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Communication for the staff and faculty of
The University of Texas at Dallas |
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Wednesday, January 27, 2021 |
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COVID-19 Information, Resources
During the disruption of regular services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Office of Communications is maintaining a collection of information and resources for staff, faculty and students. For the latest information, visit the COVID-19 website, which will be updated frequently with FAQs and the latest information.
Vaccine Recipients Encouraged To Fill Out Online Form
UT Dallas encourages anyone who has received the COVID-19 vaccine to register using our voluntary registration form. Please fill out the form for each dose of the vaccine you receive.
For more information, email the Office of Emergency Management and Continuity Planning.
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UTD Payroll To Issue W-2 Electronically by Jan. 31
The UTD Payroll office will be issuing W-2s by Jan. 31 to current and former employees who had wages in calendar year 2020.
Benefits of the electronic W-2 include earlier receipt of the form and the ability to access and reprint the form at your convenience. If you will be accessing your W-2 from an off-campus computer, you will be required to sign up for NetID Plus, if you have not already. Former employees can still access Galaxy for up to three years from their last day of work to access paystubs and W-2 forms.
Please contact [email protected] with any questions.
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IRS Form 1095-C for 2020 Is Available Online
The IRS 1095-C forms (Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage) for 2020 are now available online through Galaxy, if you provided online consent by the Jan. 14 deadline. All full-time employees, employees who averaged 30 or more hours per week and others enrolled in the UT Medical Plan will have a form. It includes information about health insurance coverage offered to employees, retirees and their dependents.
To access the form online, log in to Galaxy, go to Staff Tools and select ACA Form 1095-C. In Tax Form Management, select the 1095-C for 2020 by clicking the box. Click on the Download button on the bottom left-hand side of the screen, click on “Open with” and then print the form. If you received an email from Tax Form Management, please do not use the link provided by them. We are utilizing the Single Sign On option through Galaxy to access the forms for your convenience. The email is not spam. It is an automated email directly from the vendor’s system who produces the forms for UT Dallas.
Please do not click on the Postal Mail button to avoid additional charges for mailing. Do not download and print 2019 or any prior years’ forms as you will be charged. If you need copies of prior years’ form, email [email protected].
If you did not provide consent to access the form online, it will be mailed to your home address on file. Forms are being mailed from outside of Texas, so it might take a few days to receive them. Please note that you do not need to include this form to file your taxes. However, you may want to have it for your tax records.
Please review your 1095-C Form carefully. If you find any discrepancies, please email [email protected] immediately so that we can make corrections before sending all forms and the UT Dallas Form 1094-C Report to the Internal Revenue Service on March 31.
If you have questions regarding Form 1095-C, email [email protected], visit the IRS website or the UT System Office of Employee Benefits website.
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February Is Heart Health Month
During the month of February, Employee Wellness encourages staff and faculty to participate in Heart Health Month events.
Heart Walk is a 10-minute UT System-wide walk for heart health. At 10 a.m., Friday, Feb. 5, walk around campus or at home for 10 minutes. Also, wear red to mark National Wear Red Day, which brings greater attention to heart disease as a leading cause of death for Americans.
Be sure to share your heart walk experience on social media with #utheartwalk. and email your pics or videos to [email protected] to receive a heart-healthy reward!
At noon on Wednesday, Feb. 17, Livongo will host a Heart Health Webinar. The Livongo programs provide advanced devices, free strips, personalized insights, and expert support — all working together to help you improve and simplify your health. These programs are available at no cost to UT SELECT Members. Registration for the Livongo webinar is required. |
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Notice of Title IX Policy and Resources
The University of Texas at Dallas is committed to maintaining a learning and working environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based on sex in accordance with federal and state laws, including Title IX of the Higher Education Amendments of 1972. The University’s Prohibited Discrimination and Sexual Harassment Sexual Misconduct Policy prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, which includes discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. Sexual misconduct is a form of sex discrimination and will not be tolerated. Sexual misconduct includes sexual harassment, sexual violence, sexual assault, stalking, sexual exploitation, domestic violence and/or dating violence. The University prohibits retaliation.
To report prohibited conduct, complete the secure online form on the Title IX website, or contact:
Marco Mendoza
Title IX Coordinator
Institutional Compliance, Equity, and Title IX Initiatives
[email protected]
972-883-5202
SPN 2.720
Crimes should be reported to the UT Dallas Police Department by calling 972-883-2222, or dial 911 in an emergency.
