Resources guide page 2 – Advance at UNM

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Welcome to our faculty information and opportunities page, where we offer information on the upcoming semester, current faculty development opportunities, and other broadly applicable information for faculty.

For information on UNM resources for faculty, visit our Faculty Resources Guide.
To support your students, visit our Faculty Guide to Student Resources.
If you are a new faculty member, visit our new faculty page.
To stay informed about research opportunities, be sure you’re subscribed to the PI listserve.
To see our current faculty development workshops, be sure to check out our events calendar.

Current semester information

Fall 2024 syllabus information
Fall 2024 Canvas information
The following information was released on the list serv for UNM’s learning management system, Canvas. Join the list by using your UNM email to send a message to listserv@unm.edu. Leave the subject field blank, and in the body of message type (with no other text): subscribe CANVAS_INSTRUCTOR-L Firstname Lastname You will be notified by email when your request is approved.

General Information

You and your students can access Canvas at canvas.unm.edu. For more, see How to Log into Canvas. For Canvas documentation, tips, and things to be aware of see UNM Canvas Resources for Instructors.

Make Sure Students Can Access Your Courses in Canvas

Please review the Start-of-Semester Checklist. It includes instructions for all the important tasks required each term, such as how to “Web-enhance your Banner Course in Canvas” and “How to Publish” your course so that when it opens, your students will have access to it.

Fall course sections that are Published in UNM Canvas will open for students on the start date as shown in the LoboWeb class schedule (see also FastInfo answer 2371). For most fall classes, the official start date falls on Monday, August 19th.

Section Groups

Do you have multiple sections you would like to combine into one UNM Canvas course?  See information on  Section Groups.  If you plan to group your sections in Canvas, it is important to submit your request at least a week before the class start date to allow time for processing. Once sections are grouped, you will lose access to any content developed in the original course sections, so it is important to either have that content in a Temp course or to export and download any content you want to keep from the sections in the request prior to submitting the form. Sections should be grouped prior to the start date for the course to avoid loss of student work.

Discussions/Announcements Redesign

On July 20th, 2024, Instructure, the vendor for Canvas, enforced the ‘Discussions/Announcements Redesign’. For more information, including links to documentation and a video overview, see the UNM Canvas Discussions/Announcements Redesign page.

Note: The feature within the Discussions Redesign intended to allow users to report replies has been disabled while the vendor works to improve that functionality.

Third-party Tool Integrations

Numerous third-party tools, such as Ally, Turnitin Similarity, Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor, Zoom, Kaltura Media tools, and RedShelf are available for use in Canvas. For a full list and links to documentation, see the External Apps page.

Kaltura Upgrade
The Kaltura integration with Canvas was upgraded on 5/15/24. Instructors in courses that use the Media Gallery tool will need to re-add the tool to course navigation. Kaltura media previously embedded on Canvas pages via the Rich Content Editor (RCE) will continue to function as it did before the upgrade. Users in the Teacher Assistant (TA) role will now be able to manage the Media Gallery tool in Canvas courses.

Potential Linked Resource Access Issue in ‘New Quizzes’ Tool
UNM was recently made aware of a data access risk related to the potential for unauthorized viewing of image/file resources linked in the ‘New Quizzes’ tool in Canvas. From our understanding of the issue, we think the risk of exploit is low and we do not have evidence that anyone has used it at UNM. Instructure, the vendor for Canvas, is developing a permanent fix for this issue that is targeted for September 2024. Classic Quizzes are not affected. We are including this note to provide transparency – you do not need to take specific action at this time.

