March 24, 2020 Volume 4 Issue 10

Today's Issue

Today’s issue of the Faculty Focus contains reminders and important updates on Academic Action Requests, student support resources, remote teaching office hours, and information on non-COVID-related activities, including the move to Faculty 180 and deadlines for named chairs nomination. The next issue of the Faculty Focus will be sent this Friday, March 27.

University Updates

The University’s COVID-19 Website was recently relaunched. In addition to the latest University-wide updates, the site now has useful information and resources specifically for faculty, staff, and students.

Remote Teaching: Support for Faculty and Instructors

The Emory College Academic Continuity & Remote Teaching site includes a significant number of resources to help you in this transition to remote teaching, as well as important College-specific guidance and policies. Other resources are available on the University’s COVID-19 website

Remote Teaching Office Hours

Emory College will host drop-in office hours for pedagogical issues this week from noon to 1 pm. You can join the Zoom here (Meeting ID: 356 613 444) at https://emory.zoom.us/j/356613444. If you have technical issues you can also ask your questions on this call.

 

Student Support During Remote Teaching

Some students may be facing uncertain circumstances involved with relocation, possible quarantines, and unreliable technology and internet access. No student should be penalized for missing synchronous class sessions due to circumstances outside of their control.

If you are aware of students who do not have access to a computer or laptop and/or who do not have internet connectivity, contact oue.advising@emory.edu. If possible, continue to remain in contact with the student via email as we work toward a solution.

If you become aware of students with financial challenges who need extra support, students may request help through the EmoryTogether Fund by visiting the Campus Life Student Success Programs website and clicking on the support link.

The University’s COVID-19 site also has useful tips and guidance for students.

MIA Students

If you have any student with whom you are unable to make contact with during this first week of remote teaching, or who falls out of contact (for 3+ days) at any point during the remainder of the term, please complete the Student of Concern Referral form.

Student Tech Support

For faculty receiving questions from students about tech support, please direct them to the following resources:

Academic Action Requests

Students now have various academic action request options as they complete their coursework this semester. Starting March 27, students can make the following changes outlined below. Students are encouraged to schedule an advising appointment through College Connect or ask questions via email to oue.advising@emory.edu or prehealth@emory.edu. Faculty may email oue.facultysupport@emory.edu for additional guidance.

Academic Action Requests include:

  • Option 1: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grading basis
    Students will be able to change the grading basis of any course from letter grade to satisfactory/unsatisfactory in OPUS.
    The option will remain available until 5 p.m., Friday, April 10.
  • Option 2: Course Withdrawal
    Withdrawing from a course means they will not complete the course or earn credit for the course, and a grade of "W" will appear on their transcript. Taking a course withdrawal may delay progress to graduation. This is particularly important for courses required as a GER or for a major/minor. It may also impact progress if they withdraw from a course that is a pre-requisite for another course.
    The option will remain available until 5 p.m., Friday, April 10.
  • Option 3: Request an Incomplete
    Taking an incomplete in a course means that the student and the faculty member of the course have made arrangements to complete the requirements of the course at a later period of time, typically in the immediate next semester. Once the requirements are completed, the incomplete grade will be changed to the earned grade.
    This option will remain available until the last day of classes this semester.

Study Abroad: Returning Study Abroad students must contact the Study Abroad office (studyabroad@emory.edu) with requests for academic action.

Remote IT and Classroom Tech Support

College IT and Classroom Tech are in service and ready to support faculty and staff.

We will be monitoring our tickets 7 days a week from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and will respond to emergency requests as soon as possible. If you need IT assistance for any reason, contact:

  • LITS Service Desk at either 404-727-7777 or at the web link https://emory.service-now.com/. If you have password related issues, call 404-727-7777.
    On that website, you can enter a service ticket or engage in a live chat function, which would be the quickest for emergency responses. The website also has a searchable knowledgebase.
  • Email echelp@emory.edu with a description of your problem and we will get back in touch as quickly as possible. Please leave your preferred contact number in your message.
  • Call the Emory College IT Help Desk at 404-727-5757. Note that this will automatically place you into voice mail, and your voice mail will auto-generate the service ticket.
  • Is your Zoom sluggish? If you are seeing messages like “Your Internet Connection is Unstable” while using Zoom, there is a good chance that your computer and your home WiFi are too far apart. Please see about situating your workspace closer to your router. Also, during Zoom calls, try to avoid other household members making heavy use of your Internet (for example, Netflix or Disney+ streaming).