Confidential Resources & Support
Pursuant to Texas Education Code, Subchapter E-2, an employee of a postsecondary educational institution who, in the course and scope of employment, witnesses or receives information regarding the occurrence of an incident that the employee reasonably believes constitutes sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, or stalking and is alleged to have been committed by or against a person who was a student enrolled at or an employee of the institution at the time of the incident shall promptly report the incident to the institution's Title IX Coordinator. Responsible Employee reporting requirements also extend to resident life directors and advisors, and graduate teaching assistants.
Students and employees may share information confidentially with licensed counselors and health care professionals at the Student Counseling Center, Student Health Center, and Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
The Title IX Resources webpage lists additional resources for counseling, health care, victim advocacy, legal assistance and other victim services.
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HR Forum Scheduled for Feb. 3
The Office of Human Resources will host its next HR Forum from 10-11:30 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 3, as a Microsoft Teams live event. Please install Microsoft Teams prior to joining. If you need assistance, contact the Help Desk.
Each participant will have the option to turn on closed captioning. Participation will be through a moderated Q-and-A forum. Email your forum questions in advance to [email protected].
Please refer to the agenda:
- Welcome
- You Asked, We Answered
- Updates:
- Return to Campus
- Living Our Values Task Force
- Guest UTD Web Services:
- New Human Resources Website
- HR Updates
- HCM Fluid Update
- ACA 1095-C Form
- Find Out Fridays
- Talent Development Updates and New Admin U Cohort
- Closing Comments
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Experts To Offer Insight into COVID-19 Vaccines
As the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines begins in the U.S. and the virus is as dangerous and deadly as ever, many of us have questions. The Office of Research invites you to hear a panel of subject matter experts for an engaging discussion on the science, safety, approval processes, ethics, policy issues, and personal decision-making on the COVID-19 vaccine.
COVID-19 Vaccines: Science, Ethics, and Policy Virtual Panel, will be from noon-1 p.m., Friday, Feb. 5. The free, virtual event is open to the UT Dallas community and the public. See the event flyer for details.
The panel will include:
- Dr. Mark Navin, professor and chair of philosophy, Oakland University.
- Dr. Seema Yasmin, clinical assistant professor of medicine, primary care and population health at Stanford University.
- Dr. Sean Valles, director and associate professor, Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences, Michigan State University.
- Dr. Trish Perl, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, UT Southwestern Medical Center.
- Dr. Matthew Brown (moderator), professor and director of the Center for Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology, School of Arts and Humanities at UT Dallas.
For more information, visit the panel’s Comet Calendar listing.
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Dr. Lisa Mosconi
Dr. David Katz
Dr. Nancy Kanwisher
Dr. Drew Ramsey
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BrainHealth’s Signature Series Is Free, Virtual for 2021
The Center for BrainHealth is offering free registration for its annual signature series The Brain: An Owner’s Guide.
Each lecture will be with world-class scientists, at 7 p.m. Tuesdays during February. The four-part series include:
Hormones' Impact on Cognitive Health & Alzheimer's, Dr. Lisa Mosconi, The Greystone Foundation Lecture, Feb. 2. Watch a preview of Mosconi’s talk.
Vital Lessons in Weathering Duress, Dr. David Katz, The Corgan Associates Inc. Lecture, Feb. 9. Watch a preview of Katz’s talk.
A Window into the Architecture of Our Mind, Dr. Nancy Kanwisher, The Caliber Home Loans Lecture, Feb. 16. Watch a preview of Kanwisher’s talk.
Improve Your Brain Health with Brain Foods, Dr. Drew Ramsey, The Highland Capital Management Lecture, Feb. 23. Watch a preview of Ramsey’s talk.
Join the more than 6,000 people who have already registered for this can’t-miss series.
For more information, visit The Brain: An Owner’s Guide website.
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CVL To Host Cambridge Professor’s Talk on Aging, Neuroscience
The Center for Vital Longevity invites you to attend the next event in its Virtual Science Series from noon-1 p.m., Monday, Feb. 8.
Dr. Rik Henson from the University of Cambridge will present Relating Age, Brain, and Cognition: Results from the Cambridge Centre for Aging & Neuroscience.
This series is an opportunity for scientists to share their work with colleagues and students through online presentations.
The lectures are free and open to faculty, staff and students. For more information including the full series schedule, visit the Virtual Science Series site.
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CCF Lectures Explore Developmental Science Research
The Center for Children and Families (CCF) will share the latest research in developmental science at its 2021 Spring Lecture Series.
