Come learn skills for coping with stress at a lunchtime brown bag with Ofra Eldor, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. The free event is at noon, Wednesday, April 21 in Room 12322 of the Franklin Building.

In a few short hours, volunteers transformed plots of waist-high weeds into beds filled with lettuce, herbs, squash, strawberries, tomatoes and more. Click here to see a slideshow of the day.

The Level Playing Field Institute will talk about its internship program, and how UCOP departments can connect with their scholars, at a noon, brown-bag talk April 15 in Franklin, Room 10325. This talk is sponsored by UCOP Cares.

Please join Health Sciences in expressing congratulations and best wishes to Gwen M. Allamby, who will be retiring on April 16, 2010 from the Division of Health Sciences and Services after a combined State and University of California service of more than 30 years.

UCOP Cares needs a few more volunteers Friday, April 16 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., to help plant a vegetable garden at Frick Middle School in Oakland. Contact Chen Yin Noah

UCOP Risk Services/Environment Health & Safety is offering a specialized ergonomic training class, “Sitting Safe”, on April 21 at 415 20th st, room 302. Three sessions are available. Read more for additional details.

Don't forget that UCOP offices will be closed for a furlough day Friday, April 16. Employees who have already used all their furlough time, and those employees who are exempt from the program, should make arrangements with their managers or supervisors to use vacation time, leave without pay, or comp time, during the closure.

The Office of Risk Services is looking at ways to expand the program so that more employees can participate.

After a holiday of nearly 20 years, UC and employee members of the UC Retirement Plan (UCRP) will begin contributing to the plan in mid-April in order to sustain and preserve faculty and staff pension benefits. Get the facts here.