Additional Resources
- Support: You and your students can always find help using the “Help” button in the left Canvas global navigation menu. Additional information is available on How to Get Support.
- Student Resources: Students can be directed to Student Help Resources and Introduction to Canvas.
- Instructor training: For one-on-one assistance with questions related to teaching in Canvas, drop in to a virtual Open Lab hosted by the UNM Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). Review and register for webinars offered by CTL. Or see How to Get Training for links to video tutorials provided by the vendor.
- Managing Course Assistants: Those with the Teacher role in Canvas can use the +People tool to add or remove Designers and TAs in their current and future Banner and Temp courses.
- What’s New: Up-to-date information about what’s new is always posted on the What’s New in UNM Canvas page along with links to documentation for ongoing Canvas changes made by the vendor.
- Outages and Alerts: For information about issues that may be impacting Canvas or integrated tools, see System Status & Alerts.
- Terms of Use: Please be aware of the UNM Canvas Terms of Use.
Onboarding checklist for new faculty
Updates to Title IX mean changes for faculty, staff, students

A series of updates to Title IX regulations include several important changes for UNM faculty, students and staff.

The new regulations in Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination, were approved by the U.S. Department of Education earlier this year, took effect Aug. 1, 2024.

These new regulations better align with other federal discrimination law, expand discrimination reporting requirements, and offer more protection to students for pregnancy or related conditions, according to UNM Title IX Coordinator Angela Catena. Additionally, there is a new requirement for faculty and staff to complete training on an annual basis.

Learn more in our story.
Updates from the UNM IRB
The UNM IRB has released several updates for fall:

New Deadline for Full Board Agenda Items
- Beginning September 2024, the full board agenda will close on the second Monday of each month to allow staff time to properly review submissions and work with the PI on clarifications prior to distribution to the committee. Please visit the IRB Events page for IRB meeting dates and deadlines: https://irb.unm.edu/events/index.html
The UNM IRB is recruiting a Prisoner Representative to serve on the IRB
- The UNM IRB is currently recruiting a new member who can serve as prisoner representative on the IRB. This member should be a person who has a close working knowledge of prison conditions and the life of a prisoner. Suitable individuals could include present or former prisoners; prison chaplains; prison psychologists, prison social workers, or other prison service providers; persons who have conducted advocacy for the rights of prisoners; or any individuals who are qualified to represent the rights and welfare of prisoners by virtue of appropriate background and experience. This does not need to be a UNM faculty, staff or student – members from the community are welcome! The prisoner rep only needs to attend meetings where studies involving prisoners are being reviewed (~1-2 year). If you are interested, or know someone who is interested, please email irbmaincampus@unm.edu.
Fall Semester IRB Workshops
- The fall semester IRB workshops have been scheduled.
- Please see the attached flyer or visiting the IRB Events page at: https://irb.unm.edu/events/index.html
Updated faculty FAQ for the UNM Accessibility Resource Center
Meet your new colleagues
UNM Research and Discovery Week 2024 is Nov. 8 - 15

Research and Discovery Week features an exciting schedule of events that showcase the excellence and diversity of UNM’s research enterprise, promote resources and opportunities available to UNM researchers, and foster the principles of ethical, engaged, collaborative, and fulfilling scholarship. Most importantly, these events also highlight the unique contributions of our faculty, staff, and students to the intellectual capital of our institution and enable our collective ability to positively impact our communities, our state, our nation, and the world.

Learn more and register.
Robot food delivery starts on campus
Recent academic freedom workshops

Ahead of the fall 2024 semester, Advance at UNM and the Office of Academic Affairs hosted a series of workshops for faculty, staff and graduate students on developing communities in academic settings and on responding to conflict and stress in the classroom. The workshops were part of an ongoing series on academic freedom and civil campus conversations.

The workshops for faculty and staff were led by Mikhail Lyubansky, a teaching associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Lyubansky, who teaches several restorative justice and positive psychology classes, also presented at UNM earlier this year on keeping campus conversations civil. Steph Posey, a doctoral student in the School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign, who is also a youth development practitioner, co-led the sessions that were for graduate students.

The series included two workshops, each of which lasted two hours and included time for interactive exercises and discussion. Learn more and see workshop handouts.
Updated vaccine information

OPPORTUNITIES FOR FACULTY

Find a variety of faculty development opportunities on our events calendar.

