Message from Dean Howard

Building Community

The week before classes begin is rapidly becoming one of my favorite weeks of the year.  It is not the whirlwind of meetings that I find appealing, although it is always a pleasure to spend extended periods of time with the department chairs of CLAS, a wonderfully accomplished and dedicated group of individuals.  Instead, it is the opportunity to meet with new faculty members and new students, and to share in the excitement they feel about the adventures they have just begun that I find so compelling. 

For the new faculty members, years of questioning whether they will find an academic position have come to an end.  Not only have they found an academic home, it is a good one—a comprehensive university with unbounded ambition in the center of one of the most beautiful and livable cities in the United States.  They are now free to develop their own teaching, research, and/or creative activities programs, and their joy at their good fortune is palpable.  To be sure, there is some trepidation, but much of that can be allayed by small, thoughtful gestures from more established faculty and staff members.  Take the time to stop by the office of your new colleague and invite him or her to lunch, or out for a cup of coffee.  Say hello when you pass in the hall.  If a new colleague drops by your office with a question or request, even at an inconvenient time, take the time to respond fully to their question or request.  Small kindnesses mean a lot to someone trying to find his or her footing in a new community.

For new students, the transition to UC Denver is even more profound.  Many will live independently of their parents for the first time in their lives; all will be faced with decisions that will resonate for years—what courses to take, what career path to follow, what kind of person to become.  Our new students are excited, motivated, and uncertain, and they want the guidance of faculty and staff members.  Indeed, Jack Kroll and Tanner Macdonald, the President and Vice President, respectively, of the Student Government Association of UC Denver, informed me that what students at UC Denver want most, and what I should work toward as Dean, are better opportunities for students to get to know the faculty.  For a longtime teacher, this was a wonderfully gratifying disclosure, not surprising, but a welcome affirmation of something I think we all understand.  Our students really do like and respect us.

Following the spirit of the appeal from our student leaders, allow me to give the departments in the college a small assignment. Devise an event or function that will bring together students, faculty, and staff and allow for meaningful interactions.  Despite a beleaguered CLAS budget, I intend to work with the CLAS BPC to identify a pool of money to support student-centered events within departments, and it would be marvelous to see the funds used in imaginative ways.

I hope the first week of classes went well for all of you and that each of you had an opportunity to connect with a new student or a new faculty member.

With all best wishes,

Dan

New! Colorado Center for Public Humanities Fall Series: Islam in American Culture

The Colorado Center for Public Humanities has announced its fall series, “Islam in American Culture.” It is a 4-part series, celebrating Islamic contributions to American music, urban design, community life, and literature. The series will explore how Islam has influenced classic American art forms, such as the blues, how it has impacted the built environments of American cities, how it has merged with the nation’s foundational ideals, and how it is being represented by Islamic American writers. The series will also shed light on how the core beliefs and values of Islam have been adapted to the American cultural context. (More information)

New! Volunteers Needed for CLAS Website Redesign

As many of you are probably aware, the University’s Integrated University Communications office and University Web Services have been jointly moving UCD websites into a Web management system in Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server (MOSS). Initial planning phases of that project are scheduled to begin this Fall for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences with a scheduled completion date of August 2010. 

The CLAS Web Administration team is asking for three faculty volunteers to serve on the CLAS Web Advisory committee. There will be four 2-hour meetings over the course of 14 weeks with some planning work done individually between meetings. Faculty participation on this committee is crucial as we evaluate and strategically plan the new CLAS Website. Faculty who would like to volunteer for participation on the committee should contact Tim Stalker by Monday, August 24.

New! H1N1 Flu Precautions

Due to concerns that the H1N1 virus might be widespread on campus this Fall, the Dean’s Office urges you to be proactive.  To minimize transmission of the virus, we encourage all students, faculty members or staff persons who become sick with the flu to stay away from campus, out of the classroom or office, until they are symptom-free.  Standard flu symptoms include fever (100 degrees or higher), cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. In addition, diarrhea and vomiting have been associated with H1N1 flu.

We also urge you to develop plans for accommodating students who contract H1N1 flu because we do not want them to feel pressured to attend classes while they are infectious, due to fear of suffering academic penalty.  We also would not like any student to be penalized academically for work missed while recovering from H1N1 flu.  Therefore, we recommend the following precautions: 

* At the beginning of the semester, inform students about plans and procedures for providing and completing course work if they or you become ill.
* Consider putting all of your course materials on Blackboard, if you haven’t already done so.
* Gather students’ email addresses and phone/cell numbers so that you can communicate with them in a timely fashion.
* Consult with university health services personnel about students with health care needs.
*Provide the following link to students to keep them informed:  www.ucdenver.edu/flualert
* Remind students to take precautions against getting or spreading the flu viruses:
--Wash hands frequently and properly
--Cover your sneezes and coughs
--Avoid others with respiratory illnesses
--Get plenty of rest
-- Stay at home if you are sick

* Tell students to seek health care if they develop flu-like symptoms (high fever, cough, runny nose, body aches, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea).
* Prepare for your class(es) to be covered in the event that you become ill.  And, if you experience symptoms, seek medical attention and stay at home.

New! Early Alert Timeline for Fall

Providing intervention assistance to students early in the semester is very important to enhance undergraduate student persistence and graduation rates.  The faculty role in this effort is to identify students who may need assistance.

