We are less than two weeks away from the beginning of fall Quarter. Many students begin returning to campus next week. Student Affairs, the Colleges and many other operating units are collaborating on plans to welcome students and their families.
I want to express my personal appreciation for everything so many of you are doing to ensure that students and families are warmly welcomed, and that all related activities go as smoothly as possible.
Two operational updates this week:
Furloughs
A few details affecting limited clusters of employees remain to be ironed out - in some cases through policy guidance from UCOP. For most affected campus employees, detailed information including questions and answers is available on the campus budget update page.
Please speak with your supervisor if you have questions not clearly addressed in existing materials. Divisional Academic Personnel and Staff Human Resources each are available to assist as needed.
Good news
Two of our faculty have been awarded prestigious prizes in recent weeks. I wanted you to know about both.
Associate Professor of Computer Science Michael Mateas has been named the MacArthur Foundation Chair. This $400,000 award will support Professor Mateas' teaching, research, and service activities.
Phillip Berman, Professor and Chair of Biomolecular Engineering at Baskin School of Engineering, has been awarded a $3.5 million National Institutes of Health grant to advance work he and several collaborators are conducting on AIDS vaccine research.
Congratulations to Phillip and Michael on these impressive achievements.
