Donor gifts provide Recharge Rooms for Michigan Medicine
After an exceptionally stressful year for health care workers and learners, two couples donated a total of $100,000 to U-M Nursing to fund the installation of “Recharge Rooms” in the hospital. Ken and Kimberly Whipple and Ken and Jeanne Levy-Church gave the funds to U-M Nursing, which then partnered with Studio Elsewhere, to install three Recharge Rooms on the main medical campus. The rooms — which will serve as “a place of calm in the middle of it all” — can be found in the Frankel Cardiovascular Center, Med Inn and C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. They are intended to induce short-term decreases in blood pressure, stress hormones and heart rate. The rooms will be open to faculty, staff and learners 24/7. There will not be a scheduling system to reserve space in the room at this time. Read more about the Recharge Rooms.
University Record’s print edition shifting to summer schedule
This will be The University Record’s last weekly print edition as it shifts to a reduced schedule for the summer. The Record will publish print editions May 24, June 7 and 21, July 19 and Aug. 9. It will resume its regular weekly print schedule with the start of the 2021-22 academic year on Aug. 30. The May 21 email will be the last daily Record email until the fall semester. A weekly version will be emailed to subscribers each Wednesday throughout the remainder of the spring and summer beginning May 26. Daily delivery will resume Aug. 30. The Record website — record.umich.edu — will be updated throughout the week with news for faculty and staff, and the weekly email will include items added to the website during the previous week.
Board of Regents to meet virtually May 20
The University of Michigan Board of Regents will conduct its May meeting virtually May 20. The meeting’s start time has not yet been determined. Additional information will become available when the meeting agenda is posted to the board’s website at regents.umich.edu at noon May 17. People who wish to offer public comments during the meeting can sign up at regents.umich.edu/meetings/public-comments/form by 9 a.m. May 19. They will receive instructions from the university on how to call in at the appropriate time to share their comments as part of the meeting. The public will be able to listen to the meeting by going to umich.edu/watch at the meeting’s scheduled time.
Sarah DeFlon to fill union staff position on police oversight panel
Sarah DeFlon, registered nurse, was elected to represent bargained-for staff on the U-M Police Department Oversight Committee for a two-year term beginning this month. The oversight committee receives and makes recommendations regarding grievances against any police officer deputized by the university. The committee includes two students, two faculty members (one Senate and one non-Senate faculty), and two staff members (one union and one non-union) who are elected by their peers. Information on the committee is available at hr.umich.edu/pdoc.
U-M retires BlueJeans videoconferencing service
One of the university’s original videoconferencing services, BlueJeans, has been retired, effective May 1. Information and Technology Services will continue to offer Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams for all faculty, staff and students to use at no cost. The U-M community uses videoconferencing services to facilitate remote meetings to virtual classrooms, research collaborations to yoga classes and everything between. Over the years, multiple cloud-based videoconferencing solutions continued to be added to the list of services offered by ITS. For more on the retirement of BlueJeans.
— Compiled by James Iseler and Jeff Bleiler, The University Record
