UTA'S E-NEWSLETTER FOR FACULTY AND STAFF

THURSDAY, OCT. 16, 2025

🦴 Did you know former UTA President Wendell Nedderman broke his ankle playing Oozeball? A reminder that doing something new is often courageous.

Today's MavWire is 652 words, a two-minute read.

Employee Engagement

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Why it matters: This twice-weekly newsletter from UTA Media Relations highlights faculty, staff, and research featured in local, state, national, and worldwide media.

Going deeper: Delivered straight to your inbox every Tuesday and Friday, it’s the easiest way to stay updated on how UTA research and expertise are informing the public and benefiting society.

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Staff Spotlight

An advocate for employee engagement, wellness, and workplace experiences

Imelda Wicks, assistant vice president of Talent, Culture, and Engagement, received recognition as one of the top 100 human resources influencers in the country.

Why it matters: This award, presented by Engagedly, lists Imelda as a leader in the HR field in employee experience and wellbeing. Chosen from 500 top professionals, Imelda is enhancing holistic workplace experiences on campus and raising the visibility of what makes UTA great.

Going deeper: Individuals were selected for this list through a data-driven process that analyzed and scored success in five categories: recency, frequency, and social media relevance, speaking and writing engagements, and innovative contributions to the profession.

Talent, Culture, and Engagement

Keep Falling Into Fitness, you're halfway there

Promotional image for the Fall Into Fitness challenge

UT System’s Fall Into Fitness Challenge is halfway finished. Teams of three to five are competing against other groups and other campuses on the leaderboards for bragging rights.

Why walking matters: Daily walks provide many health benefits, from improving joint and cardiovascular health to boosting cognition. They improve physical wellness, which enables you to engage in work with motivation and purpose.

You should know: You can conveniently track your steps on the Limeade ONE mobile app; be sure to link your device. You can backtrack activity up to three weeks after the challenge's start date. Simply choose the appropriate day when entering your activity.

For more information, visit the UTA Wellness page.

Health and Wellness

Stay healthy this flu season, Mavericks

Promotional image for the vaccination clinic

Maverick Wellness is offering three convenient clinic dates this fall where UTA employees, dependents, and retirees can receive their annual vaccinations.

Why it matters: Vaccination lowers the risk of severe illness, hospitalization, and death from flu and COVID—and reduces symptoms if you do become sick. Annual vaccines are the best prevention against flu and COVID and their associated complications.

Important information: There will be just two more sessions held at the Maverick Activities Center Thursday, Oct. 23, and Friday, Oct. 24, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Register online today! There are less than 400 appointment slots available—first come, first served. Questions or accommodations? Email Human Resources.

Vaccinations offered include High-Dose Flu (65+), Flu, COVID, RSV (ages 50–64), and additional optional vaccines available during registration.

Mav Bites

👩‍⚖️ In the Bartz v. Anthropic class action case, the judge ruled that Anthropic’s use of millions of copyrighted books to train its Claude AI model was a violation of the authors’ copyrights. This resulted in a historic $1.5 billion settlement of copyright infringement claims for pirated works. As a result, some UTA faculty may be entitled to funds under the class action settlement. Click here for more information.

Faculty members: If you have questions about how this may apply to you, please reach out to Office of Legal Affairs.

🌐 You may receive emails from nintex@workflowcloud.com. These emails are legitimate. UTA utilizes Nintex as a workflow and process automation software, replacing Infopath workflows over the coming months. More information will be shared soon. Questions? Contact Web Services.

⌛UTA annual employee compliance training began Oct. 6. You have until Thursday, Nov. 6, to complete this training. You can access these modules through Canvas. It is essential to complete this training; there are specific rules, policies, and regulations that you must be aware of.