Daily Brief

PASSHE Chief DEI Officer Dr. Denise Pearson to Deliver Keynote Address at Ujima Conference

Kutztown University’s Multicultural Center is delighted to host the 2024 Ujima Conference, Feb. 20-22, under the enlightening theme, “It Takes a Village.” The theme highlights the significance of collaboration and community in nurturing a sense of belonging for communities of color. As part of KU’s Black History Month celebrations, the conference will unfold over three days, featuring a variety of engaging and insightful activities.

Hosting the 2024 Ujima Conference

University Relations

Test of KU Alert System

There will be a test of the Kutztown University emergency alert systems 10:50 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 15. You will receive test messages through the Omnilert text message, email and Simplex mass notification systems, including outdoor campus loudspeakers. Messages will also be seen on the university website, social media and the desktop pop-up system. You will be able to silence the test alert on the desktop pop-up system immediately by clicking the acknowledge button provided on the screen. Thank you for your patience as we complete this required test.

University Relations

Philosophy Club Meeting

The KU Philosophy Club will meet 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 15, 312 MSU. Maia Bondonese will present "Some Thoughts on Desire" and a comparative reflection on C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters and Alexandre Kojève on Hegel's Master-Slave Dialectic. All are welcome. Persons with a disability and who require accommodation should notify the Disability Services Office prior to the event at 610-683-4108, dso@kutztown.edu or TDD number 610-683-4499 to discuss accommodations. Every effort will be made to provide reasonable accommodations.

Allan Bäck, Philosophy and Government

Invoices - SourcePoint

For expenses entered through SourcePoint, the department must forward all invoices to Accounts Payable for payment. The RPO does not forward any invoices attached to PRs to the Accounts Payable office. Ensure the purchase order number is indicated on the invoice and send it with approval to pay to apinvoice@kutztown.edu. If the invoice is for a service, once Accounts Payable enters the invoice for payment, you will receive an email notification to approve the invoice in SourcePoint. If you have any questions, please reach out to Accounts Payable at apinvoice@kutztown.edu or x34135. 

Tammy Moyer, Business Office

New Cookie Chat: Funding Springboards for your Research and Teaching

Meet Jeff Werner and Susan Lushinsky from the Office of Grants and Sponsored Projects to learn about opportunities within KU, PASSHE and external sources (big or small) to help support your research and teaching ideas. Get some tips and ideas to use in your career. The Zoom link is available on the event page. The featured cookie will be Millionaire Bars because 'this is all about the bucks'.

CEL Events

Center for Engaged Learning

Action Updates Due Feb. 16

Program Action updates are due Friday, Feb 16. Action updates report the progress your program has made on the action plans you identified in the annual report submitted September 2023. Templates and submission instructions can be found in the February newsletter. Please reach out to Brad or Michele in the Assessment Office with any questions.

Assessment Newsletters

Michele Baranczyk, Office of Assessment

Panelists Wanted for Neurodiversity Pride Panel

Are you a neurodiverse faculty or staff member that would want to speak on a panel with other faculty, staff and students? As part of worldwide Neurodiversity Pride Week, the Disability Services Office will host a Neurodiversity Pride on Campus Panel 6 p.m. Thursday, March 21, 183 MSU. If you are interested in being a panelist or would like more information, please contact Megan Rutter in the Disability Services Office at rutter@kutztown.edu or ext. 3-4792.

Disability Services Office

Statista - Leading Statistics Resource

The campus community now has access to Statista, a leading provider of statistical reports and analyses. Statista consolidates statistical data on more than 80,000 topics from more than 22,500 sources. The reports, charts, infographics and statistics found in the database can be downloaded in Excel, PDF, PNG, PowerPoint formats or embedded in webpages.

Statista

Bob Flatley, Rohrbach Library

Early Alert Progress Survey Available in Starfish

The Spring 2024 Early Alert Progress Survey will be available for faculty in Starfish Feb. 13-22. Faculty are encouraged to use the survey to send kudos to students as words of encouragement, to acknowledge good work and to reinforce student success early in the semester. Faculty can also raise flags of concern for attendance issues, missing/late or low-scoring assignments, or submit a fully customized academic concern flag. Every kudos and flag template has the option to add custom content; two options are completely customizable. All message templates can be viewed in Starfish D2L. Please email starfish@kutztown.edu with questions or sign up for a quick Starfish refresher.

Cheryl Brattley, The Center for Student Success and Academic Excellence

KU Bears Grant Funding: Deadline Monday, Feb. 26

The KU BEARS program supports faculty and student research pairs. The goals are twofold: to develop the necessary skillset of undergraduate students to help them become student researchers; and to provide faculty members with student-research assistants. Funded projects will be allotted up to $2,500 to cover student wages and $500 for presentation travel for the student. The program is open to all faculty members and to current freshmen, sophomores or juniors.

KU Bears Grant Funding

Heather Arbuckle, Grants & Sponsored Projects

Spring 2024 Undergraduate Research and Creativity Opportunities

April is Undergraduate Research and Creativity Month and there are a few ways your students can share their ideas locally. Please visit the webpage below to go to the UGRC website for the links to submission forms and conference websites.
 - "Mugridge Symposium on Math Research" by undergraduates at KU: The submission deadline is Thursday, March 7 to mcloughl@kutztown.edu. The event will be held Thursday, March 28.
 - HECBC (Berks County) at Albright: The submission deadline is Friday, March 1. The event will be held Saturday, April 6.
 - PA Computing and Information Science Educators Conference at KU: submission deadline is  Sunday, Feb. 25. The event will be held Friday and Saturday, April 5-6.
 - Composition Conference at KU: The submission deadline is Friday, March 15. The event will be held Monday, April 15.
 - KU Inspires, A Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creativity at KU: The submission deadline is Friday, March 8. The event will be held Wednesday, April 17.

Spring 2024 Conference Opportunities

Lynn Kutch, Undergraduate Research and Creativity