WeR1: Investing in Faculty Success

UNM data show that during the pandemic, many faculty members spent less time on research and scholarship and related professional development as they revised their teaching and dealt with new and different demands in their home lives. As we transition out of the pandemic, the WeR1 Faculty Success Program seeks to support UNM faculty in new and creative ways.

The overarching goals of the WeR1 program are to:

— Modify institutional policies and processes to support faculty retention and advancement, increase transparency, decrease administrative burden, and work towards balanced service and teaching loads;

— Create structures that acknowledge and address the impact of the pandemic, which may last well into the next decade;

— Provide resources that allow faculty to transition, rebuild, recover, and/or refocus their research, scholarship, and creative work, through support that encompasses both small steps and expansive interdisciplinary initiatives;

— Develop new mechanisms for recognizing faculty success in all areas of the university’s mission;

— Build communication, collaboration, cooperation, and community across all UNM campuses.

Explore currently available opportunities below and visit the UNM Research page to see others.
Expanding Course Based Research Experiences

ECURE is an NSF-funded grant designed to leverage UNM’s research mission to enrich undergraduate education in STEM general education and portal courses. It is led and supported by Academic Affairs, the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Division of Equity and Inclusion, and the Office of Student Affairs. ECURE is based on the following key concepts:

— Engaging students in undergraduate research (UGR) experiences will positively impact their science literacy, science identity, and research self-efficacy, as well as their likelihood to persist and graduate at UNM.

— Engaging students in UGR in general education and portal courses will allow us to serve more students than co-curricular programming alone, and will help students connect course content to professional, community and research applications.

— Engagement in undergraduate research can be offered at varying levels of research immersion. These levels range from students learning about research without actually conducting research to students implementing all stages of their own authentic research projects (see descriptions of the levels below). All levels of early research immersion are useful to achieving desired student outcomes described above, and to creating more effective and diverse pathways to more advanced co-curricular research engagements within their majors.

To this end, ECURE supports instructors in incorporating undergraduate research components into their general education and portal sections, and studies the impact of these enriched engagements on student perceptions and behaviors.

Learn more.
Open Educational Resources grants deadline is Oct. 1
This fall, the University Libraries is holding its second annual OER Grant Program. During the 2024-2025 Academic Year, the OER initiative at UNM has the potential to save students between $466,000 and $486,000 based on historic enrollments and textbook prices. This fall, the University Libraries would like the savings to continue. The University of New Mexico Open Textbook Pilot Program will be accepting proposals for OER adoption, adaptation, and creation grants. This program is designed to support faculty, instructors, and graduate students with the adoption, adaptation, and creation of OER materials into their courses as a way to increase student success.

OER work, particularly OER authorship and development, can require extra effort on the part of instructors, and this grant program is developed to address this. Interested applicants can register for an informational session to learn more about the program:
- Find out more about the application process;
- Learn about the evaluation process for applications;
- Discover OER research methods and repositories;
- Ask questions of the OER Librarian.
Information session dates:
The deadline to submit applications for the second annual Open Textbook Pilot Program is October 1st, 2024. These proposals will be evaluated by a subcommittee of the OER Working Group. Work in this program should begin in the spring and/or summer of 2025.

This library guide for the grant program contains more details and the link to fill out an application.
Apply by Oct. 18 to be a faculty fellow for strategic grad student recruitment

Graduate Studies seeks a faculty fellow to work on a special initiative in strategic recruitment. This position represents a unique opportunity to help shape our institutional approach to key UNM2040 goals: inclusive excellence , student success, and advancing New Mexico. If you are passionate about graduate education and interested in a leadership role, we encourage you to apply!

