May 8 

Recognizing outstanding employees and teams, as well as faculty and staff’s years of service, the Employee Recognition Ceremony will be held at 1:30 p.m. May 8 in the Kansas Union Ballroom on the fifth floor.    

The event will announce the Employee of the Year and honor the past year’s Employees of the Month and nominees for Team of the Year. Additionally, faculty and staff will be recognized for every five years of service. A full list of honorees and details about the event can be found on the Employee Recognition Ceremony website. 

May 19-23

The Office of Faculty Affairs invites faculty to join Faculty Development Academies Week for one day, or several, to reflect on their strengths, anticipate challenges, grow in their skills and learn something new before summer takes off. 

Faculty Development Academies are day-long intensives, focused on a particular topic, giving faculty time to delve deep and develop a core capacity in a chosen area. 

This year, the Office of Faculty Affairs is excited to offer the following Academies Days: 

KU Faculty Development Academies Week is open to all faculty at all ranks and classifications. Participants are welcome to register for as many dates as they’d like. Breakfast, lunch and snacks will be provided. All Academies Days take place on the Lawrence campus. Register by May 12. 

Watkins Health Services received three-year reaccreditation from the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC). The lengthy process included a policy and process review, building tour, and day-and-a-half site visit from surveyors. 

Only 11% of student health centers across the country are accredited, placing Watkins as part of an elite group. Becoming accredited demonstrates a commitment to continuous improvement in patient care and shows that a center provides safe, high-quality care for their patients. 

Watkins operates a health clinic for employed KU faculty and staff that is separate from the student clinic. The clinic is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. when classes are in session during the fall and spring semesters and 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. when classes are not in session and during the summer. Appointments are required and can be scheduled by calling 785-864-9565.

With a rising number of measles cases in Kansas, it is a good time to review your personal vaccination history.  

Please visit the KDHE website for additional information regarding symptoms, treatment and prevention. Watkins Health Services offers the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. If interested in scheduling an appointment, call 785-864-9565 or contact your primary care provider. 

Thursday

Leaders in the Office of Faculty Affairs will help early career faculty learn about an important career milestone: the third-year review, when faculty receive feedback on their progress toward promotion and tenure. 

During the Early Career Faculty Foundations 2.0 event “The Faculty Career Cycle: Preparing for Third Year Review," Amy Mendenhall, vice provost for faculty affairs, and Meagan Patterson, associate vice provost for faculty policy and recognition, will review the guidelines for this important step in the faculty career cycle, introduce best practices for preparation and answer questions.  

The event is designed for second-year faculty at KU but is open to all faculty within their first several years of service at KU. The event will be from 3 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. Thursday in Slawson Hall’s 198 Seminar Room. 

Due to prior commitments, there will be no virtual town hall today for the Lawrence and Edwards campuses. The next town hall will be 4 p.m. April 28. 

Faculty and staff are encouraged to watch the Chancellor’s Weekly Update from April 16, which offers a look into state and federal relations and outcomes from the 2025 Kansas legislative session.  

Individuals can watch the April 7 and March 24 episodes of the virtual town hall behind single sign-on. Submit a question or topic suggestion through the anonymous online form. 

Thursday

Each year, students from across campus compete in the KU Libraries Snyder Book Collecting Contest. The finalists’ collections will be on display and winners announced during a reception at 4 p.m. Thursday on the third floor of Watson Library. The event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP for the reception.  

Encouraging students to cultivate book collections, the contest recognizes KU undergraduate and graduate students for their collections of books and complementary pieces – such as digital items, music and film – that share a particular subject, topic or theme.

Winners in each division are eligible to compete in the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest. 

Friday

Noelle Russell, a leading expert on how to create a world where artificial intelligence and humans coexist harmoniously, will give the Self Graduate Fellowship Symposium Lecture on Friday.  

Russell advises companies on how to integrate emerging technologies – including AI, Web3 and the Cloud – into their operations and workplace strategies. She has led innovative tech teams at Accenture, NPR, Microsoft, IBM, AWS and Amazon Alexa, and is among the world’s leading voices on data and AI literacy.  

Titled “Scaling Responsible AI: From Enthusiasm to Execution,” Russell’s lecture will be held from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Friday in the Kansas Union's Big 12 Room on the fifth level. The lecture is free and open to the public. Doors open at 3 p.m. 

Your KU email account is the official channel for important university communications.

The University of Kansas prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability, status as a veteran, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, gender identity, gender expression, and genetic information in the university's programs and activities. Retaliation is also prohibited by university policy. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies and procedures and is the Title IX Coordinator for all KU and KUMC campuses: Associate Vice Chancellor for the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX, civilrights@ku.edu, Room 1082, Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045, 785-864-6414, 711 TTY. Reports can be submitted by contacting the Title IX Coordinator as provided herein or online and complaints can be submitted with the Title IX Coordinator or online.

The University of Kansas is a public institution governed by the Kansas Board of Regents.