Category: Misc.

Misc.

01/22/10

Online Writing Tutoring

From the desk of Jacob Blumner, Director of the Marian E. Wright Writing Center:

This message is for faculty teaching fully-online courses.

Colleagues,

The Marian E. Wright Writing Center is now offering online tutoring for students in fully online courses. We are trying to meet the needs of our students and we are proud to roll out this new service. Students will need to submit papers in Microsoft Word format and will receive feedback using the Comment and Track Changes features of Word. Students are also encouraged to attach an assignment sheet if you have one.

The form students fill out is available on our website, www.umflint.edu/writingcenter. Here is the direct link to the online tutoring form for paper submission: https://www.umflint.edu/formassembly/forms/view/562.

We try to respond to papers within 3 business days, and often it is quicker. Students can also request you be notified via email.

If you have any questions, please email me or call me at 762-0655.

12/1/09

White House Announces New STEM Initiative

The Obama administration has launched a new initiative, the Educate to Innovate campaign, which it says will support partnerships among colleges and universities, foundations, and businesses to “motivate and inspire young people across the country to excel in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.” Education secretary Arne Duncan and Office of Science and Technology Policy director John Holdren took to Facebook on November 23, 2009, to publicize the campaign, and the New York Times has published initial details on how this “first wave” of the sweeping STEM innovation partnerships pledged by Obama in April will be implemented.

10/11/09

Goodbye John!

Thanks for your leadership and for promoting a new culture of research at UM-Flint. Your time spent with us has made a U Difference!

Good luck during the next phase of your career!

09/21/09

Research Interests Database

From the desk of Sue Koehler, Senior Secretary:

To support faculty efforts to secure external funding for research and creative activities, the Office of Research has created a database of faculty interests. This information is only used internally, to help us know what to keep watch for, and to forward funding opportunities as we become aware of them. We invite you to add your interests to the database.

We currently have nearly 100 faculty members’ keywords in our database. To add you keywords, or update them, just reply to this e-mail with the five keywords appropriate to your research interests. We take care of the rest.

Be sure to watch for our Weekly Funding Opportunities Announcement, usually appearing in your in-box on Monday. The previous editions are also archived on our Blackboard organization site: Office of Research External Funding Resources.

We hope this will be of service to you, and look forward to working with you in your research endeavors.

08/11/09

New member to the Office of Research Staff!

mary_mandeville

Please join us in welcoming Mary Mandeville, UM-Flint’s new Research Compliance Specialist.  Mary is responsible for assisting the campus community with issues regarding Human Subjects protection. Mary also serves as the campus contact for training and administration of the eResearch Regulatory Management system and will work closely with Marianne McGrath, Ph.D., chair of the Institutional Review Board.
 
Mary holds an MBA from Eastern Michigan University, a Masters degree from Kansas State University, with undergraduate work at Michigan State and additional certification from The University of Michigan. 
 
Most recently Mary served as Project Director/Program Manager for a federally funded, multi-site nursing research project for the University of Illinois at Chicago & The University of Michigan.  Previous to this assignment she was affiliated with the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
 
Welcome to the team Mary!

09/23/08

Renovations complete!

We’re happy to announce that the renovation work our office underwent during the summer is finally complete!  Some of the improvements made by renovations include:

  • A spacious reception area for visitors
  • A beautiful new workspace for our secretary and receptionist
  • An expanded office space for the director; furnished especially for meetings
  • Open area for file storage
  • An expanded conference room used for hosting meetings, workshops, and trainings

Here are a few shots of our newly remodeled office:

Stop by and see us anytime!

04/28/08

A Quick Guide to Export Control Regulations and Restrictions on Access by Foreign Nationals

The primary United States regulations controlling export activities are the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) administered by the Department of State; the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) administered by the Department of Commerce; and the foreign asset control regulations administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in the Department of the Treasury. If an activity is controlled under the export regulations, then a license or other approval is needed from the relevant agency unless an exemption applies. Even if approval is not needed, there might be requirements for government review prior to conduct of the activity, for giving notice to the government, or for keeping special records. Also, if an activity is controlled, there likely will be restrictions as to who can participate in the activity. There are potentially severe civil and criminal penalties, including fines and imprisonment, for violating the export laws. Both the organization and the individuals involved are subject to these penalties.

Across the country, universities are struggling to come to terms with export controls – particularly with respect to types of research activities conducted and the inclusion of foreign nationals on some research projects.  At the UM, a Research Restrictions Committee convened by President Mary Sue Coleman in January 2003 recommended that the University :

1. Maintain an open environment with no restrictions on publication
2. Should not accept any project that allows the exclusion of U-M personnel from participating in research due to their ethnicity, national background or nationality, unless a strong case can be made that the project is clearly in the “public interest.”

For more information on export control regulations and restrictions on access by foreign nationals, see:  http://www.research.umich.edu/policies/federal/export_controls.html .  There is a particularly useful section on debunking myths about universities and export controls.  If you have any questions or would be interested in having a workshop for your unit on this topic, please contact John Callewaert, [email protected]