UC Davis is scheduled to test its WarnMe emergency alert system on the morning of Tuesday, May 20.

The test alert will go out just before 11 a.m. to employees and students on the Davis campus and at some other university facilities. A test for the Sacramento campus will be conducted at a later date.

Before the test, officials urge all faculty, staff and students to visit the WarnMe website to check that their listings are up to date and include home and personal contact information.

Some people may need to configure their computers’ junk mail filters to ensure WarnMe messages make it to inboxes.

The test will send messages to tens of thousands of work and personal email addresses and SMS (short message service) devices.

WarnMe uses employees’ work contact information from the university's online directory, as well as students’ email addresses, and personal contact information that students and employees provide voluntarily.

Nick Crossley, manager of emergency management and mission continuity on the Davis campus, highly recommends providing cell phone numbers because text messages are the quickest way to get notifications.  

Prospective transfer students to visit

Decision UC Davis for prospective transfer students is set for this Friday (May 16). An estimated 1,000 admitted students and their families are expected.

The all-day program comes just about two weeks before the June 1 deadline for transfer SIRs (statements of intent to register). Related story on UCNet: UC looks to simplify and improve transfer experience.

Decision UC Davis for transfers will begin in The Pavilion with keynote speaker Chris Johnson, sharing his Aggie experience. Then comes a question-and-answer session with students who already attend UC Davis.

Throughout the day, students and their families will have the opportunity to take campus and student housing tours, visit with academic advisers, and talk with faculty, students and staff. Three cultural receptions are planned in the afternoon.

More information is available online.

Engineering lesson with horseless carriages

More than 45 horseless carriages are due on campus this Thursday (May 15) for a car show and an engineering lesson combined.

Members of the Santa Clara Valley Horseless Carriage Club are bringing the cars. The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering is hosting, and the campus’s student chapter of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers is helping.

The event is free and open to the public 3 to 4:30 p.m. in Lot 41 off Hutchison Drive between La Rue Road and the Silo.

“We think it’s good to expose students to where we have been before, as they try to improve what we have now,” said Don Azevedo, a UC Davis graduate, 1975, and a member of the club, an affiliate of the Horseless Carriage Club of America, for motor vehicles built before 1916.

“Imagine cars without starters, with acetylene gas for headlights, with wood spoke wheels and skinny tires inflated to 75 psi, leather covered seats stuffed with horse hair, simple carburetors, manually-advanced timers or distributors, progressive shift transmissions, wood frames, friction drive transmissions, big flywheels at the front of the engine, cast iron pistons and no balancing of rotating parts.”

Club members will be standing by to describe their vehicles and answer questions, with support from students.

Meditation on Davis, Sacramento campuses

Meditation sessions are available on the Davis and Sacramento campuses:

Davis — Jeff Austin, a programmer in Financial Aid and Scholarships, volunteers as group leader for meditation from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays in 1226 Dutton Hall. He said all experience levels welcome, and he can provide instructions for those who would like them.

“It is a secular (nondenominational) gathering so that people of all spiritual backgrounds will feel welcome,” Austin said. Off campus, he co-facilitates a Buddhist meditation group on Thursday evenings.

For more information, contact Austin by phone, (530) 752-9567, or email.

Sacramento — Carole Gan, a senior public information representative in Public Affairs, leads 15-minute guided meditation sessions for the WorkLife Balance program. The sessions are scheduled in 7106 Glassrock Building on the following Mondays, sarting at noon:

• May 19
• June 9, 16, 23 and 30
• July 14, 21 and 28
• Aug. 18 and 25

Gan has practiced and taught meditation techniques for nearly 20 years. In her sessions, participants practice the basic tools of meditation through a series of guided exercises. No previous experience is necessary.

Interested in attending? Contact Marina A. Podoreanu in WorkLife Balance by phone, (916) 734-2760, or email.

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