@theU

We need your help, the university has almost 50 university-wide committees that need the active and engaged participation of our faculty (both tenure and career-line), as well as staff and students. Committee service not only benefits the university, but also provides an excellent opportunity for faculty members to get a glimpse of how the university works as a whole, meet new colleagues and further the progress toward reappointment and promotion.

Whether you want to advance the cause and practice of academic freedom, you are concerned about health and safety on campus, you want to work to increase diversity among our students and faculty, you want to be heard on matters of budget and planning, or you think parking on campus needs to be restructured and reorganized, there is an opportunity for you to learn about issues and to have an impact on how the matter is handled in our university.

Click here to begin the survey.

You can find a complete list of university committees here. You can find a complete list of senate committees here.

If you have any questions or want additional information, please feel free to email or talk to any of us. Our contact information is located here.

 

Apply for fall semester admission to the Interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Sustainability by April 1.

The Interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Sustainability program will train students to think and act across disciplinary boundaries. This transdisciplinary literacy will enhance graduate education without compromising disciplinary expertise. Students will be provided opportunities to develop their capacities as transformational change agents within their communities and institutions. This program is a collaboration between the Graduate School, the Sustainability Office, and the Global Change and Sustainability Center.

“Be Compassionate Towards None: Thinking About the Status of the Other through Buddhist Compassion, Augustine’s Charity, and Levinas’ Ethics”

Pierre-Julien Harter, The Obert C. & Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center Visiting Faculty Research Fellow, The Graham School, University of Chicago

To whom, specifically, are we compassionate or ethical, when we act compassionately or ethically? Is compassion or ethics grounded in the presence of a specific other, or are others irrelevant to my determination of being compassionate or ethical? Some Buddhist texts explain rather strangely that the best kind of compassion is a compassion that has no object. How can we understand this counter-intuitive idea that compassion reaches its perfection when there is nobody to be compassionate to?

Scholars of Buddhist philosophy have tried to answer that question theoretically, by referring to the Buddhist conception of reality as being empty – empty of substances, and empty of persons. This talk makes another attempt, following rather an ethical approach that questions the status of the other in our ethical relationships. To deepen our understanding of the matter, we will be looking at Augustine’s conception of brotherly love or charity, and Emmanuel Levinas’ reflection on the other in ethical relationships.

This exercise in ethical thinking through distant places and times will lead us to understand Buddhist compassion from the perspective of the Buddhist path, the process of transformation that leads an individual to perfection, understood as Buddahood.

This event on Tuesday, March 28, 2017 at 12 p.m., is open to the public. Limited seating. Lunch provided.

The University of Utah welcomes Chris Nelson as the new communications director, effective March 27. With more than 20 years of creating and executing strategies to help the University of Utah advance, Nelson has extensive experience in strategic and crisis communication, media relations, organizational message development, content marketing and fundraising strategy. He currently serves as the executive director of the University of Utah Hospital Foundation where he is a member of the hospital’s executive leadership team responsible for fundraising and community engagement. For ten years, he served in various capacities for the Office of Public Affairs for University of Utah Health Care, including assistant vice president where he founded “The Scope Health Sciences Radio.”

The Center for New Student & Family Programs (NSFP) at the University of Utah welcomes applicants for the Campus Life Mentor (CLM) Program! The Campus Life Mentor Program at the University of Utah serves new students in their first year on campus. The goal of the program is to connect newly admitted students with upper class students who have demonstrated success in college. Primarily, a Campus Life Mentors develops individual relationships with an assigned small group of new students. Campus Life Mentors are committed to helping new students feel at home, promoting community on campus, and advocating for academic achievement.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A CAMPUS LIFE MENTOR?

• Community of fellowship with others through shared attitudes, interests, and goals
• Commitment to helping others
• Compassion for working through difference
• Communication skills 

WHO ARE THE CAMPUS LIFE MENTORS?

Campus Life Mentors are successful students that remember what it’s like to be new at the University of Utah and want to play a positive role in the success of new students. They come from a variety of backgrounds and life experiences and have various career and academic goals.  

 Applications can be found at orientation.utah.edu and are due by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 29.

If you have any questions, please contact us at clm@utah.edu.

This week’s Red & White Fridays winner is Marlisa Robertson, another avid Utah fan who got engaged at Rice-Eccles Stadium. By entering to win on Instagram using #RedWhiteFriday Robertson has won $100 to Utah Red Zone. She has also been entered for the Red & White Fridays grand prize – a $1,000 shopping spree at Utah Red Zone.

Next week’s winner could be you – just follow these three steps:

1. Take a photo of yourself wearing Utes gear
2. Tag and follow @americafirst and @uredzone
3. Post your photo to Instagram using #RedWhiteFriday

Visit redandwhitefridays.com for more information about how to win a weekly $100 to Utah Red Zone, and don’t forget to wear red and white on Fridays.

Did you know the University of Utah has access to car rental companies using state-negotiated contracts?  Contracts are available with Hertz (contract # 0198552) as well as National and Enterprise (contract #XZ47075).

