In order to process the December 24th payroll before the holiday break, the Accounting & Audit/Payroll Department is requesting the following:

• All students and staff please submit timecards by Saturday, December 12th for the 12/6/20-12/19/20 pay period. Please note that this is a full week early so that your pay is not delayed.
• Supervisors are asked to approve timecards before noon on Monday, December 14th.
• Any supplemental pay request forms should be submitted to payroll before Friday, December 11th.

Thank you, and please contact Dawn Bury at EXT 2159 or db287@evansville.edu if you have questions.

The University is providing free voluntary COVID-19 testing for students and employees on December 4, and 7-9.

The Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) provided University of Evansville the Abbot BinaxNOW rapid-result COVID-19 testing kits. These tests, which are much less invasive than standard deep nasal swabs, only swab the inside tip of the nostril. The results of the test will be available approximately 15 – 30 minutes after testing through the NAVICA mobile app.

Testing information:

Who can get a rapid-result test:

• Students who are symptom free, have not tested positive in the last 90 days for COVID-19.

Who should not get a rapid-result test:

• Students experiencing symptoms should NOT participate in the rapid-result testing program. Symptomatic students should pursue a standard PCR COVID-19 test at a local medical facility.
• Students who have tested positive in the last 90 days will not be allowed to receive this antigen rapid-result test, as they are expected to have antibodies that will result in a positive test.

For more information and to Register online at https://www.evansville.edu/coronavirus/rapid-result-test.cfm

The holiday season is finally upon us! In previous years, UE has held a Christmas on Campus event that includes carriage rides, a tree-lighting ceremony, Vespers service, a visit from Purple Santa, and more. Health and safety guidelines prevented us from having our on-campus event, but we still wanted to find a way to celebrate with our students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Let’s welcome the spirit of the season with The Holiday Hub!

The Holiday Hub is an online page that incorporates many of the well-loved elements from our annual event, along with materials for the virtual environment we have come to know so well. We invite you to check out all of the fun and festive content, which includes video messages, coloring pages, a Vespers message, and more. There may even be a visit from Purple Santa!

We hope you have a wonderful holiday season while you are home for the holidays.
 

The University of Evansville will host a celebration for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on January 18, 2021. The annual event will be held in a virtual format this year to accommodate COVID-19 guidelines. Each activity will be available online, and the event is free and open to the public. Zoom links for each of the day's activities are on the CDEI webpage. The 2021 theme is “Our Time is Now” and highlights one of King’s famous quotes, “The time is always right to do what is right.”

The schedule of events is available below.

Symbolic March – January 1-18, 2021

To commemorate the 54-mile Civil Rights March of 1965, UE will hold a virtual symbolic march. Between the dates of January 1-18, participants can log miles online through walking, running, biking, or swimming. At 11:00 a.m. on the day of the celebration, UE encourages participants to complete the 54th mile together.

While there is no registration fee, individuals can make donations toward positive social change at uealumnionline.com/MLKDay2021. All proceeds will go directly towards UE’s Zerah Priestly Carter Scholarship and the Center for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Virtual Celebration – 11:45 a.m.

The celebration will culminate with the 54-mile march and kick-off the rest of the activities for the day. Speakers will include President Pietruszkiewicz; Rob Shelby, PhD, chief diversity officer; members of the Black Student Union; and lectureship keynote speaker Karith Foster.

Local Leaders Panel Discussion – 2:00 p.m.

The discussion will include leaders from the Evansville community. The panel will be led by Melissa Moore, a UE alumna and secretary for the Legal Aid Society Board of Vanderburgh County.

Lectureship – 7:00 p.m.

Made possible by the generous support of William G. and Rose M. Mays, the 2021 lectureship will feature keynote speaker Karith Foster. For nearly two decades, the speaker, humorist, and author has created a seismic shift in mindsets by addressing issues of free expression, diversity, and inclusion. A nationally renowned public speaker, Foster has presented at the United Nations and to executives of the Chamber of Commerce C100, as well as Harvard, Stanford and other organizations. 

