Before a contractor tears down Emerson Hall, campus and city firefighters are doing a little demolition of their own — in training exercises that include breaking through doors and windows.

Emerson is a residence hall in the Cuarto complex, north of Russell Boulevard. Emerson, more than 50 years old, is coming down to make way for Shasta Hall with room for 800 students, compared with 500 in Emerson. It is due for completion in about two years.

“Utilizing a dormitory that’s already scheduled for demolition for training drills is a tremendous opportunity,” said Assistant Chief Nate Hartinger of the campus Fire Department. “We are very happy to get things started for the real wrecking crew.”

Gregory Secor of Design and Construction Management said:  “Whenever we can collaborate with another department to improve campus safety, that’s a huge win for everyone.”

Campus firefighters trained at Emerson four days last week, and are back this week for three days of training with the city of Davis Fire Department.

Child care partnership announced

UC Davis is a partner in a new child care center coming to east Sacramento, with equal priority for enrollment to be given to employees and students, including residents, fellows, post-docs, faculty, staff and visiting scholars, both on the Davis and Sacramento campuses.

According to a joint news release July 25, the center at 6011 Folsom Blvd. is scheduled to open in early 2021 as a replacement for the Lighthouse Child Development Center, operated by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, or SMUD, in an S Street building that has reached the end of its useful life.

SMUD is now partnering with UC Davis and Sacramento State to build a bigger center, with room for 208 children, about twice the size of the Lighthouse center. Each partner will receive one-third of the available spaces, or about 70 each. (Note: All children enrolled at the Lighthouse will be guaranteed spaces in the new center.)

More information is available here on the UC Davis Human Resources website. The page includes frequently asked questions and a link to the complete news release.

UC announces tentative deals with UPTE

UC announced it has reached tentative tentative five-year labor agreements with the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE) union for UC’s approximately 13,000 health care, research and technical professionals.

“We are very pleased to have reached these agreements with UPTE, giving our employees the competitive pay and excellent benefits they so deserve,” said Peter Chester, the university’s executive director of labor relations. “These employees make significant contributions to UC’s mission and we deeply appreciate their hard work and dedication.”

UPTE-represented employees will vote in the next few weeks to ratify the contracts, which include the following highlights:

• Compensation — Across-the-board increases of 20 percent for health care professionals and 22 percent for research and technical professionals over five years, plus performance-based step increases and equity increases as appropriate.
• Health benefits — The same rates as other employees, plus a $25 cap on monthly premium increases on UC’s most popular HMO plans.
• Retirement benefits — New employees will receive the same pension benefits as current UPTE-represented employees until April 2021, after which time either side may reopen the issue. This is similar to UC’s 2018 agreement with the California Nurses Association. 

The two contracts would be effective until fall 2024.

Staff Assembly officers for 2019-20

Staff Assembly recently announced its executive committee for 2019-20, volunteers who are elected by voting members to further the objectives of Staff Assembly, make decisions on behalf of the organization, and ensure these decisions are carried out.

Here are committee members, as announced in the July 19 edition of Staff Voice:

• Chair — Paul Cody, assistant director, Center for Student Involvement
• Chair-elect — Molly Bechtel, outreach and engagement coordinator, College of Engineering
• Communications chair — Jennifer Jackson, academic program analyst, Dean’s Office, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
• Events chair — Jaime Allen, leadership development and outreach specialist, Center for Student Involvement
• Finance chair — Sam Bishop-Green, assistant director, University Preferred Partnership Program (UP3)
• Member outreach and engagement chair — Delisha Gordon-Brown, financial services manager, Continuing and Professional Education
• Secretary — Amy Burns, sustainability officer, Facilities Management

Read more about the executive committee and the roles of each officer.

If you would like to vote in the next election for Staff Assembly’s executive committee, you must regularly attend Staff Assembly’s general membership meetings, which are scheduled from noon to 1 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of every month.

‘NY Times’: Gaining (or keeping) access

It’s been about a year since the UC Davis Library announced it had purchased an academic license to The New York Times, providing complimentary access to most content on the newspaper’s website for all UC Davis faculty, students, staff, researchers and clinicians.

That means it could be time to renew your access. Students don’t need to go through this process because their access is valid through their graduation year, but others need to re-authenticate yearly. If the Times website is suddenly prompting you to purchase a subscription, it could be time to renew your UC Davis-provided access.

To renew your access to the Times, visit NYTimes.com/GroupPass and log into your New York Times account while connected to the UC Davis network (including VPN).

To claim a NYTimes.com pass for the first time, follow these instructions:

• Go to AccessNYT.com.
• Start typing “University of California” in the “Find School” search box; click on “University of California, Davis.”
• Click “Create Account” and complete the form, or, if you have previously registered your email address on The New York Times site, click on “Already have an account? Log in here.”

Once you set up your account, you’ll have access from any computer or other device. You’ll also have access to The New York Times in Education, a website of teaching resources curated by discipline.

Statement on ruling in West Village lawsuit

UC Davis released the following statement July 18 regarding the UC Davis West Village Expansion:

We are extremely pleased by the Alameda County Superior Court ruling July 17 denying the Association of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees’ California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuit challenging our Long Range Development Plan and UC Davis West Village Expansion. The court found that the university’s environmental impact report fully complied with CEQA.

AFSCME had made a variety of allegations challenging UC Davis’ comprehensive, three-volume EIR. The court rejected all of AFSCME’s allegations, and our construction of the West Village Expansion student housing project will proceed as scheduled. The decision followed the court’s rejection earlier this year of AFSCME’s request for a temporary restraining order to halt construction.

We are committed to addressing the needs of our students, faculty, staff and local community, while meeting the important environmental requirements of California law.

Read more about the project: “Student Housing Development Formally Breaks Ground” (Feb. 26)

Bohart Museum summer hours

The Bohart Museum of Entomology announced that it is open from 1 to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursdays (with activities that include a scavenger hunt), and closed to walk-in visitors in the morning due to scheduled tours and outreach events.

Also, casual 30-minute tours are scheduled at 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. Wednesdays, said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator. "No reservations are required," she said.

Admission is free; donations are welcome.

Read more about the museum's summer schedule, including Moth Night, this Saturday, Aug. 3.

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