A campuswide survey about UC Davis’ Smoke and Tobacco Free policy is open for only one more week, until Tuesday (Oct. 31). The online survey asks respondents if they are aware of the policy; do they think it’s effective; have they ever approached someone who was smoking, to tell them about the policy; and should there be enforcement and what kind?

The committee is giving away four $50 Target gift cards to people who respond to the survey and their names to be entered in the prize drawing.

The survey comes as the policy nears its four-year anniversary. Results will assist the steering committee and the administration in determining if further strategies are needed to inform the purpose of the Smoke and Tobacco Free policy.

Eggs for the tasting — for research

UC Davis is conducting a large, collaborative study on dietary supplements for organic chicken on the university’s Pastured Poultry Farm, and the researchers are looking for volunteers to come look at the chickens’ eggs and taste them in hard-boiled form.

Volunteers must be 20 to 35 years old, because, according to the researchers, that's when people’s papillae (think taste buds!) are really sharp. The researchers have already held one taste-testing, and three more are scheduled, each from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursdays, Oct. 26, and Nov. 9 and 30, at Scrubs Café in the Health Sciences District.

Banner work ends on schedule

The latest phase of the project to improve Banner, the student information system for UC Davis, wrapped up as planned Sunday evening (Oct. 22).

The work to improve Banner’s long-term sustainability required a scheduled maintenance window that took Banner offline from 3 p.m. Friday until 6 p.m. Sunday. Myucdavis and other services that draw data from Banner were offline as well. From Friday through Monday morning (Oct. 23), the IT Express Service Desk received only a handful of questions related to the work.

More improvements for Banner are planned. Routine maintenance windows will be posted on status.ucdavis.edu, and any significant windows that affect widely used campus services will be broadly publicized in advance, as this one was. If you work with Banner data and have questions about the project, please contact the Banner team by email.

— TechNews

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