BFS August 2023 Newsletter

Updates From

IN THIS ISSUE

CALENDAR // BIRTHDAYS

MILESTONES // NEW HIRES

EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION

STUDENT EVENTS ON CAMPUS

AUGUST SAFETY TIPS

BFS YELP

CONTACT

BIRTHDAYS

Christina Chang

Richardson Evaldez

Humberto Martin

Peter Hendrickson

Todd Lynch

Linda O’Reilly

Kathleen Seiple

Jacqueline Logan

Victor De La Torre

Trent Allen

Alexi Lee

Anthony Rice

David Smith

Kristine Velez

Julia Wang

Asriel Flores

Kay Fukuda

Milan Raskovich

Jennifer Avila

Asriel Flores

Carmen Pena

Sarah Contreas

Hui Liao

Mushfiqur Chowdhury

Ricardo Gonzalez

Frank Mark-Kossow

Tiara Biard

Paul Lorrin

HOLIDAYS

Assumption of Mary || August 15

Raksha Bandhan || August 20

Skylar Wenzel

Elizabeth Radovsky

Karina Marquez-Jimenez

Andrew Torres

Miesha Wright

Abi Arevalo

Anuroop Pantula

Durga Papineni

Laura Baker

Jerrod Clark

Allen Shui

Bianca Caulfield

Joel Santiago

Evelyn Grundeen

Milestones

15years of service

What is one of your proudest accomplishments?

Scott Monatlik (Tax Services) — My greatest life accomplishment is being Dad to my two daughters. They are 5 and 7 years old. Being their father has brought excitement, joy and perspective into my life. I’m very lucky and proud.

Nadiyah Hurd (Payment Solutions & Compliance) — One of my greatest accomplishments is managing my time e ectively, which allows for a great work-life balance.

What’s one thing you’re trying to make a habit of?

5 year

Ruth Arnush (IRM) — There are so many things I try to make a better habit of: drinking more water, playing the piano regularly, reading more (for pleasure) and returning calls/emails on the day I receive them. The first three I do to improve myself. I try to return calls and emails on the day I receive them to provide excellent customer service to employees and campus colleagues when there is a question, concern or need related to workplace accommodations.

What’s one thing you’re trying to make a habit of?

5 years of service

Monica Gatdula (Financial Reporting & Mgmt — This may sound like a New Year’s Resolution but trust me, it’s not! Currently, I am trying to make a habit of being active for at least 30 minutes daily, may it be hopping on the bike or walking with my son and dog. By doing these activities, not only does it provide physical benefits, but more importantly, I found that I have increased energy, lessened stress and improved mood. Being a mom of a toddler, these things are very important and much needed!

David Chen (Accounts Payable) — One habit I’m trying to adopt is replacing “screen time” with more productive and enriching activities. For example, my previous nightly routine consisted of two hours of TV, followed by an hour of scrolling through social media before bed. Now, I will go for a walk and do some reading before turning in for the night.

Welcome Aboard

Fun Fact: I am a very creative person. Out of all the creative outlets I take part in, I am a seamstress at heart. I’ve had the honor of making everything from wedding dresses to christening gowns to drapes and crib bedding. During the height of the pandemic, I was able to make ends meet by making personalized face masks for people. They spread the word on social media and I had several orders daily.

How would you use your extra time if you had 25 hours a day?: I’d probably spend more time behind my sewing machine or crocheting. It’s how I recharge.

What led you to this career?: I’ve always enjoyed working with people. When the opportunity presented itself for me to take on a position as a Safety Supervisor, it felt natural. I wanted to make a di erence that showed. The safety of others is something that is easily put on the back burner when companies think about their goals. Showing leadership that creating a safe environment to work in helped me make an undeniable impact for everyone.

What advice would you give to your teen self?: Believe in yourself. Like so many others, I haven’t always believed in myself, and I know that has a ected my progress. But, I am a too late. I look forward to learning more and growing my career with UCLA.

Fun Fact: I am a child of weather — snow, rain, fog, ice, doesn’t matter! I loved the climate in Seattle. When living in Boston, New York and Oregon, I loved to shovel snow. Driving a Zamboni is on my bucket list.

How would you use your extra time if you had 25 hours a day?: I would spend it outdoors.

What led you to this career?: I wanted to shape and enhance the build environment for people.

What advice would you give to your teen self?: Don’t take things so seriously.

