January 27, 2021 Volume 5 Issue 12

Tenure and Promotion Info Session This Friday

Associate Dean for Faculty Deboleena Roy and Professor Patricia Bauer will host a session specifically for tenured/tenure-track faculty and their department chairs on “Tenure, Promotion, and Mentoring” from 8:30-10:30 a.m. this Friday, January 29. Faculty should have received a calendar invite and meeting link. Please contact dean_of_faculty@emory.edu if you did not.

Reminders: Backup Teaching Plans, Increased Staffing

Backup Teaching Plans: All instructors this semester are requested to work with their department chairs to have a back-up teaching plan in place now in the event of illness later this semester. Updated plans should be sent by the department chair to the dean_of_faculty@emory.edu. Please contact the faculty office if you have any questions.

Increased Staffing: Department chairs have been requested to revisit and update density plans for their departments this semester. The goal is to have at least one staff member available in-person in student facing offices for 50 percent of the time, four days a week, by mid-semester. Most campus activities will be restricted until February 8; after that date, public health permitting, departments are asked to begin increasing their in-person staffing. Please send updated plans to ECAS_Connections@emory.edu AND ECASFacilities@emory.edu. Email ECAS_Connections@emory.edu if your department needs an additional copy of the return-to-campus guidance and density plan forms sent earlier to department chairs.

Teaching Resources for Spring 2021

“What is Excellent Teaching?” Series Starts This Spring

Emory College Distinguished Teaching Chairs Hiram Maxim, Tom Rogers, and Arri Eisen will lead a series of conversations on teaching in the Spring 2021 semester. These informal discussions will explore topics such as effective teaching, preparing teaching portfolios for promotion, and balancing and integrating research, teaching, and service with early-career tenure- and lecture-track faculty. If you are interested in joining these discussions, please respond to dean_of_faculty@emory.edu by this Friday, January 29.

Spring Online Teaching Retreat

Thank you to all of the Emory College faculty panelists who contributed to and attended the Spring Online Teaching Retreat. Recordings and summaries of most sessions are available now in the ECO Faculty Hub in Canvas. Other Emory Online Teaching resources include:

Faculty Award Nominations Needed

Emory Williams Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Awards

Emory College faculty, students, and alumni are encouraged to submit nominations for the prestigious 2020-2021 Emory Williams Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Awards. Nominators should submit a one-page letter justifying the nomination and include specific information about the nominee’s teaching. Send electronic nomination letters to Dean_of_Faculty@emory.edu with the subject line “Emory Williams Nomination” by Friday, Feb. 26.

Cuttino Mentoring Award

This award is named in honor of the late history professor George Peddy Cuttino, who was known among several generations of Emory students not only as a teacher but also as an outstanding mentor beyond the classroom. The successful recipient of this prestigious award should exhibit a similar record of exceptional mentoring of students. One page nomination letters addressed to Dean Deboleena Roy should be sent to the Dean_of_Faculty@emory.edu email address with “Cuttino Award” in the subject line by Friday, March 5, and include specific information about the nominee’s record as a mentor. 

Student Award Nominations Now Open

McMullan Award Nominations Due March 5

Emory College is soliciting nominations for the Lucius Lamar McMullan Award. The McMullan Award is meant to honor a graduating senior of uncommon stature in the eyes of the Emory community. Academic achievement is an important criterion, but not the sole measure of excellence. The recipient should also demonstrate outstanding citizenship, exceptional leadership, and singular qualities of mind and character. The winner of the McMullan Award will receive $30,000 at the time of graduation to be used for any purpose of their choosing.

Nominations should be submitted via the nomination form by Friday, March 5. Please see the call for nominations or email Jason Ciejka, jciejka@emory.edu, for more information.

Brittain Award Nominations Due March 1

Campus Life has announced that the 2021 M.L. Brittain Award nomination process is open. The award is given annually at Commencement to one undergraduate and one graduate student who have performed the most “significant, meritorious, and devoted service to Emory University.” All nominations should be submitted by Monday, March 1. Please see the call for nominations for more information about the award.

OUE Updates

Graduation Application Now Available

The Spring 2021 graduation application is now open and will remain open until February 19. Students will be requesting that their major/minor departments sign off on their Course Completion Review Form(s) during this timeframe. Faculty and departments can expect an increase in requests from graduating seniors asking to have their form(s) signed, so they may submit and upload it to the Emory College graduation application.

The signed course completion review form is required for the Office for Undergraduate Education to clear students for graduation. The spring 2021 course completion form(s) should be signed off using a digital signature via Adobe. The completed form(s) can be emailed directly to students after it has been signed by the relevant department(s). Please note: Students may submit two separate course completion forms if they have more than one major or a minor, or they can submit one form with both signatures from each of their departments.

