The OP Staff Assembly Steering Committee is seeking nominations for eight open seats, which means an opportunity for you to get involved.

Here are just a handful of OP Staff Assembly’s many accomplishments this year:

• The Frick School Fill-a-Backpack Project, which donated 150 backpacks full of school supplies to last year’s entering class at Oakland’s Frick Middle School
• The Oct. 7, 2011, Town Hall with President Yudof, the third annual event of its kind to provide OP staff an open forum with the president
• Brown bags in February and May with the Downtown Oakland and Lake Merritt/Uptown Association on how UCOP staff can support our Oakland neighborhood and vendors

If you are interested in running for OP Staff Assembly, please submit your application by Friday, June 8, 2012, to OPStaffAssembly@ucop.edu. All career staff are eligible to run, and application forms can be found online.

The term is two years, beginning July 1, 2012, and the required time commitment is a minimum of one hour per month at the lunchtime monthly meeting. But there are opportunities to take on larger responsibilities, including planning programs and projects or doing communications. It is also a good idea for you to discuss the time commitment with your supervisor.

Brown bag sessions will be held Friday, June 1, 12 to 1 p.m., in 7401 Franklin and 712 Kaiser. Current steering committee members will be on hand to describe the work of the OP Staff Assembly and answer your questions.

Elections take place from Thursday, June 14, through Friday, June 22. More details on the election and how to vote will be announced in the coming weeks.

The OP Staff Assembly is an organization for staff dedicated to promoting the interest and welfare of all career employees. It is affiliated with the Council of UC Staff Assemblies (CUCSA), the systemwide staff group that works on behalf of all staff within and across the UC community.

All career staff employees are members of the OP Staff Assembly and are welcome to attend monthly meetings, held the second Wednesday of each month (see the Link calendar for location).

Key dates:

• Friday, June 1:      Brown bag, 12 to 1 p.m., 7401 Franklin
• Friday, June 1:      Brown bag, 12 to 1 p.m., 712 Kaiser
• Friday, June 8:     Deadline to submit applications
• June 14 to 22:      Election period for online voting

>>Learn more about the OP Staff Assembly.

>>Learn more about the Council of UC Staff Assemblies.

It was a party atmosphere in Franklin’s Lobby 1 Conference Room, with balloons, Printing Smarter chocolate bars and a towering sculpture of toner cartridges to represent the mountain of e-waste generated every year by UCOP, which will soon be a thing of the past.

It was the May 22 Printing Smarter Open House, where curious attendees got their first glimpse of UCOP’s new Xerox multifunctional print devices, now being installed and on schedule for completion at all UCOP Oakland office locations by early July.

Representatives from Xerox and the Print Management core team and task force answered questions about new features and demonstrated the printing, copying, faxing and scanning capabilities of the new machines.

“I’ve been at UCOP since 2005, and this print management project has been my goal ever since,” said Haggai Hisgilov, executive director of Procurement Services, in addressing the crowd.

The driving force behind Print Management since its inception at UCOP about three years ago, Hisgilov oversaw the selection of Xerox, which he described as an industry leader that is establishing a new standard of printing service and sustainability for UC.

Also speaking was Associate VP for Business Operations Michael Reese, who described print management’s early days at UCOP, when then-EVP Katie Lapp personally picked up Reese’s desktop printer and physically removed it from his office.

He fought it then, but now he’s a big supporter of shared, networked printing, including the extra exercise he gets walking 15 steps to pick up his print jobs.

“Change is difficult, but this is good change,” Reese said. “These printers will take us to a new level of quality and service, and they represent a giant leap for us in terms of sustainable and best industry practices.”

Other highlights of the event included the demos of Xerox’s new ColorQube 8870, a small print-only device that has replaced the conventional toner cartridge with solid ink — a crayon-like color block that dissolves as it prints — reducing solid waste products by 90 percent.

Products like the ColorQube and the high-efficiency WorkCentre 7535 multifunctional device, which prints, copies, faxes and scans, will make printing at UCOP greener and more sustainable. These state-of-the-art devices also automatically order toner and ink products, which Xerox will then ship directly to the Work Management Center as needed.

