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Administration message about building a culture of inclusion and safety
Administration responds to events in Charlottesville and on campus
Moran eclipse glasses safety recall
Academic Senate meeting announced
Upcoming weekday football games, parking and classes
University Teaching Committee: Call for applications and nominations
Nona Richardson wins National Award
New look for CIS coming Sept. 8
Admissions application fees are changing
New English Language proficiency test
Pepsi vending refund vouchers
Administration message about building a culture of inclusion and safety
Dear Campus:
We extend our warmest welcome to all of you as you prepare to join us at the University of Utah or return to campus after the summer break.
Following up on the message sent last week about events across our country and here at the U, we want to remind you we value an inclusive campus and want all in our community to feel welcome here. Our institution is dedicated to free exploration and exchange of ideas, and in that process, we expect everyone to be treated with respect and dignity.
There is simply no place for violence or hate on this campus. We condemn all hateful, bigoted, racist, and violent acts and words in the strongest possible terms. Our response to these despicable acts and words will be to call them what they are, and we encourage you, too, to speak up loudly against them. The appearance of two racist posters, which specifically impacted black members of our campus community, horrified us and revealed that our current protocols for communicating with the campus about acts of bigotry and racism must be more immediate.
If you experience or witness a bias incident at the University of Utah, please report it to the Office for Inclusive Excellence at 801-585-5994 or online. This begins a dialogue and promotes education on our campus as we work together to build a culture of inclusion and safety.
We also want to provide you with resources you may find useful and let you know what steps we are taking to address these critical issues and promote civil discourse at the University of Utah.
- Faculty fellows will offer faculty and staff diversity training via the Transforming Classrooms into Inclusive Communities project, sponsored through the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence. Contact: David Derezotes, social work professor and Peace & Conflict Studies director, mailto:david.derezotes@socwk.utah.edu; or 801-585-3546 and CTLE mailto:info@utah.edu; or 801-581-7597.
- Irene Ota, diversity coordinator for the College of Social Work, is available to provide anti-discrimination response training on demand for 10 to 24 participants. Contact: 801-581-8455 or mailto:irene.ota@socwk.utah.edu;.
- A comprehensive website on campus safety and an awareness campaign will launch this fall.
- A panel discussion featuring campus scholars will be held to discuss freedom of speech, hate speech, and civil rights laws.
- The Office for Inclusive Excellence will sponsor an awareness campaign on microaggressions.
- Administrators are meeting with various student groups to address concerns and engage in dialogue.
- An information campaign, with a website, posters, and a video, will launch this fall to provide an update on the initiatives proposed at the Open Dialogue on Racial Climate held in November 2015.
- A diversity initiatives website, designed to keep the campus community informed about diversity programming, hiring, policy, and large conferences, has been designed and recently launched.
The start of a new academic year is an exciting time for all of us, and we look forward to working and learning together here at the state’s flagship university.
Warm regards,
[bs_row class=”row”]
[bs_col class=”col-sm-3″]David W. Pershing
President
University of Utah[/bs_col][bs_col class=”col-sm-3″]Lorris Betz
Interim Senior Vice President
for Health Sciences[/bs_col][bs_col class=”col-sm-3″]Ruth V. Watkins
Senior Vice President
for Academic Affairs[/bs_col]
[/bs_row]
RESPONSE TO EVENTS IN CHARLOTTESVILLE AND ON CAMPUS
Dear Campus,
We express the deepest sadness for students, staff, faculty, and all in the Charlottesville and UVA communities with the horrific events that led to injury and loss of life this past weekend. Our hearts go out to the members of the Charlottesville community who sought to defy white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and anti-Semitic speech and actions. As a university community, we condemn all acts and vile expressions of hate, violence, racism, and bigotry. We stand on common ground in support of our inclusive campus and reaffirm our commitment to diversity. U administrators want to assure our students that our work creating a safe, welcoming and equitable campus will proceed with passion.
Flyers recently posted on our university campus are not reflective of our values and beliefs. Although the posters were quickly removed, we understand they perpetuated feelings of fear, shock, and concerns about safety. We want you to know we are creating opportunities on campus for critical discussions and open dialogue about race, inclusivity, diversity, and ways we can process these events as a community. Let us be clear: There is no place on the University of Utah campus for hate speech and violent behavior of any kind.
As students, faculty, and staff come back to campus to begin a new academic year, let’s band together as a community and support one another.
