Heard Around Campus — February 2016
February has been filled with ice, snow and slate-gray skies. It can be easy to forget that spring is just around the corner. Here are some campus developments that will help put you in a green state of mind.
Help Keep Drexel Green During RecycleMania 2016
Drexel is once again participating in RecycleMania, a friendly annual competition and benchmarking tool for colleges and universities nationwide to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities. The competition kicked off on Feb. 7 and continues through April 2. The first of three special recycling collection events was held on the Center City Campus yesterday, and University Facilities will be hosting additional events on Friday, Feb. 26, on the Queen Lane Campus (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.) and Monday, Feb. 29, at the Recreation Center (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.). All members of the University community are invited to bring paper, plastic, aluminum, glass, cell phones and computer equipment to be recycled.
University Facilities teamed up with University Communications to produce a new infographic detailing how common items are recycled on campus every day. The Drexel Green Recycling Guide has also been updated with the latest information on how to recycle items in 11 different categories.
For more information on RecycleMania and Drexel’s recycling program, visit drexel.edu/green/programs/RecycleMania/. Before you throw something away, consider whether it can be recycled – and help keep Drexel green!
A University-wide Commencement on June 11
Citizens Bank Park, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies, has been selected as the perfect venue to help Drexel celebrate the accomplishments of its graduates as an entire University community. This much larger venue will also provide Drexel graduates the opportunity to invite more family and friends to join in the celebration.
President John A. Fry will be conferring Drexel degrees completed during this academic year at the University-wide ceremony on Saturday, June 11. There will also be two days of college- and school-specific ceremonies, plus a doctoral hooding ceremony, held on June 9 and 10.
Changes for Faculty Under New Family and Medical Leave Policy
Revisions have been made to the Family and Medical Leave Policy (FMLA), effective January 2016. The FMLA is federal legislation that requires employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave in a rolling 12-month period for the employee’s own or a family member’s serious or chronic medical condition, including pregnancy.
Drexel’s new policy now stipulates how compensation during FMLA will work for faculty, who unlike professional staff, aren’t able to use accrued vacation or sick time as resources from which to continue drawing a salary during their leave. Now, a faculty member who is approved for Family and Medical Leave is eligible to receive six weeks of salary continuation after working at Drexel full-time for one year and up to 12 weeks of salary continuation after completion of the second year of full-time work. Part-time, FMLA-eligible faculty will receive pro-rated compensation. Short-term disability can also be used within the first two years of service for the faculty member’s own serious health condition if the faculty member purchases coverage through Drexel’s designated insurance carrier.
Information about short-term disability can be found at drexel.edu/hr/benefits/voluntary. A special enrollment period will be opened to faculty members who wish to purchase short-term disability coverage from Feb. 1 through Feb. 29, 2016. Coverage will be effective Feb. 1, 2016, and can be purchased through the Benefits Service Center enrollment system (DrexelOne, Employees tab, Benefits Service Center).
Deadline for STEM Education Travel Award is February 26
The deadline for applications for the STEM Education Travel Award is this Friday, Feb. 26. The goal of this travel award is to allow the development of wider expertise on campus centered around evidence-based teaching.
This award is available to support two full-time tenure track or teaching faculty members in a STEM department who have completed at least two years of teaching at Drexel before applying (i.e., applying in their third year of employment at Drexel at the earliest). The applicant must plan to attend a meeting in 2016 that either: a) has a significant focus on education/STEM education/educational assessment, or b) is a discipline specific meeting where they are presenting an education talk/workshop.
STEM Education Travel Award recipients will receive a monetary award of up to $2,500, which will be used to reimburse meeting expenses after the conclusion of the meeting. Prior acceptance to the meeting of interest is not a pre-requisite for applying for this award.
Please submit your application package electronically in a single pdf file and send to Kathryn Vadell at kbt25@drexel.edu by 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 26, 2016. The subject line should read "STEM Education Travel Award, 2016." If you have questions about this award, direct them to Kathryn Vadell at the above email address.
Registration is Now Open for the Summer Farm Share Program
Registration for the summer 2016 edition of the Common Market Farm Share (CMFS) is currently open.
The CMFS connects local farms to urban and suburban markets, including Drexel. The program allows Drexel students, faculty and professional staff to pay in advance for biweekly shipments of locally grown, farm-fresh produce and eggs (with optional customized add-ons), which they pick up on the University City Campus (location and day/time of pickup to be determined). The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University also offers a pickup location for the farm share in Center City. Visit cmfarmshare.org for more information and to register.
The summer 2016 farm share will deliver 12 times from June to November for a total price of $324. A sample share may include grape tomatoes, corn, leeks, green peppers, mint, peaches, cantaloupe and blackberries, always with a dozen farm-fresh eggs. Contact Brittany Lavin at bll55@drexel.edu for more information about pickups on the University City Campus.