Greetings!
Welcome to the Academic Affairs newsletter. Browse updates and announcements, connect to tips and resources, and check out stories from around campus.
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Dear Colleagues,
Amazingly enough, we’re nearly halfway through the Spring Quarter.
One of the best parts of the quarter for me has been co-teaching a senior seminar and getting to engage with a very involved and lively group of students. Their questions, comments, and insights are always refreshing and often lead in unexpected directions. Last week, we had the students investigate some online data sets to come up with hypotheses, and test them using other available data -- and then put together quick online posters relaying what they'd surmised and what they’d learned. It was absolutely astonishing to see how much they accomplished in just half an hour, and to witness their take on information long familiar to their professors but new for them.
I assume that many of you have similar stories from your own experiences working with students, and I look forward to hearing them when we meet again on campus this summer or this fall. As you will have been seeing from a variety of campus notices, opportunities to come back to campus are expected to keep opening up, as vaccination rates rise and San Diego county infection rates fall.
Yet, on a more somber note, we should remain aware that other parts of the world are still being harshly impacted by the pandemic. The news from India is dire and that from Brazil and other countries is also alarming. Please if you have colleagues or students who may be impacted by the health crises in other nations, let them know they are not alone. Your kind words may make a tremendous difference.
Thank you for your many contributions to the university community. Your creative scholarship, thoughtful teaching and mentorship, attention to improving processes, and support for those around you all make me proud to be a Triton.
Wishing you all the best for the spring,
Elizabeth H. Simmons
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Learning/Teaching for Justice
In honor of Thurgood Marshall College’s 50th Anniversary, the Dimensions of Culture Program is hosting a conference May 14-15 that explores learning and teaching for justice in higher education. The program includes nearly 30 interactive sessions that share strategies and practices for cultivating equity, inclusion, and anti-racism throughout higher education, from the perspective of students, educators, and administrators across disciplines. The program will also feature a keynote by poet Saed Jones, author of the memoir How We Fight for Our Lives, winner of the 2019 Kirkus Prize, 2020 Stonewall Book Award, and one of the New York Times’s 100 Notable Books of the Year. Visit the event website for more information.
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National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity
UC San Diego is an institutional member of the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD). To get online access to webinars, peer mentoring, and other support, please activate your NCFDD membership. Upcoming events include:
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Thurs. May 13
This hands-on planning webinar will help you identify your personal and professional goals for the summer, create a strategic plan to accomplish them, and identify the types of community, support, and accountability you need to make this your most productive and balanced summer ever!
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Tues. May 25
This session focuses on the barriers and strategies that academics with caregiving responsibilities are using to survive academic careers and personal life during COVID. Based on interviews with faculty in non-traditional family structures, this session will provide an understanding of why this has been so difficult, a discussion of how to manage the demands, and a discussion of personal and institutional strategies designed to help both in the immediate situation as well as with a longer-term view.
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Reminder: Assessment Day
Join us May 7 for Assessment Day to learn more about assessments of student learning outside the classroom, featuring keynote speaker Kaylan Baxter. Event participants will have the opportunity to exchange assessment ideas and strategies with colleagues and will leave with information about equity-minded approaches to assessment; knowledge informed by the foundations of assessment; and resources for reporting findings, including highlighting student stories. While the sessions may have a student affairs lens, the event is open and applicable to the entire university community. Register: http://bit.ly/AssessmentDay2021
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Transfer Triton Day 2021
Thank you to everyone who contributed to and participated in this year’s virtual Triton Day - the day was a huge success thanks to your partnership!
A reminder that virtual Transfer Triton Day is Saturday, May 15. To ensure the best experience for admitted students and to provide a coordinated effort across the university community, we ask that you refrain from offering other events/webinars and, please, only utilize the avenues offered by the Office of Admissions for involvement. Visit the event Blink page for downloadable media to show off your transfer Triton pride and details about the event.
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Upcoming Return to Learn town halls |
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Welcoming the new AVC for Resource Administration
Congratulations to Steve Ross on his impending retirement following decades of dedicated service to UC San Diego! And...
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Process Palooza
Process Palooza is back May 11- June 8 to celebrate UC San Diego’s commitment to business excellence, operational efficiency, and continuous improvement. Join Tuesdays for fast-paced, interactive sessions featuring global thought leaders and Fridays for workshops with hands-on instruction about the latest tools and techniques. Each week will also feature highlights from the Great Lean Six Sigma Race, a team competition to improve existing business processes at UC San Diego. Hear more about what you can expect this year or visit the process palooza website (processpalooza.ucsd.edu) for details.
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New program to support anti-racism
What is allyship? It is an opportunity to re-evaluate personal beliefs through listening, taking action to dismantle systems of oppression, and consistently working together to advance equity for those who are disempowered. The White Allyship, Action & Accountability Initiative is open to people of all races and ethnicities, with an intentional focus on the work that white university community members can do, both individually and structurally, to create and maintain an equitable campus environment in which all members can reach their full potential. Review the campus notice or visit the EDI website for details.
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Campus transformation
Check out this video from Resource Management & Planning for an update on the ongoing changes to the university’s physical footprint.
