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UC Spotlight: September 2024

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Panda Express mascot with children and UC Davis Health leadership and staff at the UC Davis Panda Cares Center of Hope
UC Davis Health leadership and staff celebrated the opening of the Panda Center of Hope at the UC Davis Children’s Hospital.

Our monthly UC Spotlight celebrates the UC locations, teams and individual staff members who are helping to make UC a great place to work. Fiat Lux!

Individual, team and group recognitions

UC Davis Health staff pose with backpacks and a commemorative check

UC Davis Health employees donated 900+ new backpacks to children who are unhoused, at-risk or living in foster care in the Sacramento and Reno areas. 

Matt Ustaszewski

Matt Ustaszewski brought his skills to the Summer Olympics in Paris where his coaching skills helped the U.S. men’s water polo team earn a bronze medal!

Promise Scholars celebrate graduation at UC Santa Barbara

NASH awarded seven programs at six UC locations with Catalyst Foundation awards in recognition of innovative practices that enhance affordability and support equitable access for students. 

Andrea Rivera, Emmanuel Onyema, Taylor Hearron, Luz Flores, Maryann Estrada, Elias Uribe

UC Davis food service workers are training to become cooks, one delicious dish at a time.

Robert Gore

Robert Gore was named UCLA’s 2024 Librarian of the Year!

Adeli Duron speaking

Adelí Durón shared the progress of the UC Irvine Latinx Resource Center and her experience as its leader, in recognition of the center’s fifth anniversary.

Patty Maysent

UC leaders from several locations were recognized by Becker’s Hospital Review for exemplary performance as CEOs, CFOs and supply chain leaders.

Image of monster and human playing video games

UCOP Communications won several UCDA Design Awards for their top-notch videos, websites, photography and art.

Nurit Katz holding a falcoln

Nurit Katz’s shared how her love for nature and birds has informed her career as UCLA’s first chief sustainability officer.

UCSB Conference & Hospitality Services team

The UC Santa Barbara Conference and Hospitality Services team celebrated 50 years of summer programming.

Chequeta Allen

UCSF Assistant Dean Chequeta Allen created a program to support postdoc students, from nutritional food to sustainable personal finance. 

Nick Wilson

Nick Wilson shared their journey of transitioning from their legal name to their lived name in the workplace.

Joe Way

Joe Way shared his vision for boosting digital infrastructure at UCLA, from classrooms to residences to social spaces.

UC Riverside Health  doctors meet with community members

UC Riverside Health partnered with Path of Life Ministries to provide free health screenings to community members in need during a back-to-school event.

Samson Blackwell explained how he’s working to find future UC employees — and why he loves being a Triton.

UC Irvine women’s soccer coach Danielle de Seriere donates platelets

UC Irvine Women’s Soccer coach Danielle de Seriere was among the first donors at the new platelet donor center inside the UC Irvine Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Campus, multicampus and location recognitions

Sarah Lagattuta, Janna Freeman, and Christine Kreuder Johnson of UC Davis One Health Institute set up to record video and audio data of wildlife at a wetland in California's Sacramento Valley.

UC Davis will lead the new U.S. National Science Foundation Center for Pandemic Insights. The center’s goal is to harness new technologies and develop sensing to detect, investigate, and ultimately prevent pandemics at their source.

UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center

The UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center earned national accreditation from the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer.

UC Irvine Outpatient Imaging Center

UC Irvine Health celebrated the opening of the new state-of-the-art Outpatient Imaging Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Maria Ventura and her son, Karim, walk through a field

Staff at the Center for WorkLife Law at UC Law SF have received a $150,000 grant that will allow them to expand programs and resources to help pregnant farmworkers access paid leave and avoid pesticide exposure. 

UC Davis Health doctor treating a patient

UC Davis Health was recognized with the NRC Health Consumer Loyalty Best in Class Award for cultivating and maintaining long-lasting loyalty among their patients and the communities they serve.

Interior of the Tropical House at the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden

The UC Berkeley Botanical Garden is celebrating the reopening of its famous Tropical House after a $2.3M renovation that had required its closure for four years.

Panda Express mascot with children and UC Davis Health leadership and staff at the UC Davis Panda Cares Center of Hope

The UC Davis Children’s Hospital opened a Panda Cares Center of Hope, which will provide more resources and space for the dedicated staff who give children courage and strength through their hospitalization.

Veteran Cyntrea Cotton holding a plant in the garden

UCLA Health staff are volunteering at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center to revitalize the Veterans Garden.

Doctor at UC Davis

UC Davis Health has been designated a Center of Excellence by the Wilson Disease Association. It is one of only 11 hospitals in the world to receive this distinction and joins UCLA Health among the eight in the U.S.

UC Irvine Health transplant team

UC Irvine Medical Center celebrated its 200th kidney transplant, which was, according to transplant surgery Chief Dr. Robert Redfield III, “a reflection of the dedication and the hard work and commitment of everyone here.”

Dr. Alexopoulos performing a surgery

UC Davis Health is celebrating the first anniversary of its liver transplant program. During this first year, doctors performed 41 liver transplants — far surpassing the initial goal of 12-14 — with 100% patient survival and graft survival rates.

Submit your achievements!

UC Spotlight honors workplaces, teams and individual staff members that make UC a great place to work. To send a recognition or achievement for consideration, email the relevant URL to ucnetwork@universityofcalifornia.edu. Please note that UC Spotlight is intended to reflect staff-specific achievements; to that end, we do not accept recognitions that are student, faculty or alumni-related. Submissions are chosen for publication at the editor’s discretion. Funding and promotion/hiring announcements are not appropriate for this feature.

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