MavWire 2014 Archive » MavWire — Monday, November 24, 2014

Inside action: College Park Center hosted Saturday's Homecoming events when rain caused the street festival and pep rally to move indoors. More than 4,000 fans cheered on the men's basketball team to an 87-69 victory over Houston Baptist. See more photos.

Rain doesn't dampen Homecoming excitement

Maverick pride filled College Park Center on Saturday as thousands of alumni, students, faculty, staff, and community members enjoyed indoor fun and festivities for Homecoming 2014.

Events moved inside because of the rainy day, which didn't dampen the fun time on the concourse of College Park Center. Booths for the street festival lined the halls for afternoon activities and the pre-game pep rally. The Party on the Plaza headed to the Hospitality Suite, where alumni enjoyed food, beverages, and fellowship, plus reserved seats for the game against Houston Baptist.

Tung Nguyen and Cynthia Heisch, marketing seniors, were crowned Homecoming king and queen in front of more than 4,000 fans at halftime. The Mavericks defeated Houston Baptist 87-69 on Petsche Court in College Park Center.

Rain caused the parade to be canceled and the golf tournament and fireworks show to be rescheduled.

The week included the Distinguished Alumni Awards, The Bash dance party, the chili cook-off, the step show, and alumni gatherings.

Chosen few: Baohong Yuan, left, associate professor of bioengineering, and Hyeok Choi, assistant professor of environmental engineering, received two highly competitive Norman Hackerman Advanced Research Program awards from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Two engineering researchers win Hackerman awards

UT Arlington has received two highly competitive Norman Hackerman Advanced Research Program awards from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Baohong Yuan, associate professor of bioengineering, received a $100,000 grant to better monitor cancer metastasis in deep tissue.

Hyeok Choi, assistant professor of environmental engineering, received $80,000 to study solar-driven photocatalytic decomposition of lethal algal toxins in Texas water resources.

A total of 269 proposals from 43 institutions requesting $14.8 million in funding were submitted to the Coordinating Board. Only 11 proposals were granted. UT Arlington and UT Austin were the only institutions to receive two approved research proposals.

Read more about the Hackerman awards.

UT Arlington joins White House technology initiative

UT Arlington is one of more than a dozen universities that will be included in a new White House initiative aimed at empowering teachers and students nationwide to use technology in the classroom.

During a news conference Thursday in Washington, D.C., President Obama announced ConnectED, a program that partners with online learning platform edX to offer free professional development courses and their accompanying certifications to teachers, along with courses to prepare students for Advanced Placement exams.

UT Arlington’s College of Education and the Learning Innovation and Networked Knowledge (LINK) Lab will offer one massive open online course, or MOOC, in 2015 called Technology, Literacy, and Diversity in Education. The course will likely be followed by additional courses through 2018.

Read more about ConnectED.

Candidates for College of Science dean to visit campus

Candidates for dean of the College of Science will meet with administrators, faculty, staff, and students Monday-Friday, Dec. 1-5.

The name of each candidate will be released 24 hours in advance of his or her campus visit.

Visit the Senior Leadership Searches webpage to learn more about the dean search for the College of Science, as it becomes available.

Campus closed for Thanksgiving holiday

The UT Arlington campus is closed for the Thanksgiving holiday Thursday-Sunday, Nov. 27-30.

E.H. Hereford University Center—The center will close at 7 p.m. Wednesday and open 1-11 p.m. Sunday.

Campus Recreation—For the Maverick Activities Center and pool hours, see the Campus Recreation schedule online.

Libraries—Libraries are closed on Thursday. Check the library schedule for hours on other days.

Planetarium—Go online for the Planetarium schedule.

Metro Arlington Xpress—The MAX will not run Thursday-Friday.

Forever Arlington The Distinguished Alumni Awards became a new Homecoming event this year. From left, President Vistasp Karbhari, Lisa Karbhari, and honorees Serena Simmons Connelly, Fred Perpall, Vicki Tanner, Baron Concors, and James Greer. Also honored was Bruce Tanner. Read more about the 2014 Distinguished Alumni Awards honorees, and watch the video.

Check UTA travel policies before going out of country

UT Arlington has updated rules concerning travel to countries affected by Ebola Virus Disease that also include new faculty, staff, and students from those regions.

