Wednesday Briefing for July 12
The Provost's Wednesday Briefing is a complement to the Provost's Update and intended to be a quick update on achievements and opportunities in Academic and Student Affairs. In the summer, it will only be distributed when content is available. Please forward any comments or submissions to [email protected] .
Search Update
Provost Longworth has authorized searches for 16, new faculty and eight, full-time lecturer positions for the coming year. In addition, searches are currently underway for an interim university librarian and senior international officer. Announcements will be forthcoming as these positions are filled.
Racial Battle Fatigue: Shift Your Campus Culture to Better Support Students, Faculty and Staff of Color Webinar
Join us on July 26, 2–3:30 p.m., 310B Student Center for this webinar. Ellen Gold, AVP for Student Well-Being and Steve Bryant, director, Diversity and Community Involvement, invite faculty, students and staff to attend this webinar, with experts Dr. Kathy Obear and Dr. Tanya Williams, who will provide insights into how to help shift the campus culture to better support racially marginalized groups and challenge racism on campus. Please see this flyer [PDF] for learning outcomes and presenter bios. There will be some time for discussion afterward. Please share this with anyone who might be interested in attending. R.S.V.P. to [email protected].
Mental Health 101 Training – July 27
Mental Health 101 is a training designed to give the lay person some greater comfort with talking to students about mental health issues. Every summer, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) offers this training to faculty and staff. This year, the training will take place on Thursday, July 27, 9 a.m.–4 pm., in Halle Library Room 300. Lunch will be on your own; please plan to attend training for the full day. Sign up via this Google form; for questions, please contact Dr. Lisa Lauterbach, director of Counseling and Psychological Services at 734.487.1118.
Grant Received to Fund Wall in Virtual Reality Lab
The School of Engineering Technology (SET) at EMU was awarded a $50,000 grant from the Ford Motor Company Fund Capital Grant Program to fund a fourth wall in the College of Technology’s Virtual Reality (VR) Lab. With the addition of this wall, Dr. Emad Tanbour plans to conduct research to improve the design of ambulance patient compartments utilizing virtual reality technology. Importantly, the project will cut the lead time of ambulance compartment design, and provide a cost-effective method for design optimization through virtual prototyping and testing. Adding a fourth wall will increase the fidelity of the VR immersive experience and generates more manufacturable ideas for improving ambulance designs. Dr. Tanbour’s research is designed to achieve the following goals:
- Boost the capabilities of the current VR Lab at EMU, allowing students and faculty to design better ambulances and increase patient/passenger safety.
- Utilize VR technology as a community service tool to enhance workers occupational safety. VR enabled ambulance design will target gender specific and body size population ergonomics, comfort and safety for EMS personnel and patients.
- Decrease the cost of developing better ambulance patient compartments by providing VR prototyping and design review capability.
- Enhance EMS access to rapidly improved ambulance compartment design.
- Decrease ambulance development cost to improve smaller communities’ ability to acquire ambulances (currently, over 2,500 small communities in the US have no ambulance service access).
The fourth VR wall will also increase the VR Lab educational capabilities to be used for senior design projects through visualization and VR prototyping. Congratulations to Dr. Tanbour for his outstanding research, and to those who supported him in receiving this grant, Including Lisa Comben, director of development for the College of Technology, Christine Krophlnykyj in the Office of Research Development and Administration, and Dean of the College of Technology Mohamad Qatu.
West Circle Drive Traffic To Be Restored To Normal - July 17
Starting Monday, July 17, traffic on West Circle Drive will be restored to the normal "one-way" traffic flow pattern by entering West Circle Drive from the north.
Ongoing Updates
Classroom Technology
TEL Systems, working with Information Technology and Physical Plant, continue installation of upgraded classroom technology, including document cameras, Blu-ray players, thin-client workstations and projection equipment. Over the next couple of weeks, they are targeting classrooms in Warner and Halle. They will also begin to renovate the AV in the Pray-Harrold and Mark Jefferson auditoriums. (Updated 6/28).
Portion of East Circle Drive Closed May 8–August 10
East Circle Drive is closed to all traffic for construction from Lowell St. to Pray Harrold, until August 10. This means that Best Drive, Ford Lot and Alexander Paid Lot are inaccessible. Please see below for accommodations:
- Ford Staff Parking: Starting May 8, staff parking for Ford Lot will be moved to Alexander Lot, accessed through Sill Staff Lot.
- Commuter Parking: Starting May 8, commuter parking for Ford Lot will be moved to the Ann Street Lot.
- Ford Lot Reserved Parking: Will not be affected.
East Circle Drive will remain open from the Ann St. entrance to the cul-de-sac in front of Snow Health Center. If you have any questions, please review the Traffic Plan Map [PDF] for detours around the project site or contact Physical Plant Project Manager Anthony Duty 487.1000.
How to be Informed of IT System Network Outages
The IT system outage page is updated regularly with planned and unplanned outage information. If you have any questions, please call the IT Help Desk at 487.2120 for further assistance.