Changes to Pre-Health Composite Letter Process

Attention faculty and staff who write recommendation letters for pre-medical and dental students: Pre-Health Advising has extended the Recommendation Letter deadline for our Composite Letter applicants to Friday, May 1 to give recommenders more time to complete their requested letters during the transition to remote learning. This information has been communicated to students If you or any of your colleagues have questions or need an extension beyond the new May 1 deadline, please email phaletters@emory.edu.

Honors Theses Deadlines Extended

The deadlines for Honors theses have been extended one week to April 14 (for ETD submissions) and April 16 (for Honors forms). Contact ec.honorsprogram@emory.edu for questions.

Building Access Now Limited

All Emory College buildings are locked to provide additional security and accessible by card access. If you have any other questions or concerns, contact ecasfacilities@emory.edu.

Faculty with outdated, damaged or lost ID cards can obtain a replacement card at no cost. EmoryCard Services now allows you to make an appointment to visit at a time that is convenient for you; click the “Get Your EmoryCard” link in the top navigation of the EmoryCard website.

Woodruff, Health Sciences, Business, and Rose Libraries Access and Service

The Woodruff, Health Sciences, Business, and Rose libraries are now closed for patrons. Staff are still working to provide services to assist with teaching, learning, and research goals. For details about accessing materials and other services, see the library’s website.

If You Have COVID-19 Symptoms

Any faculty or staff person having COVID-19 symptoms needs to contact their healthcare provider as well as their supervisor or chair. The supervisor is to also notify Nancy Bliwise, nancy.bliwise@emory.edu, in the Provost’s office. If they have been on campus within two weeks of becoming ill, they should also contact the Office of Occupational Injury Management, 404-686-8587. More information is available on the University COVID-19 website under FAQ’s.

Reminder: Charges Related to COVID-19

Reminder: College departments and programs may incur expenses related to COVID-19. In an effort to track these unexpected expenses, Emory’s Finance Division created a new SpeedType 8300100218 (Project ID 00094049) for the College.

If a related expense has posted already, you should process a journal to transfer the expense to this dedicated SpeedType. Otherwise, you may post these expenses directly to the SpeedType. Personnel expenses related to COVID-19 can also be charged either by submitting an RST or changing the labor distribution.

If you’re unsure if an expense should be charged to ST8300100218 or if you have additional questions, please contact your dedicated College Finance Representative. Thank you for your patience while College Business Operations attempts to provide support and guidance to your department through this extraordinary time.

In Other News: Faculty 180, Merit Process, Named Chairs and Other Deadlines

Chairs and Directors Session: Faculty and Staff Evaluation and Merit Process

Leaders: Carla Freeman and Laura Papotto

Tuesday, March 31, 2020, 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. (Outlook invite with Zoom link will be provided)

Faculty Evaluation and Merit Process

We are proceeding with replacing the Online Faculty Activity Report (OFARs) with Faculty 180 activity reporting as part of the faculty review and evaluation process. You will have access to the new program by the end of the month.

Faculty 180 is a system that allows faculty to enter all professional activities in one system that can then be used to generate CVs, reporting, biosketches, etc.

This platform will provide Emory-wide uniformity for university reporting that supports faculty, administrative, and accreditation needs. This easy-to-use system will streamline data collection for your use as well as for reporting purposes in Emory College, and Emory University. Faculty 180 is a powerful tool to capture the totality of faculty activity. For this year, our goal is to capture only the past year’s activity for the purposes of annual review.

This Year’s Faculty Activity Report for Performance Review: This spring all tenure-track and lecturer-track faculty will enter their activity information encompassing the past year (May 2019 – May 2020) in Faculty 180 instead of through OFARs. Activity information will need to be entered and complete by all regular faculty by Friday, May 15, 2020.

