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At a press conference last week, President Ruth V. Watkins introduced new Athletic Director Mark Harlan.

If you missed the announcement, watch the press conference here.

Honors College Dean Sylvia Torti is on a leave of absence. However, while she is away, Martha Bradley-Evans will be acting dean of the Honors College. Bradley-Evans will continue to serve as senior associate vice president and dean of Undergraduate Studies during this period. Bradley-Evans was previously dean of the Honors College and her familiarity with the college will make this period as seamless as possible as we anticipate the return of Torti later this fall.

In addition, the Honors College is welcoming two new associate deans on July 1: Monisha Pasupathi and Laurence Parker. Together with Bradley-Evans, they will provide the Honors College with exceptional leadership over the coming months.

The University of Utah College of Fine Arts is pleased to welcome two new members to its leadership team on July 1, 2018. Melonie B. Murray, associate professor in the School of Dance, will be joining the dean’s cabinet as the new associate dean for Faculty & Academic Affairs, a position vacated by Sarah Projansky, who after five years of service, is returning to the faculty in the Department of Film & Media Arts. Joining from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is Harris Smith, who will be taking over for Gage Williams as the new chair of the Department of Theatre.

“This is an exciting time in the college’s momentous history, and we’re thrilled to welcome these two most qualified and talented administrators to our leadership ranks,” said Dean John W. Scheib. “Their histories and expertise will bring new perspectives, new energy and new skills to our already incredible team.”

Murray previously has been serving the School of Dance as the ballet program coordinator and director of graduate studies, and she implemented the new (and the nation’s only) Master of Fine Arts in Ballet at the U. Prior to her arrival at the U, she was the dance program director at Colorado Mesa University and has worked extensively in curricular development.

“I am honored to serve our vibrant, innovative College of Fine Arts community in this capacity,” Murray said. “I look forward to working closely with Dean Scheib and his team to further the mission of the CFA.”

Smith is coming from the University of University Nebraska-Lincoln, as the director for the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film. He is the former head of the Professional Actor Training Program there, and his research and creative work focus on psycho-physical character development for the actor and choreographing violence for stage and film.

“I’m enthusiastic about joining the Department of Theatre at the University of Utah” Smith said. “As an alum of the Pac-12, I’m excited to return to this excellent conference. I look forward to building upon the excellence of the department and commitment of the faculty toward its students.  It is my hope to deepen our relationships with communities in the Greater Salt Lake area and the state of Utah, as we continue to grow our national and international impact.”

For more information on the College of Fine Arts, visit finearts.utah.edu.

On June 11, 2018, the School of Dentistry and General Practice Residency clinics will transition to using Epic Wisdom, the dental module in the Epic software suite. The University of Utah will become the second organization to use this software and the first academic medical center to adopt it. Not only will this software integration set University of Utah Health apart from every other academic medical center in the nation, it will provide the health system with yet another tool for assessing patient outcomes.

Integrating Wisdom with the rest of Epic will give providers at the School of Dentistry and General Practice Residency clinics access to a fully-integrated patient record. Dental providers will be able to see medical histories and vice versa. This will allow dentists to provide better and more comprehensive care in the future.

An integrated patient record also opens the door to future health outcomes research. Oral health is known to be linked with several systemic diseases, including diabetes and cancer. There is also research that shows that pregnant women with healthy mouths reduce the risk of preterm birth and on average have lower costs for delivery than women with gum disease. There are countless other health outcomes research projects that will now be possible, thanks to this integrated health record.

These changes and software integration are part of a larger oral health integration effort across campus. The School of Dentistry is just five years old and is the first new School or College at the University of Utah in more than 50 years. What was recently a service line supported by just ten residents across two locations is now a network of more than 140 providers (and counting) across four locations. This talented workforce will undoubtedly continue to weave itself into the fabric of our health system — a process everyone will benefit from.

As the School of Dentistry and the oral health presence at University of Utah Health continues to grow, new and exciting stories will emerge about its success. Oral health is an integral part of overall health, and the efforts of those involved in its delivery will help the University of Utah continue to maintain its reputation as a top quality provider nationally.

In the path of Kilauea’s eruption, Utah geoscientists Fan-Chi Lin and Jamie Farrell are headed to Hawaii to learn all they can about the volcano’s “plumbing.” Funded by a Rapid Response Research program (RAPID) grant from the National Science Foundation, Lin and Farrell are leading a team that will make several trips to the volcano, beginning immediately, and seismically monitor the subsurface magma pathway, noting how it changes over time.

Lin and Farrell have also conducted seismic surveys in recent years in Yellowstone National Park. Farrell explains what they’ve found in this video.

RAPID enables scientists to quickly respond to developing situations, such as the Kilauea eruption, and collect time-sensitive data.

On July 17, 2018, Duo phone call and text message options for two-factor authentication (2FA) will be discontinued. Users need to select another method for Duo 2FA to log in to the majority of university applications after July 17.

The Strategic Information Technology Committee approved this decision for a number of reasons – most importantly, recent industry guidance and practice has indicated that phone calls and text messages are vulnerable and not considered secure methods of authentication. There is also a significant cost associated with providing these authentication methods. The phone call option was intended to be a backup or emergency method for using Duo, yet for many it has become their primary method. The new backup option for Duo authentication will now be completed through the central university help desks (contact information below).

You may choose one of the following options for 2FA, which are used by the majority of campus and U Health users:

Duo mobile app:

• Easiest and fastest method
• Install on a smartphone or tablet (includes Apple, Android, and Windows mobile devices)
• Two options to authenticate:
  1. Mobile push notification (select “approve” or “deny” from your device’s home screen or Duo notification page — no need to type in a code)
  2. Type in a passcode (network connectivity is not required for this option)

Duo hardware token:

• Available for purchase at the University Campus Store and the Health Sciences Store

Visit the 2FA webpage, Duo 2FA overview article, and Duo tutorial video found in Pulse (U Health) or Bridge (campus) for more information. If you have questions, contact the UIT Help Desk (801-581-4000, option 1) or ITS Service Desk (801-587-6000) for assistance.

The University of Utah Veterans Day Committee honors veterans each year based on their honor, courage, commitment and sacrifice during their military service to our nation. Nominations for this year’s ceremony are due by July 31, 2018.

For more information or to nominate a veteran to be honored, go to veteransday.utah.edu or call 801-587-7722.