9/14/09: Early Alert begins

9/14/09 - 9/23/09 at 5pm*: Faculty refer students using Early Alert System

9/24/09: Clean Up Day- an opportunity for committee and consultants to work through any challenges with referral prior to opening Advisor component.

9/28/09-10/2/09: Academic Advisors begin contacting students that were referred by faculty to Early Alert  

9/28/09: General release to DTI & TRIO SSS

10/2/09: Deadline for advisors to have completed initial contact with  all referred students (e-mail)

10/2/09: DTI & TRIO-SSS send out their email to referred students

12/12/09: Early Alert system closed for the fall 2009 semester

* No alerts can be entered by faculty using the EA System after 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23 at 5:00 p.m.

Please contact the Office of Undergraduate Experiences at 303-315-2133 if you have questions.

New! George W. Zinke Award in Economics Announced

The 2009 George W. Zinke Award in Economics Committee and the University of Colorado Denver Department of Economics have announced that John D. Singleton, a graduate student in the UC Denver Department of Economics, has been selected as the first recipient of the George W. Zinke Award in Economics for his paper, “‘Money is a Sterile Thing’: Martin Luther on the Immorality of Usury Reconsidered.” The award carries with it a $10,000 cash prize.

The George W. Zinke Award in Economics honors the best paper written in the history of economic thought at any of the University of Colorado campuses. The award, which honors the late University of Colorado Professor George W. Zinke, has been established by Professor Zinke’s family in order to encourage economics students at the University of Colorado to develop a passion for the history of economic thought and for advancing and applying economics in order to foster social justice and the
betterment of humankind.

For more information, contact Professor Steven Medema.

CLAS in the Spotlight

Poet's Choice: 'Elegy with a Mute Bell'
WashingtonPost.com, 08/16/09
Brian Barker, assistant professor of English, had a poem, "Elegy with a Mute Bell" featured in the "Poet's Choice" column in the Washington Post last weekend.

Hamilton Bean, assistant professor of communication, is principal investigator for a $70,000 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) research grant administered by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). The research involves an assessment of warning communication practices in support of DHS’s Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grants Program.

Lisa Keränen, assistant professor of communication, co-facilitated a three-day workshop for faculty and advanced graduate students concerning how to conduct scholarship pertaining to the rhetoric of science and publics at the Rhetoric Society of America’s (RSA) Summer Institute at the Pennsylvania State University in June.

Psychology Professor Mitch Handelsman co-authored a book that was published this month by Wiley-Blackwell called Ethics for Psychotherapists and Counselors: A Proactive Approach. The first author, Sharon K. Anderson, is a professor at Colorado State University.

Saving some Denver history
Denver Post, 08/09/09
Tom Noel, professor of history, writes about the former site of the Health Sciences Center campus on 9th and Colorado.

The Department of Sociology has published its fall newsletter, available here.

Associate Professor Barbara Walkosz, Department of Communication, and her colleagues have recently been awarded a grant of $2.8 million by the National Cancer Institute to study the adoption and implementation of sun safe policies at worksites that employ outdoor workers.  Walkosz is a Co-Principal Investigator and Allan Wallis, associate professor for the School of Public Affairs, is a Co-Investigator on the project.  The study will investigate theoretical and applied avenues for promoting health improvements in organizations using an innovative proactive policy program for skin cancer prevention.

"Elegy," a poem by Jake Adam York, associate professor of English, is published in the Fall 2009 issue of Shenandoah: The Washington and Lee University Review.

Events

"Biosymbols: Symbols in Life and Mind"
Department of Philosophy Lecture Series
Liz Swan, PhD
Wednesday, Sept. 2
2:30 - 4:00 pm
Honi F. Haber Memorial Library
Plaza Building M108
(More information)

Islam in American Culture: Islamic Origins of the American Blues
by the Colorado Center for Public Humanities
Thursday, Sept. 10
Noon - 1:30 pm
King Center Recital Hall
Dr. Sylviane Diouf, scholar-in-residence at the Schomburg Center for Black Culture.
Musical performance by College of Arts & Media faculty members, Judith Coe and Sean McGowan.
(More information)

Celebration of Faculty Excellence
Friday, Sept. 11
3:00 pm
NC Atrium

Islam in American Culture: Islamic Design in the Work of Frank Lloyd Wright
by the Colorado Center for Public Humanities
Monday, Sept. 28
6:00 - 7:30 pm
Executive MBA Suite, 1250 14th St., Rm. 150
Dr. Mina Marefat, Fulbright Research Scholar and cultural advisor to the Guggenheim Museum's Major Retrospective on Frank Lloyd Wright.
(More information)

5th Annual Undergraduate Symposium
Friday, Oct. 2
8:00 am - 5:00 pm
St. Cajetan's

Open House
Sunday, Oct. 25
11:30 am - 2:30 pm
Auraria Events Center

IN THIS ISSUE:

Message from Dean Howard

Center for Public Humanities Fall Series

Volunteers for Web Committee

H1N1 Flu Precautions

Early Alert

Zinke Award Announced

CLAS in the Spotlight

Events

ARCHIVES:

Past issues since Jan 21, 2007.

USEFUL LINKS:

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