The online series kicks off at noon, Tuesday, Feb. 2, with a discussion on how babies learn language and what caregivers can do to support their language learning. The lectures are free and open to the public.
- Talking to Babies: The Universal Ingredient for Language Learning, noon, Tuesday, Feb. 2 — Dr. Meghan Swanson will discuss the universal role that parents play in helping infants learn language. Her talk will explore the unique challenges facing children from diverse backgrounds, and how they can all be supported by responsive and developmentally appropriate caregiver speech.
- Conversations that Create Change: Talking to Kids about Injustice, 9:30 a.m., Friday, Feb. 26 — Dr. Salena Brody will share how and where children receive information about racial injustice, focusing on four main areas: children’s racial awareness as they develop, parent/child conversations about race within the home, race-focused curricula at school, and real-world interventions aimed at reducing bias.
- Lecture with Dr. Cathy Tamis-LeMonda, 9:30 a.m., Friday, March 26 — Tamis-LeMonda of NYU Steinhardt studies infant and toddler learning and development in social and cultural contexts. In particular, she studies language, communication, and play/exploratory behaviors, and how mothers’ and fathers’ interactions with children relate to children’s developmental trajectories.
- Relational Health: From Research to Practice with Families of Children with Autism or Hearing Differences, noon, Tuesday, April 27 — CCF faculty will share their research as part of the UT System Early Childhood Scholars Series.
CCF encourages you to sign up to receive lecture reminders and join the first lecture on Microsoft Teams.
For more information, email [email protected].
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Register To Attend OIT Forum on Feb. 18
As part of its efforts to support technology access and training, the Office of Information Technology (OIT) is building plans to meet the future needs of the campus.
Learn more about OIT's role in upholding the goals of campus in research, instruction and student support during its next OIT Forum from 9-11 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 18. Chief Information Officer Frank Feagans will provide a glimpse into OIT’s major project roadmap with insight on productivity services for campus.
In addition, the Information Security Office will provide updates to explain how UT Dallas continues to identify and manage information risks in a rapidly changing world.
Register to attend the Teams Live event.
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Collaborative Design Leader Named Head of Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Joshua Summers from Clemson University has been named Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science.
Summers’ areas of research expertise are collaborative design, knowledge management, and design enabler development with the overall objective of improving design through collaboration and computation. Collaborators on his type of research come from computer science and mathematics, as well as from fields such as psychology and sociology.
At Clemson, Summers was education director of the Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CAM) and co-director of the Clemson Engineering Design Applications and Research (CEDAR) Group.
Summers said that his greatest professional achievement is being the advisor on record of 90 undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students, several of whom are now at academic positions at The Citadel, Clemson University, Florida Tech, James Madison University, St. Louis University, Texas State University, University of Georgia and University of Maryland.
His appointment at UT Dallas started Jan. 1.
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Comet Cents Offers Finance Education Courses
Did you know that UT Dallas provides financial literacy programming for your classes and programs? The Comet Cents Money Management Center offers free education to enrolled students on personal financial topics such as saving/budgeting, credit management, student loans, identity theft and financial responsibilities after college.
Students can virtually meet one-on-one with a peer advisor certified in personal finance, attend online drop-in workshops, and engage in certification programs. Students who complete this spring's Smart About Money workshop series can receive a Personal Finance certificate by registering at Smart About Money Registration-Spring 21.
Faculty, staff or student groups can request an online presentation for the spring by using the Comet Cents Sub-a-Prof form. Comet Cents even has a podcast, called Change Matters. Follow Comet Cents on Instagram for up-to-date information on workshops and other events.
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Dallas-Fort Worth Labor Market Update
The unemployment rate in Dallas-Fort Worth rose more than 1 percentage point to 7.1% in November 2020, approaching September’s level but remaining much lower than the unemployment peak of April 2020.
While the Metroplex made large employment gains since April, it is still 79,000 jobs short of February 2020’s employment numbers. For details on how this impacted specific occupations and industries, see the Economic Development team’s latest Labor Market Update.
For more information on how UT Dallas and our local economy affect each other, contact Rachel Brasier. You can also subscribe to biweekly updates with the latest analysis and news from the Economic Development team.
