In Brief: APIDA Heritage Month, Planning, Design & Construction video, Staff Council meeting, The Conversation

University Communications
April 5, 2022
In a video about the team that manages building construction on campus, University Architect Peter Dourlein profiles recent projects undertaken by Planning, Design and Construction.

In a video about the team that manages building construction on campus, University Architect Peter Dourlein profiles recent projects undertaken by Planning, Design and Construction.

The APIDA Heritage Month logo is featured on branded merchandise including shirts, hoodies and pins.

The APIDA Heritage Month logo is featured on branded merchandise including shirts, hoodies and pins.

Chris Impey, University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Astronomy, outlined astronomy's "10-year wish list" in his latest article on The Conversation.

Chris Impey, University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Astronomy, outlined astronomy's "10-year wish list" in his latest article on The Conversation.

University celebrates APIDA Heritage Month

Several campus events are planned for Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Heritage Month, a pan-ethnic celebration that includes South Asians and the people and cultures of the Indian subcontinent, which are represented by the word "desi." The University marks APIDA Heritage Month in April so the communities can be honored while more faculty, staff and students are on campus.

  • Arizona Athletics has created a dedicated webpage that will be updated throughout April and May with video interviews with APIDA student-athletes and coaches. Athletics will also share profiles and other content on its main Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts over the next two months.
  • The School of Art and the Center for Creative Photography have launched a virtual symposium series examining Asian photography. The next event in the series, "Photography and Taiwan: History and Practice," will be held virtually April 7-9. Hosted by a variety of artists, curators, scholars and directors, the symposium will cover topics including changing photographic practices, major photography movements and exhibitions, colonialism, postcolonialism, gender issues and national identity. The event is free and open to the public and will be presented in English and Chinese with interpreters. You can find more information and register online on the symposium's website.
  • Throughout April, the University will feature its APIDA Heritage Month cultural logo, which includes elements of nature, traditional foods and contributions to music and education. The logo is also featured on branded merchandise available at the BookStores and on the University's Amazon site. A portion of the sales from both sites will go to Asian Pacific American Student Affairs to benefit students.
  • On May 5, the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion office at the University of Arizona Health Sciences will hold a webinar focusing on gender equality in China. Jia Wang, professor of educational administration and human resource development at Texas A&M University, will present "Are Women Holding Up Half of the Sky? Reality Check of Gender Equality in China." The webinar will cover China's legislation for protecting women's equal rights and interests and unpack how the current legal and political structure have promoted or hindered women's advancement. Registration is available online.

The Asian American Faculty, Staff and Alumni Club hosted a spring 2022 scholarship fundraiser on March 27 in support of its student scholars. The annual event promotes community engagement among faculty, staff, alumni and students, and serves as an early celebration of APIDA Heritage Month.

Planning, Design and Construction tells its story in a new video

Planning, Design and Construction has released a video describing the work that goes into responsibly developing campus with the goals of preserving its beauty, connecting its spaces and serving current and future students.

"We take it very seriously, what we're working on and what we have in our hands, which is the development of the campus today and into the future," Peter Dourlein, associate vice president and University architect, says in the video.

While the video highlights high-profile projects the office has taken on, such as the Student Success District and Environment and Natural Resources 2, Lorna Gray, construction director, says the people are the office's most important resource.

"Sometimes we'll have over two or three hundred people on the job, and these are folks from all walks of life and they bring all kinds of perspectives and all kinds of stories with them," Gray said in the video. "And it's really important to us to recognize that we have these diverse teams and respect people and what they bring to the project."

Flexible work survey and elections discussed at Staff Council meeting

Here is a summary of topics discussed at the March 29 Staff Council meeting.

  • Danielle Barefoot, internal grants program administrator for Research, Innovation & Impact, presented an initial draft of a survey about flexible work arrangements, which the council hopes to distribute to all staff members by the end of April.
  • The council decided to continue holding its monthly meetings on Zoom.
  • Council members discussed holding a summer retreat to discuss goals and plans for the 2022-23 academic year.
  • Jennifer Lawrence, Staff Council chair and business and finance manager in the Department of Neuroscience, said elections for chair, vice chair, treasurer and secretary will likely take place in May. The nominees will be determined by Staff Council members who serve as representives, which means they represent the constituents in their college or division and serve three-year terms.

The next Staff Council meeting is set for Tuesday, April 26.

Check out the articles published on The Conversation

Each month, faculty members and researchers from across the University share their expertise on The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news source committed to communicating the work of scholars. The Conversation makes all of its articles available at no charge to any news organization that wants to republish them. In addition, The Associated Press distributes The Conversation articles to newsrooms across the United States.

To recognize University of Arizona scholars who are contributing to The Conversation's goal of informing public debate "with knowledge-based journalism that is responsible, ethical and supported by evidence," the Office of University Communications regularly posts links to the articles that have been published on The Conversation.

In March, one article was published.

March 28, 2022
Astronomy’s 10-year wish list: Big money, bigger telescopes and the biggest questions in science
The astronomy and astrophysics decadal survey for the 2020s lays out plans to search for life on distant planets, understand the formation of galaxies and solve deep mysteries of physics.

Chris Impey
University Distinguished Professor, Department of Astronomy

See articles published this year on The Conversation:

Interested in submitting an article? Go to the sign up link on The Conversation website to create a username and password. Do a keyword search to see what has been written on the topic you have in mind. Fill out the online pitch form. (If you or one of your faculty members would like to talk through an idea before submitting a pitch, send an email to conversation@arizona.edu.)

Resources for the Media