The fellow will work in a strategic capacity with the Dean of Graduate Studies and other campus units to analyze and enhance UNM’s approach to strategic recruitment across our many graduate programs. The position will be funded in spring and summer 2025, with an expectation of extension for the 2025-26 academic year. Compensation includes a monthly stipend, annual course release, and summer funding. Applicants must have experience working with a UNM graduate program and must be willing to learn about a variety of approaches to strategic recruitment.

This flier provides full details about the position and application process.
Proposals for the Program for Enhancing Research Capacity (PERC) program due Oct. 25
The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) is pleased to announce that the 2024 application window for the Program for Enhancing Research Capacity (PERC) is now open in UNM’s InfoReady Review portal. PERC supports acquisition of shared instrumentation or enhancement of shared facilities that enable major endeavors to advance discovery, creativity and innovation across campus. This program seeks to add or augment research capacity through the acquisition or upgrading of instrumentation for use by multiple investigators. Thus, the proposed equipment must be housed within a space accessible to more than one PI/lab group and must have multiple committed users either within a single department/college, or preferably from multiple departments and colleges. See this document for program eligibility and details.

Important dates for PERC:
- September 9, 2024: Application window opens in InfoReady Review
- October 25, 2024: Proposal due date
- December 11, 2024: Notice of award
- January 6, 2025: Proposals awarded/funds transferred for projects who have completed the required progress reports.
Learn more about past PERC awardees and the WeR1 Program for Faculty Research Support.
2024-25 Fostering Research Expansion in Social Sciences and Humanities Program (FRESSH)

Please note that this year’s deadline has passed. Stay tuned for next year’s information.

The 2024–25 Fostering Research Expansion in Social Sciences and Humanities (FRESSH) Program establishes one cohort with two tracks: one focused on the Social Sciences and one focused on the Arts and Humanities.

In-person sessions will take place approximately monthly on Friday mornings throughout the academic year and will last 90 minutes. At least one additional virtual enrichment session will take place monthly on a different Friday. The cohort will develop research concepts and proposals suitable for funding opportunities from federal agencies or major foundations.

The FRESSH program will focus on awareness and utilization of internal resources, targeted training for opportunity scoping, concept and proposal development, and building community around Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts research.

Find more details in the InfoReady Review Portal.
Apply to teach in a Technology Enhanced Learning Studio

Please note that this year’s deadline has passed. Stay tuned for next year’s information.

The Subcommittee on Learning Studios is requesting submission of proposals to teach in a Technology Enhanced Learning Studios (TELS) for Fall of 2024.

The TELS are classrooms with additional technologies to facilitate collaborative learning. These studios are equipped with multiple projection screens, white boards, one or more overhead projectors, and round tables that seat nine. The best consideration date for proposals is Friday, March 15th with proposal submissions being discontinued after March 29. (The committee is aware that this is a quick deadline and will be understanding if there are incomplete portions to the proposal.) All interested instructors, especially first-time users, are encouraged to apply.

Learn more on the Center for Teaching and Learning website.
Apply for the Student Experience Project

Please note that this year’s deadline has passed. Stay tuned for next year’s information.

Learn how to help your students develop a sense of belonging in your classes (and at UNM!) through high-impact, low-effort techniques that have been shown to work here. Join colleagues from across campus in the next SEP cohort.

Email StudentExperienceUNM@unm.edu for more information on the Zoom information sessions on March 27 and 28, and the application link.
Provost Professional Conference Support Program

Please note that this year’s deadline has passed. Stay tuned for next year’s information.

Faculty can now apply for Fall 2023 Provost Professional Conference Support funds. The goal of the program is to provide support after all other sources of conference travel funding have been exhausted. There will be three rounds of funding review, with deadlines for submission of Aug. 4, Sept. 18, and Oct. 16, 2023.

Learn more about the program.
Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) program

Please note that this year’s deadline has passed. Stay tuned for next year’s information.

The Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) program has moved to the Office of Research Integrity and Compliance (ORIC) at UNM. This is partly in response to new NSF regulatory guidance, and partly to enable better tracking of compliance with training requirements for federal sponsors.

