Gazette

Campus Memos

Deans and directors memos are available on Infocal under "campus directives." Connect to Infocal via Gopher, WWW or telnet software at: infocal.berkeley.edu.

For dialup instructions or assistance using Infocal, call 642-8507.

The following is a list of recent memos. Questions about memos should be directed to Aileen Kim, 642-3100, or email: aileen_kim@ maillink.

Oct. 24. Grant Availability in the Junior Ladder Faculty Development Programs, from Carol Christ, the vice chancellor and provost.

Oct. 26. Organizational Announcement Re: Director of Accounting Services Position and Realignment of the Reporting Structure of Units Within Accounting and Business Services, from Thomas Vani, executive director, Financial and Business Services.

Oct. 30. Proposed Revisions to Staff Policies Related to Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action, from Horace Mitchell, vice chancellor--business and administrative services.

Nov. 1. 1995-96 Holiday Energy Curtailment, from Horace Mitchell, vice chancellor--business and administrative services.

Staff Enrichment

Development And Training

For more information, for copies of the 1995-96 Employee Development & Training catalog, or for information on how to enroll in classes, call 642-8134.

Operational Planning: Basis for Budget Development, Control

Nov. 21, 8:30 am-4:30 pm, and Nov. 30, 8:30-noon.

This two-part workshop provides a tried-and-true approach to producing written, well-defined operational plans, forming the basis for budgetary requests, approvals and allocations. Participants will develop goals and objectives and prepare an abbreviated operational plan with budgetary requirements.

New Horizons For Current Employees

Nov. 22, 8:30 am-noon.

For those interested in an upward or lateral job change, or working in another department, this class provides information on new employment opportunities for current employees.

Basic Writing Review

Nov. 27, 9-11 am, (also Dec. 1, 4, 8, 11 and 15).

A six-session course offering a review of grammar, punctuation, spelling and basic sentence structure. During each session, participants will write a short piece applying the skills being reviewed. Based on writing samples from the first session, subsequent sessions will cover areas identified as needing work.

Manager as Writer and Writing Coach: Business Writing II

Nov. 27, 1:30-4:30 pm (also Dec. 1 and 4).

A three-part class focusing on making the writing process from first draft to final product more efficient, while ensuring quality. Supervisors and managers will have time to fine tune their own writing process, focusing on their most challenging writing tasks.

Creativity and Innovation at Work

Nov. 28, 8:30 am-noon.

For those interested in infusing creativity into their personal or departmental work, this class uses participatory exercises to explore techniques for generating ideas, solving problems and building a climate for creativity.

Awards

Top National, International Awards Go to Blum, Shatz, Scheper-Hughes

Manuel Blum, whose work on the limits of computers has had profound implications in areas such as computer security and problem-solving, has received the A.M. Turing Award. The $25,000 award, presented by the Association for Computing Machinery, is considered the Nobel Prize of computing.

Blum, the Arthur J. Chick Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computing Sciences, has shown that secure business transactions, pseudo-random number generation and program checking are possible because all computational devices are limited by time or cost.

"He is a profound thinker," said the association's president Stuart Zweben. "His work...has established foundations for what people can compute." Blum is one of the co-founders of computational complexity theory, which attempts to determine the difficulty of performing computations.

Blum is the the third member of the faculty to receive the Turing Award in the past decade. Richard Karp and William Kahan were the 1985 and 1989 recipients, respectively.

Carla Shatz, professor of neurobiology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, is one of three recipients nationwide of the prestigious Dana Award for Pioneering Achievements in Health and Education. The $50,000 award from the Charles A. Dana Foundation is presented to those whose "outstanding accomplishments hold enormous potential for fostering positive change in health and education."

Shatz has played a leading role in illuminating the intricate processes by which the brain is "wired up" during fetal and early-childhood development.

"To many people's surprise," she says, "we have found that the fetal and newborn brain is not just a miniature version of the adult brain. Rather, it is constantly changing, first in response to internal events, and later in response to sensory input." Based on this knowledge, it is possible that insults to the fetal brain that change the process of nerve cell communication may be responsible for such congenital disorders as cerebral palsy, epilepsy and learning disabilities.

Publications

Diana Baumrind, research psychologist at the Institute of Human Development, is the author of "Child Maltreatment and Optimal Caregiving in Social Contexts," just out from Garland Publishing.

In a foward by Paul Mussed, distinguished member of the Institute and emeritus professor of psychology, he lauds her work and calls the book an example of how in-depth research and critical evaluation can lead to specific recommendations for policymakers. The book, he says, "has real potential for achieving the scientist's paramount goal: influencing policymakers and welfare officials to accept and implement practices that are in the best interest of the children."

The book also includes a commentary by Institute member Jacquelyne Faye Jackson, pointing out how some misguided social policy has actually hurt African-American families.

Benefits

Guide to Open Enrollment Resources

From now through Nov. 30 at 5 p.m., eligible employees can enroll or make changes in medical, dental, vision, legal, dependent care or TIP (tax savings on insurance premiums) plans. They also can add eligible family members to plans.

To guide employees through this year's open enrollment, there are several key resources:

Bencom Mailing

Employees should have received in their home mail a letter and brochure explaining "bencom," the new automated telephone service that must be used to make open enrollment changes.

Bencom eliminates using paper forms. Marie Johnson from the Benefits Office warns that any paper forms submitted--in an attempt to make open enrollment changes--will be returned.

She also notes that at the present time, only open enrollment changes can be made over the phone. Paper forms still are being used for benefits actions other than open enrollment, such as changes in the 403B plan or disability.

Open Enrollment Mailing

By now all eligible employees should have received the open enrollment mailing. This package includes the open enrollment announcement outlining this year's program, a "Medical Benefits Quick Comparison" sheet, and a 1995 Open Enrollment Worksheet.

Employees are advised to complete this worksheet before calling bencom. Several "Worksheet Workshops" were scheduled, with one remaining on Thursday, Nov. 9, at noon at 150 University Hall. Assistance also will be available at the Open Enrollment Benefits Fair on Nov. 13, or from department benefits counselors.

Open Enrollment Benefits Fair

An Open Enrollment Fair, offering one-stop shopping for prospective action-takers, will take place Monday, Nov. 13, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Pauley Ballroom in King Student Uenter.

Representatives from all the plans will be present to answer questions and provide information.

Also, the Benefits Office will provide bencom demonstrations at 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. preceding the benefits overview sessions at 10 a.m, noon and 2 p.m. Worksheet assistance will be provided all day.

Questions

Department benefits counselors have received training in all phases of open enrollment, including bencom and filling out the worksheet, and are prepared to assist with individual questions. For additional help, call the Benefits Office at 642-7053.

Act Now

The Benefits Office advises calling bencom as soon as you make your open enrollment decisions, preferably before Nov. 22. This will allow time to receive a written confirmation of changes.


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