- Sept. 10-11 - Board of Regents meeting.
- Features: Seeing inside nature; Bringing inclusivity to sports apparel.
- People: The NSF has awarded $18 million in renewed funding for the University’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center; and more.
Sept. 10-11 - Board of Regents meeting
During its September meeting, in support of one of the primary commitments in the University of Minnesota’s MPact 2025 (PDF) systemwide strategic plan, the Board of Regents will discuss strategies for enhancing diversity and inclusion among University staff members. The Board is also expected to review President Gabel’s recommended biennial budget request for FY22-23, review Gabel’s recommended six-year capital plan and 2021 state capital request, and receive an annual report from Executive Vice President and Provost Rachel Croson regarding academic program additions, discontinuations, and changes for the coming year. Regents will also discuss the latest updates and planning considerations related to COVID-19. See the news release for more details.
Seeing inside nature
At three renowned research and education spaces, U of M researchers, staff, and students are helping shape our living world. Take an in-depth look inside The Raptor Center, Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, and St. Anthony Falls Laboratory at Seeing inside nature.
Bringing inclusivity to sports apparel
For Sarah Klecker (BS ’17, apparel design), being raised by two world-class runners fueled both her athletic and academic pursuits. Today, she is putting her design degree to work creating functional clothing for athletes of all kinds. Read more and see a slideshow of her designs.
People
The NSF has awarded $18 million in renewed funding for the University’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center; the U of M has been awarded $12.5 million to create a new institute for further understanding of the impact of biodiversity change; Medical School researchers have been awarded a $6.6 million grant to develop a new medical device that can treat mental health disorders; Renée Crichlow has been appointed as the Inaugural Mac Baird Chair in Family Medicine Advocacy and Policy; the Roy Wilkins Center has received a $50,000 grant from Thomson Reuters to identify and evaluate Black nonprofit organizations in the Twin Cities; Karen Armbrust has received a grant to study scleritis; 187 Medical School faculty members have been honored as “Top Doctors” by Minnesota Monthly; fourth-year resident Laura Sloan has received the highest award granted to a resident in the country in forensic psychiatry; U in the News features highlights of U faculty and staff cited in the media. People
Working and giving together
Members of the systemwide Faculty Staff Campaign Advisory Committee say they’re energized by seeing firsthand the impact of their gifts on students, medical research, and other U of M causes. Committee members, who serve as champions for Driven: The University of Minnesota Campaign, share the goal of encouraging, celebrating, and acknowledging colleagues’ collective giving. Meet the team.
‘Build your course’ workshops
Instructors are invited to attend Academic Technology Support Services webinars to support online teaching and learning. These hour-long webinars include opportunities for hands-on application of concepts. Consider enrolling in one or more of the workshops to build your course for fall.
Coursera online course access extended through fall semester
All students, faculty, and staff can now access over 3,800 online courses and 400 Coursera specializations at no cost. Register by Oct. 31 and complete by Dec. 31. This high-quality, electronic curricular material consists of a series of modules with 8- to 12-minute video segments, readings, assessments, and assignments. Learn how to access Coursera content and supplement your U of M course content. For questions, email Bob Rubinyi.
New website launched to help students succeed at online learning
The new Learn Online website provides students with helpful information about basic technology and learning tools, supporting student success, health and wellbeing, and academic tips for online learning (including getting organized, managing your learning environment, avoiding multitasking, and working in teams). The new quick reference site is a companion to the previously released Learning Online 101 orientation that is being used by faculty across the U of M system.
Women’s Faculty Cabinet seeks feedback on caregiving responsibilities
How have your caregiving responsibilities shifted or changed during the time of COVID? The Women’s Faculty Cabinet invites members of the University community to share their experiences through this form, with the intention of hearing each other’s voices and finding solidarity, as well as possible solutions and ideas.
Peer-to-peer COVID-19 safety campaign
The Office of Student Affairs, in partnership with University Relations, has launched a systemwide campaign to encourage behaviors that slow the spread of COVID-19. The campaign includes posters and digital signs featuring U of M students, videos featuring campus influencers, and a social media campaign, all encouraging students to wear face coverings, practice social distancing, and safely socialize.
Nomination materials now available for 2020-21 Distinguished Teaching Awards
Nomination materials for the Horace T. Morse - University of Minnesota Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education, and the Award for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate and Professional Education, are now available. These awards recognize and reward teachers’ commitment to quality education at the U of M. Award recipients become members of the U of M’s Academy of Distinguished Teachers. Nominations are due Jan. 8 at noon; check with your college or campus for internal deadlines, which are earlier.
Medical School helps develop world’s first AI-controlled CPR system
A team at the University of Minnesota Medical School and the Georgia Institute of Technology has invented the world’s first artificial intelligence (AI) closed-loop CPR system. Early studies show the system performs better than both a licensed physician and the LUCAS machine during cardiac arrest.
Tips for helping children wear a face covering
As children prepare for school, JoHannah Orman and Laura Sufka, certified child life specialists and instructors in the Institute of Child Development’s child life program, share ways you can help preschool and school-aged children become more comfortable with wearing a face covering or mask.
