Update: Campus police make an arrest in the Jan. 17 explosion. See separate story.

The campus community is safe and a criminal investigation has been launched in the wake of a small explosion in an on-campus apartment early Thursday morning, UC Davis Police Chief Matt Carmichael said today (Jan. 18).

Potentially dangerous chemicals were removed from one apartment and disposed of Thursday evening during a series of supervised explosions in a nearby field, Carmichael said. No arrests had been made.

Carmichael said law enforcement officials alerted residents in the area that the suspicious chemicals would be disposed of and that people were likely to hear noise from the controlled explosions.

About 100 people were temporarily displaced from their apartments in the Russell Park and Orchard Park housing facilities on Thursday as police searched the unit where the explosion occurred and gathered evidence.

The daycare center in Russell Park closed as a precaution on Thursday, and reopened today.

Staff from Student Affairs and Tandem Properties, which owns and operates the Russell Park apartments, remained on site into the night Thursday to assist residents who had been displaced. All residents have been notified that it is safe to return to their apartments.

Carmichael said numerous agencies assisted in the initial investigation, including the FBI, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives bomb squad, the Yolo County Narcotics Enforcement Team, and bomb squads from Yolo, Sacramento, Placerville and El Dorado counties.

The campus community has been kept informed through the WarnMe system and updates on the campus home page.

The initial investigation began early Thursday after campus police were alerted to the small explosion. The resident of the apartment, a researcher at UC Davis, was injured during the explosion and had sought treatment at an area hospital.

ADMAN announces Mid-Management Conference

The Administrative Management Group, or ADMAN, announced “Balancing the Work-Life Puzzle” as the theme for the 2013 Mid-Management Conference.

ADMAN Chair Kerry Hasa, instructional support analyst in the School of Education, said keynote speaker Joel Garfinkle will address the work side of the puzzle. In his latest book, Getting Ahead: Three Steps to Take Your Career to the Next Level, the executive coach reveals his signature “PVI” model, for perception, visibility and influence.

The afternoon program will include presentations by Sandy Batchelor, work-life coordinator in the campus’s Work-Life and Wellness unit, and Buster Porter, physical therapist at Occupational Health Services, leading the conference participants in some ergonomic-related stretching exercises.

Hasa said participants in a lunchtime resource fair will include Work-Life and Wellness, Staff Development and Professional Services, the Activities and Recreation Center, Staff Assembly and Fidelity Investments.

The conference is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, in the ARC Ballroom. Registration is scheduled to open Friday, Feb. 1 — and, be advised, the conference usually fills up fast!

More information (including the registration link starting Feb. 1). Fees (including a buffet breakfast and a catered, sit-down lunch): $105 Feb. 1-11, $115 Feb. 12-20, with no more registration after Feb. 20.

Questions? Contact ADMAN Chair Kerry Hasa, (530) 754-9751 or klhasa@ucdavis.edu.

Memorial services for Professors Matsumura, Kader

Memorial services are scheduled next week for two professors who died last month.

• Distinguished Professor Fumio Matsumura, 78, a member of the faculty since 1987, with appointments in the departments of Environmental Toxicology, and Entomology and Nematology. He will be remembered on Saturday, Jan. 25: memorial service, 2-3 p.m., followed by a reception. Conference Center Ballroom. Memorial website.

• Adel A. Kader, emeritus professor and extension specialist in postharvest physiology in the Department of Plant Sciences, will be remembered on Saturday, Jan. 26: luncheon reception, 11 a.m., memorial service, 1 p.m., post-reception, 3 p.m., Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center. Tribute to Professor Kader.

Earlier coverage in Dateline.

Postage going up, customs process changing

Mail Services is reminding its campus clients of the forthcoming increase in U.S. postage, and pointing out one of the bigger changes in pricing, for international mail, as well as a major change in the customs form process.

For domestic mail, the rate for first-class mail (single letter, up to 1 ounce) is going up a penny, to 46 cents (additional ounces are unchanged at 26 cents), and the postcard rate is going up a penny, to 33 cents, effective Sunday, Jan. 27.

For international mail, the Postal Service is doing away with different rates for different destinations. Effective Jan. 27, the rate will be $1.10 for a 1-ounce letter (a 25-cent increase for letters to Mexico and Canada, and a 5-cent increase for letters going elsewhere in the world.

The Postal Service also announced the availability of the new Global Forever Stamp for first-class mail, for $1.10. See all the new Postal Service rates.

Also, effective Jan. 22, all customs forms must be processed online, with handwritten forms no longer be accepted.

Questions can be directed to Bulk Mail Services, (530) 752-8806 or bms@ucdavis.edu.

Author event: Prof. Simpson and the Stranger

UC Davis Stores announced an author event with David Simpson, professor of English, talking about his new book, Romanticism and the Question of the Stranger, followed by a question-and-answer session and book signing.

The program, free and open to the public, is scheduled from noon to 1:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25, in the lounge inside the main bookstore, Memorial Union.

The publisher, University of Chicago Press, states: “In our post-9-11 world, the figure of the stranger — the foreigner, the enemy, the unknown visitor — carries a particular urgency, and the force of language used to describe those who are ‘different’ has become particularly strong.

“But arguments about the stranger are not unique to our time. In Romanticism and the Question of the Stranger, David Simpson locates the figure of the stranger and the rhetoric of strangeness in romanticism and places them in a tradition that extends from antiquity to today.”

Get a free month at the ARC

The Activities and Recreation Center is offering a free month of membership with the purchase of an annual membership in January. This amounts to a discount of $28.33 for UC Davis affiliates.

The promotion is for new members as well as for monthly or quarterly members who convert to annual membership.

You can purchase your membership at the ARC Business Center; faculty and staff must bring their staff photo ID or photo ID and IDOC form. Be sure to mention Dateline membership offer code ARC200.

More information.

Food drive aids The Pantry

The “Mrak Gives Back” food drive continues for one more week — with the building’s employees asked to bring in foodstuffs for The Pantry, the campus’s year-old food bank for students who may be skipping meals for financial reasons.

Look for the donation bin in 476 Mrak Hall (please stop in to contribute even if you don’t work in Mrak).

“Mrak Gives Back” is a project of the student assistants to the chancellor and the Office of Student Affairs.

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