Today's Issue

Today’s issue contains information on campus safety, College administration leadership transitions (and a note from our new senior associate dean of faculty, Deboleena Roy), online teaching resources, upcoming grant application opportunities and deadlines (including a new Sept. 1 deadline for Hightower Funds), and other news.

The Faculty Focus will publish every two weeks this semester.

COVID-19 Tracking and Community Update Webinar Aug. 27

All Emory College faculty, staff, and students are invited to join members of the Emory leadership team and President Greg Fenves for a discussion about Emory's COVID-19 testing efforts, the university’s new public COVID-19 dashboard, and other campus updates. The virtual presentation takes place Thursday, August 27, at 3 p.m. EDT.

Please click the link below to join the webinar:

https://emory.zoom.us/j/95772545845

College Administration Transitions

Carla Freeman, Senior Associate Dean of Faculty from 2014-2020, has been appointed Executive Associate Dean of Emory College. In this role, she will work with Dean Michael Elliott to lead the College’s academic mission, and spearhead initiatives related to faculty leadership development, social justice and inclusion, and partnerships with other units. During this coming year, she will focus particularly on supporting academic engagement between faculty and students in the pandemic environment. Freeman also is the Goodrich C. White Professor of Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies and is affiliated faculty in Anthropology and Latin American & Caribbean Studies.

Deboleena Roy, most recently chair of WGSS, joins the administration as the new Senior Associate Dean for Faculty. (See more information and personal message below.)

Sally Gouzoules, Associate Dean for International and Summer Programs, will leave her role at the end of this month. She joined the Office of International and Summer Programs (OISP) in 2013 from the Department of Anthropology, where she had served as director of undergraduate studies and associate chair for several years. For the last several months, she has led the phenomenal work to train faculty in online teaching pedagogy and best practices through OISP’s ECOTS program. The Emory College Online Teaching Services program and other online initiatives began in 2015 under her leadership.

Message from the New Senior Associate Dean of Faculty

Dear Emory College Faculty,

I hope that your semester, despite all its challenges, is off to a good start. I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself and tell you that it is my great pleasure to serve as the new Senior Associate Dean of Faculty for Emory College of Arts and Sciences. I am very much looking forward to working with all of you.

Although I am new to this position, I am not new to Emory University. I received my PhD in molecular biology and reproductive neuroendocrinology from the University of Toronto and I arrived here at Emory in 2009 with a joint appointment in the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and the Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology Program. My research and teaching explore interdisciplinary exchanges between the natural sciences and humanities, and I have dedicated my career to creating new conversations between feminism, philosophy of science, reproductive justice, molecular biology, and neuroscience.

During my time at Emory, many faculty, staff, and students in the College have contributed to my scholarly and professional growth. I have also received a great deal of support from Dean Elliott and Dean Freeman who both served as Senior Associate Dean of Faculty before me. It is my goal to follow in their footsteps and support you with the same level of dedication.

This semester will continue to present us with many challenges on a regular basis. Know that you are always welcome to reach out. To contact me, please send an email to dean_of_faculty@emory.edu.

All best,

Deboleena

Online Teaching Resources

Zoom Tips and Best Practices

The ECOTS team offers the following tips and resources for faculty teaching online classes.

Log In to your Emory Zoom Account: Please remember that both you and your students need to log into https://emory.zoom.us in order to access the Emory Zoom account. If you plan to use pre-assigned Breakout Rooms in Zoom, you will need to assign students using their NetID@emory.edu email address. Please remind your students that they need to log into their Emory Zoom account ahead of the class meeting. Please note: logging into https://zoom.us with your Emory credentials does NOT give you access to your Emory Zoom account.

Zoom Cloud Recording: Synchronous class meetings should be recorded using the Zoom cloud recording feature. We’ve put together a Zoom Cloud Recording PDF to walk you through the steps of recording, retrieving your recording, and sharing the link with your students through Canvas.

ECOTS Office Hours

The Emory College Online team will host Virtual Office Hours on Thursdays from 1-2 p.m. Click here to join office hours via Zoom. You may also make an appointment with one of our ECOTS facilitators or email emorycollegeonline@emory.edu.

Additional Help/Support

• Email facultysupport@emory.edu with academic policy questions.
• For technology support and needs (hardware, software), email echelp@emory.edu.
• For Canvas support, you may make an appointment with an Emory Canvas specialist.
• Explore the Flexible Teaching Toolkit and support resources on the CFDE website.

Undergraduate Education: Reminders and Deadlines

OUE Virtual Reception

The Office for Undergraduate Education is offering a walk-in virtual reception for students, faculty, staff, and others with quick questions or who need directions to resources for students. The virtual reception is available from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Monday-Friday. For this week, the virtual reception can be reached here. This zoom link will change next week; the new link will be available on the OUE Home Page and made available to students through the College Weekly.

Student Success Canvas Module

Designed collaboratively by staff in the Office of International and Summer Programs, and the Office for Undergraduate Education, the Student Success Canvas Module is now available to students as a standalone module, as well as an integrated component for your individual courses on Canvas. The module can be accessed here. It is designed to help students navigate the online teaching environment and how to tackle topics such as time management, technology, and academic support resources.

