From: Urgent Official Announcement Date: September 3, 2008 1:37:41 PM CDT To: URGENT_FACULTY@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU Subject: [URGENT] Crime alert Reply-To: Urgent Official Announcement Monday night at half-past midnight, a UIC student was the victim of an off-campus armed robbery in the 2400 block of West Arthington. The victim stated that two male black subjects approached and demanded money. One offender was armed with a blue steel handgun, while the second grabbed the victim's hands and wrists.  The armed offender took a bookbag containing personal papers, credit cards and books totaling $1,100. The victim was not injured. The crime was not reported until Tuesday evening. UIC Police strongly recommend complying with an armed offender's demand for property or valuables, as the victim did in this case. Other security tips: --be aware of your surroundings --try to travel in groups when possible, particularly after dark --use well-lit walkways --on campus, look for the location of the nearest emergency call box (there are more than 1,000 across campus) --the emergency number for UIC Police is 5-5555 or 312-355-5555, which should be set on speed-dial on your cell phone --report crime promptly to police The crime will be investigated by the UIC/CPD Joint Robbery Task Force. Anyone with information is asked to call UIC Police at (312) 996-2830. From: Urgent Official Announcement Date: September 8, 2008 11:38:27 AM CDT To: URGENT_FACULTY@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU Subject: [URGENT] Crime alert Reply-To: cappitel@uic.edu On Sept. 7 at 6 p.m., a UIC student was the victim of an off-campus battery and attempted strong-arm robbery as she was returning to her apartment from Union Station. Near Canal and Harrison streets, the student was approached by a white male subject in his mid-to-late 40s, with a full gray beard, 5 feet 5 inches tall, weight 150 pounds, and wearing a gray shirt with a black bandanna around his neck. The subject asked for cigarettes and money.   The victim replied that she had none and was walking away when the offender ran up behind her and placed his hand over her mouth. The victim kicked and punched until the offender threw her to the ground and fled the area. The victim was not injured and did not lose any property. UIC Police strongly recommend: --be aware of your surroundings --try to travel in groups when possible, particularly after dark --use well-lit walkways --on campus, look for the location of the nearest emergency call box (there are more than 1,000 across campus) --the emergency number for UIC Police is 5-5555 or 312-355-5555, which should be set on speed-dial on your cell phone The crime will be investigated by the UIC/CPD Joint Robbery Task Force. Anyone with information is asked to call UIC Police at (312) 996-2830. From: Urgent Official Announcement Date: September 8, 2008 6:08:00 PM CDT To: URGENT_FACULTY@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU Subject: [URGENT] Crime alert Reply-To: Urgent Official Announcement UIC Police investigated a report of suspicious activity in Stevenson Hall on Sept. 8 at 12:30 p.m. An individual was reportedly observed looking through an open vent on the door of the women's handicapped restroom. The restroom is located on the 2nd floor, northwest side of the building. The complainant further stated that the subject was observed around the women's restroom on the southwest side of the building but never entered. The subject was described as a black male, 30 to 40 years of age, 6 feet tall, bald, wearing glasses, a white T-shirt, blue jeans, and black sneakers. UIC Police checked the area with negative results. Officers will conduct periodic special attention checks of the building. From: Official Announcement Date: September 16, 2008 2:15:19 PM CDT To: OFFICIAL_FACULTY@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU Subject: [OFFICIAL] Message from the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Reply-To: ovcsa@uic.edu Dear Colleagues: Welcome to the new academic year.  As I have done for the past several fall semesters, I write to reiterate my acknowledgment of you as an essential part of the broad network of campus support for our students. The importance of that support is critical as we reflect upon increasing concerns across the country for the safety and well-being of students and communities.  We want to continue our effort at UIC to enhance individuals' abilities to assist our students and to help the university community maintain an environment of compassionate concern, knowledgeable preparedness, and informed responsiveness for student distress.   With that in mind, I invite you to become familiar with a program supported by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, "Helping the Distressed Student". Designed to assist you to become more knowledgeable and comfortable in recognizing and responding to student distress, the program is offered by the professional staff of the Counseling Center.  Please take advantage of the opportunity to have the program brought to your department for an interactive presentation.  The program can be tailored to meet the needs of your faculty or staff. In addition, please take time to visit the Counseling Center's website with a link to "Helping the Emotionally Distressed Student: A Referral Guide for Faculty and Staff" (www.counseling.uic.edu).  