Faculty and staff are invited to workshops this Friday (Dec. 2) on the topic of how to support and provide reasonable and equitable instructional accommodations for students affected by ongoing national events.

The drop-in workshops are sponsored by the Office of the Chancellor and Provost, and the Davis Division of the Academic Senate.

Two sessions will be held: noon-1 p.m. and 1-2 p.m., both in MUII at the Memorial Union.

Representatives from the Academic Senate, Student Affairs, Undergraduate Education and Campus Community Relations will be in attendance to answer questions regarding mental health and counseling resources offered on campus, as well as instructional accommodation policies and processes currently in place. Representatives will present at the beginning of the hour, and the remaining time will be dedicated to open discussion.

In preparation for the workshop, the Academic Senate has compiled a list of current resources for instructional accommodations.

‘Imagine Our Library’ draft vision to be unveiled

Research and your input since last spring have led to this: a draft vision of how the UC Davis Library’s physical spaces can support services and resources that best meet the needs of faculty, researchers and students in the 21st century.

Faculty, staff and students are invited to see the draft vision at a pair of town halls this Thursday (Dec. 1):

• Faculty and Staff Town Hall — 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. (presentation at noon), multipurpose room, Student Community Center. Refreshments provided. (A webcast will be available for faculty and staff who are unable to attend in person; see the webcast details here.)
• Student Town Hall — 3:30-5 p.m., a community-fair-style event in the main stairwell mezzanine between the lobby and lower level of Shields Library.

Each town hall will include a presentation of the draft vision, a display of posters and storyboards that begin to illustrate what the library could become, and an opportunity to ask questions.

Feedback is welcome and will be incorporated into the final vision, due for completion early next year. That vision will guide the development of detailed space requirements and, ultimately, architectural designs for renovation and reconfiguration of the library buildings.

Town hall details and key findings from the midpoint research report are available online.

Holiday Helping update

We’ve got reminders about Toys for Tots and Mercer Clinic Holiday Pet Baskets, and a report from physics professor Lloyd Knox, checking in with two big numbers ($5,653 and 55) from last week’s Running of the Turkeys:

• Toys for Tots — Mail Services is collecting toys on the Davis campus through Friday, Dec. 9, to turn over to the Marine Corps League for its Toys for Tots drive for Yolo County children. The drive asks for toys for recipients from infant to 12 years old. You can leave donations (new, unwrapped) with your outgoing mail, or drop them in blue bins around the campus. See list of locations here.

• Mercer Clinic Holiday Pet Baskets — Volunteer staff and retirees from the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital are seeking monetary contributions to provide food and other supplies as well as winter coats and sweaters for homeless people’s pets. The distribution is scheduled for Dec. 10 at the Mercer Clinic for the Pets of the Homeless, run by UC Davis veterinary students with supervision by faculty and others who volunteer their time. The nonprofit clinic is open one day a month near Sacramento Loaves & Fishes.

Donations can be made online, or by mail to Mercer Clinic Holiday Pet Baskets; University of California, Davis; 1460 Drew Ave., Suite 100; Davis 95618 (make checks payable to “Mercer Clinic Holiday Pet Baskets”). All donations are tax-deductible.

• Running of the Turkeys — “We did it! We met all three of our goals,” Professor Knox said in his report on The Running Coupling Constants' participation in Thanksgiving Day’s Running of the Turkeys, a fundraiser for the Yolo Food Bank. The team raised $5,653 (they had set a goal of $4,400), won the largest team competition (with 55 members) and “we had a great time doing it,” Knox said. The “largest team” win was the first ever for the physics department-led team, after several years of coming close. Also, physics graduate student Ben Godfrey won the 5K run, Professor Richard Scalettar donned his turkey suit and won best dressed (again!) and research physicist Michael Gregg’s dog won “first dog across the finish line.”

 ‘Community Survival Strategies’ workshop

The campus’s workshop on “Community Survival Strategies for Active Shooter Incident” is open for sign-ups. Under a revised schedule, the workshop will be presented three times through May:

• Tuesday, Dec. 13 — 10:30 a.m.-noon
• Monday, Feb. 13 — 10:30 a.m.-noon
• Thursday, May 4 — 10:30 a.m.-noon

The workshop presents three steps to follow to increase the likelihood of surviving an active-shooter incident. First you run, and if that’s not possible, you hide. Fighting is your last resort (the workshop includes a demonstration on how to take away a handgun). Other topics include the will to survive, weapon identification and identifying police capabilities.

Workshop leaders: Mary Macias, safety officer for Student Health and Counseling Services, and volunteer coordinator for the campus Police Department; and police officer Ray Holguin.

Registration is being taken through the UC Learning Center (Kerberos required). Search for “Community Survival Strategies,” then click “Register” to see all of the available dates and times.

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