Dear faculty colleagues,
Welcome back! I hope you were able to enjoy a restorative break from work. By now, you should have seen a note about remote learning for the first two weeks of class for this upcoming spring semester. I wanted to share a few faculty development opportunities as well as resources and important information to help support faculty and students as we all embark on the start of the semester.
ā——
Call for Nominations and Applications for Faculty Ombuds
We are seeking nominations for the next Faculty Ombuds, an office that provides faculty a prompt and professional way to resolve concerns and conflicts beyond turning to their supervisors. Nominations of prospective ombuds are highly encouraged and should be submitted to Faculty Affairs no later than Monday, January 24. The application should be submitted online no later than Monday, January 31. To learn more about the two-year appointment and submit an application or nomination, visit the position announcement here.Ā
COVID-19 Exposure Guide
The linked chart provides guidance on what to do if exposed to someone with COVID-19 during an in-person course or lab or, of course, anywhere. The instructions vary based on whether youāre vaccinated and boosted or not vaccinated. We recommend a mask and social distancing during in-person instruction and interactions.
Guidance for Faculty Living with Immunocompromised Dependents
Individual faculty and staff members should submit their requests for accommodations for their own medical conditions through theāÆADA accommodation process. And UT is continuing to offer flexible teaching modality arrangements for faculty living with household members who have at least one of the following conditions which increases the risk of severe disease from COVID-19:
- Solid organ transplants or stem cell transplants;
- Currently in cycle for chemotherapy or cancers associated with immune deficiency (leukemias and lymphomas);
- Chronic inflammatory diseases treated with systemic corticosteroid therapy > 20mg prednisone daily, immunomodulator medications, and/or biologic agents;
- Primary immune deficiency disorders;
- ImmuneĀ deficiencies due to HIV infection;
- Sickle cell disease;
- Surgical asplenia.
Faculty may make their request for a flexible teaching modality arrangementāÆhere.
Flexible Accommodations for Students
Unfortunately, there are still significant processing delays for studentsā disability accommodation requests. This means that students with verified disabilities might not have been able to schedule an intake appointment that leads to formal approval of their necessary accommodations. We strongly encourage faculty to continue adopting flexible accommodations for students who are still unable to secure intake appointments with SSD. Please consider using the ideas for best supporting our students that were offered by our Services for Students with Disabilities team in an email that they recently disseminated. In addition, Provost Wood sent a message earlier this week with recommendations for how to operationalize flexible instructional practices and we hope that you will consider incorporating those into your teaching. You can find the provostās recent message here.
Updated Mental Health Resource Guide
The UT Counseling and Mental Health Center (CMHC) is dedicated to providing a wide variety of high-quality and accessible mental health services to help all Longhorns succeed. We sent a one-pager with mental health resources in December and it has been updated with information about SHIFT, an initiative aimed at changing the culture around substance use on campus.
Download Updated Resource Guide
Reminder: New Syllabus Content Webpage and Template Available
We published a new website, Your Syllabus at UT Austin, to provide a central repository for required and suggested verbiage to include in syllabi. The webpage lists required content, highly recommended content, and wording or resources for other content that you might want to include in your own syllabi. We also created an optional template that you can customize that also includes required wording for all of the common disclosures. This website was created in collaboration with all of the relevant offices across campus, including Services for Students with Disabilities, Student Conduct and Academic Integrity, Student Affairs, Legal Affairs, the Faculty Innovation Center, etc. We welcome feedback through this Syllabus Feedback Link.
Zoom and Hybrid Teaching
The university has observed Wi-Fi bandwidth issues in classrooms where students attending in person are also joining by Zoom. While the campus Wi-Fi infrastructure is robust, it was not designed to accommodate large numbers of students/users to be in classrooms while logged into Zoom. If possible, please encourage your students who are attending class in person to refrain from also joining the class via Zoom. This will help to maintain the reliability of our network on campus.
Texas Teach-Up
On February 9 and 10, Texas Teach-Up will take place for the observation of Spring 2022 course instruction. Instructors will have the opportunity to observe both in-person and virtual undergraduate courses across many disciplines and will also have opportunities to reflect on the intersections between the course observed and their own current and upcoming courses. You can learn more and find the schedule here.
Course Packet Support
As part of your coursework planning, we encourage preparation of digital textbooks, reading packets, etc., for the coming semester. You can add digital textbooks, in most cases, via the University Co-op. And both the Co-op and Document Solutions website can offer digital course packets (including permissions and royalty handling). For materials needed this semester, you can work directly with Document Solutions at two on campus locations – G 14 in SSW, 3.316 in GSB and the JON (Law School) – from January 13 to 21.
Early Career Fellows Program Applications Deadline Extended – Tuesday, January 18
We encourage you to apply to host Early Career Fellows in the second cohort of this program, to join us next fall. Proposal guidelines and other information can be found here and interested departments are invited to contact Dr. Lydia Contreras or Faith Miller with questions. Please visit the website for more information.
Faculty Search Committee Workshops
There are only three remaining virtual Part 2 dates for spring semester, 2022 on the following dates: January 14, January 24, and February 4.Ā If you are serving on a search committee this year and have not yet completed Part 2 of the workshop, you can sign up here. Part 1 of the workshop (course materials) will remain available throughout the Spring. Please see the inclusive recruiting newsletter from the Diversity team for updates and best practices for hiring. You can contact Dr. Grayson Hunt with any questions.
Please reach out with any faculty-related questions to the Faculty Affairs team. For COVID-19-related questions, please continue to check the Protect Texas Together website for the latest information and guidance. Wishing you the best for the upcoming spring semester.
Stay well,
Tasha Beretvas