Timely information to help build community within SMPH:
In memory
- We share sad news of the passing of Dr. Mark Moffet, who completed his psychiatric residency and child psychiatry fellowship at the SMPH. He remained on our faculty in the Department of Psychiatry through 2004, when his family relocated to Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Resources
- Get your influenza immunization! Nine flu campus shot clinics are available on dates ranging from September 30 to October 16. (The In the Know newsletter production team can confirm that the on-site appointment experience is fast, easy, and virtually painless.) Check out available appointment times. All SMPH faculty, staff, and students, including temporary and part-time employees, are required to receive a flu vaccination annually. Provide proof of vaccination or have a completed waiver on file by Monday, December 7, 2020. See this link for more information.
- The 48th annual Partners in Giving campaign will begin October 12 and run through November 27. This effort is the annual workplace giving initiative for UW-Madison, UW Health and State of Wisconsin employees to benefit over 500 charities. Last year, 704 SMPH employees contributed more than $341,600. Stay tuned for more information.
- During the election season, instructors may be wondering whether they can share non-partisan information about voting. The answer is yes – please feel free to use this #BadgersVote slide for this purpose.
- University employees may not engage in political campaign activity during work time and may not use state resources for political campaign activity at any time.
- Employees also may not solicit political contributions or services from other employees while they are performing their official duties. For more information, please read this guidance.
- The UW–Madison Annual Benefits Enrollment runs from September 28 to October 23. This is the window of opportunity for eligible employees to make benefit plan changes, consider new enrollments and/or drop coverage.
- Update on payroll tax deferral program: UW–Madison, along with the other UW System institutions and the State of Wisconsin, will not be deferring tax withholding of FICA taxes from employee paychecks on compensation paid from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31, 2020. Although employers have the option to defer withholding under a presidential order, employees are still obligated to pay these taxes. Read more
Mark your calendar
- View the agenda for the Fall All-Faculty/Staff Meeting on October 12 at 4:30-6:00 p.m. All are welcome to the virtual meeting and encouraged to submit a question for the town hall Q&A.
- The Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute invites healthcare clinicians who diagnose, treat and manage Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders in diverse populations to the virtual Annual Update in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias on November 5-6, 2020.
Funding opportunities
- WARF Therapeutics, from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), invites researchers working on a novel biological target to submit project proposals by October 15. WARF Therapeutics works with researchers to advance work closer to clinical testing, with a “bench to bedside” approach. It invests in the development of drug-like molecules using industry-centric drug discovery resources, led by their team of preclinical drug discovery experts. Learn more
- Applications are now being accepted for the Fall 2020 Academic Staff Professional Development Grant program. The program is offered to academic staff members who meet the eligibility requirements and hold at least a 50 percent appointment. Grants are for activities beginning between January 1, 2021, and June 30, 2021. Deadline: October 23, 2020.
Upcoming Anti-Racism Events
- Advancing Health Equity in the Era of COVID-19, a virtual symposium offered by the UW–Madison School of Education, October 1 from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
- Wisconsin Leadership Summit, October 5-9. Moderators include Danielle Yancey, MS, director of the Native American Center for Health Professions and Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, UW Health Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
- The UW–Madison Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement is offering Diversity Book Club Discussions on October 6 and 8 and October 13 and 15 with discussions of “I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness” by Austin Channing Brown and “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism” by Robin DiAngelo. Brown and DiAngelo are the keynote speakers for this year’s Diversity Forum.
- WISELI virtual workshops on Breaking the Bias Habit in October and November are available for faculty and staff and a workshop for SMPH members serving on faculty search committees on October 21.
- The Building Community/Ebling Library Book and Film Club offers two discussion sessions on September 25 and October 15 for the documentary Human Zoos: America’s Forgotten History on Scientific Racism. Visit the Book & Film Club website to register.