Also, there are additional links to managing distress following a tragedy and having classroom discussions following a crisis. The Counseling Center is a resource for referral of emotionally distressed students, consultation about how best to respond to a student of concern, and assessment of students in crisis. In addition to regular weekly intake appointments, ten hours of weekly emergency intake slots are made available to students who are experiencing a crisis. Call the Counseling Center (312-996-3490) for any of these services or to schedule a "Helping the Emotionally Distressed Student" program. Your willingness and ability to recognize and respond to students who appear to be emotionally distressed is an invaluable service. I look forward to a continued strong partnership in behalf of all our students.     Sincerely, Barbara Henley Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs From: Official Announcement Date: September 18, 2008 3:16:24 PM CDT To: OFFICIAL_FACULTY@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU Subject: [OFFICIAL] Mandatory Reporting of Non-University Activities Reply-To: coi@uic.edu Dear Colleagues: I write to request your participation in the annual submission of Reports of Non-University Activities (RNUA). Illinois law and University statutes and regulations require all salaried faculty and academic staff to complete the report and obtain prior approval for external activities. The form is due to your department head by Friday, October 3, 2008. The reporting and approval process is not intended to discourage non-University income producing activities. It is fully recognized that most of these activities are consistent with, and often beneficial to, your university roles. The reporting and approval procedures assist in ensuring that external activities are compatible with University obligations. The form and instructions are available under the RNUA link at http://www.research.uic.edu/conflict. The Policy on Conflicts of Commitment and Interest, including sanctions, is also available at that location. This policy applies to academic staff. Civil Service employees are covered under a different policy and do not complete the RNUA form. If you have any questions, please contact the Conflict of Interest Officer, Dr. Rebecca Lind, at coi@uic.edu or (312) 996-4070. Thank you very much for helping to ensure that UIC complies with the law. Sincerely, Eric A. Gislason, Interim Chancellor From: Official Announcement Date: September 18, 2008 3:12:45 PM CDT To: OFFICIAL_FACULTY@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU Subject: [OFFICIAL] New Vice Provosts for Faculty Affairs, Planning and Programs Reply-To: bil@uic.edu Dear Colleagues, I am pleased to announce two major appointments in the Provost’s Office: Lon Kaufman as Vice Provost for Planning and Programs, and Mo-Yin S. Tam as Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs.  Both have already assumed their new duties while their appointments are pending Board of Trustees approval. Mo-Yin Tam is a Professor of Economics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and has served as Interim Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs for the last year.  Prior to becoming Interim Vice Provost, she served as Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs beginning in 2000, and in this capacity was a member of the steering team that prepared UIC for its 2007 North Central Association (NCA) reaccreditation.  As PI of Women in Science and Engineering System Transformation (WISEST), Dr. Tam leads a $3.3 million ADVANCE grant project to increase recruitment and retention of women in the STEM disciplines. Dr. Tam’s long history of service to UIC has included appointments as a faculty fellow of the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, Interim Head of the Department of Information and Decision Sciences in the College of Business Administration, and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Business Administration.  As Associate Dean, Dr. Tam led the College in gaining AACSB reaccreditation in 1997.   She also helped to found the UIC Asian MBA programs, which now have more than 1,000 graduates holding leadership positions in government, business and finance both in the U.S. and China.  Dr. Tam’s research interests include econometric studies of the impact of diversity on student achievement, underrepresentation of women in the sciences, and the gender salary gap.   She has published numerous research articles and reports in top journals and has presented her research extensively in the U.S., Europe and China.   Lon Kaufman is a Professor of Biological Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and has served as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs and Dean of the Honors College (a joint position) since 2004.   As Dean of the Honors College Dr. Kaufman implemented a new capstone requirement for students, created the College’s Advancement Office, and changed from ACT/GPA-based admissions to a holistic evaluation involving a half-day interview.  As Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs, Dr. Kaufman led the development of the UIC College Prep High School and the redesign of the campus General Education curriculum.  He was instrumental in revamping UIC’s pre-college math courses, leading to dramatically improved student performance, and in leading an initiative that improved course availability for undergraduates.  Along with Dr. Tam, Dr. Kaufman was a member of the steering team that prepared UIC for NCA reaccreditation in 2007.   