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Office of Research Events
Comet Corner Series: Designing Educational Experiences in Museums with Audience Research, noon-1 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 27 — Museums are increasingly investing in research that aims to understand the perspectives of audiences in order to better serve them. As a project manager at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Stacey Knepp MA'09 has helped usher in an audience-focused approach to designing educational experiences. She will share how this approach gives the time and space for audiences to teach museums how to plan and design their exhibitions in order to improve visitor experience and educational outcomes. For more information and to register, visit Designing Educational Experiences or email Anricka Ziller.
QPR Training, 2-3 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 28 — The Student Wellness Center invites you to learn how to detect when someone may be considering suicide and acquire the skills to prevent it. Information about resources and suicide among college students will be included. For more information, visit the QPR Training Comet Calendar listing or email Tiffany Willoughby.
Responsible Conduct of Research: Introduction to RCR, noon-1 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 2 — During the Introduction to Responsible Conduct of Research session, you'll learn the history of, and policies related to Responsible Conduct of Research, relevant terms, and reasons to conduct research in a responsible fashion. For certification, you must attend all classes in the series and complete the online training module and assessment. For more information, visit the RCR Series Comet Calendar listing or email Tiffany Willoughby.
Responsible Conduct of Research: Designing Your Research Part 1, noon-1 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 4 — Amanda Boone, director of the Institutional Review Board, will present the history of human subjects research, the importance of the Belmont Report, and the role of the Institutional Review Board. For certification, you must attend all classes in the series and complete the online training module and assessment. For more information, visit the RCR Series Comet Calendar listing or email Tiffany Willoughby.
Responsible Conduct of Research: Designing Your Research Part 2, noon-1 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 9 — Robert McMinn, technology analyst in the Office of Technology Commercialization, will explain intellectual property (IP) basics, why UT Dallas is involved in the commercialization of IP and a researcher's responsibilities and best practices. For certification, you must attend all classes in the series and complete the online training module and assessment. For more information, visit the RCR Series Comet Calendar listing or email Tiffany Willoughby.
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Attend Center for Teaching and Learning Workshops
The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is offering the following virtual events:
Teaching Statements and Teaching Portfolios, noon-1 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 28 — Are you considering a career as a professor? Dr. Karen Huxtable-Jester, CTL associate director, will lead this workshop that will introduce postdoctoral and graduate teaching assistants to the statement of teaching philosophy and its place in the teaching portfolio. Learn how to convey your instructional goals and strategies and provide a compelling case that shows how you are an effective teacher. RSVP for the Jan. 28 workshop.
For more information or special accommodations, please contact [email protected].
Guidelines for Faculty in Guiding TAs To Optimize Mutual Benefits, noon, Tuesday, Feb. 2 — How can teaching assistants (TAs) be trained and mentored for the mutual benefit of the instructor and the TA? Dr. Paul F. Diehl, director, and Dr. Karen Huxtable-Jester, associate director, will identify some of the problems that come from lack of TA training and provide guidelines and materials for how instructors can get the most out of their TAs. This in turn will improve TAs’ experiences as they learn how to become effective teachers. For more information and to register, visit the registration site for the Feb. 2 talk.
Where Are We? What Have We Done? What Can We Do? Looking Forward to a Post-Pandemic Era of Teaching and Learning, noon, Thursday, Feb. 4 — Guest speaker will be Dr. Beth Brunk-Chavez, professor of rhetoric and writing studies, and dean of Extended University at The University of Texas at El Paso. Her talk will give attendees a moment to pause, reflect, and think about what matters both in their professional and personal lives as well as how to improve students' learning experiences. For more information and to register, visit the registration site for the Feb. 4 talk.
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Reminders
Join Campus Connection for HR Info
To stay up-to-date on the latest news and information related to employment, immigration, wellness, benefits, talent development, as well as other Human Resources activities, join the HR Campus Connection in Teams. Use the code 4nstab6 to join.
Connect with Colleagues at Watercooler Wednesday
It's important to take breaks and stay in touch with colleagues as many staff and faculty work remotely. You are invited to virtually connect with colleagues on Watercooler Wednesday through a Microsoft Teams live event at 10-10:15 a.m. and 3-3:15 p.m. Each session will include a wellness activity. Join early or hang around after and visit with colleagues and meet new folks.
Visit the Campus Wellness Committee site for more information about Watercooler Wednesday and other virtual resources related to wellness.
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About This Newsletter
InterCom is the official University-wide newsletter for UT Dallas faculty and staff members. This periodic publication is designed to provide University employees with important information necessary for the workplace, as well as community news that supports the University's mission. Guidelines about content and submissions can be found here or contact Robert Tracy at [email protected] or ext. 3521. |
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