News for the staff and faculty of The University of Texas at Dallas

The Office of Human Resources will host its next HR Forum on Wednesday, Aug. 3, from 10 to 11:30 a.m., as a Microsoft Teams live event. Please install Microsoft Teams prior to joining. If you need assistance, visit the OIT Help Desk. Unlike a traditional Teams meeting, you are not able to “dial in” to a live event. Audio will stream from your computer. Closed captioning is available, and there will be a moderated Q&A forum. Please refer to the agenda:

• Welcome
  • One UTD
• Guest presentations
  • Student employment updates
  • Parking and transportation
  • Breast cancer awareness activities
• HR updates
  • Benefits express
  • Campus Climate Survey
  • Bright Leaders program
  • HR staffing
• Q&A and closing comments

Join the HR Forum and share this link with your colleagues. If you have questions for the HR Forum, send them to [email protected].

Annual benefits enrollment must be completed before midnight Central Time on Sunday, July 31. Log into My UT Benefits and follow the on-screen instructions to make your selections or changes. Make sure to print your confirmation statement after you make any changes

• Details for staff and faculty about annual enrollment.
• Details for RAs, TAs, GAs about annual enrollment.

For assistance or more information, contact the UT Dallas Office of Human Resources — Benefits Services via email at [email protected] or on Microsoft Teams.

2022 Corporate Challenge

Registration for the 2022 Richardson Corporate Challenge is now open. The 10 week, Olympic-style competition brings local companies and organizations together to raise money for Special Olympics Texas and engage in friendly competition. See the event schedule and access the signup page on the HR News Corporate Challenge story.

Opening Ceremony and Great Walk

This year's Opening Ceremony and Great Walk will be at 5:30 p.m., Friday, Aug. 12, at Huffhines Park. UT Dallas will earn participation points for each team member who completes the short 10-to-15-minute walk. There also will be a UT Dallas team tent where you can meet up with your colleagues and family members. Mark your calendars and plan to attend.

Raffle Tickets

Corporate Challenge raffle tickets are available for $5. Each ticket buys you a chance to win a variety of prizes; all sales benefit Special Olympics Texas. You will receive a T-shirt if you purchase four or more raffle tickets. Purchase tickets at the Office of Human Resources (AD 3.108) from 10 a.m.- 3 p.m., on Tuesdays through Thursdays. Call 972-883-2072 for more information.

Call for Volunteers

Each organization is responsible for helping with registration at one event during the challenge. UT Dallas needs to provide three volunteers for the Pickleball registration in the UT Dallas Activity Center gym. To volunteer, please sign up online for one of the following shifts:

• 8-10:30 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 1
• 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 1

If you're unable to participate but would like to help with the fundraising efforts, you can make a donation. Please help Team UTD reach its goal of raising $1,000 for Special Olympians!

Mobile Mammography Unit To Visit Campus

Approximately 34,300 jobs were added to the North Texas workforce in May. Job postings in the region are at an all-time high, led by increased demand for software developers and related occupations. Other groups are also experiencing a boom, including commercial pilots, which saw an increase of over 990% in new job postings since April. Learn more about these and other developments in this month's DFW Labor Market Update (pdf). For more information on how UT Dallas and our local economy affect each other, please contact the F&ED Economic Development team. You can also subscribe to biweekly updates with the latest analysis and news from the Economic Development team.

IT Forum, 9 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 18 — Join the Office of Information Technology for a morning filled with open and informative discussions on the latest technology happenings at UT Dallas. See the agenda on the IT Forum calendar listing. Stay on top of additional OIT training and enhance your technology skills by subscribing to OIT emails and following OIT on social media.

“Nailed It! Strategies for a Welcoming, Engaging First Day of Class,” 4-5 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 4 — Now is an excellent time to re-envision what the first day of class could be — an opportunity to spark curiosity and learning from the first point of contact. Dr. Salena Brody, assistant director at the Center for Teaching and Learning, will share strategies to surprise, engage and motivate students to become active participants in the discipline on day one. Attend “Nailed It” on Microsoft Teams.

How To Library: The Campus Staff Edition, 11 a.m., Tuesday, Aug. 16, MC 2.524 — Learn how to access resources, use Overdrive, find books and other materials, and more. Information Literacy staff members Loreen Henry and Ryan Slattery will walk you through everything and answer your questions.

Library Tours for Campus Staff, noon, Wednesday, Aug. 17, McDermott Library Lobby — Register for a library tour to learn about the resources and services on each floor. Tours are offered periodically through Dec. 16.

BrainHealth Presents: How to Have a Thriving Mind, 4-5 p.m., Thursday Aug. 18 — Dr. Selena Bartlett, neuroscientist, professor, podcaster of Thriving Minds and author of “Smashing Mindset,” will share how to retrain your brain to reboot, recharge and reinvent your way to freedom. We will never understand where our brain came from, but we can control the brain we create moving forward. This is the beauty of neuroplasticity. We can overcome the things stopping us from moving forward, like the food we eat and even stress inherited over generations.

Frontiers of BrainHealth - Sugar on the Brain: The Neuroscience of Stress and the Neuroplasticity of Resilience, noon-1 p.m., Friday, Aug. 19 — Dr. Selena Bartlett will follow up BrainHealth Presents with an additional talk focusing on the science: drawing upon insights from the latest research on stress, resilience and the real-world value of neuroscience and brain plasticity.

Mentoring Grant Program Is Accepting Applications

The ASPIRE² mentoring grant program at UT Dallas is accepting applications. The program is designed to provide mentoring support activities for women, women of color and underrepresented minority (URM) women STEM faculty at all career stages.

Each faculty member is eligible to receive up to $1,500 to implement a project of their own design that engages at least one mentor external to UTD and represents a career development opportunity not otherwise possible without this funding.

Full-time tenure-track/tenured women, women of color and URM women faculty members from an NSF-defined STEM field or research area are eligible to apply. Faculty are not eligible to apply if they received a grant in the previous cycle. If you have questions about your eligibility, please email Dr. Sheryl Skaggs.

The deadline to submit your ASPIRE² application and your proposal is Wednesday, Aug. 31. For more information, email [email protected] and read recipients' testimonials (pdf).

Intercom is the official University-wide newsletter for UT Dallas faculty and staff members. This periodic publication is designed to provide University employees with valuable information necessary for the workplace, as well as community news that supports the University's mission. Visit the Intercom website for guidelines about content and submissions.