Save the date, Thursday, May 30, when UC Merced Chancellor Dorothy Leland will visit UCOP for the next talk in the Women We Admire series, 12 to 1 p.m. in Franklin Lobby 1 Conference Room.

With a career in higher education that has spanned more than 30 years, Leland began her term in July 2011 as the third chancellor of UC’s fledgling campus, the subject of a recent story in the SF Chronicle.

The President’s Advisory Committee on the Status of Women initiated the Women We Admire speaker series in 2009 to bring women to UCOP from around the system to share insights about their careers, workplace challenges and work–life balance.

Events are open to all members of the UCOP community, and both men and women are invited to learn more about how to make the most of working at UC. Find other speakers in the series and archived audio of past talks on the website.

Find out how you can move up the UCOP ladder at a brown bag power panel, “Navigating through UCOP: What opportunities do I have for growth?” on Wednesday, May 29, 12 to 1 p.m. in 5320 Franklin, sponsored by the Young Professionals Association (YPA).

Three UCOP staffers who have moved through UCOP and the UC system into leadership positions will share their experiences, talk about where they found their opportunities for growth and how UCOP has evolved during their tenure.

Panelists will be:

• John Fox, executive director of Local Human Resources
• Lynda Hilliard, deputy compliance officer in Ethics, Compliance & Audit Services
• Gigi Stollar, Business Resource Center team lead, Office of the Chief Financial Officer

Refreshments will be provided, but you are encouraged to bring your own lunch. Seating is limited to 35. If you’d like to attend, contact Milly Shiu at Milly.Shiu@ucop.edu to reserve your spot or to email any questions you have for the panelists (before Monday, May 27, please). Attendees are also encouraged to ask questions at the event.

The next power panel will be held Tuesday, Oct. 29.

A staff affinity group that supports the growth, learning and development of young and new professionals at UCOP, the YPA hosts professional development and networking programs as well as social events.

Their first power panel was held in January and they have previously hosted other events, including a financial planning workshop and monthly happy hours. The group is also raising $2,500 for Habitat for Humanity’s East Bay/Silicon Valley Chapter Build-a-Playhouse program.

YPA’s target audience is employees with 10 years or fewer of professional experience, but all UCOP staff are welcome to join and participate in events. Attend their monthly planning committee meetings, check out their website, or contact Chris Parmelee at Chris.Parmelee@ucop.edu or Ryan Chan at Ryan.Chan@ucop.edu.

If you are new to UCOP and/or handle travel reimbursement or procurement processes, don’t miss the Business Resource Center (BRC) open house, coming up this week, Wednesday, April 17, 2 to 4 p.m. in 512 Kaiser.

The open house is good for anyone whose job duties involve travel, travel arranging, invoice handling, events management and recharges, said BRC Team Lead Sharon Perry. It is particularly helpful for anyone new to UC but also an opportunity to refresh longtime OP employees.

At Wednesday’s event, Perry will review the new travel reimbursement form, how to write a “business purpose,” and answer questions about any of BRC’s processes and procedures and the UC policies that drive them.

BRC holds open houses throughout the year to review new and existing processes. If you are at a location other than Oakland, contact Marianne Lindquist at 510-987-0621 or Marianne.Lindquist@ucop.edu, and BRC will set up a conference call for your group.

If you can’t attend, see the wealth of information on the BRC website, or contact them directly.

If anyone has an insider’s view of the workings of the UC Office of the President, it would be Patricia Pelfrey. In her more than 30 years at UCOP, Pelfrey served as a member of the immediate staff to not one, not two . . . but five UC presidents.

Now a senior research associate at Berkeley’s Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE), Pelfrey will appear this Thursday, March 21, 12 to 1 p.m. in the Franklin Lobby 1 Conference Room, part of the President’s Speaker Series.

In her talk, entitled “Writing about UC Presidents,” she will discuss her recent book about UC’s 17th president, Entrepreneurial President: Richard Atkinson and the University of California 1995–2003 (UC Press, 2012).

“Atkinson’s administration was a highly eventful one that began with a governance crisis and ended with a spy controversy,” Pelfrey said. “In the course of writing about it, I became increasingly interested in the role of the president, the Office of the President and the history of the university. That’s the context in which I’ll be talking about my book.”

Pelfrey is also co-author (with Margaret Cheney) of A Brief History of the University of California (UC Press, 2004) and editor of The Pursuit of Knowledge: Speeches and Papers of Richard C. Atkinson (UC Press, 2007). She has also authored or co-authored papers on affirmative action, undergraduate admissions, industry–university relationships and other higher education topics.

In Pelfrey’s UCOP years before Atkinson became UC president, she worked under Charles J. Hitch (1968–75), David S. Saxon (1975–83), David P. Gardner (1983–92) and J.W. Peltason (1992–95). Upon her retirement from OP, she was granted the title Assistant to the President Emerita in recognition of her service to the university. She joined the CSHE in 2002.

Pelfrey holds a bachelor’s degree from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and received an M.A. in English literature from UC Berkeley. She is currently writing her doctoral thesis on early 19th-century ideas about education, learning and the nature of knowledge.

President Mark Yudof initiated the President’s Speaker Series in 2011 to showcase for UCOP staff the talent and public contributions of UC faculty, alumni and other prominent Californians in the areas of education, policy/politics and research.