A payroll reminder: Checks for your work in July may reflect a higher deduction for the UC Retirement Plan.

The increase, which took effect July 1, will show on checks due Wednesday (July 18) for employees who are paid biweekly, and Aug. 1 for employees who are paid monthly.

The new contribution rate affects only active members of the UCRP and is subject to collective bargaining for represented employees.

The employee contribution rate is now 5 percent of pay, up from roughly 3.5 percent. The university is paying more, too: 10 percent, up from 7 percent.

The Board of Regents has already approved one more increase, in July 2013, to 6.5 percent for employees and 12 percent for the university — for a combined contribution rate that will for the first time in many years cover the annual increase in UCRP liability for active members (more than 17 percent of pay on average).

Time reduction, military pay policies renewed

The UC Office of the President announced the renewal of two work time and pay policies for two more years, through June 30, 2014:

• Employee-Initiated Reduction in Time
• Supplement to Military Pay

The renewals came after a 30-day period for employee comments.

The Employee-Initiated Reduction in Time Program, or ERIT, is optional: The Davis campus participates, but the UC Davis Health System does not, due to the necessity to have a full-time staff to provide patient care 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The program allows career staff — except senior management group members — to voluntarily reduce their work hours and pay to help campuses save money in this tough budget climate. In exchange, employees receive certain advantages, such as accrual of vacation and sick leave at pre-ERIT rates. Note: UC Retirement Plan service credit accrual is based on the reduced percentage of appointment.

Under the Supplement to Military Pay policy, applicable systemwide, the university compensates any employee who is serving in the war on terror and who makes less in military pay and allowances than what he or she earns at UC (the university pays the difference).

The policy also provides for the university’s continued payment of the employer’s share of medical, dental, vision and life insurance policies, for employees who are receiving supplemental pay.

Employees called to active duty, and who are not eligible for supplemental pay, may continue their health coverage — with the university paying the employer’s share of the premiums.

Both ERIT and the Supplement to Military Pay policy are subject to collective bargaining for represented employees.

State awards $2.7 million to alternative-fuels researchers

The state Energy Commission has approved a two-year, $2.77 million grant to the Institute of Transportation Studies to research the value, benefits and drawbacks of all types of alternative transportation fuels and fuel uses in California.

The grant will support teams of research leaders and graduate students in the institute’s NextSTEPS consortium as they complete eight complex research tasks.

NextSTEPS is studying transitions to a sustainable transportation energy future, gaining unique insight from the consortium’s multidisciplinary approach, and disseminating that knowledge to decision-makers in the private sector and governmental agencies so that they can make informed technology, investment and policy choices.

Read more.

Ticket office moves to stadium

The campus ticket office moved this week from Freeborn Hall to Aggie Stadium, where the same ticket windows used for athletics events are now being used for many other campus events, including concerts.

The ticket windows are on the stadium’s north side; summer hours are noon to 5 p.m. weekdays. Parking is available in the small lot adjacent to the main entrance to Aggie Stadium, off La Rue Road.

The move accompanied a transition of ticket office operations from Conference and Event Services to Intercollegiate Athletics. With the transition comes a new name: Athletics Ticket Office.

The telephone number is (530) 752-AGS1 (752-2471).

New academic year brings a calendar full of special events

The Fall Welcome Committee is inviting contributions to the Fall Welcome calendar, for events taking place from Sept. 1 to Oct. 6.

The online calendar will be part of the Fall Welcome website, a useful tool for incoming freshmen and transfer students, as well as returning students — as they all come to campus for the start of the new academic year.

Calendar submissions are being taken online.

Also, the Fall Welcome Committee has prepared a set of logos for use in print and online marketing. The logos are available for download here.

Adoption of new clickers for faculty and students

The Campus Council for Information Technology has clicked “yes” to the iClicker as the university’s new standard for the electronic polling of students in the classroom.

With a single clicker option, the university aims to save students the expense of purchasing multiple devices. In addition, Academic Technology Services provides support for the chosen clickers.

The council’s Educational Technology Subcommittee endorsed the iClicker after a year of evaluation and testing by faculty members, and staff from Information and Educational Technology’s Academic Technology Services.

The council approved the recommendation, and Vice Provost Pete Siegel, the campus’s chief information officer, signed off.

Read the official announcement.

One week left for Six Flags tickets

You have one more week to buy your tickets for the annual UC Davis Family Picnic at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. Staff Assembly sponsors the annual event, which is open to all UC Davis and UC Davis Health System affiliates, family members and friends.

“Tickets are going fast,” the organizers declared in this week’s Staff Voice electronic newsletter. The purchase deadline is 4 p.m. Friday, July 20.

The fun takes place Saturday, July 28, at the Vallejo amusement park (open 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.). The UC Davis tickets cost $35 apiece for ages 3 and up (children 2 and under get in free).

The price includes an all-you-can-eat picnic, 2 to 4 p.m., with a menu of barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs, baked beans, garden salad, Italian pasta, corn Cobbett’s, watermelon slices, ice cream sandwiches and soft drinks. A vegetarian option is available.

Discount parking vouchers are available for $5.

The ticket order form is available online. Mail it in or, as the deadline draws closer, take it to the Staff Assembly office in the Human Resources Administration Building on Orchard Road just west of La Rue Road, from 9 to 11 a.m. or 2 to 4 p.m. Checks or exact cash preferred.

Questions? Contact Pam Nardinelli, Staff Assembly coordinator, (530) 752-0988 or pnardinelli@ucdavis.edu.

Blood draw nets 370 pints

Bloodmobiles drove off with 370 pints from the June 27-28 blood draw on the Quad.

Altogether, 431 people (including 86 new donors) registered for the ASUCD Summer Blood and Marrow Drive. Some of them ended up not giving blood, for a variety of reasons.

“These are wonderful results,” said Brie Leon, account representative for Sacramento-based BloodSource, which runs the campus blood drives. “The summer is one of the hardest times for blood collection as high schools are out, colleges have lower enrollment, many people go on vacation and blood donation is not on everyone’s mind.

“The blood drives at UC Davis help greatly in a time of need, so thank you for making a difference.

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