Alma Garcia IRM

Elisa Pittner Capital Programs

What do people say about Peter?

Employee Recognition ,

for going above and beyond accomplishing extraordinary results for the University.

‣ Peter has helped his teammates that aren’t tech-savvy to respond to other managers in a prompt manner. Even though he’s a manager, he also pushes carts with the guys when our mail volume is heavy. He also provides professional advice to teammates who seek his input, and he always seems to have the answer.

Spirit Award — for energy, positive attitude, and heartfelt actions that create a better work environment

What do people say about

Liliana Martinez,

MDDS

‣ Liliana is always volunteering for Capital Programs parties, events, Bruin Day, and motivates our sta to volunteer for events. She also motivates the entire department, cheerleading for our team and being an advocate for Capital Programs.

Hidden Figure Award — for work behind-the-scenes that provides exceptional value to the team

What do people say about

‣ Veronica has stepped up to provide additional coverage in-person within the past month and with this upcoming month. She’s been of great assistance, supporting departments with MIDs and managing communication related to check scanners.

Outstanding Student — for students whose work add value to the workplace

What do people say about Selina?

‣ Selina is smart, dependable and resourceful. She is currently helping remove aged invoices within our system as part of AP’s H&I Resolution Project. Selina already deleted at least 500 invoices and continues to fill an important role in AP’s H&I resolution e orts. Thank you, Selina!

Selina Vuong, Accounts Payable

Events on Campus

CLA Chancellor Gene Block, who has been chancellor of UCLA since 2007, will retire at the end of the 2023-2024 academic year. Block received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Stanford University and also earned a master’s and doctorate degree in psychology from the University of Oregon. He will remain at UCLA to research biological timing as a faculty member. Prior to coming to UCLA, Block spent 29 years at the University of Virginia, serving as vice president and provost, vice president for research and public service and founding director of the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center in Biological Timing. The UC O ce of the President will soon launch a national search for the campus’s next chancellor.

There’s a new app called DownTo marketed by two students that allow Bruins to connect across campus and Westwood. DownTo is a location-based social media platform that notifies users when their friends are in the same area as they are. Drona Sharma, a lead UCLA ambassador of the app, said there are currently around 2,000 active users with about 16,000 downloads. Starting in the fall, individuals can use the app to make plans such as studying or eating with friends and other users, according to Sanjum Dhaliwal, the other lead UCLA ambassador of the app. The app also features group chats for di erent campus buildings and other places in Westwood such as Rocco’s Tavern. Individuals in the area will automatically be added to the group chat by the app. Additionally, the app is being launched at 40 colleges across the United States and Canada.

Read the full article here

Daily Bruin file photo

Read the full article here

Daily Bruin file photo

August Safety Tips

August 2023

Back to School Safety

By Jerry Wilson (IRM)

As summer draws to a close and children start heading back to school, family life can get pretty hectic. It’s important to remember—and share with your children—some key tips that will help keep them safe and healthy throughout the school year.

Transportation Safety Tips

Whether children walk, ride their bicycle or take the bus to school, it is extremely important that they take proper safety precautions. Here are some tips to make sure your child safely travels to school:

Walkers:

‣ Walk on the sidewalk, if one is available; when on a street with no sidewalk, walk facing the tra c

‣ Before your cross the street, stop and look left, right and left again to see if cars are coming

‣ Make eye contact with drivers before crossing and always cross streets at crosswalks or intersections

Bike Riders:

‣ Ride on the right side of the road, with tra c, and in a single file

‣ Come to a complete stop before crossing the street; walk bikes across the street

‣ Make sure your child always wears a properly fitted helmet and bright clothing

For more tips, check this out: School Safety Checklist

BFS

Asteroid City (2023)

The film follows a writer who travels with his tech-obsessed family to small rural Asteroid City to compete in a junior stargazing event, only to have his world view disrupted forever.

Recommended by BFS

Watch More

Stolen Focus by Johann Hari — In the United States, teenagers can focus on one task for only sixty-five seconds at a time, and o ce workers average only three minutes. Like so many of us, Johann Hari was finding that constantly switching from device to device and tab to tab was a diminishing and depressing way to live. So Hari went on an epic journey across the world to interview the leading experts on human attention-and he discovered that everything we think we know about this crisis is wrong. We think our inability to focus is a personal failure to exert enough willpower over our devices. The truth is even more disturbing: our focus has been stolen by powerful external forces that have left us uniquely vulnerable to corporations determined to raid our attention for profit. Hari found that there are twelve deep causes of this crisis, from the decline of mind-wandering to rising pollution, all of which have robbed some of our attention.

