Berkeleyan

News Briefs

05 November 2008

Durant Hall construction update

The following update on construction in and around Durant Hall comes from Facilities Services.

  • Work to move underground utility lines that conflict with the new plaza entry on the west side of Durant Hall has started and is scheduled to continue through November. The equipment used for this work may be noisy as it digs and moves around the site. Backup indicators (“backup beeps”) are required for equipment moving in reverse.
  • Excavation for the plaza is scheduled to begin this week and continue through the end of the year.
  • Removal of hazardous materials inside the building is scheduled to begin this week. All removal work will be done under containment — which includes regular air monitoring — inside Durant Hall and will be overseen by both campus and contract abatement staff. There are no hazardous materials being removed from the exterior of Durant Hall.

Interactive Theater diversity workshops continue

The Berkeley Interactive Theater Program workshops, funded by the Berkeley Initiative for Leadership in Diversity (BILD), use live theater and audience participation to depict, analyze, and strategize solutions to problematic workplace situations. Through facilitated dialogue, audience participants work through their own perspectives, emotions, and assumptions to gain a greater awareness and understanding of the underlying issues that can escalate into conflict.

The workshops, which began last week, continue through Tuesday, Nov. 25. For a schedule of the remaining workshops, and to enroll, visit hrweb.berkeley.edu/ice/home and enter the keyword “diversity.” For the most current information, select a date range beginning Nov. 6 or later.

Free multimedia extravaganza on Friday, Nov. 14

Panorama: A Multi-Media Happening, an interactive and technologically rich event, is the culmination of the campus’s involvement with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s two-week residency at Berkeley. The free event takes place between 5 and 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 14, in Pauley Ballroom in the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union. Featuring 22 dancers, large- and small-scale projections, robotic cameras, tele-immersion, and audio technologies, Panorama plays out in a synchronized loop over two hours; audience members may enter at any time. Involving more than 75 students, faculty, and professional artists and scientists from Berkeley and other universities, Panorama was inspired by Nine Evenings: Theater and Engineering, a 1966 performance piece designed by artist Robert Rauschenberg and engineer Billy Kluver.