Inside Iowa State for faculty and staff
Oct. 27, 2022
Inside news
As employees review, adjust and select benefits during this year's open enrollment, they'll also have an opportunity to share their opinion about those benefits in a campuswide survey.

Two key messages are: Maintain staffing levels that can support a successful winter session, and it's permissible to reduce services and allow employees to use accrued vacation time.

The homecoming parade has been replaced with a student showcase this Sunday near the Alumni Center. A reimagined ExCYtement in the Streets is larger and a day earlier. And the centennial commemoration of animal husbandry student and athlete Jack Trice kicks off a few hours before Friday's homecoming pep rally.

MobileConnect is assistive listening technology that streams live audio through a Wi-Fi connection to any smartphone in the room. All students are able to use it in three easy steps and without seeking an accommodation. IT Services is testing it in three locations this academic year.
Announcements
The following announcements were added this week:
  • Sigma Xi chapter celebrates its centennial
  • Register for online panel: Supporting our students' health and wellbeing
  • Cyclone homecoming football kicks off at 2:30 p.m.
  • Confirm teaching assignments for winter and spring, then submit course material requests
  • You're invited: Lunch and learn on ISU's startup programs, resources
Around campus
In an essay for The Conversation, human development and family studies chair Carl Weems discusses how helping children reduce anxiety after trauma -- such as living through a hurricane -- can help them perform better in school. Issues can manifest over several years, necessitating intervention to help regulate their emotions.

The Grants Hub can provide an important second set of eyes on a principal investigator's research proposal to ensure their message comes across clearly and concisely. It can be the difference in a very competitive research funding environment.

An interdisciplinary team led by Alice Alipour, civil, construction and electrical engineering, is developing a digital tool that will help rural utilities assess the risk for a power grid failure in the face of region-specific climate hazards.
Receptions and retirements
This week

Next week
  • Retirement, Pat Hahn, office of admissions, Nov. 1 (no public event), post well wishes to her Kudoboard

Upcoming
  • Open house, printing services, Nov. 15 (noon-3 p.m., Printing & Publications Building), RSVP requested

Employees, their colleagues or supervisors are invited to submit retirements and departures to inside@iastate.edu. University human resources doesn't provide them for publication.
Open forums
All forums are in 202 Carver and livestreamed. Candidates will be named one business day before their forum. A feedback form is on the search website.
  • Oct. 27, 2 p.m., Lindsey Shirley, Colorado State University, Fort Collins
  • Oct. 31, 2 p.m.
  • Nov. 3, 3 p.m.
  • Nov. 14, 2 p.m.
  • Nov. 17, 3 p.m.
Arts and events
Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and Iowa native Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of "The 1619 Project," will present the 2022 Manatt-Phelps Lecture in Political Science Wednesday, Nov. 2 (6 p.m., Stephens Auditorium, doors open at 5 p.m.). The lecture is free and open to the public. To be considered for a Q&A session, questions must be submitted to ISU's lectures program by noon Nov. 2.

University library's Oct. 31 Monday Monologues will feature selections from "Night of the Living Dead: The Musical," currently in rehearsal by ISU Theatre. Enjoy the 30-minute preview starting at 12:15 p.m. in the library's Grant Wood Mural Lobby (north of Bookends Cafe).
 
Junior Nathan Petrik's film, a reflection on America's wealth gap, will be shown Friday, Oct. 28 (7 p.m., 3560 Memorial Union). Afterward, Petrik and the film's four actors, also Iowa State students, will lead an informal discussion with the audience. Admission is free.

The Cyclone volleyball squad competes at Hilton Coliseum twice in the next week: Friday, Oct. 28, vs. TCU, and Tuesday, Nov. 1, vs. Chicago State. Both contests begin at 6:30 p.m.; admission is $5.
Learning opportunities
Provost office programming 
  • Workshop, ISU ADVANCE: Term Faculty Advancement and Community, with Cynthia Haynes, horticulture and CELT faculty fellow, Nov. 3 (11 a.m.-1 p.m., MU South Ballroom, lunch provided), registration encouraged

Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) programming

WorkCyte Phase II programming

ISU WorkLife programming
  • Community conversation, Mental Health: Education and Resources in the Ames Community, Nov. 7 (6:30-8:30 p.m., Ames Water Plant, 1800 E. 13th St.)
Previous Inside coverage
About us
Inside Update is published Thursday mornings by Strategic Relations and Communications. Questions may be directed to 515-294-7065.