The campus will host hundreds of admitted transfer students and accompanying family members and friends for Decision UC Davis this Friday (May 13). It is the second and final "decision day" for students invited to enroll for fall quarter, the first having been held April 2 for admitted freshmen.

Organized by Undergraduate Admissions, Decision UC Davis gives admitted students the opportunity to learn more about the university as they decide whether to enroll. The day includes tours, information sessions on programs and resources, and discussions with students who already attend UC Davis.

Decision UC Davis for admitted transfers will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with headquarters at The Pavilion at the Activities and Recreation Center. 

More information is available online.

Key HR processes to be re-engineered

After significant engagement with stakeholders, an executive steering committee has approved several recommendations to make progress toward best-in-class Human Resources, according to a May 6 letter to staff from Dave Lawlor, vice chancellor-chief financial officer; and Julie Freischlag, vice chancellor of Human Health Sciences and dean of the School of Medicine.

At the heart of the recommendations is a commitment to re-engineer approximately 18 process cycles in three functional areas: entering and processing employee data, recruiting and onboarding staff, and classifying positions into appropriate job groupings. 

To accomplish this work, university leaders have temporarily reassigned internal resources from One HR, Information and Educational Technology, and the Shared Services Center to serve on the Optimize HR Project Team.

Pantry plans benefit concert May 20

With some 50 daily visits from students coming in for free canned food, produce and toiletries, The Pantry could use some help to keep the shelves filled.

The ASUCD provides some funding, but The Pantry relies mostly on donations — and that’s the reason for a benefit concert featuring 13 student groups on May 20. Organizers said they hope the concert will raise money to provide “scholarships” — a handful of $250 grocery gift cards given to students each quarter who need extra help making ends meet.

“The Pantry can only provide so much,” said Pantry intern Rosa Maria Martinez, a sophomore who is majoring in human development.

Fellow intern Robyn Saiki, a senior math and biology double major, said the group doesn’t have a particular fundraising goal for the concert because the event is also about raising awareness of The Pantry.

“It’s not a part of everybody’s life,” she said, adding that she hopes the concert will become an annual event.

The inaugural concert is scheduled from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. in 123 Sciences Lecture Hall. Tickets: $5 in advance, $8 at the door. Advance tickets are available at The Pantry table outside the Memorial Union, or at the Student Services Office on the MU’s third floor, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday through Friday, this week and next.

CAS upgrade includes new log-in screen

What do you often see at UC Davis, and perhaps rarely notice? The CAS login screen. But you might notice it Thursday, May 19, when it will sport a redesigned look as part of a version upgrade.

This IT Knowledge Base article shows what the CAS (Central Authentication Service) screen looks like now. Most faculty, students and staff see the screen when they sign in to a protected site, such as myucdavis, MyTravel or dozens of other UC Davis services.

With next week’s upgrade to Version 4.2, most users are likely to notice only the new screen, but 4.2 also includes several new security features and performance improvements.

UC Davis last changed the CAS login page three years ago, when it added a green arrow to draw attention to the URL, and adapted the design so it would work better on small screens.

Read more about CAS in the Service Catalog, and contact the IT Express Service Desk if you have any questions or concerns.

Investigation continues into hateful graffiti

Campus police assisted a student last week in removing the graffiti that someone spray-painted on the student’s parked car in what investigators have classified as a hate crime.

No arrests had been made in the May 4 attack that left the car tagged with anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual rhetoric. Police said their investigation is ongoing into the incident in the Gateway Parking Structure at the campus’s south entry.

Ralph J. Hexter, acting chancellor, and Adela de la Torre, vice chancellor of Student Affairs and Campus Diversity, quickly condemned the attack. “We cannot stress enough that acts of bigotry and discrimination have no place at UC Davis or in our society,” Hexter and de la Torre said in an email to the campus community.

“To the campus LGBTQIA community, please know that you are valued and vital to UC Davis,” they continued. “No one should ever be made to feel unsafe or unvalued, and we regret that this hateful act occurred.”

They encouraged people with concerns to reach out to the LGBTQIA Resource Center or other campus resources listed on the Report Hate and Bias website. Students who feel emotionally distressed should contact Student Health and Counseling Services.

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