Multiple raffles were held, with drawings for 25 gift cards to 14 different vendors, including Home Depot, Macy’s, Nordstrom and Starbucks. Among the winners were Angela Cheng, Catherine Kniazewycz, Emily Montan, Sonia Scott and Jian Wu.

Tim Gallagher, business analyst in the Office of Strategic Change Resources, organized the event as part of his charge to help implement training on the new devices. Under the direction of Printing Smarter Project Director Donna Collins, he worked with a team of about 20 task force members and others supporting the project.

“The event was like a big celebration of all the work that so many people here have done to make Printing Smarter happen,” Gallagher said. “Our next steps are to get people trained and to handle any operational issues to make sure the devices are working the way they’re supposed to.”

Check the Print Management website for more details about Printing Smarter, including FAQs, etiquette and sustainability guidelines, and quick guides on the equipment that will be coming to your area soon.

On University of California campuses, there usually are two choices for throwing something away: the black garbage bin or the blue recycling bin. But increasingly, green is also becoming an option as composting programs spread at UC.

Recycling has allowed UC to divert more than 50 percent of waste from landfills, but the blue bins alone won’t be enough to reach the system’s objectives of diverting 75 percent of waste this year and becoming zero waste — sending no garbage to landfill — by 2020.

Implementing campuswide composting programs and educating people on using a green bin for organic waste are key to achieving such ambitious goals, set by the UC system’s Policy on Sustainable Practices.

“We haven’t hit the wall, but we’re at a point where we’re stuck around a certain level. There’s only so much you can do to increase recycling,” said Michelle La, program coordinator for the Waste Reduction and Recycling Program at UC Davis. “We have to take that extra step to reach that zero-waste goal.”

Much of the material that winds up in landfills is organic. Capturing it through composting not only has huge potential to increase waste diversion rates, it’s environmentally beneficial and can save UC money.

“Campuses are doing a good job of recycling and composting is the next step,” said Lin King, manager of Campus Recycling and Refuse Services at UC Berkeley. “There’s still a focus on recycling but by adding composting, together they are a holistic system.”

In addition to reducing materials sent to landfills, composting can help reduce carbon emissions and energy use. Mulch created by food scraps, tree and lawn cuttings and other green waste is sold to farmers for use as an organic fertilizer. That mulch then reduces the need for chemical fertilizers, which often are made from oil products and are energy intensive to create.

Composting programs for green landscaping and food waste are underway or being explored at all UC campuses. Last year, nine UC campuses surpassed a 2008 goal to divert 50 percent of their waste away from landfills. UC Irvine (79 percent), UCLA (77 percent), UC Santa Barbara (73 percent) and UC Santa Cruz (74 percent) had diversion rates above 70 percent in 2011-12, according to data from UC’s Annual Report on Sustainability Practices.

For UCOP Principal Editor Harry Mok’s full story, go to the UC Newsroom.

UCOP’s class in Conducting Performance Appraisals, Thursday, May 31, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in 5320 Franklin, is recommended for all managers and supervisors.

The class provides tools for maximizing the performance appraisal process. Participants will learn to clearly communicate with an employee about past performance, assess job satisfaction and make plans for future performance and development.

Learning objectives include:

• Reviewing the performance management and appraisal process
• Discussing the three phases of the appraisal process — preparing, writing and conducting the appraisal
• Reviewing communication strategies to use during the process

The class is the third in a four-part series on performance management, which provides assistance to those who manage or supervise to maximize the potential of their team. The four-part series includes classes in setting performance expectations, coaching, and delegation.

Before taking this class, the class in Setting Performance Expectations is recommended but not required.

Enroll today through the UC Learning Center with your UCOP username and password. Using the SEARCH box on the left, type in the name of the class and click on the UCOP session; click REGISTER next to the class title and SUBMIT.

If you have questions about the class, the series or the performance management process, please contact Linda Klink, Learning and Development coordinator, at linda.klink@ucop.edu.