As we get ready to start the new academic year, we are excited to explore how we can better support and communicate with our AS&E staff and faculty.
Many of you know and have had an opportunity to meet our new communications director, Tiffany Lankes, and I look forward to working with her to develop new ways to both celebrate the great work being done in our departments and to convey information that is critical to our operations.
You’ll notice we’re starting the new year with a new format for the monthly newsletter, which we hope will make the content more engaging and accessible for our readers.
In the coming weeks and months, we will be conducting some listening sessions and a survey to get a better handle on how we can best communicate with our community and the type of information that is most important.
We also plan to kick off a series of monthly sessions where I will be available to receive feedback and answer questions. Stay tuned for more details on the dates and locations!
And, last but most certainly not least, we want to create a space to celebrate our team’s accomplishments. We are excited to announce that Nick Ernst-Maynard will become our new director of space for AS&E. Please direct all of your facilities questions and requests to Nick. Greg Meyer will be moving into a new role at the Provost’s office. More information about Greg’s new role will be available soon.
As another step in that direction, we will begin using this space to announce our monthly ACE award winners!
These valued team members go above and beyond their job to make AS&E and the University ever better. You can find the list of winners so far this year here.
Please consider nominating AS&E staff members for this recognition. Successful nominations will highlight specific examples of tasks, projects, or activities where staff are exceeding their core functions. Staff can be nominated more than once, and winners will be chosen on the first of each month and then announced in the newsletter.
I hope everyone enjoys these last few days of summer before we resume classes and look forward to ongoing collaboration this year!
Meliora,
Jess Foster
WELCOME TO OUR NEW STUDENTS
A huge thank you to all the teams that have been working hard to ensure a successful Welcome Week for our AS&E students!
Fall Welcome Week begins August 21 when more than 1,500 new first-year and transfer students will arrive on campus. Following move-in and check-in, more than 140 Welcome Week events will take place from Monday, August 21 through Tuesday, August 29, coordinated by the Office of Orientation and First-Year Programs (OFYP) and partner offices. These programs include the following signature events:
- Wednesday, August 23: College Convocation, Welcome Week Resource Fair, Candlelight Ceremony
- Thursday, August 24: Academic Open House
- Friday, August 25: Wilson Day of Engagement
- Saturday, August 26: Celebrate Diversity
- Sunday, August 27: One Community
- Tuesday, August 29: Campus Open House
View the full schedule of events in the Welcome Week app, available now. Learn how to download and navigate the app on the OFYP website. For additional questions, contact OFYP at orientation@rochester.edu.
Please join me in welcoming our students to the AS&E community!
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, AND JUSTICE CONFERENCE
Save the date and be sure to register for The Institutional Office of Equity and Inclusion’s “Boundless Together: The Future of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice” conference on September 22 at the Joseph Floreano Riverside Convention Center. The free conference takes place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The daylong conference will bring together staff, faculty, and students from across the University to engage in education, networking, and meaningful conversation about pressing topics around diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice at a time when challenges are mounting nationwide.
The event will also feature award-winning artist, author, and activist Common, who will deliver the keynote address. Register today.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH THE TEACHING CENTER
Our colleagues at the Teaching Center have been hard at work designing a terrific lineup of professional development opportunities for faculty. Here is a look at what’s being offered this semester:
- College course development fellowship: Designing a new spring 2024 course or redesigning an existing one? Work with the Teaching Center and a group of colleagues over the fall semester to plan and meet during the spring semester to debrief and troubleshoot. Fellows are awarded a $1,000 non-salary stipend. Learn more about the program and how to apply here.
- Active Learning Teaching Group: Instructors teaching a 2023 fall semester course are invited to join a Teaching Center group to explore small, easy-to-implement, evidence-based classroom activities that can be dropped into ongoing courses. Participants commit to meeting six times to read James Lang’s Small Teaching (provided), as well as trying out one of the teaching strategies once and reporting back to the group on how it worked out. Apply here.
