Abriendo Brecha is an annual conference at the University of Texas at Austin sponsored by DDCE and dedicated to activist scholarship; i.e. research and creative intellectual work in alignment with communities, organizations, movements and networks working for social justice.

 Abriendo Brecha VII, to be held in February 2010, calls for a renewed discussion on the meanings and practices of activist scholarship, particularly as it relates to the challenges of the present moment. Some themes for this year’s conference include: Race and Inequality throughout the Americas, Environmental Justice Movements, and The Global Economic Crisis.

Submit proposals for panel, workshop, or poster presentations by November 30. Visit the Abriendo Brecha site for more information or to complete the proposal submission form.

 

Oscar Ayala, a UT Biomedical Engineering undergraduate student, put together an informal video documenting his experiences as an IE Pre Grad Intern.  A key part of the internship was his attendance (along with his IE grad student mentor in BME) to a national conference. Ayala is among a growing number of first generation, underrepresented students who, as a result of their experience with the IE Internship, are now likely to enter graduate school in Engineering. View Ayala’s video.

 

Juliet Garcia, president of The University of Texas at Brownsville, was ranked as the ninth-best university president in the U.S. by Time magazine. Read the full article in the Daily Texan.

The board of regents at University of California increased tuition on Thursday, Nov. 19 by 32%. Read story in the New York Times

A new report by the Pell Institute looked at six Texas community colleges with higher-than-expected transfer rates among students. The report provides insight on how best establish pathways to four-year colleges. Read the Chronicle of Higher Education article or download the Pell report.

The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for mental health research grants. Tenure-track assistant professors conducting mental health research at institutions of higher education in Texas are eligible to apply. Examples of eligible academic disciplines include psychology, educational psychology, counseling psychology, clinical psychology, human development, behavioral health, social work, sociology, nursing, public health, law and public policy. Proposals are due Thursday, January 14, 2010.

http://www.hogg.utexas.edu/funding_rfp_faculty.html

As a student, UT alum Lee Bagan established an endowment to fund the comprehensive assessment of students suspected of having learning disabilities, but who cannot afford to undergo the testing they need to identify the disabilities. Now Bagan is serving as a Department of Defense Civil Service specialist in Iraq. Bagan was recently featured in the online magazine, Paraglide.

Bagan got the idea to raise money for assessments in the fall of 2005, while director of the Student Government’s Services for Students with Disabilities agency.

Desiree Rollins (Law), Jimmy Hammond (Liberal Arts) and Savanna Trevino (Public Affairs), three 2009 Intellectual Entrepreneurship (IE) Pre-Graduate School Interns, have been accepted into Teach For America, a national initiative whose mission is to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting the nation’s most promising future leaders in the effort. Read more on the Intellectual Entrepreneurship Web site.

This Friday, November 20th, David Conley from The University of Oregon will give a lecture on current national and state policy discussions about college readiness. As a leading national expert on college readiness, Dr. Conley has been working closely with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board on the Texas college readiness standards and is also co-chairing the validation team for the national common core standards project. This lecture will be held on from 10:30-11:30 am in Salon B of the AT&T Conference Center, on Meeting Level 3. This is a public lecture; any interested faculty or graduate students are invited to attend.

This lecture is sponsored by the Office of the President, the Texas Center for Education Policy, the University Council for Educational Administration, and the Population Research Center.

Voice Your Concerns at the Americans with Disabilities Accessibility Forums to be held Nov. 12 from 12:00pm-1:00pm in NOA 4.106A and Nov. 19 from 4:00pm-5:00pm in NOA 4.106A

A message from the University ADA Coordinator

The University has created a standing committee, the ADA Accessibility Committee, to address institution-wide, systemic issues that fall under the scope of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Each of the last three years we have held forums to solicit campus input. This year’s committee is seeking your comments on ADA issues which you feel need to be addressed this year. While I am interested in your individual situations and experiences, the ADA Accessibility Committee is charged with developing solutions for the broad-based concerns affecting many in our community. As the University’s ADA Coordinator, I will be facilitating the forums. We hope you will attend one or both of the forums and bring your thoughts and suggestions.

Should you have need for reasonable accommodation in the provision of the training, please contact our office at 471-1849 prior to the scheduled training and we will make every effort to assist you with the accommodation.

Linda Millstone, SPHR, Associate Vice President for Institutional Equity and Workforce Diversity