Welcome back! The staff engaged in support
of CMU's Online Learning Environment hopes everyone enjoyed
a peaceful holiday break and returned rested and ready for
another exciting semester. Blackboard remains essentially
the same as it was during Fall semester 2008. However, a few
notable events occurred which may be of interest. For full
details, visit
http://news.cmich.edu/blackboard/2009/01/blackboard-cmu-overview.html.
Your Help Is Needed
As a faculty member of CMU Off-Campus Programs,
you are in a unique position to help attract new students
through your non-CMU connections. Dave Nicholson, Manager of
Alumni Relations is asking our alumni and faculty to promote CMU
programs to others within their sphere of influence. If you work
in or with an organization that is large enough to support an
in-house degree program, Dave is asking you to assist by
introducing him and/or members of our marketing staff to the
organization's key decision makers.
We invite you to review your network of
associates and to reach out to those who could arrange for a
meeting to discuss the possibility of conducting CMU
programs for employees of their organizations. Once they
agree, let us know and we'll take it from there. Dave may be
reached at 248-526-2630 or
dave.nicholson@cmich.edu.
CMU Library Offers New
Catalog
The CMU Libraries recently introduced its new
library catalog interface. While the majority of the old Centra
catalog interface remains in place, the keyword search function
is now administered through a product called AquaBrowser. This
interface has a more 'contemporary' feel versus the traditional
catalog, and offers functionality – such as a single searching
box (though the ability to search by author, title, and subject
has been retained to facilitate more specific searching) and the
ability to refine a results list – that library patrons are
familiar with from many other Web sites. Other enhancements such
as book jacket thumbnails and increased access to the tables of
contents and contents notes of individual books owned by CMU are
also offered. It is hoped that the new Centra catalog will be
more user-friendly and allow patrons to better discover relevant
materials when searching the catalog. Check out the new and
improved Central at
http://centra.cmich.edu.
Faculty Orientation Now
Online
The new Faculty Orientation is now available
online at
www.cel.cmich.edu/faculty. This orientation is for
current part-time temporary faculty as well as all new
faculty that are approved to teach for ProfEd.
This program welcomes new part-time faculty to
our team and also provides our experienced instructors with
helpful reminders of ProfEd/CMU policies, procedures, and
expectations. Participation for new faculty will be mandatory,
but we strongly encourage everyone to read carefully through
this detailed information.
We welcome your feedback. Please contact Carmen
Ceja-Blohm or Stephanie Bechtel if you have questions concerning
this new program.
IRBNet and CITI Training
Reminder
All Institutional
Review Board (IRB) applications must now be submitted
through IRBNet. If your students will be conducting research as
part of a course, you will need to register in IRBNet and
familiarize yourself with its functions. You will also need to
complete the CITI training and exams for "Social and Behavioral
Research" (Basic/Refresher). Any student who is using human
subjects will also need to complete this training and the
attached exams. The training and exams take approximately 4
hours and an 80% overall is considered satisfactory for meeting
the requirement.
Please visit
www.cel.cmich.edu/irb for more information and direct
connections to both IRBNet and CITI. Together with the MSA
Office, we are creating additional training materials that will
be available on this Web site in the near future.
University Annual
Campaign Update
Congratulations to our employees and faculty.
The 2008 University Annual Campaign where the University matched
your gifts on a 1 for 2 (50%) basis was a complete success for
Off-Campus Programs. This year a total of 74 individuals
participated, a 50% increase over 2007. The money generously
given by our faculty and staff will enable us to offer
scholarships to an ever increasing number of qualified
applicants. On their behalf, Dr. Hancock, Dr. Ross and Dave
Nicholson thank you for your kindness. All of us should be proud
to be a member of such a caring/giving organization.
2009 Mileage Rate Change
Effective as of January 1, 2009, the IRS
standard mileage rate is 55 cents per mile for all business
travel, up from 50.5 cents a mile in 2008. If you have any
questions regarding this new rate or anything pertaining to
travel reimbursement, please contact Kay Fox at 989-774-6944 or
fox1kl@cmich.edu.