Travelers or drivers who use these agencies while traveling on University of Utah business do not need to purchase extra insurance or pay U internal fee.  However, insurance must be purchased for 1) vehicles larger than a minivan, 2) when renting outside the state contracts or 3) renting in a foreign country.  Instructions for renting vehicles can be found at the Risk & Insurance Services website under the Vehicle section, or by calling 1-5590.

Help support the Staff Council scholarship fund by grabbing lunch from food trucks on Friday, April 7. Scholarships awarded through Staff Council go directly to university employees. Food trucks will be parked near HSEB in the Health Sciences campus. Good food, great cause.

Registration for the 3rd Annual HIP Talks speech competition is now open! The event honors the public speaking skills of former Utah Congressman Wayne Owens. It is sponsored by the Hinckley Institute of Politics and ASUU.

Students will prepare and give a two-minute speech on any topic in front of a qualified panel of judges in one of three qualifying rounds. Speeches at last year’s competition were on topics ranging from emotional stories of sexual assault and losing a family member to lighthearted subjects such as alien abductions and the difficulties of business casual dress.

A student can attend more than one qualifying round if he or she wishes. Students selected during the qualifying rounds will give the same speech in front of a panel of celebrity judges in the final round.

The student with the best speech will be awarded a grand prize of $5,000. The first through fourth runners-up will receive $1,000 each. An audience favorite winner also will receive $1,000.

To register and read the rules, click here.

 

Utah Athletics and the University Campus Store have strengthened their long-standing partnership by designating UtahUtes.com as the official online store for Utah Athletics branded products.

Owned and operated by the University of Utah Campus Store, Utah Red Zone is the largest retailer for University of Utah apparel. With its new online partnership with UtahUtes.com, the University of Utah Campus Store plans to offer an even more robust selection of Utah products.

Online visitors to UtahUtes.com will receive free shipping on all orders of $100 or more and a portion of all sales go directly to University of Utah and Utah Athletics scholarships and programs.

Construction has begun at the University Campus Store’s north entrance where a new stairway will be added to connect the store entrance and patio with the sidewalk above.  The renovation aims to create a more attractive and enjoyable environment for students and enhance access to the store with a more functional pedestrian pathway. The project is set for completion at the beginning of May, prior to university commencement. During construction, the north entrance will only be accessible via the eastern stairs; the ramp on the northern side will be blocked. ADA access will remain at the store’s south entrance. Read the full story here.

The Chronicle of Higher Education is opening its 2017 survey on Great Colleges to Work For. HR will randomly select 1,800 faculty and staff to participate, now is your chance to rank the U on a national level.

Look for the email from Jeff Herring and Senior Vice President, Ruth Watkins, Tuesday, March 21, 2017 ,to see whether you have been selected for participation.

 

The American Physiological Society (APS) has awarded the 2017 Bodil M. Schmidt-Nielsen Distinguished Mentor and Scientist Award to Kurt Albertine, associate dean for faculty administration of the School of Medicine, professor of pediatrics and adjunct professor in internal medicine and neurobiology and anatomy labs.

Each year, the APS honors a society member for their excellent contributions to physiological research, their commitment to mentoring and encouraging young scientists, and for fostering exceptional educational opportunities in physiology.

Albertine’s research focuses on bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a chronic disease that disrupts lung development in premature babies and infants who used mechanical respirators to breath. BPD affects children all around the world, but scientists don’t know exactly what causes it, or how to treat it. Albertine’s lab has made discoveries in individual types of lungs cells and in the genes that control the cell’s development, and identified key molecular mechanisms that disrupt lung development. The lab’s results suggest that the stresses associated with a preterm birth — intubation, mechanical respiration, and the neonatal intensive care unit — disrupt gene expression in the immature lung.

Noticed a little white sticker on your recent campus food purchase? If you have eaten at Mom’s Café and Mom’s Pantry at the Marriott Library, or at the Counsel Café in the S.J. Quinney College of Law, you may have purchased an item with one of these Real Food labels. The Real Food labels are round icons on a white background, about the size of a quarter. The labels indicate whether your food is humane, eco-friendly, local, and fair, the four criteria needed for an item to be considered “real food.” The University has taken the Real Food Challenge, a commitment to offering 20 percent real food on campus by 2020. These labels help campus reach our goal by promoting the purchase of real food. Learn more about the Real Food Challenge and look for food with these stickers across campus.

Implementation of the labels is supported by the Real Food Challenge, the Sustainability Office, Chartwells, the Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund and the Office of Undergraduate Research.

U faculty, submit your textbook adoptions to the University Campus Store for the upcoming 2017 summer or fall semesters, it’s not too late. Submitting adoptions is easy — simply complete the University Campus Store’s online textbook adoption form for a quick adoption. If you need assistance in submitting your textbook information, please contact Dave Nelson at 801-581-8321 or dnelson@campusstore.utah.edu.

The prompt submission of textbook adoptions by faculty each semester enables the Campus Store to stock the necessary books in a timely manner. This increases the chances of offering used textbooks, eBooks, and rental textbooks, all of which help students save up to 50 percent off of new book prices. The Campus Store relies heavily on your timely response, so please don’t delay.

Final textbook adoptions for Fall 2017 Semester is due March 31.

Thank you for your ongoing support of the Campus Store’s textbook adoption program, best wishes for another great academic year.