A survey earlier this spring about the new myucdavis showed users were primarily interested in having MyView as the default view. Sixty-one percent rated the change “very important,” while 27 percent called it “somewhat important.”

The second most-popular suggestion: “Add campus/people search to top navigation.”

The myucdavis team collected 266 survey responses over a three-week period, according to a TechNews article. The survey, five months after the debut of the new myucdavis, gave faculty and staff the opportunity to help set priorities for new tiles and functions to add this year.

As next steps, the myucdavis team is evaluating the work required to make MyView the default view, and will discuss options with leadership in Information and Educational Technology and with campus partners.

Myucdavis presents many UC Davis Web applications and services in one location. The new, improved version debuted last October with most of the popular tools from the previous version. The myucdavis team has since added Contracts & Grants and is working on enhancements to myOffice, among other upgrades.

Staff and faculty can provide comments and suggestions about myucdavis at any time by selecting the feedback tab on the right side of the myucdavis site.

Next commencements: Medicine and veterinary medicine

Spring commencements began last week with the School of Law and continue this week and next week with two more professional schools, before kicking into high gear the second week of June.

Here is the schedule for the next two weeks:

• School of Veterinary Medicine — 4 p.m. Thursday, May 21, Mondavi Center
• School of Medicine — 10 a.m. Saturday, May 30, Mondavi Center

See the guest speakers and the rest of the schedule here. Each commencement is carried live online and available afterward for on-demand viewing.

Another strong jobs report for King Hall grads

Law school leaders handed out Juris Doctor diplomas last week, optimistic about the graduates’ job prospects, given the strong employment data for the last two classes.

New data from the American Bar Association for the Class of 2014 show King Hall’s post-graduation employment rate at 80 percent, beating the Class of 2013’s impressive 73.5 percent, well above state and national averages.

The Class of 2013’s post-graduation employment rate was fourth best among California law schools and 30th best among 201 ABA-approved law schools, according to rankings published in the Sacramento Business Journal. (Rankings for the Class of 2014 will become available after statistics submitted by individual schools are compiled and analyzed by the ABA.)

King Hall credits its graduates’ improved employment prospects to recent investments made by the campus and the School of Law in Academic Success and Career Services, among other factors. 

Read the complete news release.

Undergraduate Education’s new address: Surge III

Undergraduate Education’s administrative unit is in its new home, Surge III, which already housed several other units of Undergraduate Education.

Last summer, the administrative unit moved out of Mrak Hall but didn’t go directly to Surge III pending a remodeling job. The other Undergraduate Education units moved out of Surge III and joined the administrative unit in temporary quarters in Haring Hall.

Now, the remodeling is done, and here’s what you’ll find in Surge III: administrative unit, University Honors Program, International and Academic English, Washington Program, Center for Leadership Learning, and the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

Students’ winning beer ready to be tapped

Here at UC Davis, we can say “class is in session” most any day. But, this week we’ll have a Class Is in Session — capitalized — like no other. It’s the name of the Iron Brew titlist in Charlie Bamforth’s “Practical Malting and Brewing” class — and the beer is ready to be tapped.

Bamforth, who holds the Anheuser-Busch Professorship in Malting and Brewing Science, runs the contest annually. Student teams formulate beers, then brew small batches on campus and present them to a panel of outside judges. The winning students then brew a commercial batch at Sudwerk Brewing Co.

“I feel like a celebrity — and very, very lucky,” Evann Dufort said April 24 as he and Jeff Damilano, Abby Kanyer and Brandon Rotondo brewed their Class Is in Session IPA in Sudwerk’s copper kettle.

Now, almost a month later, the beer is ready for sale: 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday (May 21) at Sudwerk’s Dock, 2001 Second St., Davis.

Read more in this Davis Enterprise article.

TRANSITION: New director at policy institute

Batten

Katharine “Kit” Batten, who has a UC Davis master’s degree and Ph.D. in ecology, has been named the new executive director of the Policy Institute for Energy, Environment and the Economy. Part of the Institute of Transportation Studies, the institute leverages university expertise to inform energy, climate and transportation policies, acting as a bridge between scientific researchers and decision-makers.

Batten is set to take up the post on Sept. 1, coming here from Washington, D.C., where she now serves as global climate change coordinator at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Batten received her master’s in 2001 and Ph.D. in 2004. She received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Oberlin College.

Read the official announcement.

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