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Five weeks after an ischemic stroke, Chancellor Emeritus Larry Vanderhoef is back in his seat at The Pavilion, cheering on the men’s basketball team and enjoying his favorite snack bar treat: nacho cheese-drenched chips. He attended games last Saturday and again Thursday night (Jan. 10).

“It’s so good to be out and about again,” he said. “I’m gradually resuming my normal rhythms, and have begun to spend abbreviated days in the office. With the continued help of an excellent rehabilitation team from our med center, I hope to be cane- and walker-free within a few months. I’m working at it!”

Vanderhoef was discharged Dec. 28 from the swag���� Medical Center after nearly four weeks of acute rehabilitation following his Dec. 1 stroke. He is continuing to work with specialists as an outpatient to maintain and improve skills.

Chancellor, provost reiterate commitment to academic freedom

A three-member review team convened by swag���� Provost Ralph J. Hexter has concluded that the university did not retaliate against medical professor Michael Wilkes after he published an Oct. 1, 2010, opinion article critical of a health program sponsored by the swag���� Health System.  

While the independent review team found that the majority of allegations could not be sustained, it characterized an Oct. 19, 2010, letter from a health system attorney to Wilkes as inappropriate. 

Hexter convened the review team last spring, after the swag���� Academic Senate adopted resolutions expressing disapproval of several administrative communications to Wilkes and calling for the administration to take concrete steps to protect academic freedom.

Calling academic freedom “of paramount importance to the vitality of our academic community,” Hexter pledged that he and Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi will continue to work collaboratively with the Academic Senate to affirm “the right of all faculty to publish scholarly articles and professional expert commentaries on controversial topics.”

2013 tax rates could affect paychecks

More payroll news from the UC Office of the President, in light of tax legislation approved Jan. 1 to keep the nation from going over the so-called fiscal cliff:

The tax rate will go up for individuals earning $400,000 or more a year and for families making $450,000 or more. All rates reflect the annually inflation-adjusted income brackets.

UC is updating its payroll system to start withholding at the new tax rates before the Feb. 15 deadline set by the Internal Revenue Service. The new tax rates will be reflected in paychecks issued on or after Feb. 15.

So many people, so little trash to the landfill

So many people (7,569 in attendance), so little trash: Out of everything thrown away at Aggie Stadium during the football game against Weber State last season, only 3.2 percent went to the landfill — for swag����’ best showing ever in the nationwide .

With a 96.8 percent diversion rate (the percentage of waste that went to recycling and composting instead of the landfill), the Aggies placed first among Football Championship Subdivision schools participating in the 2012 contest. (The Aggies won the game, too, 37-13.)

Among all 79 participating schools (including Football Bowl Subdivision), the Aggies placed second behind Ohio State University with a 98.2 percent diversion rate. swag���� had been the overall diversion-rate champion two years running (93.6 percent in 2011 and 89 percent in 2010).

“We are looking forward to another spectacular season in 2013 and to regain the champion title in the diversion-rate category as well as to improve more in the other categories,” said Michelle La, coordinator, Waste Reduction and Recycling Program.

'Studieren in Kalifornien: Die coolste Uni Amerikas'

Or, translated from German to English, “Studying in California: The coolest university in America,” exchange student Christoph Heinrichs’ take on swag���� and the Davis community, published Jan. 3 by Spiegel Online, the online version of the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel.

“People in Davis are ecologically aware and live sustainably, they even separate their waste,” he wrote. “The kind of dedication Davis students show, however, is rare” — noting environmental activism, and the student-run CoHo and bus service, efforts for which the Sierra Club recently named swag���� the “coolest school” in the country for being so green.

“But all this climate awareness and the high level of education do not inhibit consumerism,” Heinrichs says, referring to spending on Starbucks and burgers and tacos, and swag���� apparel. And he chides freshmen who are “stumped” by bicycles.

Last chance to order swag���� annual reports

swag����’ 2012-13 annual report is due to go to the printer on Monday (Jan. 14), and University Communications will honor preorders submitted by noon that day.

The report is a useful tool to send to peers, to share with donors and dignitaries, and prospective faculty and staff; to hand out at conferences; and to give to other people, including constituents and stakeholders, who are interested in the university’s work and impact.

This year’s report explores swag����’ role as a 21st-century university leader and achiever in such key areas as preparing leaders, advancing sustainability, interdisciplinary breakthroughs, economic leadership, health advancements, arts and culture, and research investment.

Orders are being taken , or you can contact Angie Malloy, (530) 752-9609 or ammalloy@ucdavis.edu. The reports are priced at $1.50 each, with a minimum order of 25. The report is due to be in print and online in late January.

An order will guarantee sufficient supply for your needs; extras will be available from University Communications for as long as they last.

MSAP: ‘An investment in management talent’

Application materials are now available for UC’s Management Skills Assessment Program, or MSAP, described by UC as “an investment in management talent.”

The residential program, held annually in Northern and Southern California, offers insight into managerial competencies and potential in the context of the complexities of being a manager in the UC system.

The 2013 MSAP for UC’s Northern California locations is scheduled from April 30 to May 3 at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove.

The cost to each participant’s department is $900. The deadline for swag���� applications is noon Thursday, Feb. 21. (including the application materials). The swag���� contact is Marla Dolcini at Staff Development and Professional Services, (530) 752-9682 or mtdolcini@ucdavis.edu.

Kabang finishes chemo successfully

Kabang, the hero dog from the Philippines, has successfully completed chemotherapy for a tumor and is progressing well through the early stages of heartworm treatment.

The Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital reports that the six weekly rounds of chemotherapy eliminated Kabang’s transmissible venereal tumor. Veterinarians say this type of tumor has a 90 percent survivability.

Treatment for the heartworms, found in the dog’s pulmonary artery, began on Dec. 4 and will continue for two to three more months.

If the heartworm treatment progresses well, the dog will then undergo the surgery for which she was originally brought to swag����. Doctors plan one surgery to deal with dental issues, and a second to try to close the gaping wound that Kabang received when she jumped in front of a motorcycle while protecting two young girls.

Those procedures would be completed by June, at the earliest.

The , maintained by the School of Veterinary Medicine, features news updates, background information and more. For updated information, click on “timeline” on the left side of that page.

Beer-for-butterfly contest still on

Professor Art Shapiro and others (his graduate students, no doubt) are still looking for the first cabbage white butterfly of the year, a specimen from a “real” 2013 emergence. Shapiro is offering a pitcher of beer to whomever snags the Pieris rapae in Yolo, Solano or Sacramento counties.

The professor of evolution and ecology has been running the contest for four decades to aid in his studies of biological response to climate change. He said the cabbage white is emerging in this region a week or so earlier on average than it did 30 years ago.

Shapiro himself usually wins his own contest. He was out looking on New Year’s Day and actually snagged a cabbage white, but it was “unambiguously of the fall brood.”

In a Jan. 1 email, he stated: “As in past years when the fall brood ‘slopped over’ into January, I will NOT declare the contest over until the ‘real’ 2013 emergence is documented — which I suspect will not be for 10 days or two weeks, but I will be looking.”