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In-person events
Opportunities for limited in-person outdoor events for our students, staff and faculty are now available and include graduation ceremonies and celebrations, dance practices, packaging and distribution (e.g., DIY kits), and speaker engagements. As we continue to limit the spread of COVID-19, in-person planned events must be held outdoors in accordance with county and campus guidelines.
Events are not to exceed the limited capacity set by each specific outdoor venue. Face masks are still required while on campus. No food or beverages may be provided except through HDH in designated areas (see http://adminrecords.ucsd.edu/Notices/2021/2021-4-28-5.html). Symptom screening for attendees may be required.
All events will require space reservations and campus approval via completion of a new event intake form. An Event Planning FAQ is available on the Return to Learn website. Details about the updated process and instructions to request approval and complete the new event intake form are available on the Campus Events and Activities Portal.
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Limited in-person meetings
Faculty, staff and student employees may now participate in on-site business or research meetings. Please be sure to follow the university’s guidelines, outlined below:
- Participants must maintain at least six feet of physical distance
- Maximum of 10 in-person participants per meeting venue
- No food or drinks may be provided
- Face coverings must be work at all times indoors or outdoors
Outdoor meetings are preferred and we recommend that all members of any in-person meetings be fully vaccinated.
Please note that Zoom or other remote accommodations must continue to be provided for all meetings; participants should not be compelled to attend in-person. Review the campus notice for details.
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Executive Leadership Academy
The Executive Leadership Academy (ELA) is designed for current administrators from all backgrounds who are interested in preparing themselves for appointments to executive positions such as dean, vice president, provost, president, and chancellor. The five-day intensive training experience focuses on the leadership skills essential to serving as a successful higher education administrator, with topics ranging from shifts in higher education leadership, new requisite multicultural competencies, governing board relations, and more. Visit the ELA website for details.
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Career Connection
Career Connection helps staff employees who are interested in assistance with goal setting, job enhancement, and career planning. Visit the Blink page for details about the free career development services available to registered staff, including mentorship opportunities, informational and mock interviews, resume reviews, and more. Register online.
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What is your career trajectory?
Have you ever wondered if a position you were considering at UC San Diego would be a promotion, lateral, or demotion? Take the new interactive, self-paced Job Classification & Career Movement course in the UC Learning Center for a general understanding of how a job is classified, the different types of classifications, and how to determine where an employee is in their trajectory. Staff can use this information to decide which positions or career route are best suited for them at UC San Diego.
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May is mental health awareness month!
It is more important now than ever to protect our mental health, and UC San Diego is pulling together as a community to respond. There are many new and existing resources available to help maintain mental and emotional wellness during the pandemic and beyond. Check out some of the tools and services available to faculty, staff, and students below.
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Graduate & Professional Wellbeing Associates
Graduate and Professional Well-Being Associates offer programs that engage students on important issues related to their health and fosters a learning environment to help address individual and university responses to well-being issues UC San Diego students may experience. Review their list of virtual programs and complete this form to request an outreach program, workshop, or resource room for your graduate department or organization. Check out their website for details.
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Managing stress & uncertainty in 2021
As individuals, we all manage stress and uncertainty differently. Some of us are talkers while others retreat. Some of us gather while others prefer solitude. Whatever your reaction, your need, or your preference, FSAP is here for you. Here you will find resources available to campus employees throughout the year such as monthly support groups, meditation apps, podcasts and more. Class offerings include:
- Mindful Worklife: Emotional Integration and Relationships — Learn mindfulness-based skills and concepts for cultivating emotional self-awareness, empathic relationships, meaningful communication and a conscious presence in your working life. Email Bryan McNutt for more information.
- Hard Times, Soft Tactics: Mind-Body Skills for Busy Professionals — A sampler of simple, research-based approaches to help prevent stress-related illness, burn out and fatigue while empowering you to higher creativity and a more meaningful connection with your core values and relationships. Email Crystal Green for more information.
The counselors at FSAP have also shared some of the materials that they have found meaningful in the struggle to be healthy despite multiple life stressors. View their recommendations on Blink.
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Virtual Pow Wow
Faculty, staff and students are invited to attend the first Intercollegiate Virtual Pow Wow on May, featuring traditional Native American dancing and drums, introduction to the UC San Diego powwow princess, a frybread demonstration and celebrations of Native American cultures. The UC San Diego community can join the Pow Wow through the San Diego Inter-Collegiate Pow Wow website.
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Data breach & free identity theft protection
To help you protect your identity, UCOP is offering a complimentary credit monitoring and identity theft protection service for one year through Experian IdentityWorksSM Sign up at the Experian IdentityWorks website using the enrollment code JCZGTC333.
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Oscars 2021: 'Crip Camp' team's appearance marks...
UC San Diego alum James LeBrecht ’78 – who helped establish the Disabled Student Union more than 40 years ago – was nominated for an Oscar with his documentary film on the self-described “disabled revolution.”
Read more
www.latimes.com
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Ready for Liftoff
With more than two decades of scientific training under her belt, NASA astronaut Megan McArthur is ready for her return mission to space. The alumna of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego will achieve her aviation dreams...
Read more
ucsdnews.ucsd.edu
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