The first UNM RCR Symposium will be held Oct. 19 in the Physics & Astronomy Interdisciplinary Science (PAIS) building. The RCR Symposium brings together faculty, staff, and students from various disciplines to learn and discuss topics related to the responsible and ethical conduct of research. This training meets RCR certification requirements for all federal entities (NIH, NSF, USDA, etc.)

Learn more and register.
Funding for Faculty Software Purchases

Please note that this year’s deadline has passed. Stay tuned for next year’s information.

Faculty can now apply for funding for software they would like to incorporate into their research. A software licensing pilot program, called Scholarly Advancement Via Enterprise Research Software (SAVERS), supports the acquisition of shared enterprise software licenses to enable discovery, creativity, and innovation across campus. Specifically, the program’s goal is to be responsive to the needs of UNM researchers by acquiring software licenses for use by researchers across multiple departments, colleges, or other academic units.

Learn more about the program and read the call. The deadline to submit a proposal is Aug. 30, 2023.
Faculty Scholarship Time (FaST) for Spring 2025
Please note that this year’s deadline has passed. Stay tuned for next year’s information.

The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) is pleased to announce that the application window for the 2025 Spring Faculty Scholarship Time (FaST) competition is now open in InfoReady Review. Learn more or read the RFP.

The FaST program provides faculty with a reduced teaching load during the Spring 2025 semester to focus on the research, scholarship, and creative work interrupted by the pandemic. This program provides funding for faculty to receive either a one-semester, one-course reduction in their teaching load or support for a graduate project assistant (PA) to assist with course-related duties (grading, office hours, preparation of course materials, etc.). Main campus, tenured and tenure-track faculty in all disciplines are eligible to apply.

Important Dates for Spring 2025 FaST:
- Beginning April 19, 2024: Application opens (UNM InfoReady)
- May 20, 2024: Proposals due
- June 2024: Award decisions and notifications
Learn more about this and other initiatives under the WeR1 Program for Faculty Research Success.

Contact frdo@unm.edu with any questions.
Open Educational Resources grants available

Faculty interested in developing curriculum with Open Educational Resources are invited to submit proposals to receive stipends and other support.

The UNM Libraries is piloting a program that would start in Spring 2024. Faculty need to submit grant applications by Oct. 1, 2023.

The program aims to foster the development of alternatives to high-cost textbooks through the adoption, adaptation, or creation of OERs. Learn more here.

Policies for UNM faculty

New policy requires timely completion of progress reports before new funding submissions

The following information on a new requirement for researchers is from the Office of the Vice President for Research.

“Researchers, the timely submission of grant or contract reports is a mandatory condition for funding, and federal agencies are beginning to crack down on both PIs and institutions that are out of compliance. Currently, UNM has multiple projects with overdue reports to funding agencies.

PIs are responsible for submitting complete and accurate progress reports and final reports within the timeline required by the agency. To ensure UNM meets reporting compliance requirements and that our investigators can continue to access funding, the Office of the Vice President for Research will consider timely completion of progress reports a prerequisite for new funding submissions and for the distribution of F&A allocations to units, effective Oct. 1, 2024. More information.

Although the policy will go into effect on Oct. 1, to assist chairs, deans, and directors in maintaining compliance, a reporting dashboard is available to both PIs and administrators.”
Annual review information

Faculty at UNM have flexibility in how they choose to discuss COVID-19 impacts on their progress in annual reviews. This memo remains in effect and applies to this year’s annual review process. Some of the options include discussing the impact of COVID-19 in research, teaching, and service statements, adding an overall impact statement as a supplementary document, or using a checklist. See an example here, which includes referencing lists of potential impacts; or not discussing it.
Faculty union agreements
Provost's AY 24-25 Promotion and Tenure Guidelines
Tenure extension info

Support resources for faculty

Counseling, Assistance & Referral Services (CARS)

CARS offers a wide variety of services to assist faculty, staff, their significant others at UNM including counseling on a wide range of issues such as anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties, stress, job burnout, coworker conflict, eldercare, parenting, alcohol and drug use, grief and loss, managaing change and preparing for retirement. CARS provides other services, such as workshops and training, supervisor and manager workplace consultations, critical incident debriefing and grief intervention and referrals for services within the UNM Community and in the larger communities the client resides in, according to their website.