Research Brief: Engineering speciation events in insects may be used to control harmful pests and provide safe containment of transgenes
A team of scientists, led by Mike Smanski in the College of Biological Sciences, has generated speciation events in fruit flies so that engineered strains can reproduce normally with each other, but mating with unmodified flies results in non-viable offspring. The research provides the foundations for scientists to be able to prevent genetically modified organisms from reproducing with wild organisms.
Amplifying Solidarity - A Northrop Online Series
Amplifying Solidarity: A Northrop Online Series is a program of live-streamed concerts and a film screening occurring throughout the month of September. The series will use music and art to lift the voices of marginalized people and also to welcome our campus community. A collaboration between Northrop, Radio K, Weeks of Welcome, Multicultural Student Engagement, and the School of Music, these events will focus on movements that are uniting us this year. The next event in the series takes place Sept. 10.
Sept. 15 - Building an Anti-Racism Foundation webinar for supervisors
The civil unrest that our nation and community have experienced has sounded alarms for social justice and change not seen since the civil rights movement. President Gabel has made clear her commitment to a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and just University and we all must do our part. Join in this three-part webinar series culminating with a self-paced learning module, “Becoming an Anti-Racist Supervisor.” Register for “Part I: Building an Anti-Racist Foundation.” Noon-1 p.m.
U of M featured virtual events
Sept. 11 - White/Black: A Tale of Two Opioid Epidemics
Sept. 16 - U of M Constitution Day Event: Women of Color, Indigenous Women, and the Suffrage Movement
Sept. 19 - U of M Day of Service
Sept. 22 - Will 2020 be the Year of the Latino Voter?
Sept. 22 - Equity in Research Seminars: Deconstructing Race in Research
Sept. 23 - Conversation with Al Franken
EDA Center receives $300,000 grant for regional economic development
The University of Minnesota’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) Center received a specialized COVID-19 grant from the United States Department of Commerce. The grant is a CARES Act supplemental award to aid the Crookston's EDA Center and focuses on resiliency and supply chains. The University of Minnesota EDA Center is a collaboration between the Extension Center for Community Vitality and the Veden Center of Rural Economic Development at Crookston.
Researching microplastics
Assistant Professor Melissa Maurer-Jones, chemistry, and UMD Large Lakes Observatory scientists Elizabeth Minor and Kathryn Schreiner received a two-year grant from Minnesota Sea Grant for their project "Microplastics in Lake Superior: An Investigation of Size, Composition, and Weathering.” Maurer-Jones says they want to understand the burden and behavior of plastics in Lake Superior and beyond.
Lindmark combines science with activism, humanities
A 2019 University of Minnesota Medical School graduate who completed his first two years of medical school on the Duluth campus, Augie Lindmark talks about his passion for combating the health disparities that are now on full display during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a medical student, Lindmark completed an Oryema Fellowship in Social Medicine and taught classes on organizing and movement building to health profession students in Minneapolis, Uganda, and Rwanda. Lindmark is now a resident physician at Yale New Haven Hospital.
Composition created in response to George Floyd’s killing
Associate Professor Paula Gudmundson, flute, and instructor Joey Pettit, bass, performed “Caged” at the 2020 National Flute Association's Virtual Summer Series. Gudmundson commissioned UMD music professor Jean Perrault to write the piece for the two instruments in response to the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent protests. Perrault says the work is about “the dominant group’s systemic and systematic use of its power to subjugate, persecute, prosecute, oppress, and abuse others."
College and Beyond colloquium series
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean Janet Schrunk Ericksen will take part in a panel at the College and Beyond II: Liberal Arts and Life colloquium series hosted by the University of Michigan on Sept. 15. Ericksen will discuss "Taking the Measure of the Liberal Arts." The role of humanities in higher education is one of her areas of expertise.
Living Learning Communities support student success
Longitudinal data reveal that the University of Minnesota Rochester's Living Learning Communities (LLC) support students' academic success, leadership, civic engagement, retention, and timely degree completion. Given those results, UMR's Bluff Top View strategic growth plan aims to engage all first-year students in an LLC. UMR's Summer Bridge program connects LLC students to faculty, success coaches, and each other as they engage in a Living on Purpose course as well as the early stages of an original research project. View this year's first-place presentation, Black Mothers and Childbirth Neglect.
New and improved homepage
The University of Minnesota has launched a new and reimagined twin-cities.umn.edu, the homesite for the Twin Cities campus. The website design is based on extensive research and is focused on guiding prospective students through the process of choosing the U of M Twin Cities. The site also connects faculty, staff, donors, alumni, media, and others to key resources. Site visitors are encouraged to explore the new site and provide feedback.
Design in a post-pandemic world
This year, two pandemics have captured the attention of the United States, writes Virajita Singh, Office for Equity and Diversity associate vice provost and senior research fellow with the Center for Sustainable Building Research. The first, COVID-19, is very recent; the second, racism, has a 400-year history in North America. Singh says that in a world so unequal that even disease discriminates, designers must ask themselves, what is our role in this? She and others have created the “Design in a post-pandemic world” conversation series exploring these and other topics.
Building anew
Following the death of George Floyd, the University of Minnesota Libraries leaders and staff turned their attention to ways they could make a difference. One response is the recently created Racial Equity Fund. The fund has a clear purpose: “to supplement Libraries-wide collecting efforts to amplify diverse voices and perspectives in all subject areas, especially with regard to race, racism, and intersectional histories of prejudice and liberation.”