The 2017-18 Campus Community Book Project, Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More, gets even more real next week when the author, Janet Mock, comes to campus to participate in a free forum and give an evening lecture.

The book has been the jumping-off point for a variety of programs —including lectures, films and discussions — since the fall. Now, as is customary, the annual book project culminates in the author’s visit.

In Redefining Realness, published in 2014, Mock relays her personal experiences growing up multiracial and transgender, offering her perspective on the challenges she faced and how she achieved acceptance and self-realization.

“My ultimate goal with Redefining Realness is to stand firmly in my truth,” Mock wrote in the book. “I believe that telling our stories, first to ourselves and then to one another and the world, is a revolutionary act. It is an act that can be met with hostility, exclusion and violence. It can also lead to love, understanding, transcendence and community.”

Here is Mock’s schedule for Monday (Feb. 5):

• The Forum@MC — “Reimagining Home: Support Networks and LGBTQIA+ Communities,” 4-5 p.m., Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. Free and open to the public. Mock will be joined on the panel by Anoosh Jorjorian, Yolo Rainbow Families; Cecily Nelson-Alford, director, UC Davis Women’s Resources and Research Center; Mat Talton, undergraduate scholar and community coordinator, UC Davis Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual Resource Center (LGBTQIA+); Joanna Villegas, office coordinator, LGBTQIA+ Resource Center; and Bruce Smail (moderator), director, UC Davis Cross Cultural Center.
• Lecture — With the same title as her book, Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More, 8-9:30 p.m., Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center. Tickets are available online and at the box office, open noon to 6 p.m. Monday-Saturday and one hour before ticketed events.

‘Finding the Balance’ for community cohesion

The “800” project asks the community to reflect upon its social structures and norms, to speak openly about the tension between groups and individuals and to collectively imagine its social future.

As part of the project, Campus Dialogue and Deliberation presents “Finding the Balance: Campus Affinity Groups and Community Cohesion,” 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7, at the Manetti Shrem Museum. Admission is free and open to the public.

“Join us for a dialogue about belonging and community at UC Davis,” the organizers said. “With more than 800 campus clubs and organizations, UC Davis is a fertile ground for exploring affinity groups, community, boundaries and belonging.” 

Questions to consider: What does it mean to be part of the UC Davis community? Who’s connected to whom? What is belonging? What has been your experience with isolation, integration or assimilation on campus?

“Come contribute to the dialogue, hear the perspectives of others and strengthen our UC Davis community,” the organizers said.

For more information, contact Trish Nichol by email or phone, 530-754-7741.

Find May and Hexter at leadership.ucdavis.edu

The UC Davis chancellor and provost websites have come together in a single landing page: leadership.ucdavis.edu.

Launched last week by the Office of Strategic Communications, the leadership page gives Gary S. May and Ralph J. Hexter a common platform to share the university’s achievements, by way of videos and rankings; recent news; and information on executive recruitments.

The leadership page also provides links to universitywide initiatives, such as the “To Boldly Go” strategic planning effort that is now underway; and a contact form to send messages to either the chancellor or the provost.

The page also includes tiles (links) to May’s and Hexter’s individual websites. These sites have been redesigned to feature each leader’s biography, speeches and initiatives. (LeShelle May has a bio page, too — look for the link on the chancellor’s bio page.)

The chancellor’s site leads to the Chancellor’s Colloquium page, and the provost’s site leads to the UC Davis Forums site.

Blood bank sees ‘amazing’ turnout of 1st-timers

BloodSource reports 677 people turned out for last week’s two-day blood drive on the Quad. “We saw lots of familiar faces and lots of new ones, too,” said Felicia LaMothe, donor recruitment representative. The count included 235 first-timers, more than a third of total participation, which is “absolutely amazing,” LaMothe said.

The blood bank collected 558 pints (the participation count is higher, because not everyone can complete the blood donation process, for a variety of reasons). And 20 people joined the Be the Match Bone Marrow Registry.

“The generosity of the UC Davis donors will impact the lives of many patients and their families,” LaMothe said.

BloodSource will return in spring quarter for a three-day drive: Tuesday-Thursday, April 10-12.

Path reopens: See waterway up-close

Like to walk in the arboretum? You will be happy to know the path on the north side of the waterway, closest to downtown, is open again! It had been closed during Phase 1 of the Arboretum Waterway Maintenance and Enhancement Project.

“Hooray! Now you can get an up-close look at the new weirs and wetland plantings, as well as revisit the Australian collection from the north side of the waterway,” said Nina Suzuki, waterway steward.

The path on the south side remains closed, as does the footbridge in the Australian collection, until the new, universally accessible path has been completed. This new path, designed to match other accessible paths in the arboretum, stretches between the Arboretum GATEway Garden (behind the Davis Commons shopping center) and the intersection of Arboretum Drive and Old Davis Road.

‘AggieFacilities’: Work order system gets upgrade

The Facilities Management online work order system will have a new user interface and a new name, AggieFacilities, as of Wednesday (Jan. 31). The new interface comes after coordinating with a multidisciplinary team of customers to improve the user experience.

AggieFacilities, formerly called TRIRIGA, is where faculty and staff can submit work orders or ask for estimates for various services, such as custodial, building maintenance and event support.

New features with the new interface include a simplified homepage and the ability to track tasks, receive notifications and view real-time changes. Updated training materials will be available here.  

AggieFacilities users are being asked to update their work phone numbers in the campus’s online directory by Feb. 15, which is when Facilities Management will start auto-populating those numbers into the work order system (the upgraded system eliminates the need to update phone numbers manually).

Shedding light on campus lighting

Nearly 80 students and other volunteers spread out across the campus last Tuesday night for the annual Safety Lighting Walk, noting 274 instances of lights not turned on or not working, lights obscured by vegetation, and areas where lighting could be improved.

The power and lighting unit within Facilities Management is assessing the notes and tackling repairs and upgrades where needed.

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