If you need additional assistance or an alternate option to sign or submit confirmation of a student’s major/minor graduation requirements, please email the College Graduation and Commencement staff at ec.graduation@emory.edu.

OUE Virtual Reception Desk

OUE will continue to offer the Virtual Reception Desk for students, faculty, and staff this semester. The virtual reception desk is available to answer quick questions and to connect community members to various OUE and/or College Resources. The desk is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Friday. Drop-in advising for students is available via the desk from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. during Add/Drop/Swap, and then from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the rest of the semester.

Faculty Resource Hub

The Faculty Resource Hub is now available on the OUE Website. The Hub provides faculty with easy to access information on policies, procedures, and support documents for the work you are undertaking. On the Hub you can find details on the Student Concern Form process, COVID-19 student isolation/quarantine information, Important Dates for Faculty calendar, and more.

Campus Life Faculty Toolkit

In addition to OUE resources, Campus Life has developed a Faculty Tool Kit that provides essential information and resources for faculty to help support the co-curricular, financial, and mental health needs of our students.

Faculty Funding Opportunities

CFDE Classroom Mini-Grants Available for Spring 2021

The Center for Faculty Development and Excellence offers Mini Grants to support faculty teaching. Applications are now being accepted until funds are depleted. A Mini Grant should be used for an activity directly related to a class you are teaching during the Spring 2021 semester.

Anyone currently teaching at Emory is eligible, including tenure track faculty, lecturers, adjunct faculty, visiting faculty, and graduate students. The request can be up to $350. To access the online application, visit the CFDE website.

Call for PERS grant proposals

The Program to Enhance Research and Scholarship (PERS) will consider proposals from regular Emory College faculty for modest seed funding for new research, research travel, other research related activities, and matches for equipment grants. Proposals must demonstrate, where appropriate, efforts to seek other sources of funding, and will be evaluated on the basis of merit and need. The spring application deadline is 5 p.m., Thursday, March 18.

Updates: International and Summer Programs

The Office of International and Summer Programs (OISP) has the following updates for faculty and staff regarding student opportunities for Summer and Fall 2021 terms.

Summer 2021: In conjunction with Emory College leadership, OISP has made the difficult decision to cancel summer 2021 onsite Study Abroad programs and in-person Global Internships due to the ongoing challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Opportunities for students to earn Emory College credit in the summer of 2021 are still available, and we students to explore the following options:

  • Virtual Global Internships: Guaranteed internship placements with academic credit. Designed for all majors to explore how their liberal arts skills prepare them for employability in a variety of industry sectors. Virtual placements with businesses and organizations located in 12 global cities worldwide: Atlanta, Boston, Dublin, Hong Kong, Madrid, New York City, Paris, San Francisco, Santiago, Singapore, Tokyo, and Toronto. Applications are now open.
  • Summer Session (online and on campus): Emory College undergraduates may enroll in the 2021 summer term through OPUS beginning February 23. Three sessions and more than 160 courses will be offered this summer. Most course offerings will be online with a few select courses on campus. For complete information, including the academic calendar and the course offering list, please refer to the summer programs website.
  • Fall and Academic Year 2021 Study Abroad: We continue to be hopeful that international undergraduate study abroad will be permitted later this year. Emory College Study Abroad is now accepting applications for select Fall and Academic Year 2021 study abroad programs. Applications are due Monday, March 1 on the study abroad website.

Reminders: Leaves of Absence, Course Releases, and Temporary Faculty

Faculty intending to take a leave of absence or course release in 2021-22 need to complete their individual leave requests through a Qualtrics survey by January 31, 2021.

This survey is to be used for all leaves of absence during 2021-2022 – pre-tenure, regular, special, parental, medical, sabbatical, and post-tenure – including those that are externally funded or unpaid. The guidelines for leave applications are available on the Office of Faculty website.

Temporary Faculty Requests: Requests for temporary faculty for the 2021-2022 academic year are due Monday, February 15, 2021. The request survey can be found here. The College asks that no more than 20 percent of faculty in any given department be on leave in any given year. This figure is a benchmark intended to aid departments in planning and in maintaining balance between the research needs of their faculty and the curricular needs of both undergraduate and graduate programs.

With the expectation that 70% of the curriculum will be offered in-person this fall, the resources for in-person teaching requests will be given preference. If you have questions, please send them to Dean_of_Faculty@emory.edu.

Reminder: COVID-19 Screening Test and Symptom Assessments

Emory is committed to creating a safe environment for our community as we return to campus. Emory faculty and staff have access to COVID-19 asymptomatic screening tests as needed. Please click here to schedule your on-campus appointment.

Emory Forward

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

Upcoming Meetings

Feb 5, 8:30 - 10:00 AM Lecture Track Faculty Meeting
Feb 10, 4:00 PM College Faculty Senate