SmartSite going offline Tuesday morning

SmartSite will be unavailable for up to four hours Tuesday (Aug. 30), between 4 and 8 a.m., for the last in a series of improvement projects this summer.

Tech personnel upgraded SmartSite's underlying Sakai software to version 2.7.2 in June, and have been working on the site's Gradebook 2 in phases. With SmartSite offline on Tuesday, the team plans to upgrade Gradebook2 to version 1.6.1.

The SmartSite status is always available online, at status.ucdavis.edu. Bulletins about the Aug. 30 work will be posted there and at smartsite.ucdavis.edu as needed.

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Town hall registration

Registration is under way for the town hall meeting where Davis campus officials are scheduled to announce key decisions regarding the establishment of the shared service center for several administrative units.

Project teams are now finishing their proposals on which processes should be transferred to the shared service center (and which ones should stay in departments and central units). Next comes the staffing model: how many people will be needed, and for what kinds of jobs.

Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi is among the administrators who are scheduled to announce those decisions at the town hall, 10 to 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, in 123 Sciences Lecture Hall.

Reservations: Click here and search for “SSC.” Or, you can watch the live webcast; look for the link on the UC Davis home page the morning of the town hall.

Next blood and marrow drive: Aug. 30 and 31

Last time it was ice cream, this time it will be frozen yogurt and an Applebee’s treat! That’s what you’ll get for turning out for the next ASUCD Blood and Marrow Drive, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday (Aug. 30 and 31).

The Sacramento-based BloodSource will be parking its bloodmobiles alongside the Quad, from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. The organizers said every participant will receive a coupon for a free mini frozen yogurt from Pinkberry and a coupon for a free appetizer or dessert from Applebee’s.

BloodSource advises prospective donors to drink plenty of fluids and to eat beforehand, and to bring photo identification.

For more information, contact BloodSource’s Brie Leon, (916) 416-9459 or brie_leon@bloodsource.org.

Poster calendar in production

The 2011-12 UC Davis poster calendar is in production, with the calendars diue to be available the week of Sept. 6 (about a week later than previously announced).

The campus bookstore, now called UC Davis Store, is once again handling sales and distribution. The cost is 90 cents apiece, or 81 cents with the 10 percent department discount. The calendars will be available flat or folded, while supplies last.

The new calendar features a nighttime photo of RMI North at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, with the Good Life Garden in the foreground.

Folded calendars will be available at all store locations, with no preorders required.

The folded calendars also can be delivered free to departments. Click here to order, or send an e-mail to Sarah Brodberg, sabrodberg@ucdavis.edu, noting department name, contact name, phone number, delivery location (building and room number), quantity and DaFIS account or billing ID. Or you can also fax a departmental purchase order to (530) 754-7819.

Flat calendars will be available for pick-up only at the main store in the Memorial Union and the Sacramento campus store, 2270 Stockton Blvd.

Visual Solutions Expo at Repro Graphics

Repro Graphics is taking sign-ups for its Visual Solutions Expo, Wednesday, Sept. 14, featuring quick tours of Repro Graphics' remodeled production area, with an emphasis on “the latest technology that can improve the way you communicate in ways that are less expensive and more environmentally-friendly than ever before.”

In addition to shop tours, the program includes demonstrations of Repro Graphics’ "green" large-format printer, variable-data digital press and brand-new apparel printer. Brian Wadell, Repro Graphics director, said the expo also will include more than a dozen exhibitors, from on campus (Bulk Mail Services and the Campus Copier Program, for example) and off campus (paper companies, for example).

The expo is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the tours and demonstrations running continuously during that time. Repro Graphics will treat its guests to lunch and gifts, Wadell said.

Fleet Services will provide complimentary shuttle service between the main campus and Repro Graphics (in the PSL Building, 3820 Chiles Road, Davis). The shuttle will run on a continuous loop, with stops in Lot 56 (Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility), Memorial Union-Freeborn Hall (North Quad Avenue, in front of the MU), the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts and Lot 80 (University Extension). If you are on the Sacramento campus, you can get a free pass for the Sacramento-Davis shuttle.

People who plan to attend are asked to register in advance. At the time of registration, you also are invited to sign up for free classes before and after the expo (9 to 10 a.m. and 2 to 3 p.m.). Topics include creating print-quality PDFs; printing “green” and on a budget; submitting jobs electronically via eAccess; managing digital color; variable data and QR codes; controlling your office printing costs; InDesign, Photoshop and Creative Suite 5; and cost-effective mailing.

Registration and more information.

Hinshaw to step down as Hawaii chancellor

Former UC Davis Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw announced this week that she will step down as chancellor at the University of Hawaii’s flagship campus, after completing her five-year term, at the end of the 2011-12 academic year.

Hinshaw served as provost at UC Davis for six years prior to taking the chancellor’s job at the University of Hawaii’s Manoa campus outside Honolulu in 2007.

An Aug. 24 University of Hawaii news release stated: “Well-known for sporting her signature hats festooned with UH memorabilia during the school’s athletic events, Hinshaw has led the university’s flagship campus through difficult financial challenges due to state budget cuts, as well as triumphant celebrations.”

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