Wednesday 22 November 2017

Staff Newsletter Issue 57

Contents

• Announcements
• CTIL news
• University news
• What's on
• Opportunities
• Blogs
• From the editors

Student Services closure (Mon 27 Nov)

Student Services are hosting an event for its staff on Monday 27 November 2017.  This means that we will be offering a reduced Service between 9am and 2pm on Monday 27 November. 

Staff across the University have been advised and there have been notifications issued in each area of Student Services to both students and staff.  If there is anything you need on Monday 27 November please can you contact a member of the Student Services team to arrange this in advance. 

If you have an urgent enquiry on the day, please go to the Hive Reception, 4th Floor, DUSA or contact the Security Centre.  Emergency cover will be available and can be accessed by visiting or contacting the Hive Reception on ext. 86086 (01382 386086) or the Security Team on ext. 85850 (01382 385850).

Student Services includes:

Academic Skills Centre, Careers Service, Centre of Entrepreneurship, Counselling Service, Disability Services, English for International Students, Enquiry Centre, Health Service, International Advice Service, Peer Connections, Registry, Residences and Student Funding.

Risk management

The University has recently implemented a new risk management framework to ensure good practice in this area and to enhance decision making at the institution. This includes the development of a new risk management policy, approved by Court on 5 June 2017, which can be viewed online.

The University website has been updated to provide further guidance on risk management and risk registers. Further work in this area is ongoing, including the revision of the institutional risk register to align with the University Strategy to 2022 and the development of a statement on risk appetite.

Visit the University risk management webpages.

OPD's note of thanks and request for feedback

The uptake on the Organisational and Professional Development programme has been outstanding, so the team would like to say a great big 'thank you' for your engagement with these development and performance enhancing opportunities.

OPD greatly value your feedback so please take this chance to communicate any additional workshops you would like to see offered on the programme by emailing OPD@dundee.ac.uk. Your feedback will be taken into consideration for the mid-year review.

Client Device Policy now available

Want to know how the life of your desktop computer or laptop is managed? The approved Client Device Policy is now publicly available on the IT website.

December Payroll cut-off date (Mon 11 Dec)

The payroll cut-off date for next month is Monday 11 December.

If you are completing a Claim Form/Casual Claim Form/Timesheet/Overtime Claim or are responsible for authorising such claims please ensure you have submitted them to Payroll no later than 12pm on Monday 11 December. Any claims received after this will be processed and paid in January 2018.

Pay day in December will be Friday 29 December.

November web update

As you know, we are replacing the University website. Please help us make the website better by sorting tasks into categories - it takes just 10 minutes. 

Careers Service opening hours (Mon 11 Dec)

Careers Service will be closed for staff training on Monday 11 December.  Quick Queries will not be running on that day.  Quick Queries will run as normal for the rest of the week, Tues-Fri 11am -3pm.  

My Dundee January maintenance (4-12 Jan 2018)

As mentioned in the previous edition of this newsletter, My Dundee will be taken offline for maintenance at some point between 4 and 12 January.

The reason the team is unable to specify an exact date is that IT need to run a test before giving an exact timeline. They will make every effort to minimise disruption by limiting the downtime to the 4/5 January, but this cannot yet be confirmed.

As a result, they are asking for anyone who has not yet done so, to notify them of any activities that will be running on My Dundee between 4 and 12 January by emailing elearning@dundee.ac.uk before the end of Friday 24 November so that a contingency plan can be put in place.

Learning X Live: Rubrics and Grading Forms (Tues 28 Nov)

This workshop will explore the use of rubrics and grading forms in the marking process.

The session will be jointly delivered by CTIL, Jenny Woof (Life Sciences) and Susie Schofield (Medicine) who will take you through the benefits, discuss case studies, and lead group activity. They will also discuss how to implement these techniques with Turnitin. 

This is an open workshop but please register on Eventbrite.

Tuesday 28 November, 2pm, Strawberry Bank Ideas Lab, Main Library.

Read more on the CTIL Blog.

Mum and daughter graduated together

Kerry Perrie (46) and Robyn Watson (27) crossed the Caird Hall stage on Friday after studying at the School of Nursing and Health Sciences together for three years at the Kirkcaldy campus.

