May 11, 2021 Voiland College This Week

Go Cougs!

Xianghui Zhang and Noel Schulz received GPSA Excellence Awards.

Arda Gozen and a team of researchers have developed a unique scaffolding material for engineered tissues that can be fine-tuned for the tricky business of growing natural tissue.

Forbes featured a story on research from Indranil Chowdhury, whose findings indicate bad news about plastic in the environment: “nanoscale polyethylene plastics may escape from our drinking water treatment processes, particularly filtration.”

Ganapati Bhat was one of nine awardees of WSU’s New Faculty Seed Grants to encourage new junior-level faculty to develop research, scholarly, or creative programs that provide the potential for sustained professional development and extramural support.

Architectural studies major Sinai Hernandez-Espinoza received the DAESA Transfer Champion Student Award.

Seniors in landscape architecture and interior design researched tiny homes communities and drafted a model ordinance that would allow and regulate them in Lewiston. They recently presented their ideas to city planners and community members.

Watch: MME 2021 Order of the Engineer Ceremony.

Watch: Voiland College Commencement Ceremony: Pullman and Global Campus, Tri-Cities, Everett, Vancouver.


Events

Thursday, May 13 @ 8:10 AM

VoiceThread Basics:
VoiceThread is a tool used to engage students in meaningful conversations around media.

Thursday, May 13 @ 10:10 AM

VoiceThread and Canvas:
As we transition to Canvas, our educational technologies transition as well.

Thursday, May 13 @ 12:10 PM

Perusall and Canvas: Ensure your students are reading:
Use this tool to proactively engage students in reading and provide a focus of conversation with automatically graded annotations.

Thursday, May 13 @ 2:10 PM

Panopto Basics:
Use this tool to proactively engage students in reading and provide a focus of conversation with automatically graded annotations.

Thursday, May 13 @ 4:10 PM

Panopto and Canvas:
Learn about new integration features available in Canvas including creation of Panopto assignments, linking quizzes to the gradebook, as well as new ways for you and your students to share videos in Canvas.

Monday, May 17 @ 9:10 AM

Getting Started in Canvas:
WSU is moving from Blackboard to Canvas and we are here to make the transition as smooth as possible. In this introduction to Canvas we will show you how to create, upload, organize, and edit content including a review of the feature-rich content editor.

Tuesday, May 18 @ 4:10 PM

Canvas Assignments and Rubrics:
In this training we will cover assignment and rubric creation, peer reviews, and the plagiarism checker.

Thursday, May 20

2021 CHARGE Conference:
Government, utilities, business, and researchers are all coming together to share their take on the future of hydrogen and renewably generated e-fuels. The Consortium for Hydrogen and Renewably Generated E-fuels (CHARGE) is a new effort to align industry, researchers, and government around decarbonizing our power grid, transportation, and technology sectors. Governor Jay Inslee is the keynote speaker.

Share Your Event

Add your upcoming events to the WSU event calendar and we’ll share them here each week!


Opportunities

Research Operations at WSU in Stage 3 of Return to Research Guidance

WSU research guidance during the COVID‑19 pandemic.

WSU is currently in Stage 3 of the “Staged return to on‑site research, scholarship, and creative activities” guidance. The plan includes system‑wide efforts to assist researcher success during the COVID‑19 pandemic. For research involving human participants, see the “Staged Return to Human Subject Research” guidance. Other research guidance, including the “Monitoring and managing research compliance” document and “exception request”, can also be accessed.

Canvas to Replace Blackboard Fall 2021

Information Technology Services, Academic Outreach and Innovation, and WSU Faculty Senate are pleased to announce that Canvas will be WSU’s sole Learning Management System beginning Fall 2021.

WSU’s Blackboard access will expire on Aug 21. In preparation for this, users who want to export Blackboard course data should contact migrationhelp@wsu.eduu now to begin the migration before Blackboard becomes unavailable. Learn what other actions you need to make and what resources are available for this transition.


Be Safe Cougs

Employee Assistance Program – Mental Health Awareness Month

In March 2021, 30% of adults in the U.S reported symptoms of anxiety, which is about 3x as many as in 2019. Take a look at these common signs of anxiety: do any sound familiar to you? If so, know that our EAP can help you find ways to effectively cope with and manage anxiety in your daily life, at *no charge* to you and adult family members in your household. You can reach out to get connected with a counselor by contacting EAP at 1-877-313-4455 or online.

In addition, you can find resources about anxiety and mental health through the Work/Life Resources portal, such as the webinar “Addressing Anxiety in an Uncertain World” which is available beginning Tuesday, May 18th. Just log in using our Organization Code: WSU.

Frontline newsletters

Both EAP newsletters feature content that honors May as Mental Health Awareness Month.

The Employee newsletter (PDF) features information about the more than 47 million of us nationwide live with a mental health condition and the 3.5x increase in anxiety and depression during the last year, along with additional resources so that we can: recognize the common signs that mental health support is needed, get help, and more. (Employee newsletter in downloadable Word format for accessibility).

May’s Supervisor newsletter (PDF) offers information and resources about the impact of mental health concerns on the workplace, the signs to look for, and how to support employees. (Supervisor newsletter in downloadable Word format for accessibility).

Webinars

EAP benefits are free to you and adult family members in your household – why not learn about all that EAP offers? Join us for the upcoming ½ hour EAP Orientation on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 from 9:00 – 9:30am. Can’t make it in May? Join us in June, at a future session, or watch on-demand.

EAP also offers on-demand webinars to support you through COVID as well as other topics that support your mental/emotional health and wellbeing.

WSU COVID-19 Information

Visit WSU’s website to get the latest information and resources on WSU’s COVID-19 testing and response.

Caring for Self, Caring for Others – Resources

Self-care is more important than ever. Caring for others adds an additional layer of complexity, but self-care continues to remain paramount. Please use these resources to help you on your self-care journey.

Return to Campus

Voiland College is under the directive that if you can work effectively from home, then you should work from home. For those who cannot work effectively from home and who intend on resuming work on campus, there are some important steps to take prior to transitioning.

Send Us Your News

Include your kudos, opportunities, events, and more in the Voiland College This Week newsletter for employees.

DEADLINE: Submit items by 12 pm Thursday for inclusion in the following Tuesday newsletter.