Faculty and staff members traveling from affected regions should not come directly to campus following their arrival in the U.S. Faculty and staff members should go to their residence or other place designated by health officials, notify their supervisor, and arrange for a copy of the federal quarantine guidance to be delivered to their supervisor.

As long as faculty and staff members are healthy and exhibiting no Ebola-related symptoms, they will be expected to complete work-related duties and will receive their regular pay. Faculty and staff members who become ill should follow University sick leave policies.

Students traveling from affected regions should not come directly to campus. Students should call the Health Services Center at 2-2771 to obtain specific information about where to check in and how to receive support. 

Read more about UTA's travel policy.

Guest housing available on campus

UT Arlington has several fully furnished campus apartments available for departments to use for guests of the University including job candidates, visiting scholars, and guest speakers. These apartments provide the comfort of a hotel environment with the convenience of staying on campus.

Reservations are being accepted for the spring semester. For more information on amenities, pricing, guidelines, and reservations, visit uta.edu/guestapartments. 

Return appearance Former UTA President James Spaniolo, center, visited campus last week to honor scholarship winners. New recipients of the Spaniolo First Generation Scholarships are, from left, Tania Garcia, Jaqueline Ramos, Kelly Zarate, Connor Torrealba, Madison Maynard, Britney Berger, Victoria Cortez, and My Tien Bui.

Visit with UTA authors at CAAS event

Meet the authors from UT Arlington at “An Evening with Authors” hosted by the Center for African American Studies. 

The program is 5:30–7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3, in the Carlisle Suite of the E.H. Hereford University Center. Copies of literary works will be available.

RSVP to caas@uta.edu by Friday, Nov. 28.

Give your travel thoughts in I-30 survey

The North Central Texas Council of Governments Transportation Department, in partnership with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, is asking travelers of Interstate 30 about how incentives might influence their trip choices. A survey is online at I-30survey.org until Nov. 30.

MyMav maintenance planned for Dec. 7

Maintenance is planned for the MyMav system noon-4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7, by the Office of Information Technology. During this time, MyMav will be unavailable.

Questions? Contact the Help Desk at 2-2208 or helpdesk@uta.edu.

Register for advising conference, submit proposals

Register online for the UT Arlington Advising Association's 18th annual advising conference, "Academic Marvels: Unleashing Your Advising Super Powers." The conference is Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015.

Submit interactive, innovative, and engaging presentations for the conference. Abstracts of approved proposals will be included in the conference program and on the conference website. Submissions are due by Monday, Dec. 1. 

Beware of cyber criminals when shopping online

The Information Security Office encourages you to be aware of holiday seasonal scams, phishing, and malicious software distribution campaigns.

Cyber criminals often send personal messages that appear to be legitimate and include websites that look real with logos, email, or web templates.

These phishing and malware campaigns include fake shipping/courier notifications; electronic greeting cards or links to holiday screensavers; requests for charitable contributions that appear to be from the real organization; and credit card or gift card applications or enticing discounts that lead to unfamiliar websites.

Look for signs that an email or website is not legitimate:

• Sender’s address or website address does not match the organization listed in the content of the message.

• Grammar in the message or website is poor.

• Format of the email or website is poor or inconsistent with what you’ve seen from the organization.

• Hovering your mouse over the links reveals web addresses inconsistent with the content of the message.

Never click on links in emails that you’re not expecting, open attachments in emails that you’re not expecting, nor provide personal information in an email or on a website unless you are confident of the source.

If you do receive suspicious email messages, contact the Information Security Office at security@uta.edu.

Read more online security tips.

MavWire will return in December

Today's MavWire is the last issue until after Thanksgiving. The next issue is Monday, Dec. 1.

Send your stories or photos for MavWire to mavwire@uta.edu to be considered for publication.

Find previous issues in the MavWire archives.

Tuesday, Nov. 25

Management Lecture Series Daniel Armanios of Stanford University presents “Is Policy Enough? Understanding the Government Sector in the Midst of Reform.” Free. 2 p.m., Room 609, Business Building. Business, Management.

Wednesday, Dec. 3

Big Data Exploration and Analytics in Social Media and the Deep Web Gautam Das, professor of computer science and engineering, describes the technical challenges and algorithmic innovations encountered in novel application domains, such as collaborative/social media and deep web databases. Light breakfast provided. RSVP. Free. 7-8 a.m., Room 100, Nedderman Hall. Arlington Technology Association.

