Berkeleyan

News Briefs

29 November 2006

Repair work closes one lane of Centennial Drive

Construction crews began work this week to repair damage to Centennial Drive caused by rain. The eastbound lane of Centennial is closed in the repair zone, just downhill from the UC Botanical Garden. The road is expected to remain open to all vehicle traffic during construction, but travel will be delayed as eastbound and westbound cars take turns sharing a single lane. The project is expected to last approximately six weeks. For questions or concerns, contact Christine Shaff at Facilities Services, 643-4793 or cshaff@berkeley.edu.

Senate nominations are open for Spring 2007 committees

The Berkeley Division of the UC Academic Senate seeks nominations for the Spring 2007 election for the division's Divisional Council and Committee on Committees, and the Committee on Committees of the College of Letters and Science.

Nominating petitions were delivered to academic departments on Nov. 9 for distribution to the faculty. Additional petitions are available through the senate's associate director, Linda Song (lhsong@berkeley.edu, 643-5460). For an electronic copy, visit the "Current News and Issues" section on the senate's homepage, academic-senate.berkeley.edu.

Nominating petitions must be received no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 9, 2007, by the division secretary in the Academic Senate office, 320 Stephens Hall #5842.

Parking and transportation survey includes prize drawing

Members of the campus community are invited to participate in a survey to be used for planning future campus transportation and parking programs. Those eligible to participate include campus staff, faculty, postdocs, and visiting scholars (except emeriti, student employees, and Lawrence Berkeley Lab employees) regardless of their workplace location and how they get to work.

The online survey takes about 15 minutes to complete; those who do so are eligible for a drawing, with prizes including an Amtrak excursion for four to Sacramento, City CarShare and FlexCar memberships, a $100 gift certificate from the Enterprise car-rental agency, an AC Transit Bear Pass for unlimited rides through mid-2007, and a $50 voucher from Cal Dining.

To take the survey, log in at osr2.berkeley.edu/survey/transportation and enter your nine-digit campus ID number. For information, visit pt.berkeley.edu/contact_us/survey.

Flu shots available Dec. 5

A flu shot clinic is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 5, from noon to 6 p.m. at the Tang Center. No appointment is necessary; the cost for employees and members of the public is $25. For information, visit uhs.berkeley.edu/home/news/flushots.shtml.

Effort to improve UC travel experience includes online service survey

As part of an effort to reduce travel expenditures and improve travel services, a newly formed UC Travel Council is currently evaluating on-line booking tools and travel-agency services, as well as working to improve vendor agreements with hotel chains, auto rentals, and airlines. The council invites those who travel on UC business or who make arrangements for campus travelers to complete a survey, found at survey.chr.ucla.edu/research/tc0607sourc.htm. Those unable to access the survey online may call 643-5652 to obtain a paper version. According to a CalMail issued this week, some travel-survey respondents, due to a temporary technical problem, may receive an error message when submitting their data. They should ignore the error message, it said, as "the data is in fact being successfully received in its entirety."

Give a holiday 'gift of service' through new Cal Corps program

This year, for the first time, Cal Corps Public Service Center invites members of the campus community to make a unique holiday-season gift: volunteer time to a designated community-service project and Cal Corps will send an e-card to a loved one recognizing your service as a gift in his or her name.

More than 15 projects and agencies are involved in this program. A complete listing can be found at calcorps.volunteermatch.org. A few examples are the Youth Emergency Assistance Hostel, a shelter for homeless youth, in Berkeley; the San Francisco AIDS Foundation; the Oakland-based organization Save the Bay; and Home for the Holidays, a project to send volunteers to New Orleans to gut and de-mold, in preparation for rebuilding, homes in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. (For information on the latter volunteer opportunity, contact bayarea-katrinasolidarity@mindspring.com, (415) 820-1662, or visit nolahomefortheholidays.org.)

To participate in Cal Corps' "Give the Gift of Service," send an e-mail by Friday, Dec. 15, to giftofservice@gmail.com with the following information: your name and e-mail address; name and e-mail of gift recipient; estimated number of hours volunteered or that you intend to volunteer; date and location of service (i.e., the name of the agency); and a personal message to the gift recipient. For information, contact Cal Corps at ccorps@berkeley.edu.

Campus pickups available for annual holiday gift and toy drive

Campus departments are invited to collect donations of toys and gift items for the Annual Gift and Toy Drive, benefiting at-risk children, families, and elderly adults in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. A list of suggested items for the drive - organized on campus by the Berkeley Staff Assembly (BSA), the Black Staff and Faculty Organization (BSFO), and Campus Mailing Services - is available online at bsfoucb.berkeley.edu or bsa.berkeley.edu. Mailing Services will collect donations from departments Tuesday, Dec. 12, through Thursday, Dec. 14, as part of its regular campus mail pickup. Details, flyers, and a fact sheet are available at the BSFO website listed above. For information, contact BSFO at 642-4086 or BSA at 642-0944.

Members of Cal Dance Team featured in 2007 calendar

A 2007 calendar featuring and benefiting the Cal Dance Team - which leads the cheers at Cal football, basketball, and volleyball games - is sold at the Cal Student Store and in the Cal FunZone on Maxwell Field before home football games. Calendars can also be ordered, at $15 each, by sending a check payable to UC Regents/Cal Dance Team, 77 E Haas Pavilion, MC 4422. For those ordering from off-campus, the cost for shipping is $3 and the Zip code in Berkeley is 94720-4422. For information, contact Diane Milano at dmilano@berkeley.edu or 643-8102.

Pedometers for sale from Health*Matters

University Health Services' Health*Matters program is offering pedometers for sale on two days in December. These step-counting devices - which help wearers keep track of how much (or how little) physical activity they're getting - will be available at the Campanile from 12:10 to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec.6, and Friday, Dec. 15. The price is $12 including tax, payable by a check made out to the UC Regents. No pre-ordering is required. For questions about the pedometers, call 643-9082. For information about pedometer use and a physically active lifestyle, see uhs.berkeley.edu/facstaff/healthmatters/pedometer/index.shtml.

For the record . . .

Our pre-game comparison of the Berkeley and USC campuses and cultures ("Bring us the head of Tommy Trojan," Nov. 16) included an historical error and an academic oversight. Reader Steve Finacom advises that 1915 was not, as we stated, "the first year of American-style football at Berkeley" but the year that football played in that style returned to the campus after a nine-year commitment to rugby. Meanwhile, our snarky observation that USC counts among its alumni Watergate-era dirty trickster Donald Segretti was commented on by two readers who noted that Segretti later studied law at (gulp) Boalt Hall. He served, in fact, on the reunion committee for the 40th anniversary of Boalt's Class of 1966.