The UC Office of the President has proposed two-year extensions for two policies: Employee-Initiated Reduction in Time, or ERIT, and Supplement to Military Pay.

As part of the renewal process, employee comments are being taken through Monday, June 25. The policies are set to expire June 30. Under the UCOP proposal, each would be extended to June 30, 2014. The policies are subject to collective bargaining for represented employees.

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Top-50 status for Children's Hospital specialities

Four specialties of the UC Davis Children’s Hospital earned top-50 status in the "Best Children's Hospitals" rankings from U.S. News and World Report.

Together with its Sacramento neighbor, Shriners Hospitals for Children-Northern California, UC Davis ranked 30th in urology and 40th in orthopaedics. UC Davis ranked 48th in diabetes-endocrinology and 50th in nephrology.

“These rankings are much-deserved recognition of our pediatric specialists, their teams and their collaborators who provide world-class care to children,” said Ann Madden Rice, chief executive officer of the UC Davis Medical Center and its children’s hospital. “Their passion and commitment to solving some of the most difficult issues in children's health — from obesity to rare kidney diseases — in a comforting, expert and family-centered environment is unparalleled.”

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The name sticks: Gorilla Doctors

The Mountain Gorilla One Health Program has a new official name: Gorilla Doctors.

The program is a partnership of the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center in the School of Veterinary Medicine and the nonprofit Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project. UC Davis veterinarians Kirsten Gilardi and Mike Cranfield are the co-directors.

Since the program’s inception, the name Gorilla Doctors had been used informally on the project’s website and blog, and even in a children’s book, Gorilla Project: Gorilla Doctors: Saving Endangered Great Apes, about the Mountain Valley Gorilla project.

The name change came out of board of directors meeting this spring.