He continues to serve as PI on the $2 mill! ion NSF ASCEND program, which aims to nearly double the number of underrepresented students majoring in STEM disciplines.   Dr. Kaufman came to UIC in 1985 as an assistant professor and advanced to become department head in 1998.  As head he hired 11 faculty, including 6 women, one of whom is Latina.  His history of service to UIC includes terms as an Honors College Fellow, Director of Graduate Studies for his department, and a member of the Honors Council.  Dr. Kaufman was named the Richard G. and Carole J. Cline University Scholar in 1994 and was a CIC-ALP Fellow in 1996.  His research on the regulation of gene expression during early leaf development has received continuous federal funding since his arrival at UIC.  He has previously served on the editorial board of Journal of Plant Physiology, as the President of the Midwest Society of Plant Physiologists, and as Panel Director for the Plant Growth and Development Program at USDA. Dr. Tam succeeds former Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Mrinalini (Meena) Rao, who left the position to become Vice President for Academic Affairs for the University of Illinois system last July.   Dr. Kaufman succeeds former Vice Provost for Planning and Programs Russell Betts, who departed UIC in August to become Dean of the College of Science and Letters at IIT.    I will appoint an Interim Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs and Dean of the Honors College in the coming weeks, after which I will commence an internal search for the permanent appointee. Sincerely, R. Michael Tanner Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs From: Urgent Official Announcement Date: September 19, 2008 6:56:24 PM CDT To: URGENT_FACULTY@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU Subject: [URGENT] Crime alert Reply-To: peralesa@uic.edu Thursday evening, just after 7 p.m., a UIC student was the victim of a strong-arm robbery in the 1300 block of West Roosevelt Road. The student, who was walking westbound, was approached from behind by four youths. One kicked him in the back, knocking him to the ground, and demanded his cell phone and wallet. The victim complied, and the group fled on foot. The victim refused medical treatment. The youths are described as follows: 1.) Male/black; 15-16 years; 5'4", thin; blue uniform T-shirt 2.) Male/black; 15-16 years; 5'3", thin; blue uniform T-shirt 3.) Male/black; 14-16 years; 5'2", thin; black t-shirt 4.) Male/black; 14-16 years; 5'1", black T-shirt, blue jeans UIC Police recommend: -be aware of your surroundings -try to travel in groups when possible, particularly after dark -use well-lit walkways -on campus, look for the location of the nearest emergency call box (there are more than 1,000 across campus) -the emergency number for UIC Police is (312) 355-5555, which should be in speed-dial on your cellular phone. The crime will be investigated by the UICPD/CPD Joint Robbery Task Force and CPD Area Four Detectives. Anyone with information is asked to call UIC Police at (312) 996-2830. From: Official Announcement Date: September 22, 2008 3:58:50 PM CDT To: OFFICIAL_FACULTY@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU Subject: [OFFICIAL] Message from the Chancellor Reply-To: donnaj@uic.edu Dear Colleagues, The fall semester is under way and as always, it’s a source of great pride to bring you good news from around campus. Total enrollment is up from last year, to 25,247 students. Graduate student enrollment topped 7,000 for the first time in UIC history, and we also enrolled 2,970 new freshmen and 1,470 new transfer students. Total undergraduate enrollment is steady at 15,670. UIC received a $10 million gift from the late Romuald Hejna to enhance studies in Polish history, language and literature. Mr. Hejna attended the Navy Pier campus and later became a public school history teacher. This is the second-largest gift from an individual that UIC has ever received and the biggest single gift to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. This generous bequest will create two chairs in the history of Poland and one chair in Polish language and literature. UIC will receive $4.25 million from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research to study lifespan health and function of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The five-year award funds research at UIC’s Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Aging with Developmental Disabilities, directed by Tamar Heller, professor and head of the department of Disability and Human Development. Research will focus on age-related health changes among adults with neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism, spina bifida, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome, among others.  Project partners include the Special Olympics and Easter Seals. A $3.8 million federal grant to our Center for Literacy will give local preschoolers a lead on reading when they enter kindergarten. Principal investigator William Teale, professor of education, says the goal is to put preschoolers who are economically disadvantaged, currently limited in their English proficiency, or have a disability related to learning, on the right track for reading and writing in elementary school. The project teams UIC with the Office of Catholic Schools of the Archdiocese of Chicago and will benefit about 400 children in seven preschool classrooms located in the Lower West Side, South Lawndale, Austin and Gage Park. CeaseFire, based in the School of Public Health and directed by Professor Gary Slutkin, has received two U.S. Department of Justice grants to continue its violence intervention work in Chicago’s West Garfield Park and West Humboldt Park neighborhoods. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis expressed strong support for CeaseFire as an integral part of a comprehensive strategy to stop violence, especially shootings, in Chicago and elsewhere. A recent three-year evaluation of CeaseFire, commissioned by the Department of Justice, validated the CeaseFire model as an intervention that reduces shooting and killings and makes communities safer. According to the most recent issue of Diverse Issues in Higher Education, the UIC College of Medicine ranks third in the country in the number of students from underrepresented groups. And the September issue of Hispanic Business magazine ranked the College one of the best schools for Hispanics in the nation. This fall we began a new high school affiliation.  UIC College Prep moved into its permanent facility and opened its doors to 185 students earlier this month. Faculty and staff from the six UIC health science colleges and the Jane Addams College of Social Work are collaborating with UIC College Prep faculty on the development of the high school’s required, four-year health sciences curriculum.  Career awareness activities involving all health professions represented at UIC will take place throughout the year. Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review’s latest rankings place the College of Business Administration’s graduate entrepreneurship program sixth in the nation. Senior history major Anand Sandesara has been awarded a $23,000 Ambassadorial Scholarship from the Rotary Foundation to study for one year starting in early 2010 at a sub-Saharan African or Indian university. We were honored to have The Moving Wall, a half-size replica of the Washington, D.C., Vietnam Veterans Memorial, on campus. I want to thank all the students and others who worked to bring this exhibit to campus, in particular Undergraduate Student Government President Brett Thurman, who is a military veteran, and the Veterans Student Association under the leadership of Robert Malnik. UIC has more than 700 students currently drawing veterans’ benefits. The men’s soccer team ranked No. 9 in the nation in the latest college coaches’ poll and placed players on Soccer America Men's Team of the Week for two weeks in a row – Baggio Husidic last week and Charlie Trout the week before. In addition to his honor from Soccer America, Mr. Husidic was also named the Horizon League Player of the Week and the NSCAA Player of the Week earlier this season. Former Olympic gold medal winner and Chicago area native Michelle Venturella joined UIC as women’s softball head coach. Ms. Venturella spent the last six seasons as associate head coach at the University of Iowa. During her tenure she helped the Hawkeyes make five NCAA Regional appearances and claimed the 2003 Big Ten regular season and tournament titles. Thanks to everyone for their dedication to our students and getting the academic year off to a strong start. Sincerely, Eric A. Gislason Interim Chancellor From: Official Announcement Date: September 22, 2008 1:47:11 PM CDT To: OFFICIAL_FACULTY@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU Subject: [OFFICIAL] Evacuation drill Reply-To: mnava@uic.edu On Wednesday, Sept. 24, the Environmental Health and Safety Office will be conducting an evacuation drill of Applied Health Sciences Building (916 bldg., 1919 W. Taylor St.) at 10 a.m. At the conclusion of the drill the building will re-open for regular  activity. Marilyn Hau Director of Environmental Health and Safety From: Official Announcement Date: September 29, 2008 10:16:33 AM CDT To: OFFICIAL_FACULTY@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU Subject: [OFFICIAL] Free Flu Shots Reply-To: kgoliak@uic.edu The UIC College of Pharmacy and the UIC Benefits Service Center have partnered with the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services to provide flu shots at no charge to eligible State of Illinois employees and retirees. State of Illinois employees and retirees enrolled in either the Quality Care Health Plan (QCHP) or State-sponsored managed care plans (HMO) are eligible to receive the flu shot. (Dependents, spouses, contractual workers, volunteers, consultants, part-time employees and students are NOT eligible for the free flu shots through this program.  Employees who have opted out of health insurance coverage through the state are NOT eligible for the free flu shots through this program.) -Employees must present their health insurance card from their State-sponsored health plan and verification of University employment (I-Card). -Retirees and survivors must present their State-sponsored health insurance card and a State ID or Drivers License.   The free flu shots will be given on: East side of campus: Thursday, October 9 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Student Center East - Room 613 of the Conference Tower 750 S. Halsted St. West side of campus: Tuesday, October 14 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Student Center West - Chicago Room A 828 S. Wolcott St. Questions regarding the FREE flu shot program? Contact the UIC Benefits Service Center at (312) 996-6471 or the UIC College of Pharmacy at (312) 996-6300.