Tags: Nonfiction, Self-Help, Psychology

Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte — For the first time in history, we have instantaneous access to the world’s knowledge. There has never been a better time to learn, to contribute, and to improve ourselves. Yet, rather than feeling empowered, we are often left feeling overwhelmed by this constant influx of information. The very knowledge that was supposed to set us free has instead led to the paralyzing stress of believing we’ll never know or remember enough. Now, this eye-opening and accessible guide shows how you can easily create your own personal system for knowledge management, otherwise known as a Second Brain. A Second Brain gives you the confidence to tackle your most important projects and ambitious goals.

Tags: Nonfiction, Productivity, Self-Help

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafuka — Ansel Packer is scheduled to die in twelve hours. He knows what he’s done, and now awaits execution, the same chilling fate he forced on those girls, years ago. But Ansel doesn’t want to die; he wants to be celebrated, understood. He hoped it wouldn’t end like this, not for him. Through a kaleidoscope of women—a mother, a sister, a homicide detective—we learn the story of Ansel’s life. We meet his mother, Lavender, a seventeen-year-old girl pushed to desperation; Hazel, twin sister to Ansel’s wife, inseparable since birth, forced to watch helplessly as her sister’s relationship threatens to devour them all; and finally, Sa y, the homicide detective hot on his trail, who has devoted herself to bringing bad men to justice but struggles to see her own life clearly. As the clock ticks down, these three women sift through the choices that culminate in tragedy, exploring the rippling fissures that such destruction inevitably leaves in its wake.

Tags: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley — Kiara and her brother, Marcus, are scraping by in an East Oakland apartment complex optimistically called the Regal-Hi. Both have dropped out of high school, their family fractured by death and prison. But while Marcus clings to his dream of rap stardom, Kiara hunts for work to pay their rent--which has more than doubled--and to keep the nine-year-old boy next door, abandoned by his mother, safe and fed. One night, what begins as a drunken misunderstanding with a stranger turns into the job Kiara never imagined wanting but now desperately needs: nightcrawling. Her world breaks open even further when her name surfaces in an investigation that exposes her as a key witness in a massive scandal within the Oakland Police Department.

Tags: Fiction, Contemporary

LUNCH/DINNER

Garlic Butter Shrimp w/ Asparagus

This garlic butter shrimp recipe is delicious and cooks super quickly—the easiest and most flavorpacked shrimp ever!

Prep Time 10 Min. Servings 4 Cook Time 10 Min.

Ingredients

‣ 1 1/2 lbs (700 g) medium raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

‣ 1 1/2 lbs (700 g) asparagus (1 bunch) rinsed and trimmed

‣ 3 tbsp butter

‣ 1 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

‣ 5 clove garlic, minced

‣ 1 tsp Italian seasoning

‣ 2 tsp onion powder

‣ Salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste

‣ 1/4 cup (60 ml) vegetable stock

1. Place a large non-stick skillet with 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter over medium heat. Add the asparagus and season to taste. Saute the asparagus until crisptender, 4-6 minutes. Remove the sauteed asparagus from the pan and set aside.

2. In the same pan, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and add shrimp. Season with salt and pepper, fry shrimp for 1-2 minutes on one side.

3. Add the minced garlic, Italian seasoning, and onion powder to the shrimp. Stir to combine and flip the shrimp to cook on the opposite side. Cook shrimp for 1 minute then add 1/4 cup vegetable stock and Sriracha. Allow the sauce to reduce for 1 minute, making sure not to overcook the shrimp.

‣ 1 tbsp sriracha (or any hot sauce of choice)

‣ Crushed chili pepper flakes (optional)

‣ Juice of 1/2 lemon

‣ Fresh chopped parsley or cilantro, for garnishing

Author: Christina Cherrier

4. Push the cooked shrimp on the side and add asparagus back to the pan. Stir asparagus to coat them into the sauce and squeeze half of a lemon over the top of the cooked shrimp and asparagus. Allow reheating for 1-2 minutes. Remove cooked shrimp and asparagus from heat, garnish with parsley, lemon slices, and red crushed chili pepper if you like. Serve with asparagus immediately.

You can save time when cooking asparagus by blanching them first in boiling water for 2 minutes then soaking them in ice water.