Big changes are happening at UC Davis – and not just because of the centennial celebration. Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef announced Monday that he will be stepping down in June 2009, leaving behind shoes administrators believe will be difficult to fill.

Vanderhoef has served at UC Davis for 24 years as vice chancellor, provost and chancellor, achieving one of the longest periods of leadership that any chancellor has had with a single school.

“There was always something before [I resigned] that I wanted to make sure I got finished,” Vanderhoef said. “I finally realized that if I’m doing a good job, there’s always going to be something to stay for.”

Vanderhoef will take a yearlong sabbatical and return to UC Davis as a professor of plant biology and chancellor emeritus. Though many colleagues are disappointed to see him leave, Vanderhoef believes that after the centennial year, UC Davis will be ready for a change in leadership.

“The chancellor has been such an integral part of campus for so many years,” said Cathy VandeVoort, Academic Federation chair and adjunct professor. “He’s really provided guidance in a number of areas that I think have really changed the face of this campus. I’m sure he’s going to be missed systemwide, as well as at UC Davis.”

Vanderhoef grew up in Wisconsin and was the first in his family to graduate from high school. His success only grew from that point, as he oversaw a faculty increase of almost 50 percent and student enrollment growth from 22,000 to 30,000.

One the first major predicaments Vanderhoef experienced at UC Davis was a budget crisis in the early 1990s.

“There were some layoffs and hiring slowed. It was a grim time to be a chancellor. His leadership was crucial. He managed to steer us through a difficult time,” said Bruce Wolk, professor of law, former dean of law and Vanderhoef’s squash partner.

After overseeing major decisions regarding the crisis, Vanderhoef went on to win many awards for his leadership and accomplishments, including the prestigious Eisenhower Award for Excellence, an award given to leaders who have enhanced relationships between different countries.

Vanderhoef is admired among other university leaders as well.

“Chancellor Vanderhoef is highly respected by all our UC chancellors as well as leaders in the national and international communities of higher education,” said Henry Yang, chancellor of University of California Santa Barbara in an e-mail interview.

Vanderhoef also oversaw the construction of the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, a state of the art center that has brought entertainment to the Davis and Sacramento area from around the world.

One of Vanderhoef’s more controversial decisions took place on the athletic front when he announced that UC Davis would progress on to a Division I athletics program.

During the UC payroll scandal in 2006, Vanderhoef faced scrutiny for hiring a woman who had previously filed a discrimination lawsuit against him. The decision threatened his vote when the Academic Senate proposed a “no confidence” vote. The lawsuit was dropped and the vote failed; however, Vanderhoef has since worked to regain the school’s trust.

Students in particular are confident in Vanderhoef’s abilities, said Alfredo Arredondo, student assistant to the chancellor.

“The current budget crisis has been weighing heavily on his mind, given the impact it’s going to have on the students in the years to come,” said Arredondo, a senior anthropology and Chicano/Chicana studies double major. “He’s been very supportive of student’s concerns, which speaks a lot to who he is as individual as well as a chancellor.”

Vanderhoef chose to announce his departure at this time in particular for several reasons.

“I wanted to make the announcement while the students were still here,” he said.

Also, the incoming president of the University of California, Mark Yudof, will begin his term this month. The search for a new chancellor will be his first task, and Vanderhoef expressed his confidence in Yudof’s decision.

Until his successor takes office, Vanderhoef will be preparing for his time as professor and completing various projects for the university.

“I am looking forward to a new chapter in my life,” he said.

LAUREN STEUSSY can be reached at campus@californiaaggie.com.

To avid joggers, nature enthusiasts and couples looking for a romantic afternoon stroll, the UC Davis Arboretum is known for its beautiful trails and collection of diverse plants and wildlife. However, recent visitors to the arboretum may have noticed – and likely smelled – a nastier side of this usually pristine garden.

In recent years, the arboretum has witnessed a rapid influx of four different species of egrets and herons, whose large nesting population poses a particularly unique risk to the arboretum’s treasured oak grove.

Excrement from these birds “coats the oak trees’ branches like white paint” and creates “acrid smells that permeate the air,” according to a 2006 arboretum newsletter.

While the smelly effects of the excessive bird “guano” may only be a nuisance to arboretum visitors, it actually poses a much more serious risk to the well-being of the oak trees.

Excessive guano coverings can deny trees access to enough sunlight for photosynthesis. In addition, guano contains enough toxic ammonia to cause defoliation.

Guano contains salts that can also enter the trees through the soil and pose a risk to the internal structure of the trees. This can permanently affect the tree’s well-being, said Ellen Zagory, director of horticulture for the arboretum in an interview with Dateline UC Davis.

Salts stunt the growth of the tree’s roots and can cause defoliation, which over several years could kill the branches, Zagory said.

Mana Hattori, junior specialist for the wildlife and fisheries biology department, said the effects of the excrement are visible to anyone who takes a trip through the oak grove.

