After earning her Ph.D. in political science at Yale in 1967, Keohane moved to teaching positions at Swarthmore College, the University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University, where she was chair of the faculty senate. She has been vice president of the American Political Science Association (her research interests include political philosophy, feminism, and education), won the Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching, and has been a three-time fellow at the Stanford Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, on whose board she now serves.

In 2005 she joined the faculty of Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, becoming the Laurance S. Rockefeller Distinguished Visiting Professor of Public Affairs. She is also a member of the faculty of Princeton's Center for Human Values.

Haas International Award nominations sought

Nominations are being accepted for the 2006 Walter A. Haas International Award; the deadline is Thursday, Nov. 30. The award honors a Berkeley alumnus (anyone who attended the campus for a minimum of two semesters or three quarters) who is a native, citizen, and resident of a nation other than the United States and who has a distinguished record of service to his or her country. It includes a cash prize of $15,000, an engraved medallion, and travel expenses for the recipient to attend the award presentation.

For information or a nomination form, see www.urel.berkeley.edu/haasawards/international-award or contact Helena Weiss-Duman (643-6493, hwd@berkeley.edu).

Ethnic-staff organization to host third annual staff reception Nov. 6

Campus staff are invited to the third annual staff reception hosted by the Coalition of Ethnic Staff Organizations, on Monday, Nov. 6, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. At this year's reception, Vice Chancellor Genaro Padilla will be honored for his decade of leadership in Student Affairs, a post he will be leaving in January.

Light refreshments will be provided. The reception will be held in the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union's Heller Multicultural Lounge. Supervisors are authorized and encouraged to grant paid administrative leave to enable staff to participate in this event.

For information on the reception, contact Rosanne Fong (643-8656, rfong@berkeley.edu) or Elvia Villalobos (643-9079, emv@berkeley.edu).

'Blu' business portal offers new features

The Blu business portal has been redesigned and expanded to improve its usability and add new functions. The portal, which provides campus staff with a single point of entry for business applications (such as BFS) and purchasing through OfficeMax, now incorporates a simpler layout and navigation scheme. Links to resources such as the campus directory and local weather are easier to locate in the simplified page design. New features in Blu include an integrated feedback form for several different help desks, a search feature for campus buying agreements, and direct access to campus job listings from the main page. To access Blu with a CalNet ID, go to blu.berkeley.edu.

CSAC nominations sought by Nov. 13

The Chancellor's Staff Advisory Committee (CSAC) is recruiting new members to serve three-year terms beginning in January 2007. CSAC is a committee of up to 16 staff employees from different control units and departments. All non-academic career employees on the Berkeley campus, with the exception of executive-tier appointees, are eligible to apply. CSAC provides staff perspectives to the campus administration on a wide range of issues, policies, and programs that affect the staff experience. It has been instrumental in establishing and administering many campus programs, including the Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Awards.

Information and applications are available at csac.chance.berkeley.edu. Applications will be accepted through noon, Monday, Nov. 13. Interested staff may also contact CSAC chair Devin Kinyon (643-2601, kinyon@berkeley.edu).

CITRIS Research Exchange lecture series offered live and on the web

Every Wednesday at noon, the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) hosts a free public talk on topics ranging from the future of nuclear power to advances in virtual reality and the technical challenges in preserving historical recordings. Known as the CITRIS Research Exchange, this popular series takes place in 290 Hearst Mining Building.

Each session is webcast live and archived on the CITRIS website. To view the archived video and see a complete list of upcoming speakers, visit citris-uc.org/RE-fall2006.

Computer-ergonomics matching-funds program renewed

The campus's Computer Ergonomics Matching Funds Program, which provides up to $500 per employee in matching funds to make ergonomic improvements to on-site workstations, has been renewed. Since the inception of the program two years ago, campus on-the-job computer-related repetitive-motion injuries have declined 26 percent. For information on how to qualify and apply, see www.uhs.berkeley.edu/facstaff/ergonomics/matchingfunds/index.shtml or call 642-8410.

Overstock and Surplus Den open weekdays

Members of the campus community and the public can purchase bargain-priced used campus items from the CAL Overstock and Surplus Den - through its San Pablo Ave. outlet and online.

"We're still a well-kept secret, and we don't want to be," says Eric Anglim, property manager at the Surplus Den. "One new professor outfitted her laboratory with items from our store, and was able to really stretch her start-up dollars."

The local outlet - offering a large inventory of computers, office furniture, bicycles, lab equipment, and more - is located at 6701 San Pablo Ave. (on the Folger Ave. side of the Marchant building), two blocks south of Ashby. Its hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (except for noon to 1 p.m.), Tuesday through Thursday, and 8 a.m. to noon on Friday. Selected items are sold online through publicsurplus.com and eBay.com (on eBay, use the code "UCBESS" to see UC Berkeley listings). For information, call 642-1186 or see salvage.berkeley.edu.

For the record . . .

In last week's article "Many eyes on the pension prize" we misstated the number of faculty and staff who took advantage of early-retirement incentives, known as VERIPs, in the 1990s. Systemwide, approximately 10,000 UC staff and 2,000 tenured faculty took advantage of these offers.