SIRE Projects for 2020-21

The Scholarly-Inquiry and Research Experience (SIRE) Program connects second- and third-year students interested in working on a research project with a faculty mentor who needs a research assistant. This is a year-long program that is geared toward students who are entering research for the first time and have minimal research experience.

If you are interested in working with SIRE students this academic year, please submit your research projects using this link. For fall 2020, all research projects will need to be conducted remotely.

Hurricane Laura: Student Impact

As Hurricane Laura threatens Texas and Louisiana, students who are studying remotely in these areas may be impacted and have challenges accessing their online courses. To assist any students affected, we encourage you to record your course sessions and make those available as needed. 

Additionally, OUE will reach out to the faculty of students affected who may request extensions or additional support. If you are contacted by students directly, please offer your support but also complete the Student Concern form. This form will help the university provide additional support to students.

University Libraries: Sept. 25 Town Hall and Resources

Emory Libraries will host “Navigating the Emory Libraries in Fall 2020: A Town Hall for Emory Faculty” at noon, Friday, September 25. Register here to attend.

Throughout the summer, the Emory Libraries administration and staff have worked to expand and reinvent services – both online and in-person – to make sure faculty and students have access to the resources and support needed to prosper in all of your academic pursuits. The At a Glance summary lists services and spaces across all libraries. More detailed information on full resources can be found on the Fall 2020 overview page.

Faculty Development Opportunities

New Sept. 1 Application Deadline for Hightower Funds

Each year Emory College receives funds from the Hightower endowment, which memorializes the late Robert E. Hightower Sr. Under normal circumstances, this endowment provides funds to bring outstanding visiting lecturers to Emory and are limited to honoraria. Because of travel restrictions due to the current national pandemic, Emory College is eager to support new forms of teaching and engagement in more creative ways. We welcome Hightower applications that will enhance the student experience and enrich classes and intellectual life within and across Departments. Given the remote platform, we expect honoraria to be more modest than would be the norm for campus talks.

The deadline for Fall event funding requests has been extended until Tuesday, September 1. More information about the application process can be found on the Office of Faculty website along with the Hightower Fund application. Applications should be submitted electronically to dean_of_faculty@emory.edu.

Halle Institute Collaborative Research Grants Available

The submission deadline for the next cycle of Halle Institute Collaborative Research Grants is Wednesday, September 30. Grants are open to all regular, full-time faculty in any school or discipline. They are designed to foster global research collaborations between faculty partners in different universities.

Faculty are encouraged to apply with the expectation that they will conduct research as planned. The Halle Institute will remain flexible in extending grant completion dates if travel is limited during the full grant period. More information and the application are available on the Halle Institute website.

American Academy in Berlin fellowships available

The American Academy in Berlin invites applications for its residential fellowships for the academic year 2021-22. The Academy seeks to enrich transatlantic relations in the arts, humanities, and public policy through the development and communication of projects of the highest scholarly merit. For 2021-22, the Academy will also award a Richard C. Holbrooke fellowship for a project that explores diplomatic approaches to resolving major global issues, from armed conflicts to environmental challenges to the impact of new technologies.

About 20 Berlin Prizes are awarded annually. Benefits include round-trip airfare, partial board, a $5,000 monthly stipend, and accommodations at the Academy’s lakeside Hans Arnhold Center, in the Wannsee district of Berlin. The application deadline is noon EST, Friday, September 25. More information and the application can be found on the American Academy website. For inquiries, contact Fellows Selection at cs@americanacademy.de.

Labor Day: Guidance on Work/Vacation Expectations

Labor Day is Monday, September 7. College classes will be taking place on Labor Day; however, we are also “closed” for the holiday for most staff. Below are the following guidelines for work expectations.

• Any non-exempt staff employees who must work to support classes (as directed by their supervisor) will be paid 1.5 times their regular hourly rate.
• Exempt staff employees who must work to support classes (as directed by their supervisor) will be allowed to take the holiday on a different day (before the end of the year).
• For all other staff, it will be a regular paid holiday.
• Please make sure anyone contacting your department or program that day can receive information on where they can find assistance.

Reminder: Faculty/Staff Onboarding for Campus Access

Emory University has established a comprehensive clearance process for faculty and staff who plan to be on the Atlanta and Oxford campuses this fall. The five-step onboarding clearance process can be accessed through the Emory Forward website. Please complete the onboarding tasks if you anticipate that you will be on campus at any time this fall.

Reminder: Parking Permit Changes

New changes will be made to transportation and parking this fall to ensure that Emory students and employees are best able to manage their parking needs with respect to schedules, health, and safety.

Registration is currently open. All permits will be mailed to your home address.

New permits are needed to work with the updated parking system. The system is being updated to allow Parking Services to charge for only the amount of parking being used, as opposed to a monthly or semester-based fee structure. The new parking fee structure is based on usage. Fees will be based on daily use with monthly caps, which align to the previous fee structure for annual permit holders. Employees will be charged $6/day with a monthly cap of $56.

For more information, read the Permit Parking FAQ’s.

Emory Forward

For the latest Emory University COVID-19 guidelines and information, visit the Emory Forward website.