“There are definitely visible effects on the trees,” she said. “A lot of trees have become deformed and the guano is pretty visible.”

Andy Engilis, curator for the UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, said the large nesting population also poses a risk to the arboretum’s human visitors.

“A rookery creates a high amount of fecal matter which dries, concentrates and can become aerosolized,” Engilis said. “There is an increased risk to humans when such a rookery becomes established in a public place such as the arboretum. In the United States, heron rookeries have been shown to harbor salmonella and respiratory illnesses such as histoplasmosis.”

In order to fight the threats posed by the nesting birds, wildlife experts have begun to test several methods of discouraging the birds’ nesting. One such way is to shine a laser at the birds when they land in the trees.

“We are trying the method on non-nesting birds only during the predawn and post-dusk hours,” Engilis said. “The effectiveness of this will be evaluated for further application if deemed appropriate. The method has proven successful in other bird nuisance problems including other herons, crows and blackbird roosts. It is a commercially approved and accessible method.“

Most UC Davis experts agree that removing the egret and heron populations from the arboretum does not pose a risk to the well-being of the birds.

“Their habitats are not endangered,” Hattori said “they can pretty much nest anywhere that they can find trees. They are known for nesting with other species so locating new habitats is not difficult for them.”

“Rookeries such as these are not uncommon throughout the state,” Engilis said. “Urbanization is not the problem and birds readily move to other sites if they find past rookery sites unappealing.”

ERICA LEE can be reached at campus@californiaaggie.com

The University of California and nearly 20,000 patient care technicians and service workers have returned to the bargaining table – for now.

The American Federation of City, State and Local Employees Local 3299, which represents nearly 11,000 patient care technicians and 8,000 service workers, announced on May 23 that its members had almost unanimously approved a strike on June 4 and 5.

The patient care technicians have been negotiating their respective contracts with the UC for the last 10 months and the service workers for the last seven.

Though both parties said the return to the bargaining table was in good faith, the union has refused to rule out the possibility of a strike in the future.

“[The renewed negotiation] doesn’t remove our ability to strike,” said William Schlitz, a spokesperson for AFSCME Local 3299. “But right now, we really do want to get this resolved at the bargaining table.”

The terms “patient care technicians” and “service workers” encompass a variety of jobs, including medical technologists, medical assistants, custodians and food service workers. The two positions are classified separately because they are funded by different sources; service workers’ funding comes primarily from the state and patient care workers are funded by the individual medical centers.

On Apr. 19, a neutral fact-finder completed a report stating that the university’s proposed wage increases to the patient care technicians were not market competitive. UC dissented with the report and has maintained that it does not have the resources to meet the workers’ demands.

UC also filed charges against the union and requested a restraining order with the Public Employment Relations Board, which ordered the union to continue negotiations.

“We believe that the strike would present a public safety issue,” said Nicole Savickas, spokesperson for the University of California Office of the President. “Our patient care technician employees are vital to the operation of the medical centers.”

The university had been making contingency plans to protect its students and patients in the event of a strike, Savickas said.

The university has also charged the union with unfair bargaining tactics, claiming that AFSCME has linked the two separate contracts in negotiations. In a May 21 press release, the university stated that “it is clear that the union’s goal throughout bargaining has been to align the service unit negotiations with the patient care technical unit in order to allow for a combined work action.”

The union and UC released a joint statement on May 30 expressing their commitment to “bargaining in good faith” and that they hoped to “reach an agreement soon.”

Still, Schlitz said the UC and union remain far apart on such issues as wage increases, health benefits and mandatory overtime.

“I think there’s a lot of issues still on hand,” he said. “From our perspective, it comes back to equal pay for equal work.”

UC’s latest offer to the patient care technicians included $25 million in wage increases in the first year of the contract, with 2 to 4 percent increases over the following two years. The union has demanded wage increases of $50 million in the first year and 6 percent increases the two years after that, according to information provided by the UC Office of the President.

The union has also called for an increase in a variety of benefits, including higher on-call wages on holidays and an end to mandatory overtime.

In addition, the union has specifically accused UC of withholding its medical centers’ profits for wage increases, a charge that the university denies, Savickas said.

The union has claimed some service workers make “poverty wages” of as little as $10 per hour, and has proposed the same wage changes as the ones proposed for the patient care technicians.

But the university, citing state budget limitations, has offered to increase the service workers’ minimum wage from $11.50 to $12 per hour depending on location.

Leticia Garcia-Prado, a member of the union’s bargaining team, said some workers who have been employed at the UC for years have seen only marginal wage increases.

Garcia-Prado, a medical assistant at UC Davis’ Cowell Student Health Center, said workers remain with the university because they have invested years in their jobs.

“When you’ve been working for UC for 37 years, and you’re going to start somewhere else, where does that put you? How many people in their 50s or 60s are going to hire you? It’s time for UC to treat [workers] with dignity and respect.”

PATRICK McCARTNEY can be reached at campus@californiaaggie.com.