Faculty 180 Training Sessions: Your department chair may have already arranged for a department specific session but there are also general training sessions available through Zoom. They are scheduled:

  • 2 – 4 p.m., Wednesday, April 1
  • 8:30 – 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, April 14
  • 2 – 4 p.m., Monday, April 20

These sessions will be posted on the Dean of Faculty Outlook calendar so faculty can go there to claim the session link(s). You may also RSVP to the Dean_of_Faculty@emory.edu email and we will send you a calendar invite with the Zoom link information.

Heilbrun Distinguished Emeritus Fellows Program

This marks the 20th year of competition for the Heilbrun Distinguished Emeritus Fellowship. The program will support two fellowships in the amount of $10,000 each for the 2020-2021 academic year. Any faculty who have not previously received this award and have achieved emeritus status on or before September 1, 2020, are eligible to apply.

The criteria for selection will include:

  • The relationship of the proposed project to the candidate's previous research.
  • The feasibility of completing the project within the term of the Fellowship.
  • The overall value of the research to the applicant's field or discipline.

Fellowship recipients will be asked to agree to the following conditions:

  • Submission of a written report to the Committee upon completion of the Fellowship.
  • Formal acknowledgment of Fellowship support in any published work that results
  • Attendance at receptions and social gatherings sponsored by the Committee.

Application details:

  • Detailed description of the planned research project to be undertaken during the term of the fellowship
  • Budget detail of the research expenses
  • Curriculum vita that includes activities undertaken since gaining emeritus status

Applications should be sent to the email account Dean_of_Faculty@emory.edu with “Heilbrun Fellowship” in the subject line and be received by Friday, May 1. (Deadline was April 1)

Named Chair Nominations

It is the time of the year that you consider nominating your colleagues for a named chair. We are not certain how many such chairs we will be able to consider for the upcoming year, but your nominations play a crucial role in helping identify faculty deserving of further recommendation.

Three Winship Distinguished Research Awards are awarded every year. All nominations are kept on file for three years. In particular, nominations for the Dobbs and White chairs may be considered over several years, and new materials may be added to the file after the initial nomination. Generally speaking, nominees should not already be holders of named chairs.

Descriptions of Named Chairs and the Winship Award:

  • Samuel Candler Dobbs: Full professors who have shown extraordinary accomplishment and considerable future promise in research and teaching.
  • Goodrich C. White: Full professors who have distinguished themselves by extraordinary service to the university and by strong accomplishment in research and teaching.
  • Winship Distinguished Research Award: Tenured faculty who demonstrate singular accomplishments in research. Such recognition should honor achievement and further scholarly research and research-based teaching. Awarded for a three-year term.

To nominate a member of your faculty, submit a brief letter of nomination (no more than one page) and a copy of their detailed CV to the email address: Dean_of_Faculty@emory.edu by Friday, May 15. We encourage nominations that include letters of support (no more than one page) from more than one faculty, although all nominations will be considered carefully.

Hightower Speaker Funds: Fall 2020 Applications Now Open

Each year Emory College receives funds from the Hightower endowment, which memorializes the late Robert E. Hightower Sr. This endowment provides funds to bring outstanding visiting lecturers to Emory.

The College has typically committed funds of $75,000-$100,000 annually. These include small allocations for partial funding of a single speaker to large amounts to support conferences with several speakers. Applications for Fall 2020 events are currently being accepted. The deadline to submit the application is May 15.

More information about the application process can be found on the Office of Faculty website along with the Hightower Fund application.

Student and Faculty/Staff Hardship Funds

Please consider a donation to the Student Hardship Fund or the Faculty and Staff Hardship Fund if you would like to provide direct assistance to the Emory community. The Hardship Funds provide critical assistance to students or faculty and staff in need due to a crisis or catastrophic event. Give here.

Quick Contacts List

Advising: oue.advising@emory.edu

Faculty: oue.facultysupport@emory.edu

Parents: family@emory.edu

Housing: housing@emory.edu

Dining: dining@emory.edu

Admissions: apply@emory.edu

International students: isss@emory.edu

Remote teaching: http://college.emory.edu/oisp/remoteteaching/index.html

Covid-19 Emory Updates: https://www.emory.edu/coronavirus/