ABA NEWS
Donation Drive Yields Big Returns for California Wildfire Victims
In early August, employees of the Bursar's Office came together to help wildfire victims from the Carr Fire in Redding, CA.
Donations included non-perishable goods, including canned and boxed foods, as well as household family items like diapers, toothbrushes, and basic medicines.
Administrator 1, Nicole Rogers of the Bursar's Office explained how she started the drive: "I saw a Facebook posting from the Wilton Firefighters Association. I knew that this was something our office could pull together in a short period of time," said Rogers. "I sent out a text to our staff on Saturday night and collected the donations through Thursday."
The recent Carr Fire near Redding, CA, has destroyed over 1000 homes spanning over 180 square miles, as of August 1, 2018. The severity of the fires makes the efforts from the Bursar's office that much more deserving of praise.
"These goods are meant for the victims of the Carr fire. The donations will be collected and delivered by the End of Watch Fund in partnership with the Wilton Firefighters Association," explained Rogers. "There are so many fires going on in our state. We felt we needed to do our part to help those that have been affected. This donation drive was easy and a fast way to get the victims what they need."
If you would like to help the victims of the Carr Fire, consider donating to the Shasta Regional Community Foundation: http://www.shastarcf.org/funds/cdrf or the United Way: https://www.norcalunitedway.org/CARRfire.
Parking Structure Five is Completed and Now Open!
Earlier this spring, the long awaited PS5 was finally completed. This new structure will help alleviate parking concerns on campus for faculty, staff, and students. The six-story structure boasts over 1200 spaces and includes parking for electric vehicles.
Accounting Technician II, Candace Ensley, described a simple benefit during this hot summer season "I love parking in the new structure because my vehicle is cool when I get in at the end of the day! No more burning my hands on a sunbaked steering wheel!"
The new parking structure did see several delays. However, students, faculty, and staff are now enjoying additional parking in one of the highest in-demand locations: the north end of campus. The new structure also utilizes technology to help notify commuters of parking space allocations. "I greatly appreciate the notification of how many parking slots are open as soon as you enter the garage and the color coding for different personnel," said Administrative Analyst/Specialist, France Palu.
Despite all of the positives the parking structure brings us, there have been some slight headaches to get used to. During a recent Business Partner's Round Table meeting, several attendees mentioned that some drivers do not appear to know how to use the roundabout, located near the main entrance of the structure. Director of University Transportation & Parking Services (UTAPS), Tony Lucas, replied that the roundabout contains all of the necessary and legal signage, but acknowledged that some drivers may still be getting used to the feature. He emphasized one key point: "cars in the roundabout have the right-of-way." Hopefully with time, drivers will remember this rule.
"All the feedback from employees has been positive so far," said Assisant to the Director, Freddy Orozco. "I haven’t received any complaints." Freddy did, however, address that we haven't yet seen how the Parking Structure will operate under full load once the semester begins. "We still don’t know how the campus community is going to handle the roundabout on Arboretum Way at peak times." To help address this, UTAPS is planning to man the roundabout with traffic officers during the first week of the fall semester. Drive safe everyone!
New Name, Same Great Office and Services
ABA's Reprographics Services and Mail Services offices have been officially renamed to University Print and University Mail, respectively. Collectively, they will be known as University Print & Mail.
This name change coincides with their parent department-level name change as well. Two years ago, the former offices of Reprographics Services and Mail Services were combined, organizationally, with University Transportation & Parking Services (UTAPS). A search began to find a name that best emcompassed the wide variety of services of these three offices performed. The name finally chosen was University Support Services.
To publicize their name change, University Print & Mail hosted a presentation at the Business Partners Round Table meeting in August. Their new contact information is as follows:
Email: universityprint@csus.edu / universitymail@csus.edu
Web: www.csus.edu/aba/university-print / www.csus.edu/aba/university-mail