Learn more.
Mental health resources at UNM
UNM Ombuds

IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC ON SCHOLARSHIP AT UNM

The pandemic has dramatically changed how all of us work. Faculty who are juggling teaching, research and more face new challenges, including those that stem from time lost during the height of the pandemic. We know from our Pandemic Impact Report that many of these issues including feelings of burnout and barriers to scholarship still linger and will require ongoing attention. Read our report and see the coverage of it in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

UNM RESEARCH ON COVID and PANDEMICS

UNM doctor testifies before Congress on long COVID

UNM Professor of Medicine Michelle Harkins, MD, testified in January 2024 before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. The hearing was on “Addressing Long COVID: Advancing Research and Improving Patient Care.“

The hearing provided a crucial platform for experts like Harkins to contribute insights into the challenges posed by long COVID and discuss potential avenues for advancing research and enhancing patient care, according to the UNM Newsroom.

Read more.
Digital stories help put faces on the inequities of COVID care in NM

A research project involving three collaborative research centers at UNM Health Sciences aims to learn the systematic, social, and cultural factors that have led to the inequities in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The team for the project, known as Wide Engagement for Accessing COVID-19 Vaccine Equity (WEAVE NM), includes UNM’s Transdisciplinary Research, Equity and Engagement Center (TREE Center), Center for Participatory Research (CPR), and the Center for Native American Health (CNAH). It is funded by the National Institute of Health’s Community Engagement Alliance (NIH CEAL).

According to the project, “data shows huge disparities, like Latinx and Native communities composing over 60% of COVID-19 related deaths, while the white population only formed 1% of deaths in New Mexico. A similar pattern is reflected in the COVID-19 infection and hospitalization rates of our state. With no immediate end in sight to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is vital to identify systematic, social, and cultural norms that are leading to COVID-19 vaccine inequities and clinical trial participation in our BIPOC communities. Working together with those directly affected will be key to the goal of addressing these life-threatening issues and developing a more equitable health structure in New Mexico.” The project includes community-based participatory research, a community survey and narratives from community members. See the stories and learn more on the project’s website.
NSF grant hopes to predict pandemics

Researchers at UNM, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico State University, University of Kansas, Gorgas Memorial Institute in Panama, and the Center for Research on Health in Latin America are developing a new model for predicting pandemics as part of a $1 million NSF planning grant. Read more in the UNM Newsroom or see the project’s website.
Professor studies link between infectious diseases and metabolism
UNM researchers help determine that two potential COVID therapies are ineffective in humans
Earlier COVID research by UNM faculty

NATIONAL RESEARCH ON FACULTY AND COVID

Educators With Long COVID: Signs of Healing, But a Long Way to Go
Faculty Development Post COVID19: A Cross-Atlantic Conversation and Call to Action
Impact of COVID-19 on Faculty report by Northwestern University
On the Verge of Burnout
Students See COVID’s Impact on Professors
The Effect of COVID-19 on U-M Faculty Experiences: Results from a Limited Survey conducted by the Michigan ADVANCE Program

OTHER COVID RESEARCH

Recent findings on long COVID
RECOVER Research Review (R3) Seminar Video Series
Scientific American news story on neurological impacts of long COVID
Series of news stories on long COVID by Axios News health reporters
Time Magazine news story on long COVID patients getting back to work
Opinion piece published in Inside HigherEd on recommendations for colleges in dealing with long COVID on campus