- Inclusive STEM Teaching Group: Course instructors from any discipline are invited to explore creating and sustaining inclusive learning environments as part of the Inclusive STEM Teaching Project. Alongside the project’s national MOOC, this on-campus Teaching Center group will focus on teaching methods that reduce identity-based performance disparities and improve students’ sense of belonging, self-efficacy, and STEM identity. Meetings will be in person from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Wednesdays October 4 through November 8, and November 29, 2023. Register here.
- AI & Teaching Workshop: Instructors are invited to learn about generative AI tools that enable users to generate text- and image-based content on demand. Held on Zoom, this workshop will provide a brief overview of generative AI, explore teaching and learning principles from different perspectives, and devote the majority of the time to discussion and Q&A. Register to attend from 2 to 3 p.m. on Monday, August 21. Sponsored by the Teaching Center (contact for questions), Academic Honesty, Computer Science, Philosophy, River Campus Libraries, and the Writing, Speaking, and Argument Program.
The Teaching Center is also offering a number of fall 2023 workshops via Zoom. Explore the offerings and register on the Teaching Center website.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR FACULTY AND STAFF
- myURHR Update: Preparations are continuing for myURHR Demo Days. All faculty and staff will be invited. Demo Days are beneficial for every University member to help you better understand the functionality, changes, benefits, and features of myURHR, the University’s new Human Resources information system replacing HRMS in 2024. Demo Days will feature live guided tours and you can participate in person or via Zoom. More information on how to register will be available soon. Click here to watch Fast Facts #3 Timekeeping Video
- UHS Health Promotion Office: This Fall, the UHS Health Promotion Office is launching an inaugural Well-Being for Life and Learning training program for faculty and staff. This training program will provide faculty and staff participants with simple strategies to create supportive environments in which students can flourish and, in turn, thrive academically. This self-paced training includes a series of required and elective workshops led by campus experts. All workshops will be offered in a hybrid format with virtual and in-person sessions throughout the semester. Once participants finish all components of the training program, they will receive a comprehensive guidebook, a sticker to place on their office door, an icon to place in their email signature, and recognition on the Well-being for Life and Learning website. To receive more information and to register, check out the Well-Being for Life and Learning website.
- Center for Education Abroad: The Center for Education Abroad will be hosting the annual Global Fair on Wednesday September 13 from 1 to 4 p.m. in Feldman Ballroom. Anyone in the UR community is welcome to attend. The Gilman Scholarship applications will open mid-August and close October 5. Some abroad programs for Spring 2024 have earlier deadlines than October 1. Visit our website to learn more.
- The Greene Center: One of the best ways to ensure that all students have equitable access to career education is by embedding career resources into the classroom. The Greene Center is available to partner with faculty and academic departments to support the career needs of students and can assist with the following:
Please email Jodyi Wren, jodyi.wren@rochester.edu to learn more about how the Greene Center can partner with you.
AS&E SPOTLIGHT
We know that there are so many interesting faculty and staff leading important work across the AS&E landscape and want to share their work here.
This month we spotlight Professor Nancy Chin (PhD ’98), who has coordinated community-engaged learning and research in the region with Ladakhi native and UR alum, Kauser Haider (’19). New this year is the addition of an alumnus-mentor, Daniel Cohn (’12), who graduated with the first class of Public Health-related majors. Together, Kauser and Dan provide logistical support to Prof. Chin, technical assistance to Ladakhi faculty and students, and mentorship to UR undergraduates. Read more about their experiences.
Our staff spotlight is on Patrick Doyle, July’s ACE Award winner, who works to support students in the digital media studies program in a variety of ways, often finding innovative solutions to get the best outcome for students in the program. Students find him to be approachable and understanding. Patrick has a keen eye for detail and executes his projects with perfection. Patrick was nominated by Digital Media Studies Program Director Stephanie Ashenfelder.
Send your spotlights to tlankes@ur.rochester.edu.
