Staff Celebration week is set for May 18-22, and a variety of activities will honor staff members for their hard work and dedication to the campus. Among the events are the Staff Ice Cream Social, hosted by Staff Assembly; the Chancellor’s Luncheon, at which Staff Citation of Excellence Awards will be presented; the Professional Women’s Association’s annual conference; and the 2009 Staff Cookie Contest. Highlighting the week will be a talk by motivational speaker and internationally acclaimed author Jack Canfield, of “Chicken Soup for the Soul” fame.

The annual event kicks off with the Ice Cream Social on Monday, May 18, in the Cheadle Courtyard. Senior administrators, including Chancellor Henry T. Yang, will be serving up scoops to deserving staff from noon to 1 p.m.

On Tuesday, Canfield will discuss “The Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be” at 12:15 p.m. in Corwin Pavilion. He will offer a powerful presentation on tackling daily challenges, living with passion and purpose, and realizing ambitions, no matter what the circumstances. He will be available for book signing and photographs immediately following the lecture.

The celebration week continues on Wednesday with the Professional Women’s Association’s 13th annual conference from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Loma Pelona. The topic is “Empowering Women to Be the Architects of Change.”

The Cookie Contest will take place at noon on Thursday in 2001 Engineering Science Building. Bakers extraordinaire who would like to put their favorite cookie recipes to the test should contact Julie Luera at julie@engineering.ucsb.edu no later than Friday, May 15.

Later in the day on Thursday, staff members will have an opportunity to mingle with one another at the Staff Social from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. in Mosher Alumni House.

The week will conclude on Friday with the Chancellor’s Luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the Faculty Club Green.

Staff Celebration week is sponsored by the Chancellor’s Staff Advisory Council.