Dear faculty colleagues,
It’s hard to believe we are over halfway through the term, with spring course registration already starting and the last day of classes a mere five weeks away. As we journey through this next month, please note the following items, some of which require action from you and those you work with.
In this week’s update, you will find information on the following:
- Trainings on the New Course Evaluation System
- Faculty Authors Recognition Submissions
- UT Care Transition for Retirees
- Four Ways to Celebrate and Support our First-Gen Longhorns
- Open Access Week 2022
- Graduate School for The University of Texas at Austin’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Event
- Dell Med’s Second Annual Healthscape Symposium
Final Reminder: Sign Up for Trainings on the New Course Evaluation System
There are two remaining trainings for the university’s new course evaluation (“Course Instructor Survey”) system. The trainings cover new features and how to implement them for your classes this fall. I strongly encourage you all to listen in, if you haven’t already. You can register below and view this recording from a previous session.
Training Dates
- TODAY, October 27, 2022 – 5:00pm New Features Orientation (including how to select your own additional questions)
- Friday, October 28, 2022 – 2:00pm New Features Orientation (including how to select your own additional questions)
Updated Key Dates
- November 2 – November 12, 2022, window for faculty to select optional questions
- November 17 – December 8, 2022, window for students to complete evaluations
Accepting Submissions: Faculty Authors Recognition
The Faculty Authors Recognition (formerly Faculty Authors Reception) was created to highlight the breadth of scholarship and creative activity taking place across the university. We are now accepting submissions for this year’s Faculty Authors Recognition. There will also be an in-person event on Tuesday, January 18, 2023 to celebrate published works from 2022.
Eligibility
- Published works including scholarly monographs, published creative works (e.g., novels and anthologies of poetry), exhibition catalogs, and edited collections.
- Books must have been published between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022.
- Current UT Austin faculty member.
- Deadline: December 5, 2022
UT Care Transition for Retirees
UT System has created a webpage for the new UT Care Medicare Plan. The webpage provides informational resources including a video overview of the new plan, a copy of the enrollment kit mailed to all eligible retirees and a 24/7 toll-free phone number dedicated to the UT Care implementation. Eligible retirees will be auto-enrolled in the coverage, but the initial enrollment window is available for retirees choosing to opt out of coverage.
To learn more, you can attend in-person or virtual information sessions.
Thursday, November 3, 2022 from 10am-11am and 2pm-3pm
Register for in-person at the UT Administration Building (limited to 50 people per session), or online via Zoom (limited to 300 people per session)
Reminder: Four Ways to Celebrate and Support our First-Gen Longhorns
First-gen students represent nearly a quarter of UT undergraduate students. There are many First-Gen resources across campus and ways that you can get involved with the First-Gen Collective!
- Complete this Qualtrics form to let us know if you’d like to support first-gen events and initiatives, or if you’re interested in sharing your first-gen story
- Celebrate First-Gen Week with us November 7-11, full event details will be available on the First-Gen website at the end of October.
- Sign up for the First-Gen Newsletter
- Learn about resources for your students, such as First-Gen Equity, a first-gen center on campus, and the First-Gen Living Learning Community for first-time-in-college students
If you have any questions about resources for First-Gen students or how you can support first-gen initiatives, please email the First-Gen Collective at firstgenlonghorns@austin.utexas.edu.
Open Access Week 2022
Open Access Week 2022 is happening this week! This is an opportunity to celebrate the ways researchers, libraries, funders, and publishers are making research open access for all. UT Libraries supports open access in many ways, including our support of open access publishing and infrastructure like arXiv, PLOS, and Open Book Publishers. You can find the full list of initiatives and infrastructure we support, and associated direct author benefits, on our Open Access LibGuide. If you have questions about OA publishing, email Colleen Lyon, c.lyon@austin.utexas.edu, Head of Scholarly Communications.
Graduate School for The University of Texas at Austin’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Event
You are invited to join the Graduate School for The University of Texas at Austin’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022 at 10:30 a.m. in FAC 2.236 Classroom ABC.
3MT is a competition that helps graduate students cultivate the skills to communicate academic and research concepts to general audiences. Participating students use approachable language and concepts to explain their research in three minutes or less to a panel of judges. The winner receives $1,000 and will represent the university at the regional 3MT competition at the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools. Learn more here.
Registration Now Open: Dell Med’s Second Annual Healthscape Symposium
This is a free virtual event on Tuesday, November 29 – Thursday, December 1 where speakers from various fields will discuss topics such as what a rational food policy might do for health; long COVID and jobs; forensic clinic for asylum seekers organized by Dell Med students; and heat and pollution’s effects on health. Multidisciplinary panels will highlight policies, programming, research and business models that improve health in our homes, schools, workplaces and other settings. Register now.
Please reach out with any faculty-related questions to the Faculty Affairs team. We’re here to support you in any way we can.
Stay well,
Tasha Beretvas