This is posted on behalf of Vice President, Mike Vargo
Hello, everyone!
I hope the first week of the new academic year unfolded smoothly for you. It was so exciting for me to see and speak with our students and other members of the campus community, and trust that maybe this was energizing for you, as well.
A couple of opportunities have come across my desk that I wanted to share with you:
The first is a recording of a webinar I participated in Thursday morning hosted by the educational consulting group EAB. I thought this did a very nice job of laying out the longitudinal challenges we have ahead related to the impact of the pandemic on our students, and providing practical strategies for addressing these challenges. Like most of EAB’s sessions, this one was very data-informed, and with a particularly nice integration with our new Navigate platform, so it’s also very timely for us.
The recording, slides and a whitepaper by the author on the topic are available at this link. The session lasted about 45 minutes.
The second is an invitation from the University of Oregon provost’s office to participate in a free virtual conference on Academic Freedom, which takes place on Friday, October 14th. Here’s an abbreviated description of the conference from the UO site: “The focus of the conference is on external interference from politicians, civil society, and the media that constrain or impede academic freedom. In addition to stimulating vigorous discussion, both within and across universities, the conference aims to identify institutional strategies, policies, and practices that successfully promote, bolster, and protect academic freedom.”
From the conference site: The UO “Academic Freedom and the Public University” Conference website is now live with a schedule, registration information, and more! You may also register for the conference directly at this form if you have an .edu address or you can use this Qualtrics form if you have another email address.
Again, this is all free, but you’ll need to register to have access to the conference. I can’t attend the entire day, but am hopeful to attend for at least part of it.
I hope these resources are interesting and useful to you.
Congrats on completing the first week of the new term. Here’s to a terrific second week to follow!
Best to you, Mike