Faculty Affairs Update – Feb. 10

Dear faculty colleagues,

I hope that you’re staying warm and well on these almost-wintery days. We have a series of announcements, deadlines and resources to share this week. Please review and share with your colleagues if any of the opportunities seem appropriate for them.

 


New Military/Veteran Faculty and Staff Association

The UT Austin Military/Veteran Faculty and Staff Association is seeking faculty members to join this effort to create a new official university resource group for veterans, military members, and military affiliates at UT.  If you are interested in joining, please fill out this form.

UT Austin Sidney E. Mezes Award- Nomination Deadline April 18, 2022

Each year the Sidney E. Mezes Faculty Donation Committee recommends monetary awards to provide financial support for faculty members who may be in need of assistance due to unexpected circumstances, such as an illness, accident or other calamity. Faculty experiencing a hardship may self-nominate, and/or their colleagues are encouraged to submit nominations. To find out more about the award, apply, or nominate a colleague, please visit the faculty awards website or email facultyawards@utexas.edu.

Deadline Approaching: Teaching Award Nominations – February 11, 2022

Nominations for the William David Blunk Memorial Professorship, Dads’ Association Centennial Teaching Fellowships, and Joe and Bettie Branson Ward Endowed Excellence Award are due to Faculty Affairs by this Friday, February 11, 2022. For more information on the awards, visit the website or contact your college contact for nomination information. 

Accepting Nominations – OpEd Project Public Voices Fellowship

The Board of The OpEd Project Public Voices Fellowship at UT invites nominations for the eighth cohort of the Public Voices Fellows. This fellowship was created by the OpEd project to help accelerate the dissemination of ideas and public impact of under-represented thought leaders through enhanced radio, television, and print media publications and appearances. Here is an impact report with testimonials and results from last year’s participants.

The deadline for submitting nominations – for yourself and others – is Monday, February 28, 2022. You can learn more about the program here.

Accessibility Training Opportunity on February 16th at 9 am

Microsoft PowerPoint and Word applications have embedded features that can make your presentations and documents accessible to disabled colleagues, students, and community members? There will be a brief training on accessibility and Microsoft PowerPoint and Word for the UT Austin community.

Date: Wednesday, February 16th from 9-10am.

Training Link: https://utexas.zoom.us/j/8089606171

The meeting will also be recorded.

Texas Global Publication Fund Launched; Grant Deadlines Approaching

Texas Global is pleased to announce the Texas Global Publication Fund, a grant for faculty members seeking to publish original work in a non-English language. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and reviewed quarterly beginning Apr. 25.

Additionally, Texas Global is currently accepting proposals for the following opportunities:

Please share broadly and/or consider applying for these awards. For any questions, contact txglobal-grants@austin.utexas.edu.

Reminder of our University Ombuds’ Services

Many of you might be familiar with the Office of the Faculty Ombuds and that it assists faculty with any work-related difficulty, including interpersonal conflict or misunderstandings, as well as academic or administrative concerns. However, this just a reminder that UT also has separate Ombuds offices dedicated to students and staff. The Office of the University Ombuds for Students and Staff works with undergraduate and graduate students, staff, and postdocs to provide conflict resolution services. They can help answer questions about university policy, provide conflict and communication coaching, and even listen to visitors about their university-related conflicts. If you’re working with students or staff who are looking for information to talk about their concerns and to explore their options, please refer them to the Ombuds office. They can be reached via email (utombuds@austin.utexas.edu) or phone (512-471-3825) to set up a consultation or to answer any questions that you may have for us.

Transforming Graduate Education with Leonard Cassuto on March 3rd at 12 pm

You’re invited to join a discussion with Leonard Cassuto on how our ecosystem of graduate students, postdocs, faculty and staff can work together to transform graduate education, to better prepare PhD students for the future of work. Dr. Cassuto is the author of the book, The New PhD: How to Build a Better Graduate Education (2021), which examines and analyzes previous reforms and efforts and proposes unique innovations to graduate programs. The event will be held in person and via Zoom.

For those who attend in person, lunch will be served. Fifty books have been purchased for attendees.

Date: Thursday, March 3rd 12-1:30pm CT

Registration:

Co-Sponsored by Texas Career Engagement and the Graduate School

Course Clarity Project

The Course Clarity Project is a three-year effort to help instructors better articulate learning outcomes for their courses so that our students can more clearly understand what they’re learning and their progress in developing knowledge and skills. This project focuses on three activities:

(1) adding learning outcomes to every syllabus

(2) aligning assignments, assessments, and learning outcomes; and

(3) creating rubrics that link assignment grades and assessments to the learning outcomes.

You can learn more about developing learning outcomes here and reach out to Art Markman (markman@austin.utexas.edu) if you have 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.

 

Stay well & warm,

Tasha Beretvas

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