[bs_row class=”row”]
[bs_col class=”col-sm-3″]David W. Pershing
President
University of Utah[/bs_col][bs_col class=”col-sm-3″]Lorris Betz
Interim Senior Vice President
for Health Sciences[/bs_col][bs_col class=”col-sm-3″]Ruth V. Watkins
Senior Vice President
for Academic Affairs[/bs_col]
[/bs_row]
MORAN ECLIPSE GLASSES SAFETY RECALL[bs_row class=”row”][bs_col class=”col-sm-4″]
[/bs_col][bs_col class=”col-sm-8″]The John A. Moran Eye Center was among many across the country notified via email by Amazon.com of a recall of solar eclipse glasses.
“Amazon has not received confirmation from the supplier of your order that they sourced the item from a recommended manufacturer. We recommend that you do not use this product to view the sun or the eclipse.”
Moran is asking anyone who received a free pair of solar eclipse glasses from Moran not to use them and to discard them unless they have the Clark Planetarium label.
Anyone who purchased a pair for $1.50 from a Moran optical shop may return the glasses or their receipt to the location they purchased them from for a full refund. Consumers with questions may call 801-587-0712, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
For information on recommended solar eclipse glasses vendors, visit nasa.gov.[/bs_col][/bs_row]
ACADEMIC SENATE MEETING[bs_row class=”row”][bs_col class=”col-sm-4″]
[/bs_col][bs_col class=”col-sm-8″]The following items will be discussed at the Aug. 28 Academic Senate meeting:
- State of Athletics and new sports
- Faculty ombudsmen
- Marriner S. Eccles Institute for Economics and Quantitative Analysis
The meeting will begin at 3 p.m. in the Moot Courtroom of the College of Law (sixth floor) and is open to the public.[/bs_col][/bs_row]
UPCOMING WEEKDAY FOOTBALL GAMES, PARKING AND CLASSES[bs_row class=”row”][bs_col class=”col-sm-4″]
[/bs_col][bs_col class=”col-sm-8″]We have weekday home football games scheduled this year on Thursday, Aug. 31, at 5:30 p.m. against North Dakota, and Friday, Nov. 3, at 7:30 p.m. against UCLA.
If you teach either night, we encourage you to consider several options:
- Move your class to a less impacted location on campus.
- Modify your class schedule.
- Use an alternative means such as webcasting to conduct your course.
If you have any questions about these options or need help finding a different location, please contact the Office for Faculty at 801-581-8763.
We are also asking managers to consider adjusting staff schedules where possible to minimize parking conflicts. If you plan to be on campus on either day, please do not drive a vehicle. We encourage you to take TRAX or consider other means of transportation on that day. If you do drive, please consider an alternate route that avoids the south end of campus.
View the parking map here for information about closures of lots on the south end of campus and parking alternatives. Please contact Commuter Services at 801-581-6415 with any questions.[/bs_col][/bs_row]
UNIVERSITY TEACHING COMMITTEE: CALL FOR APPLICATIONS AND NOMINATIONS[bs_row class=”row”][bs_col class=”col-sm-4″]
[/bs_col][bs_col class=”col-sm-8″]The University Teaching Committee encourages the efforts of faculty members, departments and colleges to improve individual teaching skills, devise effective teaching techniques and recognize and reward superior achievements in teaching. A variety of awards are now seeking applications and nominations.
To see criteria and deadlines, click here.[/bs_col][/bs_row]
NONA RICHARDSON WINS NATIONAL AWARD[bs_row class=”row”][bs_col class=”col-sm-4″]
[/bs_col][bs_col class=”col-sm-8″]Nona Richardson, a senior associate athletics director and the senior woman administrator at Utah, has been named the NCAA FBS 2017 Administrator of the Year by Women Leaders in College Sports (formerly the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators). She will be honored on Oct. 10 at the 2017 Women Leaders National Convention in Dallas.
Richardson, whose career as a college coach and administrator has spanned more than 30 years, has been at Utah since January 2015. She oversees all student-athlete support services at Utah, including academics, sports medicine, nutrition, the wellness team and the life-skills program. She also supervises several sports and serves as Utah’s gender equity and diversity coordinator and a representative on Pac-12 Conference Counsel.
A former board member of Women Leaders in College Sports, Richardson was a 2000 recipient of the Dr. Nell Jackson Administrator of the Year Award.[/bs_col][/bs_row]
RESPONSE TO EVENTS IN CHARLOTTESVILLE AND ON CAMPUS
Dear Campus,
We express the deepest sadness for students, staff, faculty, and all in the Charlottesville and UVA communities with the horrific events that led to injury and loss of life this past weekend. Our hearts go out to the members of the Charlottesville community who sought to defy white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and anti-Semitic speech and actions. As a university community, we condemn all acts and vile expressions of hate, violence, racism, and bigotry. We stand on common ground in support of our inclusive campus and reaffirm our commitment to diversity. U administrators want to assure our students that our work creating a safe, welcoming and equitable campus will proceed with passion.
