Message from Dean Howard
A World Class Faculty
One of the more pleasant responsibilities I have as Dean is to meet with candidates for faculty positions in CLAS. These meetings are relatively brief, half an hour in general, but they are long enough for us to discuss aspirations and expectations of the college, as well as the research, creative activities, and teaching interests of the candidates. The insights these conversations provide into the interests and accomplishments of the candidates are enlightening and, not infrequently, inspirational. We interview and attract to CLAS some very talented faculty members, a reflection of the strong reputation of the college and the university, and the hard work of search committees.
This brings up the gratitude that is owed to every person who has served on a faculty search committee over the course of the past several years. The searches that have taken place in the college have been invigorating on one level and exhausting on another. Running a good search is a lot of work and the large number of searches in CLAS, especially last year, severely taxed the human resources of many departments. Despite the strains, they have not been evident to our candidates, who have generally left UC Denver with a very positive image of the university. As a result, we compete well with other institutions and have been able to hire some of the very best academics in the country.
The quality of our recent hires received an emphatic affirmation two weeks ago with the announcement that Assistant Professor of History, Thomas Andrews, had won one of three Bancroft Prizes awarded in 2009 for his book, “Killing for Coal: America’s Deadliest Labor War,” which focuses on the 1913-1914 mining strike in Ludlow, Colorado. The Bancroft Prizes are awarded by professional historians and are widely recognized as the highest honor a work in U.S. history can achieve. For Dr. Andrews, the award represents a milestone in a career that promises to have many more. For CLAS, the award is yet another demonstration that our faculty truly is “world class.”
With all best wishes,
Dan
NEW! Save the Date, Dean's Reception
Friday, May 8
Join us for this year's Dean's Reception on Friday, May 8. All faculty and staff are invited to attend. The outstanding faculty, staff and student awards will be presented.
North Classroom Atrium
9-9:30 am: Continental Breakfast
9:30-11:00 am: Awards presentation
NEW! 2008-09 Dissemination Grant
Application Due Date: May 1, 2009
Award Notification: May 30, 2009
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) is providing support to its faculty for engaging in activities that promote their research activities and enhance the profile of the college and university.
A critical feature of a productive research program is the ability to disseminate findings and engage in scholarly discourse with colleagues around the world to inform future research activities, develop productive research collaborations, and support new grant applications.
The CLAS Dissemination Grant program is designed to provide tenure-track and tenured faculty with funds for disseminating research via publication (page and other publication charges), travel to support presentations at professional meetings, website design related to communication of research results, or other scholarly dissemination venues. See the CLAS Web site for the application form and instructions.
NEW! Summer Compensation Worksheet
Due May 1
In an effort to make the process more efficient for capturing summer appointment information and to allow faculty to request the timing of administrative and grant compensation, we have created the following worksheet, which can also be found on the CLAS Faculty Resources Web page. The form should used by all tenure-track faculty and instructors to identify summer compensation from teaching, administration, and grant activities. Specific instructions and examples are provided on the form. Forms should be submitted to Heather Sours in the Dean’s Office (submission information is included on the bottom of the form) no later than May 1st. Contact information if you have questions is also provided on the form.
NEW! Challenge Grant Program
UCD Routing Deadline of April 9
Proposal Paperwork Deadline of April 20
NIH Submission Deadline of April 27
The Challenge Grant program provides funding for two-year research projects in a number of specific areas related to health and health behaviors. You can find the list of research topics and program details in the following announcement.
Because the office of grants and contracts expects a large volume of submissions in response to this announcement we will need to adhere to slightly early deadlines for routing and submission.
The challenge grants have a submission deadline to NIH of April 27. The UCD routing deadline will be April 9 and all proposal paperwork needs to be submitted by April 20. Many faculty members have already contacted us about their intent to submit a challenge grant. If you have not done so already and are interested in preparing a submission please contact Carol Achziger.
NEW! CU Online Programming
CU Online is offering three different upcoming programs.
View their Spring 2009 Faculty Seminar Schedule
View their 2009 Spring Symposium: "Teach Differently"
View their 2009 Summer Web Camp: Online Course Development Program
2009 CLAS Outstanding Staff Award
Call for Nominations
An annual award within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the CLAS Outstanding Staff Award recognizes a single staff member who demonstrates outstanding leadership, ability, initiative and/or achievement. These contributions must provide a significant benefit specifically for CLAS at the downtown Denver campus. The recipient will receive a $500 cash award, presented by the Dean and the nominating employee(s) at the Dean’s Reception this spring.
Eligibility
Any full-time (1 FTE/100% time), permanent classified, exempt professional, PRA, Sr. PRA or Research Associate staff member currently employed by CLAS is eligible for nomination. The individual must have been employed as a permanent staff member within the college for at least 12 consecutive months.
Nomination Process
Eligible employees must be nominated by a University employee using the CLAS Outstanding Staff Nomination form. Nominations may be submitted either electronically or in hard copy to Heather Sours, HR Coordinator, Campus Box 144, heather.sours@ucdenver.edu. The deadline for nominations is 5:00 PM on Friday, April 17, 2009.
Questions? Please call 303-556-2558.