Robyn first decided to venture into the world of nursing after the birth of her son Arthur, who is now five. “I didn’t want to go back to my old job,” she said. “So I applied to college to do an NC Access to Nursing and then my mum said it was something she wanted to do as well.”

Mum and daughter are also celebrating their new jobs at Victoria Hospital. Kerry has taken up a position within Acute Admissions and Robyn is now working in the Infectious Diseases Unit. “I absolutely love my ward,” said Robyn. “The funny thing is that sometimes I get my mum’s patients. They move from her ward to mine, so it’s nice to see her name on their file.”

Kerry has not left education just yet - she's juggling her new career with a Masters degree in Nursing and Health at Dundee.

Read the full story.

Events submission form unavailable

The events submission web form will be unavailable from 6pm on Monday 27 November until Thursday 30 November, because the system will be down for maintenance.

Sharing Good Practice events for staff

The Academic Skills Centre is holding several seminars and workshops over the next few months, on a broad range of topics from Fellowship of the HEA to Writing for Publication. Have a look at their events page to see what's on offer and to sign up.

UKTC Taekwondo Club (weekly)

The student UKTC Taekwondo Club meets every week to offer a range of physical activites and self-defence techniques. Improve your fitness, flexibility and self-defence skills at Dundee's West Church, Perth Road. 

First class free, pay on the day thereafter, no experience necessary.

Find out more on the Facebook page.

Can you help mentor our students in the world of media?

Dundee University Students' Association is seeking mentors for their Student Media - JAM (radio), Tay Productions (TV), Magdalen (magazine) and Fibre (online). The aim is to enhance aspirations and increase confidence through greater understanding of how the media world operates.

This voluntary role involves attending a Media Guidance Panel meeting every six weeks to support and encourage students to develop their professional skills, along with providing advice on different media matters. It will be hosted in the afternoon on city campus (either DUSA or a University facility). 

If interested, please email DUSA's Vice President of Campaigns and Communications at vpcc@dusa.co.uk.

A chance for Art & Design students to impact student learning

PAMIS, University of Dundee, and Napier University are working in partnership to make an impact on the learning of nursing students across Scotland. 

They are looking for an Art & Design student with experience in graphic illustration to develop resources that are unique and visually engaging.

This will also form part of a research evaluation project - ideal for a final year student.  If you are interested in working with us, please contact Dr Hannah Young.

Attitudes towards alcohol between generations

Verity McSheaffrey is a fourth year Geography and Economics student undertaking her Geography dissertation, which looks at the differing attitudes towards alcohol between generations.

Verity would like the support of University of Dundee students and staff - please complete her online questionnaire if you would like to help.

Volunteers needed for diabetic foot study

Rania Edris is a PhD student at the Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery department within the School of Medicine.

Rania would like to recruit volunteers for her PhD study, 'Assessment of the Impact of Loading Pressure on Endothelial Function in Diabetic Foot'.

If you:

•     are aged between 55 and 75
•     have no known lower limb vascular or neurological conditions
•     have no foot deformity or previous foot surgery
•     have no pathology of the spine/lower limbs which results in an inability to walk unaided
•     have no previous cardiovascular intervention, Angina or heart attack

then you might be able to help. 

The project will look at subtle changes in the skin blood flow when different in-shoe pressures are applied to the foot. This is a non-invasive study which will involve two visits to Ninewells Hospital.

Email Rania to volunteer.

Why Philosophy deserves its Day

Dominic Smith, Lecturer in Philosophy at the University, explains why UNESCO World Philosophy Day deserves its day in the world calendar. Read the blog.

What staff really want from our website

The web team has been researching what you really want from our website. Find out more on the blog.

Why student societies matter

Student blogger Kiah Edwards tells us how the History Society has made such an impact. Read the blog.

If you wish to communicate around the University, this fortnightly newsletter is just one way to do that. Please check our Methods of Internal Communication webpage, and feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.

The next newsletter will be distributed on Wednesday 6 November - the deadline is 4pm on Friday 1 December.

We're also gathering Christmas content for the festive newsletter on Wednesday 29 November - please email us your news and events by Monday 27 November.