Flyers recently posted on our university campus are not reflective of our values and beliefs. Although the posters were quickly removed, we understand they perpetuated feelings of fear, shock, and concerns about safety. We want you to know we are creating opportunities on campus for critical discussions and open dialogue about race, inclusivity, diversity, and ways we can process these events as a community. Let us be clear: There is no place on the University of Utah campus for hate speech and violent behavior of any kind.
As students, faculty, and staff come back to campus to begin a new academic year, let’s band together as a community and support one another.
[bs_row class=”row”]
[bs_col class=”col-sm-3″]David W. Pershing
President
University of Utah[/bs_col][bs_col class=”col-sm-3″]Lorris Betz
Interim Senior Vice President
for Health Sciences[/bs_col][bs_col class=”col-sm-3″]Ruth V. Watkins
Senior Vice President
for Academic Affairs[/bs_col]
[/bs_row]
NEW LOOK FOR CIS COMING SEPT. 8[bs_row class=”row”][bs_col class=”col-sm-4″]
[/bs_col][bs_col class=”col-sm-8″]On Sept. 8, 2017, Campus Information Services (CIS), the online application used by students, faculty, and staff to access everything from paychecks to class schedules, is getting a new look.
Visually-cluttered lists of links will be replaced by clickable tiles with intuitive icons. The home pages and subsequent tiles are dedicated to user roles, functional areas, and common themes. For example, in addition to the student and employee pages, the new CIS offers a “Financial Services” page with links to finance applications; a “Faculty and Research” page with links to resources for faculty, graduate students, and principal investigators; and a “University Resources” page with links to applications and services common to all campus users (e.g. Marriott Library, Campus Map or Shuttle Tracker). Users may add or remove optional link tiles on any of their pages, and can create their own custom home pages with the tiles they use most.
For questions about the new CIS, please contact the UIT Help Desk at 801-581-4000 option 1.[/bs_col][/bs_row]
ADMISSIONS APPLICATION FEE CHANGING[bs_row class=”row”][bs_col class=”col-sm-4″]
[/bs_col][bs_col class=”col-sm-8″]Beginning with the fall 2018 academic year, the application fee for incoming undergraduate students is changing. All domestic undergraduates will pay $55, and all international undergraduates will pay $65. Questions can be directed to Teri Clawson, associate director of Admissions (teri.clawson@utah.edu). [/bs_col][/bs_row]
NEW ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY TESTS[bs_row class=”row”][bs_col class=”col-sm-4″]
[/bs_col][bs_col class=”col-sm-8″]Due to an increased focus on English language proficiency for international applicants, the University of Utah has recently approved the addition of a few new test options to prove English proficiency for undergraduate applicants. In addition to test results for the TOEFL or IELTS, we will now accept test results for any of the following tests:
- TOEFL
- IELTS
- Cambridge
- HKDSE
- PTE
- Password
- EIKEN
- TOEIC
- Pearson Versant
- GCSE/IGCSE
- CEFR
If you are interested in applying as an international applicant, or if you know someone who is, please feel free to share this new information.
If you have any questions about these new tests, or the minimum standard required for one of these tests, please feel free to contact Teri Clawson, associate director of Admissions (teri.clawson@utah.edu), or Chelsea Wells, assistant director of International Admissions (cwells@sa.utah.edu). [/bs_col][/bs_row]
Pepsi vending refund vouchers[bs_row class=”row”][bs_col class=”col-sm-4″]
[/bs_col][bs_col class=”col-sm-8″]Did one of the new vending machines eat your dollar? Don’t fret! You can recover your money and get that drink or food item you were hoping for by stopping by a Pepsi refund location and obtaining a credit voucher.
Pepsi has established three customer service refund locations on campus and equipped them with refund vouchers that can be used just like cash in Pepsi and Hello Goodness vending machines. Those refund locations are:
- The Union Building’s Service Desk at 200 S. Central Campus Drive, 801-581-5888.
- The Student Affairs Office, Rm 206 at 201 Presidents Circle, 801-581-7793.
- The University Hospital Food Court at 50 North Medical Drive, 801-581-2121.
Simply provide your uNID, explain your issue, where it took place and a voucher will be given to you. Refunds may only be used in Pepsi or Hello Goodness vending machines. To report a machine that is malfunctioning or has a credit card reader that has gone offline, please call the support number listed on the machine.[/bs_col][/bs_row]