Student Survival in the Economic Crisis
Wednesday, April 8
2:30pm to 3:45pm
North Classroom 1539
Michael Zweig, professor of economics and director of the Center for
Study of Working Class Life at the Stony Brook University in New York,
is the executive producer of the DVD Meeting Face to Face: the
Iraq-U.S. Labor Solidarity Tour and was part of the U.S. delegation at
the International Labor Solidarity Conference in Eril, Iraq in March
2009. He is the author of The Working Class Majority: America's Best
Kept Secret (Cornell University Press, 2004) and editor of What's Class
Got to Do With It? American Society in the Twenty-first Century
(Cornell University Press, 2004).
Sponsored by the UCD Social Justice Signature Area to promote the new CLAS Minor in Social Justice
Info: 303-556-6275 or email Chad Kautzer
Social Justice Web Site
Educational Policies and Curriculum Committee (EPCC) Deadlines
The CLAS Educational Policies and Curriculum Committee (EPCC) will meet two more times in the spring semester: Mar. 20, and Apr. 17. Policies/procedures, general information, and forms for course and curriculum development can be found on this website.
EPPC Fall 09 Submission Deadlines:
1. Proposals for New Degree Programs or New or Revised Minors, Certificates or Options within Majors should normally be submitted electronically to Jill Hutchison in the Dean’s Office at least 14 days prior to the scheduled EPCC meetings for consideration. The next deadline is today, April 3.
2. All Course Proposals should be submitted electronically to Beverly Andes in the Dean’s Office at least 7 days prior to the scheduled EPCC meetings for consideration – by April 10.
Call for 2009-2010 CLAS Research Innovation Seed Program Proposals
CRISP grant proposals are invited from all tenured and tenure-track faculty to provide funding to facilitate and support research activities in CLAS. Proposed projects should result in new research projects accompanied by searches for external funding and plans for proposals or publication. Details of the program, submission requirements, allowed expenses, and required activities can be found in the attached document and the deadline for submission is April 10, 2009. The college has omitted $50,000 to this program to be expended during the 2009-2010 academic year. Recipients will be notified by May 1, 2009.
The college anticipates making approximately 7-10 awards. Proposals must include a description of the research project, budget, budget justification and anticipated outcomes. Note that an essential aspect of the CRISP application is developing and documenting a relationship with the Office of Research Development and Education to identify potential funding sources, and the college will help facilitate this process.
Please contact Laura Argys with any questions you might have regarding the announcement, the program, or submission.
CLAS in the Spotlight
UCD prof's book wins prize
Denver Post, March 21, 2009
Thomas Andrews, assistant professor of history, won the Bancroft Prize from Columbia University.
A paper co-authored by Michael Greene, assistant professor of biology, has been included in a supplement to Campell and Reece “Biology” text book: “Inquiry in Action, Interpreting Scientific Papers.” The supplement includes nine sample papers and is used by instructors of general biology courses to teach scientific reading and interpretation skills. The paper, entitled “’Devil’s gardens’ bedeviled by ants,” was published in the journal Nature in 2005.
Kent Nofsinger from the Biology Department was nominated to be an Honorary Member of the Golden Key Honor Society.
Shawn T. McKinney, C.E. Fiedler, and Diana F. Tomback co-authored a paper called "Invasive pathogen threatens bird-pine mutualism: implications for sustaining a high-elevation mutualism" for Ecological Applications 19: 597-607. Clark’s nutcrackers are obligate seed dispersers for whitebark pine. This paper demonstrates a decline in seed dispersal services for whitebark pine where the pine has been damaged and killed by white pine blister rust, based on comparisons among different geographic regions. The authors predict the threshold cone production and live basal tree area per hectare required to ensure a high probability of seed dispersal by nutcrackers within a whitebark pine forest. McKinney began this work with Tomback while a M.S. student at UCD, publishing in 2007, and then moved to a Ph.D. program at the University of Montana. Tomback was on his doctoral committee.
EVENTS
Student Survival in the Economic Crisis
Michael Zweig, professor of economics and director of the Center for
Study of Working Class Life at the Stony Brook University in New York
Presented by the Social Justice Minor Program
Wednesday, April 8
2:30 pm to 3:45 pm
North Classroom 1539
Communication Days
Presented by the Communication Department
April 20-23
Various locations
and times
Communication Days are a celebration of the role of communication in our lives. All are invited to attend any of the presentations. Times and locations can be found on this brochure.
Research and Creative Activities Symposium
April 24
10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Please see the attached document for more information.
Dean's Awards Reception
May 8
9:00 - 11:00 am
North Classroom Atrium
IN THIS ISSUE:
Message from Dean Howard
Dean's Reception
Dissemination Grant
Summer Compensation
Challenge Grant
CU Online Programs
Outstanding Staff Award
Student Survival in Economic Crisis
EPPC Deadlines
CRISP Grant
CLAS in the Spotlight
Events
ARCHIVES:
Past issues since Jan 21, 2007.
USEFUL LINKS:
CLAS Event Calendar
CLAS News
Faculty Resources
Staff Resources
Campus News
The CLAS Deans' Notes is a bi-weekly newsletter
for college faculty and staff.
EDITOR:
Katy Brown
303.556.6663
Katy.Brown @ucdenver.edu