California Ave. closure starts July 12

OK, this time for real: California Avenue off Old Davis Road will be closed “bright and early” Thursday (July 14) for the roundabout construction project, said Kurt Wengler, a senior project manager with Design and Construction Management.

Electronic signs were already in place today (July 13) announcing the closure, and additional signs are planned on Interstate 80.

The closure — between Old Davis Road and Arboretum drive, just south of the arboretum waterway — will be in effect 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until about Aug. 14. During this time, drivers will be prohibited from turning from Old Davis Road onto California Avenue, leading to the core campus.

A detour will be in place, going around the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts via Arboretum Drive (the “Old” Old Davis Road) and looping back to California Avenue where it crosses the waterway. You can avoid the detour by taking Highway 113 to Hutchison Drive.

Campus officials had previously announced that the California Avenue closure would begin July 5, and later adjusted that to July 12. The construction crew started the project as scheduled last week, doing work around the edges, so to speak, and holding off on the full closure of California Avenue until absolutely necessary.

Project managers said Old Davis Road will be open at all times during construction, through Sept. 13, but drivers should expect delays, including one-way traffic control at off-peak travel times.

The campus is building the roundabout to ease traffic congestion and improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety.

Officials said the roadwork should be completed and the roundabout fully operation by the start of the fall quarter, while the landscaping and electrical work may take a bit longer.

Earlier coverage, including maps.

Fall Diversity Awareness Workshops

The Office of Campus Community Relations is taking nominations for the Fall Diversity Awareness Workshops for staff and faculty — those who are committed to building an inclusive campus community.

“As our campus continues to grow, these types of dialogues become even more meaningful to ensure that we are creating a campus environment that fosters diversity and inclusiveness,” said Rahim Reed, associate executive vice chancellor.

More than 650 people have participated since the workshops began in 1993.

The program’s goal is to foster greater understanding of diversity among faculty, staff and students, by providing a safe atmosphere for campus members to discuss important issues related to diversity, equity and community.

Two workshops are scheduled: Monday-Tuesday, Aug. 29-30, and Monday-Tuesday, Sept. 12-13. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Outside consultants run the workshops.

People are welcome to nominate themselves or their colleagues. For more information, contact Mikael Villalobos, administrator of Diversity Education, (530) 7522071 or mbvillalobos@ucdavis.edu.

Coming through! 1,500 bicyclists

An estimated 1,500 Team Livestrong participants are expected to bicycle through the campus on Sunday (July 10), in a fundraiser for Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong project, which works to improve the lives of people affected by cancer.

Team Livestrong Challenge Davis is not a race; it's a ride (plus a two-day festival, July 9-10 at Central Park, Third and C streets).

Riders can choose from four routes — 20, 45, 70 and 105 miles — all starting at Central Park at 7:30 a.m. and all entering the campus on Hutchison Drive off A Street. The campus Police Department advised that it plans very short road closures until about 7:45 a.m.

All of the routes turn left from Hutchison onto Dairy Road, right on La Rue Road and left on Garrod Drive, taking the riders around the School of Veterinary Medicine and across Highway 113.

The routes diverge on the other side of the highway, before coming back together and taking the riders through the campus and back to downtown Davis the same way they left. See the map.

Lt. Matt Carmichael said no traffic controls are planned for the riders’ return, because — depending on how far they ride — they will be returning in fewer numbers at different times.

The department’s bike officer and Aggie Hosts will manage the event on the campus, with support from patrol officers, Carmichael said. He added that police will interrupt the ride to make way for veterinary and other emergencies.

UC Davis’ MySpace to be retired in the fall

UC Davis’ MySpace, no relation to the commercial Myspace social network, will be retired this fall, Information and Educational Technology announced.

IET officials said the 10-year-old MySpace file storage tool, accessed via the MyUCDavis Web portal, is largely redundant to SmartSite’s Resources tool, which offers a better alternative.

Discontinuing MySpace will help the campus meet its goal of retiring AFS by the end of 2011. MySpace uses the AFS client-server architecture for file sharing. IET officials said “ending MySpace will also use campus resources more efficiently.”

Anyone who has materials stored in MySpace needs to move them to a new location before Dec. 1. IET recommends using the Resources tool in SmartSite. Other options include Google Docs.

More information is available in this FAQ. Questions or comments should be directed to the IT Express Computing Services Help Desk, (530) 754-HELP (4357).

Blood drive nets 449 pints

Bloodmobiles drove off with 449 pints of blood after the June 29-30 collection on the Quad.

“What a great two days we had at UC Davis once again!” said Brie Leon, account manager for the Sacramento-based BloodSource.

She reported that 534 people registered as donors — but, as is typical, not all of them qualified, due to a variety of reasons. First-time donors accounted for 197 of the registrants.

The registration count was the third highest ever in 12 years of the ASUCD’s two-day summer blood draws on the Davis campus. Likewise, the collection total was the third highest.

The blood draw began under a gray sky, one day after an atypical June rainstorm swept through the region. Still, people gave 197 pints of blood that day.

“Day 2 was perfect temperature,” said Leon, and BloodSource collected 252 pints — only six pints shy of the campus’s all-time record for one day of a summer blood drive.

“You all should be proud of the work you do for the blood drives because you help save so many lives,” Leon said.

One more blood draw remains this summer: Tuesday-Wednesday, Aug. 30-31.

Then, mark your calendars for these drives through the end of 2012, all Tuesday-Wednesday:

• Nov. 1-2, 2011
• Jan. 24-25, 2012
• April 17-18, 2012
• June 26-27, 2012
• Aug. 28-29, 2012
• Nov. 6-7, 2012

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