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�ٺ���Ƶ earned a top-25 ranking among colleges and universities with the most undergraduate alumni serving as volunteers in 2011.

Based on fiscal year data as of Sept. 30, the corps counted 63 Aggie alums among its ranks — good for 23rd among large colleges and universities (enrollment 15,001 or more).

The Aggies include Erica Gallegos, a 2007 graduate with a degree in community and regional development, who is working as an education volunteer in Panama, according to a Jan. 25 news release from the Peace Corps. The Fairfield native taught kindergarten and sixth grade in Bay Area classrooms prior to signing up for the Peace Corps.

“My motive in this life is to give of my energy, time and skills in everything I do,” she said.

Historically, �ٺ���Ƶ ranks 16th in the nation in Peace Corps volunteers — with 1,381 Aggies having service since the Peace Corps’ inception in 1961.

UC finalizes health, pension rates for UPTE

The UC Office of the President announced today (Jan. 23) that it had finalized an agreement that sets health plan rates and pension contributions for the University Professional and Technical Employees bargaining unit, representing about 8,700 employees.

UPTE members, who include researchers and technical workers, will contribute 3.5 percent to the UC Retirement Plan retroactive to July 1, 2011, and 5 percent starting July 1, 2012. These are the same rates that the general UC employee population and other unions pay.

The university is doing its part to ensure UCRP’s long-term viability by contributing 7 percent, up from 4 percent last year. UC will raise its contributions to 10 percent on July 1, 2012.

In addition, UPTE has agreed to pay the same 2012 and 2013 health rates as the rest of the employee population.

“We know how important good benefits are for our employees,” said Dwaine B. Duckett, vice president of Human Resources. “It is also important to acknowledge cost pressures and in order to keep those good benefits, employees must contribute their fair share.”

UPTE members voted to ratify the agreement in mid-January.

Negotiations were limited to health and pension benefits under the existing contract, which ends June 2013.

New policy on staff incentive awards under review

Human Resources on the Davis campus is accepting comments on a proposed new policy for the management of incentive compensation and recognition awards for staff below the executive level.

The UC Office of the President put forth the new policy, Staff Appreciation and Recognition, or STAR, and a related policy, Clinical Enterprise Management Recognition Plan 2, or CEMRP2, for use throughout the UC system — as replacements for individual (local) plans.

This effort follows UC’s work over the last several years to clarify and standardize its policies and practices for senior management compensation.

The STAR and CEMRP2 plans would not generate any new payments to staff.

Staff adviser applications sought

The application period opened last week for , according to an announcement from the UC Office of the President. The selected staff member will serve for one year as staff adviser-designate, then become staff adviser for a year.

For example, Penelope "Penny" Herbert, manager in the Department of Clinical Operations, �ٺ���Ƶ Health System, is now serving as staff adviser, after having served for one year as staff adviser-designate. Herbert, therefore, will have served two years total when her term comes to an end in June.

Kevin Smith, chief financial and compliance officer for the UCLA chancellor's office, will move up to staff adviser in July.

And, out of the selection process that began Jan. 20, someone new will take his place as staff adviser-designate.

The staff adviser program, now in its sixth year, allows for two staff and-or non-Academic Senate academic employees to participate in open sessions of designated Board of Regents committees.

The application deadline is March 2; the form and more information are available . Questions about the staff adviser position and the application process should be directed to Jeannene Whalen, UCOP Employee Relations, at (510) 987-0853 or Jeannene.Whalen@ucop.edu.

Kickoff events for Wellness Challenge

Everybody loves a free T-shirt, and this one comes with something healthy: your commitment to adopt a new, healthy habit and keep it up for seven weeks (and, hopefully, for a lot longer after that). 

Because, the organizers say, if you keep up a new habit for seven weeks, you have a good chance of turning that healthy habit into a lifelong change.

It's the 2012 Mind Body Wellness Challenge, free for staff, faculty and students on the Davis and Sacramento campuses, and anyone else, even people who are not affiliated with �ٺ���Ƶ. Kickoff events — with health screenings, wellness information, door prizes and those T-shirts (while supplies last) — are next week, and the seven-week challenge starts Monday, Jan. 27, and runs to March 16. 

You can register now, or you can register in person at one of the kickoff events:

•  Davis campus — 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24, ballroom, Conference Center (at the campus’s south entry).
• Sacramento campus — 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 25, ballroom, Courtyard by Marriott hotel, 4422 Y St., Sacramento.

Separate registration is required for the kickoff events: and .