Dear faculty colleagues,
I feel like the summer has dragged on while oddly still flying by and now the fall semester is officially upon us. Through these continuing changes and challenges, I encourage you to build a sense of community with others both for yourself and for them (as safely as you can given social distancing requirements). There have been several communications encouraging engagement with students to ensure they feel a strong sense of community. Please also remember to connect with your faculty and staff colleagues as well. In particular, in addition to the colleagues who were already part of the UT community, please reach out to our new faculty members of all titles and ranks. Share information and resources and connect them with faculty colleagues and staff as well as with both undergraduate and graduate students. Remember that random encounters through face-to-face meetings on campus cannot happen as easily in this hybrid, online-heavy environment.
Below please find important information needed to prepare for fall semester.
Masks Reminder
Masks are mandatory when teaching in-person both for the instructor and for the students. Faculty can reach out to their dean or department chair to obtain a clear mask if needed for instructors working with anyone who might need to access oral communication through lipreading.
Childcare
NEW! Part-Time Childcare Opportunity
To support the members of our community still seeking childcare options, the university has partnered with two child care centers near campus that are now offering additional options for UT employees. Enrollment is on a first come, first served basis and includes part-time childcare options for school-aged children attending kindergarten through 5th grade in 2020-21. Read the full message from the Child Development Center for more information.
CDC Openings for Childcare (Toddler through 4-year-olds)
The UT Child Development Center currently has about 100 full-time childcare openings for the upcoming fall semester for toddler through 4-year old children. Interested parents should reach out directly to Hara Cootes, the CDC Director as soon as possible.
Locating Child and Dependent Care Resources
As an additional care resource, faculty parents could look into Lifecare. Lifecare is a free service available to all UT benefits-eligible employees and, among other services, can provide information about and personalized referrals for care (both child and elder-care) providers. Faculty and their eligible dependents can use the services as often as needed. The only required costs are the fees associated with the providers or resources selected. Find more information here.
Texas Career Engagement also offered the following list of external child and dependent care selection resources that might help connect parents with caregiving applicants:
Note: we are not in a position to officially endorse these sites and are instead sharing these opportunities in case they might be useful.
TA/AI Support
Remember to connect with your TA/AIs about the upcoming semester to ensure that they feel supported and connected and that they understand their instructor roles. And please be flexible with their health concerns and needs. The Graduate School has been sending regular communications to the graduate student community with information and guidance for TAs and AIs. You can read the most recent one here.
Class Registration
Similar to any more typical semester, some students like to check out (“shop for”) different classes before their registration is finalized. Please offer this opportunity to interested students as you normally would while recognizing that they should participate remotely (online) given the stretched in-person classroom capacity.
Above all else, thank you for all that you have tackled this long, hard summer. I hope that each of you has somehow managed to and will continue to find some moments of relaxation and even joy.
If you have any faculty-related questions, concerns, and solutions please feel free to contact the Faculty Affairs team. We’re here to support you in any way we can.
Stay well,
Tasha Beretvas