Department of Music Features Small Ensembles

As part of our ongoing streaming concerts series for the fall, the Department of Music features various small student ensembles this Tuesday, December 8 at 7:30 p.m. The concert will open with the UE Purple Quintet and close with the UE Orange Quintet, (both brass groups.) Additional featured student performing groups include the Flute Ensemble, String Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, and the UE Horn Choir. Visit the following link on or after Tuesday evening to enjoy a variety of musical combinations: https://www.evansville.edu/majors/music/calendar.cfm

UE University Choir Featured on Campus Holiday Hub

One of the highlights each year for the University Choir is performing at UE's annual Candlelight Vespers. Although we are saddened to not be able to hold Candlelight Vespers this year, UE has created the online "Holiday Hub" for the entire campus community. In addition to a Vespers message, the Holiday Hub features recordings of the University Choir performing advent and Christmas anthems from previous Vespers services, as well as congregational favorites such as 'O Come, All Ye Faithful" and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!" Visit the Holiday Hub at: https://www.evansville.edu/theholidayhub/. You can also go directly to the choral highlights at: https://soundcloud.com/user-521414197/sets/choral-highlights-from-ue-candlelight-vespers

The UE Student Health Center will be closed for winter session starting Thursday, December 10 - January 18. Normal business hours will resume on Tuesday, January 19 at 8am. Please call security at 812-488-2051 for your emergent needs or email healthcenter@evansville.edu for non-urgent matters.

Employee Medical Clinic hours are unchanged during winter session. Please call 888-492-8722 for all employee clinic assistance.

There is still time to register for Winter Intersession courses. The online courses run December 10, 2020 to January 15, 2021, and students may take up to two courses. For registration and payment deadlines and information, visit the Registrar area.

Nick Harmon, assistant professor of physics, received a National Science Foundation (NSF) award for the proposal "Investigating Spin Currents from Nuclear Field Gradients". The $117,000 award over three years will be used to fund research in the field of 'spintronics' where the tiny magnetic nature of electrons (called spin) is used in addition to its charge for practical devices. Specifically, Dr. Harmon and UE physics students will investigate, using theoretical and computational methods, how nuclear spins can cause electron spins to flow which is a necessity for most spintronic applications. Students on this project will also have the opportunity to visit an experimental group (Prof. Paul Crowell) at the U. of Minnesota where experiments, similar to what are described in the proposal, are performed.

Aside from research, another aspect of the grant is to mainstream concepts from quantum mechanics using spin as an example. This will be done by bringing research examples into the classroom, creating curriculum where students outside the traditional physics program will confront these topics, and addressing issue regarding quantum science in world affairs to the UE/Evansville community.

Associate Professor and Chairperson Todd Matteson has three of his works chosen for FILLED UP: A Ceramic Cup Show.

The cup, one of ceramics more iconic images, has been used as a metaphor, a sculptural element, a sculptural foundation and a functional daily piece of dinnerware.

The exhibition is in historic New Harmony, IN, at the NHGCA, December 5, 2020-January 29, 2021. Whether you choose to fill your cups with beverages, food, pencils, or ideology, this exhibition will feature over 100 handmade creations from artists across the country. This exhibition is made possible in part by the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana, Lenny and Anne Dowhie Trusts, and the Indiana Arts Commission, which receives support from the State of Indiana and the National Endowment for the Arts. Paul Andrew Wandless, artist, author, educator and curator, was the juror.

Dr. Payal Patel-Dovlatabadi, associate professor of public health, has contributed to the Indiana Clinical and Translational Science Institute's COVID-19 Expert Review and Emerging Literature.  

In her review, Dr. Patel-Dovlatabadi discusses the impact that the pandemic has on mental health. Specifically, she focuses on the prevalence of mental health issues in healthcare workers and college students.

You can read the full article here. The review was published on Monday, December 7.