Women's and Gender Studies Speaker Anne Boring of Effective Gender Equality in Research and the Academia presents "Gender Biases in Student Evaluation of Teachers." Free. Noon-1 p.m., sixth floor parlor, Central Library. Women's and Gender Studies.

Coming up

Human Resources Training Conducting Effective Meetings, 9-11 a.m., Friday, Dec. 5; Managing Stress in the Workplace, 9-11 a.m., Tuesday, Dec. 9; Partnering with Your Boss, 9-11 a.m., Wednesday, Dec. 10; and The Art of Listening, 9-11 a.m., Friday, Dec. 12. Register online. Free. J.D. Wetsel Service Center. Human Resources.

(For an expanded list of events, see the UTA calendar.)

Monday, Nov. 24

Voice Division Recital Free. Noon, Irons Recital Hall, Fine Arts Building. Music.

Deck the Mall Welcome the holiday season with music, hot chocolate, and lighting up the Library mall. Free. 6:30-10 p.m., Library mall. EXCEL Campus Activities.

Bassoon Studio Recital Free. 7:30 p.m., Irons Recital Hall, Fine Arts Building. Music.

Wednesday, Nov. 26

Women's Basketball Mavericks vs. Northern Arizona. Tickets $5. 7 p.m., College Park Center. Also, vs. UT San Antonio, Tuesday, Dec. 2, and vs. McMurry, Wednesday, Dec. 17. Athletics.

Monday, Dec. 1-Wednesday, Dec. 10

Paws for Finals Therapy dogs help with the stress of final exams. Free. Second floor, Central Library. UT Arlington Libraries.

Friday, Dec. 5

Friends of the Library Chants Encounters performs holiday music. Free. 7:30 p.m., sixth floor Central Library. Friends of the Library.

BFA Exhibit Opening Reception The Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition showcases works by 47 graduating seniors in painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, film/video, photography, and visual communication. Gallery hours 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, noon-5 p.m. Saturdays. Reception 5-7 p.m., The Gallery at UTA. Through Dec. 13. Art and Art History.

Saturday, Dec. 6

Men's Basketball Mavericks vs. Weber State. Tickets $5. 2 p.m., College Park Center. Also, Howard Payne, Saturday, Dec. 20. Athletics.

Tuesday, Dec. 9

Faculty and Staff Holiday Reception Enjoy holiday refreshments and music by the UTA Jazz Orchestra, conducted by Tim Ishii. Free. 3-5 p.m., Bluebonnet Ballroom, E.H. Hereford University Center. Dining Services, Office of the President.

Ongoing

Gallery 76102: Above & Beyond Kalee Appleton's series is inspired by time and time’s tendency to both transform and preserve. Gallery hours noon-6 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays, Gallery 76102, 1401 Jones St., Fort Worth. Through Nov. 30. Fort Worth Center, Gallery 76102.

MavsArt The semi-annual UTA community art show features 67 works by 25 artists who are UTA students, faculty, and staff. Through Dec. 3. UT Arlington Libraries, MavsArt.

Digital Photography Student artwork showcased. Gallery hours 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays. Free. University Center Gallery, E.H. Hereford University Center. Through Dec. 12. EXCEL Campus Activities.

Max Sullivan Gallery: Statera-Hymns of Balance Paintings by Andrew Kochie. Gallery hours 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays. Free. Max Sullivan Gallery, Room 206, Architecture Building. Through Dec. 15. Architecture.

Cuba: Histories of the Present Explore daily life in modern Cuba through photographs by David LaFevor, assistant professor of history. Sixth floor, Central Library. Through Dec. 22.

Special Collections: The Price of Manifest Destiny Discover how maps and war interlock in the 19th century in a new exhibit. Hours 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Mondays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, sixth floor, Central Library. Through Feb. 7, 2015. UT Arlington Libraries Special Collections.

Visual Resource Commons and Gallery The African Art Collection is a multi-dimensional collection of 11th-20th century art and artifacts. Free. 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, Suite 2109, Fine Arts Building. Art and Art History.

Planetarium The fall schedule includes Astronaut; One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure; Pink Floyd; Spacepark 360 Infinity; Two Small Pieces of Glass; and We Are Astronomers. Planetarium.

(For an expanded list of events, see the UTA calendar.)