Campus News

UC Davis researchers received a $7 million grant for stem cell research on Apr. 29, allowing labs to conduct groundbreaking research on Huntington's Disease and in utero treatments for inherited blood cell disorders. The grant is one of fifteen provided by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to multiple research centers across California. The overall package totals to just over $67 million and is meant to spur development in the relatively new field of embryonic stem cell therapy.

More Aggies are becoming addicted to "crack"berries and Mac's cachet is growing among students, according to a yearly tech survey taken by Computer Lab Management (CLM).

In March, CLM sent out two surveys, one focusing on computer printing labs on campus and computer ownership, and the other on the prevalence of smartphones.

Forty-three percent of students own smartphones - cell phones that have advanced features like e-mail and internet - the most popular of which are iPhones and BlackBerries.

Forgery

A senior was referred to Student Judicial Affairs for providing false information for academic reasons. The student submitted a doctor's note to qualify for a late drop for a course. However, after submitting the doctor's note to the dean's office, the assistant director suspected that the note was not authentic and contacted the doctor to investigate the matter further. The student was found to be in violation of forging the doctor's note, and for providing false information to drop a course. The student agreed to be placed on deferred separation to complete a writing assignment regarding the importance of upholding the standards of integrity and fairness.

Never a slouch in achievement; UC Davis graduate students had another successful year collecting National Science Foundation fellowships, even by their own high standards. Eighteen of the 950 NSF awards nationwide landed on the UC Davis campus, the second greatest total ever, said Deborah McCook, external fellowship advisor in the Office of Graduate Studies.

UC Davis will reach its turn to represent the UC system beginning July 1, when Rex Hime, a distinguished UC Davis alumnus, takes his post as an ex-officio member of the UC Board of Regents - the governing body of the University of California.

As an "ex-officio" member, Hime will work alongside an additional University of California alumnus, a student regent and 23 other voting members who represent state government and the University of California system to make major decisions on all financial and policy issues for the university.

In a long anticipated decision, the University of California Board of Regents voted to raise student fees by 9.3 percent, or $662 per year, last week.

The increase - the sixth in seven years - brings the average systemwide fee for undergraduates to $8,720 per year including individual campus based fees.

After a temporary halt in construction due to funding challenges, building has resumed on UC Davis's Martin Luther King Jr. Hall.

King Hall, which houses the UC Davis School of Law located on the southern edge of campus, has been undergoing construction since fall of 2007 as part of an expansion and renovation project, said Karl Mohr, assistant vice chancellor for Resource Management and Planning.

On Friday, the Mondavi Center's Jackson Hall was half full of Davis affiliates eager to welcome their next chancellor to the UC Davis family.

Just one day prior to the welcoming reception, UC regents approved Linda Katehi as chancellor of UC Davis, beginning Aug. 17.

With the second year of Lobby Month coming to an end, ASUCD's Lobby Corps students have made their way into the California state Capitol.

Lobby Corps, ASUCD's external advocacy unit, lobbies on behalf of student issues to the nearby state government in Sacramento. Lobby Month occurs around the time of the May budget revision, in which state budget numbers are tweaked after the original budget is passed.

ASUCD Senate meetings are scheduled to begin Thursdays at 6:10 p.m. Times listed are according to the clock at the May 7 meeting location, the Memorial Union's Mee Room.

Meeting was called to order at 6:10 p.m.

As gorillas are slowly making their way onto the endangered species list, UC Davis is launching a new program to help curb the decline.

In order to conserve the 740 mountain gorillas that exist today in the wild - primarily in the Virunga Mountains of central Africa - UC Davis' School of Veterinary Medicine's Wildlife Health Center launched a "One Health" program on Apr. 23.

The Mountain Gorilla One Health Program cares for gorillas in central Africa, as well as the human neighbors and other animals that reside in the same environment.

Starting this summer, annual fees for residential full-time undergraduates will likely cost $9,357.95, up from this year's $8,638.60.

The UC Office of the President's (UCOP) Committee on Finance will present the proposal for the fee increase to the UC Board of Regents at their meeting on Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Over 500 students and community members gathered at the front of the Memorial Union Monday night as UC Davis held its 28th annual "Take Back the Night."

The event, which was sponsored by Students Against Sexual Violence (SASV), a group within the Campus Violence Protection Program, has become an international tradition since its inception in 1976, said Amanda Smith, vice president of SASV and the director for the event.

In the Apr. 22 issue of The California Aggie, the article "Study shows UC Davis students drinking less," incorrectly stated that UC Davis received a $6.9 million grant for the research, but in fact the Prevention Research Center received the grant, $150,000 and UC Davis received over five years. The Aggie regrets the error.

The ups and downs of President Barack Obama's first 100 days in office are the focus of Larry Berman's POL 106 class taught at the UC Washington D.C. Center. Berman, who has made appearances on C-Span's Book TV and the History Channel's Secrets of War, is a political science professor at UC Davis and the interim director of the UC Davis Washington program.