With a new academic year already well underway, we have so many exciting things to celebrate within our AS&E community.

In the past few weeks, there have been announcements of new appointments and changes in leadership in several of our departments. Among them:

• The College announced that Jodyi Wren will be the next Assistant Dean and Executive Director of the Gwen M. Greene Center for Career Education + Connections. Jodyi started in the role September 1.
• As previously announced, Anne-Marie Algier is currently serving as Interim Dean of Students for the College in Arts, Sciences, and Engineering. John DiSarro and Brian Magee have graciously agreed to accept additional responsibilities during this transition period to help cover Anne-Marie’s Associate Dean of Students and Director of Student Activities responsibilities.

I’d also like to recognize the winners of the AS&E ACE award for August! These valued team members go above and beyond their job to make AS&E and the University ever better.

• Audrey Brett
• Tina Grayson
• Rob Hoffman
• Megan Mette
• Greg Meyer
• Nina Shaw

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.

And finally, as we mentioned last month, we will be kicking off a series of monthly sessions where I will be available to receive feedback and answer questions. This month’s session will be from 2 to 3 p.m. Thursday in conference room D at the Humanities Center. I hope to see many of you there!

Meliora,

Jess Foster

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, AND JUSTICE CONFERENCE

A reminder that The Institutional Office of Equity and Inclusion’s “Boundless Together: The Future of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice” conference is taking place on Friday at the Joseph Floreano Riverside Convention Center. The free conference takes place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The event is currently at capacity, but those interested can submit their names to be added to the waitlist here.

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.

I’m excited that so many of our AS&E staff and faculty will have the opportunity to participate!

WEIGH IN ON THE UNIVERSITY’S STRATEGIC PLAN

As the University works toward shaping the future of our institution, the President’s office is looking for insights and perspectives about the University’s Boundless Possibility strategic plan. At this early stage in the work, they are especially interested in assessing awareness of the strategic plan among our community of faculty, staff, and students.

Please consider participating in a very short survey that will take less than one minute to complete. Your responses will remain anonymous, and the information will be used to help improve our communications about the plan’s goals and objectives.

Please click here to access the survey.

CELEBRATING THE HIGH HOLIDAYS

Many of our Jewish colleagues and students will be celebrating the High Holidays this month. Yom Kippur is September 24 and 25. Faculty and staff are welcome to join UR Hillel for services. Please email Joy Getnick, joy.getnick@rochesterhillel.org, for more information.

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:

• Inclusive STEM Teaching Group: Course instructors from any discipline are invited to explore creating and sustaining inclusive learning environments. Drawing on the Inclusive STEM Teaching Project’s national MOOC, this 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 to November 8 and November 29. Register here.
• Managing Classroom Disruptions: September 22, 12 to 1 p.m. via zoom. Disruptive and disrespectful behavior negatively affects the overall learning environment and contributes to student and instructor stress and discontent. Learn strategies for preventing and responding to classroom disruptions and incivility. Register here for the zoom link.
• Structuring Successful Seminars: September 28, 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. via zoom. Seminars provide students with the opportunity to learn from and with each other through discussion and debate. However, students are often hesitant to engage in the seminar format. Learn how to structure seminar courses to optimize student engagement and learning. Register here for the zoom link.
• Using Movement to Enhance Learning: Instructor Spotlight, Rose Pasquarello Beauchamp, Associate Professor of Dance. September 29, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Meliora 218. Movement is a powerful instructional tool, allowing students to engage with content in a different way and activate multiple neural networks in the brain. Learn how to incorporate movement into traditional classroom settings to optimize student learning, retention, and recall. Register here.
• Designing Effective Group Work: October 5, 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., via zoom. Properly structured, group assignments enable students to develop and reinforce skills relevant and important for success in the professional world. Learn best practices for designing and implementing effective group assignments and projects. Register here for the zoom link.
• Scaffolding Writing Assignments: Instructor Spotlight, Rena Searle, Associate Professor of Anthropology. October 13, 12 to 1 p.m. via zoom. Teaching students to write involves more than assigning papers and providing feedback on drafts. Learn how to design and scaffold writing assignments to promote the development of critical writing skills, such as developing a clear thesis, arguing a position, and supporting an argument effectively by using evidence. Register here for the zoom link.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR FACULTY AND STAFF

• myURHR Demo Days: myURHR Demo Days are an opportunity for all faculty, staff, and student workers to get a more in-depth look at the University’s new Human Resources information system that is replacing HRMS in 2024. Participants will experience guided tours that include previews of how key functions and business processes have been designed. Sign up here.
• Center for Education Abroad Drop-In Hours: Faculty or staff interested in learning more about leading or organizing a program abroad for students can drop in and join a virtual coffee/tea hour on Thursday, September 21, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Registration is required. Please reach out to Ted Pagano, associate director for the Center for Education Abroad, if you have any questions.
• Well-being for Life and Learning: 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.
• Mindful Professor Training Program: The Mindful University Project is offering a Mindful Professor Training for teaching faculty and course instructors at the University this Spring. This program is rooted in cutting-edge research and practices and aims to offer participants a variety of tools to access ways to return to calm, be present with themselves and others, utilize mindful leadership skills, enhance teaching effectiveness, as well as learn what actions they can take to support students’ well-being. The Mindful Professor Training lasts three months and includes seven hour-long workshops and two one-hour mentorship coaching sessions. Join us this coming Spring! For more information and register, check out their website.

KRONOS TIME CLOCK REPLACEMENT

Please be aware that our IT team is entering the final phase of its project to replace all Kronos Time Clocks. This phase involves replacing 35 Kronos Model 4500 Time Clocks with Kronos InTouch Time Clocks. It is ongoing and will be completed October 5.

There will be no downtime except while the clock is being replaced or reconfigured and there have been no user issues during the previous stages of the project. Questions can be directed to Jay Riley at jjry@ACS.Rochester.edu.

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 staff member Megan Mette and faculty member Heather Layton, Art New York associate directors, who work tirelessly to support students in the program. Art New York is Rochester’s signature work-study program that allows undergraduate students to live, study, and make art in New York City for a semester. For their final Field Studio project, students created small artist books that describe what it is like to live in NYC rather than visit as a tourist. The students’ work was recently highlighted in a feature story published by the New York City Public Library system!

Thank you to Megan and Heather for guiding our students and their projects!

Send your spotlights to tlankes@ur.rochester.edu.