As of May 1, Sheri Atkinson’s role as an associate vice chancellor in Student Affairs is no longer interim.

Emily Galindo, interim vice chancellor of Student Affairs, said in a memo: “I am pleased to announce that following a very competitive national search, Dr. Sheri Atkinson has accepted our offer to become the new associate vice chancellor for Student Life, Campus Community and Retention Services.”

She had held the post temporarily since December, succeeding Milt Lang when he left to become vice president of Student Affairs at Chico State University, his alma mater.

Atkinson joined UC Davis and the Division of Student Affairs in 2003, serving first as the director of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center and then as the executive director of Community Resource Centers. Before UC Davis she worked at St. Cloud State University, Minnesota, as coordinator of Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Services and as an adjunct instructor of human relations and race.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in radio-television-film from Bowling Green State University, Ohio; a master’s degree in higher education and student affairs from Ohio State University; and a doctorate in educational leadership from UC Davis.

In her role as associate vice chancellor, Atkinson is tasked with strategic vision planning in regard to student life, student resource centers, student success and developmental experiences on campus. Her additional responsibilities include providing leadership, planning, policy interpretation and program development in areas related to retention, academic and career support services, systemwide campus climate reporting, incidence response, student governance, judicial affairs, student organizations, Media Board and campus-city relations. She also provides campus leadership on matters involving campus community, campus climate and freedom of expression. 

Transfer Decision UC Davis, this Friday

Transfer Decision UC Davis takes place this Friday (May 11), offering admitted transfer students the opportunity to learn more about the university as they decide whether to enroll.

About 3,500 people are expected — admitted students and accompanying family members and friends — and many of them are likely going to want to park near the event headquarters at The Pavilion at the ARC. Thus, faculty and staff should be prepared for more cars than normal vying for space in The Pavilion garage, Lot 25 (at the Activities and Recreation Center) and Lot 35 (at the Student Health and Wellness Center).

Transfer Decision UC Davis, organized by Undergraduate Admissions, includes tours, information sessions on programs and resources, and discussions with current students. Decision UC Davis for admitted freshmen was held April 8.

And the Slammy goes to ...

A UC Berkeley student won the $6,000 first prize and the Slammy trophy in last week’s UC Grad Slam, while students from the San Francisco and Merced campuses captured second and third places. A UC Santa Barbara student won the “audience favorite” vote.

Tooka Zokaie, a master’s degree student in public health, represented UC Davis as the winner of the campus Grad Slam. She was among 10 contestants in all — one graduate student from each campus — vying for the systemwide title.

The contest asks master’s and Ph.D. students to summarize their research in three minutes or less, and to make their presentations as engaging as possible for a general audience. The Grad Slam’s goal is to impress upon grad students the need to be able to communicate their work to the public.

This year’s winner, Joseph Charbonnet, presented on his research into using a sand he calls “mansand” to turn storm water runoff into safe drinking water. The name, he joked, has nothing to do with the sand’s refusal to ask for directions and everything to do with treating the sand with manganese oxide — thus enabling the sand to filter out toxins and other particles that rainwater picks up from street and sidewalks.

See all the winners, read more about Charbonnet’s project and the competition, and watch all the presentations.

Kickoff times set for Aggie home games

The Aggies announced kickoff times for all five home football games in the upcoming season: two 7 p.m. starts in September, a 4 p.m. kickoff in October and two 1 p.m. kickoffs in November.

This season's kickoff times in September, when the temperature can be scorching, are an hour later than in past years, prompted by feedback from fans.

Here is the home schedule (all Saturday games):

• Sept. 8 — San Diego, 7 p.m.
• Sept. 22 — Idaho, 7 p.m.
• Oct. 13 — Idaho State, 4 p.m. (Homecoming)
• Nov. 3 — Northern Arizona, 1 p.m.
• Nov. 17 — Sacramento State, 1 p.m. (Causeway Classic)

Season tickets, now on sale, include the five home games plus the Stanford game at Stanford, Saturday, Sept. 15, kickoff time to be announced. It will be the fourth Farm vs. Farm matchup, a series that includes a 20-17 UC Davis win in 2005. Questions about season tickets or looking for the staff discount? Call the ticket office at 530-752-2471.

See the complete schedule here.

New certificate coming for eduroam

Information and Educational Technology announced that it will install a new electronic security certificate on eduroam, the campus’s wireless network, at 7 a.m. Tuesday, May 15. As a result, you might see a prompt on your phone or other device asking you to accept the new certificate.

The certificate tells your device it’s connecting to eduroam. Some devices will accept the certificate automatically. Your experience will vary depending on your device, model and operating system.

This installation was rescheduled from March 26. Certificates expire periodically, which means these updates have become something of a routine. The expiring certificate was installed in June 2015.

More information is available in this Knowledge Base article. If you experience problems or have questions, please contact the IT Express Service Desk: Telephone — 530-754-HELP (4357). Online — letschat.ucdavis.edu. Email — ithelp@ucdavis.edu. You can also try self-help via servicehub.ucdavis.edu.

— TechNews

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