The Center for Democracy and Civic Life’s work builds from the idea that all of us, and the ways we pull together to address challenges and create our shared future, truly matter. Today we are releasing the August 2021 edition of Community Matters, a monthly newsletter that offers a window into this work. Read on to discover ways you can get involved and connect with each other.

 

For an alt text version of the August 2021 edition, click here.

I graduated with my Master of Fine Arts in Integrated Design in Spring of 2021. My thesis project, Pandemic Punk, was completed as an MFA thesis for University of Baltimore's MFA in Integrated Design. 

Pandemic Punk explores the intersection of punk design and DIY (Do It Yourself) culture analogue and digital design methods, through the lens of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Pandemic Punk is a zine series that exists both physically and digitally. Both as a physical zine and as a website, pandemicpunk.com. This is the first iteration of the zine series, a personal reflection of the COVID-19 pandemic from March 13, 2020 to March 20,2021; the zine begins from the first day the author began working remotely to their second Pfizer vaccination shot. Pandemic Punk was proposed as a three-part series. 

The UMBC Professional Staff Senate designated a Caregiving Committee, who in turn developed a survey and collected responses from a broad cross-section of UMBC staff. The survey gathered quantitative and qualitative data regarding productivity, mental and physical health during the pandemic, work-life balance, and staff attitudes regarding an array of potential benefits that would support caregivers returning to campus. 

This is an opportunity to leverage what our community has learned during the pandemic to address challenges around accessibility, child care/elder care responsibilities, mental health, and chronic illness/disability, with the goal of creating a workplace that is more accessible, flexible and responsive to the needs of staff, and consistent with UMBC values. You can read their full report and recommendations here. 

In March 2021 UMBC’s Faculty Caregiving Advisory Committee which was appointed by the Provost reached out to faculty members to ask them about their experiences and to suggest possible solutions in order to better understand and address the needs of faculty caregivers as our community transitions out of the conditions of the pandemic into the uncertainties of university life after Covid-19. After reviewing the caregiving crisis during Covid-19 and its implications specifically for women faculty, this report shares findings drawn from listening sessions and anonymous surveys conducted in Spring 2021 with 80 faculty caregivers (8.6% of the faculty) across the colleges at UMBC. It offers recommendations based on these findings—for the university, divisions, departments and programs—to ensure that faculty caregivers are provided with the support they need now and in the future. 

The report was released along with the commitment that the Provost and Council of Deans will draw upon the recommendations of the Committee in their efforts to provide post-COVID-19 support for faculty caregivers whose research, teaching, and service has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. You can read the full report and recommendations here. 

The Center for Democracy and Civic Life’s work builds from the idea that all of us, and the ways we pull together to address challenges and create our shared future, truly matter. Today we are releasing the July 2021 edition of Community Matters, a monthly newsletter that offers a window into this work. Read on to discover ways you can get involved and connect with each other, including by listening to the latest episodes of our podcast, Retriever Tales. Featured: Jodi Kelber-Kaye, Tess McRae, and Tirzah Khan.

 

For an alt text version of the July 2021 edition, click here.

The materials can be accessed from NSF's Policy Office outreach website: https://nsfpolicyoutreach.com/

They are also available on NSF's youtube page:  YouTube

NSF is available for any conference related questions at grants_conference@nsf.gov

If you have any other questions or run into any issues you may also contact your OSP manager or specialist who will be happy to help.

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Effective July 1, 2021, Principal Investigators and co-Investigators are required to designate Credit Allocation (also called Credit Split) information in Kuali at the proposal stage. This information will be entered by the proposal aggregator. Proposals cannot be routed without the completion of credit allocation.

With Credit Split you will be able to allocate credit for Business Support, Designated Research Initiative Funds (DRIF), and Academic contributions. PIs, co-PIs and Chair(s) should work with the Kuali proposal aggregator and each other to determine the split they feel is appropriate and reasonable for everyone in every category.

Below are links to documentation and a short video designed to assist you in understanding and completing Credit Split.