Week of February 12-16

2024

CPD: Create student internship, experiential learning opportunities with Campus internEXP

Career and Professional Development (CPD) is committed to providing quality experiential learning opportunities to Virginia Tech students through its internship and cooperative education programs.

If you’re a department or faculty member who currently hires interns, would like to turn a student wage position into an internship, or would like to hire an intern but don’t know how to get started, CPD invites you to register for an information session to learn more about Campus internEXP (Campus Intern Experience).

Through Campus internEXP, CPD hopes to connect students with the variety of job functions and amazing professionals that work here on campus to provide quality internship and active learning experiences.

The supervisor application deadline to host an intern for summer 2024 is March 1.

For more information, read this campus notice. If you have questions, cannot attend an information session, or would prefer to meet one-on-one, email Julia Ward, assistant director for Professional Development and Experiential Programs.

Research and Innovation: Seminar on strategies for moving forward when a proposal is declined

Having a proposal declined by the sponsor is a fixture of the academic experience. It’s rarely the end of the story; in fact, it’s often a necessary step to winning a future proposal. Learning how to mine reviews for useful guidance and evaluate what to do next – whether it’s resubmitting that application or shifting focus to another project – is an essential skill for successful researchers.

As part of its Research Development Seminar Series, the Office of Research and Innovation invites faculty to an online presentation titled, “Strategies for Moving Forward When a Proposal is Declined,” February 15 from 1:00-2:30 p.m. via Zoom.

Faculty will hear from experienced researchers who will share their insights on common reasons funding applications fail, how to determine the best strategy when a proposal is declined, and how to interpret and respond effectively to reviewer’s comments to craft a revised version that’s more competitive.

The panel will also discuss differences in review and resubmission protocols across some of the major federal funding agencies, and specific considerations for center-scale proposals that are declined on first submission.

For more information and to register for the virtual seminar, visit Research and Innovation’s Events webpage.

Faculty Affairs: Register for Promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure Workshop

The Office of Faculty Affairs is hosting a Promotion to Associate Professor Workshopon February 20 from 2:00-4:00 p.m. in Assembly Hall at the Holtzman Alumni Center. The workshop is designed for faculty who are seeking promotion to associate professor with tenure but may also be valuable to faculty appointed at the associate professor rank, but who currently do not have tenure.

Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Ron Fricker will provide an overview of the promotion and tenure process which begins at the department level and continues through the college to the university level. Other speakers will include a college dean, academic department head, member of the university promotion and tenure committee, and three recently promoted faculty members.

Promotion and tenure policies for tenured and tenure-track faculty, faculty on the continued appointment track, non-tenure-track instructional faculty and research faculty are outlined in chapters three, four, five, and six of the Faculty Handbook.

For more information and to register for the workshop, visit the Promotion and Tenure website or email Faculty Affairs.

University Libraries: Resource trials available to faculty, staff throughout February

Through its Department of Collections and Technical Services, University Libraries offers trials each semester for databases that currently are not part of our resource collections. With trials, the university can gather feedback from the community about potential new resources before we fully invest in a subscription or a purchase.

University Libraries has arranged trials for several new resources through the end of February that include the following:

Additionally, multiple collections from Bloomsbury are available for use during this period, including the Food Library, Fashion Video and Photography Archives, and the Cultural History collection. Faculty and staff are asked to provide feedback on these resources via the surveys in the description boxes for each of the trials listed.

For more information, read this campus notice or visit the Collections and Technical Services resource trials website.

ICYMI: Key dates related to Google Workspace changes; email and calendar migration

With the first round of Google service changes in the rear-view, Virginia Tech faculty and staff should now look ahead to what’s coming next. The following is a timeline for upcoming changes for Virginia Tech employees:

January 15 - March 1: Gmail and Google calendars are migrated to Exchange Online, including existing GAE accounts.
February 15: Google Shared Drives not claimed by a department go read-only.
March 1: Deletion of data from unclaimed Virginia Tech alumni-managed Shared Drives begins.
March 15: Organizational units/departments implement storage allocation plans for individual employee Google storage and Shared Drives. Drives that are over their storage allocation go read-only.
April 3: Deletion of data from unclaimed Virginia Tech student- or retiree-managed Shared Drives begins.
April - June: Final actions to reach storage allocations are completed.
May 1: Organizational units/departments confirm FY 2025 storage purchases.

The Division of IT reminds employees that storage caps go into effect March 15. Your default storage limit in Google Workspace will be 5GB, but your college or department may assign you additional storage to meet your needs.

For more information and guidance on email and calendar migrations, shared drives, and Google Auxiliary Email accounts, read this campus notice or visit the Google and Microsoft Service Changes website. For individual assistance, go to 4help.vt.edu or call 540-231-4357.

Additional Resources and Updates

Please submit a Google form or email Provost Communications for comments or recommendations to improve the Weekly Communications Update or to share faculty, staff, and academic program personnel information.

Visit the provost’s website frequently for new and updated university information. All members of the campus community should also read their VT News daily email for further important updates, notices, and resources.