UC Davis’ new Human Library holds its inaugural “reading” next week — a program during which six human “books” will share their personal stories.

The Human Library is an international movement for social change that aims to “to build a positive framework for conversations that can challenge stereotypes and prejudices through dialogue.” The UC Davis Library is bringing this program to campus with the support of a UC Davis Diversity and Inclusion Innovation Grant.

The UC Davis Human Library, free and open to the public, will open Thursday, May 24, on the first floor of Shields Library. The program will run from 4:30 to 8 p.m.; people are invited to come for all or part of the event; please register in advance.

Read about the “books” that will be presenting.

More time to make a ‘Connection’

First-Year Aggie Connections has extended its deadline until Friday (May 18) for proposals from staff, faculty and graduate students who would like to be “Connection” facilitators in the fall.

Facilitators serve in a volunteer capacity (with supervisor approval), meeting regularly with first-year students to assist them in transitioning to UC Davis.

Participating students — freshmen and transfers, including international students — will be assigned to groups, or “Connections” (about 25 students each), based on shared identity, interest or theme. Anyone interested in being a facilitator is asked to propose a Connection — keeping in mind that Connection themes should appeal to a diverse student body.

More information is available on the program’s website; click on “Become a Facilitator” to find the proposal form. Questions? Send an email to aggieconnect@ucdavis.edu.

Top producer of Gilman Scholars

The Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program has recognized UC Davis as a top producer of program participants: 47 in 2016-17, third highest among universities with more than 15,000 undergraduates.

For this coming summer and fall, about 150 UC Davis students — about 50 percent more than last year — applied for Gilman grants of up to $5,000 in support of studying abroad. The program is named after a New York congressman — a member of the House of Representatives — who died in 2016.

Gilman grants are awarded to outstanding undergraduates who receive federal Pell Grants and, due to financial constraints, might not otherwise participate in global learning opportunities.

Supporting students in applying for the Gilman grants is among the ways UC Davis is helping more students of diverse backgrounds experience a global education — from introducing shorter intersession seminars abroad to creating intercultural experiences locally. Global Affairs at UC Davis is championing “Global Education for All” as one of the Big Ideas for the university’s next comprehensive fundraising campaign.

Read more and hear from two of our Gilman Scholars in this UC Davis news release.

Computing confab: keynoters and registration deal

Organizers of the UC Computing Services Conference, hosted by UC Davis this summer, announced two keynote speakers and a registration deal.

The keynote speakers: Diane Bryant, chief operating officer, Google Cloud, a 1985 graduate of UC Davis in electrical engineering; and Andrew Isaacs, UC Berkeley professor with years of experience in Silicon Valley tech and business innovation.

Their talks — Bryant at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 14, and Isaacs at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 15 — will be free and open to the public in Jackson Hall at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. No registration required.

The conference also includes two days of presentations in the areas of health technology, leadership/professional development, research, security/privacy, technology and security policy, web and applications, and women in technology. For these, you’ll have to register.

Registration opens this Friday (May 18) for presenters and Friday, May 25 for everyone else. The cost is $175. The organizers said the UC Office of the President believes so strongly in the value of the conference that it will cover the registration cost for the first 100 UC employees who are attending for the first time, or who work in library or research information technology.

More information is available on the conference website.

Last of SmartSite going, going ...

This is it. What’s left of SmartSite will go offline next month. But first, thanks to a tool created at UC Santa Cruz, materials in Resources folders inside old SmartSite sites will be copied into Box folders that the sites’ owners can have if they want. The owners can then keep or discard the materials as they wish. Information and Educational Technology is making the copies to provide additional support, particularly for faculty, as the campus closes out its use of SmartSite.

Read more in this TechNews article.

Suspect in south campus incident has court date

A man arrested in connection with what police described as a shotgun-wielding incident in the south campus Saturday night (May 12) is due in Yolo County Superior Court on June 12.

Manwinder Singh, 20, of Sacramento is accused of attempted assault with a deadly weapon and felony threats stemming from his alleged actions at an event at the Buehler Alumni Center and later outside the nearby Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art.

First, campus police say, at about 11:45 p.m. he physically assaulted a guest at the Buheler event, causing facial injuries. The suspect and another man left the venue in a car, only to stop at the museum where they saw a group of eventgoers, including the victim of the alleged assault.

Singh got out of the car and brandished a shotgun at the same person whom he had physically assaulted earlier, police said.

The men drove off on Old Davis Road. Police put out a description of the car and subsequently began searching for Singh specifically after identifying him. Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies made the arrest Sunday afternoon and turned him over to campus police. He was freed on bail after booking at the Yolo County Jail.

Police issued text and email WarnMe alerts and a “campus timely warning” as required by federal law.

Follow Dateline UC Davis on Twitter.