Voices of the Staff accepting applications through March 31
Staff members across the University of Michigan are encouraged to help shape the future of their workplace by applying to join Voices of the Staff. Applications are being accepted through March 31 for U-M’s long-standing employee-engagement program for staff from Michigan Medicine and the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint academic campuses. Voices of the Staff brings together 130 staff members to help drive workplace improvement for all. Applicants are selected to create a microcosm of the staff community. It is a two-year commitment of about four hours a month, including a kickoff meeting in June and regular monthly virtual or hybrid meetings. To participate, staff members must have at least one year of service, be in good standing and have supervisor support. Topic-specific Voices teams are: Advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Enhance the Employee Experience; Embrace Change; Promote Career Growth; Facilitate Flexible Work; Strive for Well-being. Learn more about Voices, and apply here.
WISE accepting nominations for Willie Hobbs Moore Awards
Women in Science and Engineering is seeking nominations for its annual Willie Hobbs Moore Awards to honor faculty, staff or students who promote equity in science, technology, engineering and math. Nominees are accepted from any U-M campus for any of the four awards: the Willie Hobbs Moore Achievement Award, the Sister Mary Ambrosia Fitzgerald Mentoring Award, the Claudia Joan Alexander Trailblazer Award and the Cinda Sue Davis STEM Equity Leadership Award. The nomination deadline is March 8. The winners will be announced at the 2024 Willie Hobbs Moore Awards Ceremony on April 11. The ceremony honors Moore, the first African American woman at U-M to earn Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in electrical engineering, and the first African American woman in the country to earn a Ph.D. in physics. Learn more or submit a nomination at wise.umich.edu/?page_id=63.
U-M Enriching Scholarship 2024 Conference seeks proposals
The U-M Enriching Scholarship 2024 Conference, set for May 6-9 with a theme of “Surveying the Now,” is seeking proposals for 45-minute sessions that highlight artificial intelligence, data privacy, future-thinking and technology tools, among other topics. The deadline to submit proposals is March 7. The sessions should highlight topics like artificial intelligence, including ChatGPT in higher education; building resilience through good pedagogy; future-thinking; data privacy; technology tools; and leveraging technology to meet the needs of a diverse student community. Enriching Scholarship encourages submissions from presenters who represent diversity in gender, race, institutional affiliation, theoretical perspectives, methodologies, etc. Past presenters and new voices are encouraged to participate, including undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, faculty and staff from all U-M campuses. For more information about Enriching Scholarship go to teachtech.umich.edu. To submit a proposal.
Biological Station planning process includes survey, town halls
The U-M Biological Station Strategic Planning Committee is gathering input from students, faculty, staff, researchers, alumni and community members to chart a course for the institution’s next several years. Stakeholders are encouraged to take an anonymous survey to help identify and prioritize goals, focus areas and opportunities for growth. A link to the survey and more information about the planning process is available online at myumi.ch/3Q38E. In addition to the survey, the Strategic Planning Committee will engage members of the UMBS community through a series of town halls scheduled in the coming months in Ann Arbor and Pellston and virtually. Separate one-hour sessions have been set up for different stakeholder groups to focus on their areas of interest, including undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, staff, alumni, community partners and neighbors, and the general public. Details about the sessions are the Biological Station’s website. The strategic planning process launched in this year with the goal to have a new, five-year strategic plan in place by Jan. 1, 2025.
$3.7M NIH grant will boost study of new cancer therapy
In a major advancement for cancer research at U-M, Mats Ljungman, professor of radiation oncology in the Medical School and professor of environmental health sciences in the School of Public Health, has been awarded a $3.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The funding is directed toward the study of KLIPP therapy, a pioneering treatment method conceptualized by Ljungman, who is also co-director of U-M’s Center for RNA Biomedicine. The term “KLIPP” derives from the Swedish language, symbolizing both cutting and opportunity — a fitting name for a method that targets cancer at its most vulnerable points. This therapy is predicated on striking the structural variant junctions that are present in all cancer forms. These junctions serve as critical points that KLIPP leverages to selectively attack cancer cells, a method that has shown potential in preclinical trials. Ljungman’s previous work has demonstrated the technique’s ability to destroy cancer cells in culture. The grant will enable further research, particularly in testing how KLIPP can be most effectively delivered to combat bladder cancer in mouse models. Read more about this research.
— Compiled by James Iseler, The University Record
