The deadline for UCOP employees to comment on a revision to University of California Staff Policy 70, Complaint Resolution, is May 3. The revisions are proposed in order to clarify the process for resolving complaints made by employees in the Professional and Support Staff and Managers and Senior Professionals, salary grades I through VII personnel groups.

The revisions are intended to better define the rights and responsibilities of both the employee and the university during the complaint resolution process. New sections, intended to address common issues such as informal resolution and withdrawing a complaint, have also been added to the proposed policy.

The revised policy would replace Personnel Policies for Staff Members 70 (Complaint Resolution), dated March 1, 2000.

You can review the proposed policy online. Employees covered by this policy who wish to provide comments on the proposed revisions may submit them by 5 p.m. Thursday, May 3, to Michael Lum at michael.lum@ucop.edu.

Russell W. Rumberger, vice provost for education partnerships at UCOP, will speak as part of the President’s Speaker Series, Thursday, April 19, 12 to 1 p.m. in Franklin Lobby 1 Conference Room.

Next on the schedule for May 3 is Haile T. Debas, M.D., Director of the UC Global Health Institute and former chancellor and dean of medicine at UCSF, also 12 to 1 p.m. in Lobby 1.

Rumberger, who is also professor of education in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at UC Santa Barbara, will discuss his book, Dropping Out: Why Students Drop Out of High School and What Can Be Done About It, published last year by Harvard University Press and described as a “masterpiece” by Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews.

As vice provost, Rumberger is responsible for policies, programs and initiatives that produce high quality teachers for California and enhance the K through 12 and community college transfer pipelines to bachelor’s degrees and the workforce.

The President’s Speaker Series, “On California,” was initiated by President Mark Yudof last year to showcase the talent and public contributions of UC faculty, alumni and other prominent Californians in the areas of education, policy/politics and research.

Don’t miss out on great raffle prizes, including airline tickets and a spa outing, at the Connexxus Open House, April 12, 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. in Franklin’s Lobby 1 Conference Room.

Join the UC Travel Management Office, UCOP Travel Office and the Business Resource Center to learn more about the Connexxus travel program. Find out about UC’s preferred suppliers for air travel, car rental and hotel stays. There will also be demonstrations on booking airline travel through Connexxus as well as how to direct bill airfare.

Raffle tickets will be passed out to all attendees, one ticket per person. To enter you simply fill out your ticket (legibly, please) with your name and phone number; winners of the drawing need not be present.

Light refreshments will be served. Attendees can also sign up for the UC Travel email list, which alerts you to promotions available for UCOP travelers.

You can vote for UC — one of 18 finalists for the 2012 Climate Leadership Awards from the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) — by checking out the two-minute video online and clicking the thumbs-up icon in the blue box marked “vote.”

The deadline for voting is midnight Saturday, April 14. The video competition is cosponsored by Planet Forward, a project of the Center for Innovative Media at George Washington University (GWU), and Second Nature, a nonprofit organization that helps colleges and universities promote sustainability.

Now in their third year, the Climate Leadership Awards recognize campus innovation and excellence in climate leadership at ACUPCC member institutions. UC San Diego won the award in 2010, and UC Irvine won it in 2011.

All the finalists were asked to submit videos about their programs, and the top vote getters will be recognized at GWU’s upcoming Moving the Planet Forward conference. They will also be featured in various media, including The Huffington Post and National Geographic’s Great Energy Challenge blog.

In 2004, student leaders and UC administrators collaborated to adopt a comprehensive Policy on Sustainable Practices, which set ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent, purchasing 20 percent sustainable food and sending zero waste to landfills by the year 2020.

Toward these goals, UC has already earned 87 LEED certifications and is saving $32 million annually on its utility bills, thanks to energy efficiency investments. You can find out more about UC’s sustainability and projects on specific campuses on the Sustainability at UC website.