Division News

Counseling and Mental Health Center (CMHC)

• Recruiting members for the 2013-14 CMHC Student Advisory Committee which provides a forum for direct input from student stakeholders in order to help CMHC better meet the mental health needs, foster leadership skills among students with interests in mental health and encourage student advocacy for campus mental health issues. Asking other departments to please distribute this poster widely ahead of the April 30 deadline.
• Unveiling the new “Be That One.” suicide prevention logo. Promoting suicide prevention through education, outreach and peer support. Offering suicide prevention workshops to all faculty, staff and students that teach important skills such as noticing the risk factors and warning signs of suicidal thinking in students, asking students about their suicidal thoughts, and referring students to CMHC. Request a workshop for your department or student group by contacting Suicide Prevention Coordinator Marian Trattner.

• 

  Celebrating our new POWER House official signage on SSB’s ground floor where  CMHC’s Be That One. suicide prevention program and the Voices Against Violence program are located. Feel free to stop by and visit.

• Finalizing details for Stressfest, including chair massages, pet therapy dogs, fitness class demonstrations, a relaxation deck, tropical slushies, biofeedback, acupuncture and more on April 10. See Events for details.

Housing and Food Service (DHFS)

Housing

• Collaborating with Professor Tom Krueger’s Civil Engineering class where Executive Director Floyd Hoelting spoke about rainwater collection for the two DHFS campus gardens. Working with students who will be calculating the area of the gardens and determining the amount of water required to maintain them. Using that information, the students will then determine if the proposed roof areas will be able to harvest adequate water to sustain the gardens.

Food Service

• Growing the Eco-2-Go program with 64,005 discount transactions and 1,501 new memberships from Feb. 1, 2012 through Jan. 31, 2013. Implementing the program has been a major factor in successfully cutting down waste in our dining facilities.
• Collaborating with Austin Community College (ACC) on a culinary program giving ACC culinary students opportunities to intern and work in the food service industry.
• Offering more healthy, sustainable vegetable options including 1.) jacketed Romanesco broccoli and Roma tomatoes at the Cypress Bend salad station, and 2.) heirloom tomatoes in the deli or as toppings on pizza or burgers. Received positive customer feedback about the new nourishing offerings and excitement about the prospect of more healthy and environmentally friendly options at Cypress Bend.
• Hosted Cupcake Showdown competition in which four student organizations (Texas Spirits, Gigglepants Improv!, National Student Speech Language Hearing Association and Kappa Delta) collaborated with DHFS chefs to bake the best cupcake on campus. Will donate a prize of $1000 to Girl Scouts of America on behalf of first place winners, Kappa Delta sorority. Thanks for UHS Director Jamie Shutter for serving as a judge.

Office of the Dean of Students (DoS)

• Co-sponsored UT Entrepreneurship Week March 4–7, connecting student business owners with resources to help them achieve their entrepreneurial goals.
• Congratulating all the organizers, support staff and newly elected student leaders for their hard work on a successful 2013 Campus-wide Election.
• Hosting the annual Evening of the Stars on April 23. Following the event, the 2013 award winners will also be recognized on the DoS website.
• Congratulating the 2013 Glenn Maloney Memorial Scholarship winners, Jesse Hernandez, Alyssa Davis and Michael Ugeo Williams.
• Asking staff to remind students that registered and sponsored student organization re-registration is required annually. Re-register online for 2013–14 by April 22.
• Looking for a way to help incoming student veterans transition to campus life? Sign up to volunteer as a UT Austin Veteran Sponsor.

Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs (VPSA)

• 

  Represented the Division at the 2013 NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education) conference as well the NASPA Undergraduate Fellows Program (NUFP), including special presentations by Dr. Gage Paine and Edna Dominguez.

• Announcing our brand new website for the Division of Student Affairs, now part of the university core web pages.

• 

  Kicked off the Strategic Plan Working Group to draft the new Division goals and direction.

• Welcoming the newest members to our office, Assistant to the Vice President Jerri Kelly and Director of Assessment Gale Stuart.
• Coordinating with Human Resource Services on plans and multimedia presentations for the announcement of the 2013 Student Employee of the Year Award luncheon on April 8.
• Wrapping up post-production on our Mission, Vision and Values videos featuring staff from across the Division.

Recreational Sports (RecSports)

• Planning the Longhorn Run for April 13 with the help of Student Government and the support of Nike and Luke’s Locker. Expecting to draw 3,000 runners and raise funds to benefit the Student Government and RecSports Excellence Funds.
• Working with Texas Round Table to host the 3^rd Annual Pancakes for Parkinson’s fundraiser on April 24 on Gregory Plaza to raise funds for Team Fox for Parkinson’s Research.
• Organizing the Student Affairs Coed softball league. Beginning games on April  2 at Whitaker Fields. Contact: Darci Doll at RecSports.

Texas Parents

• Hosting the 2013 Spring Advisory Board meeting on April 5 where we recognize retiring board members and members’ students who are spring graduates. Updates from President William Powers and Dr. Gage Paine, who also assists the board in congratulating the 2013 Student Enrichment Award recipients.
• Planning 2013 Family Orientation, a parent-focused day of programming taking place on the first day of each orientation session this summer in conjunction with Summer Orientation for incoming freshman students which is being organized by New Student Services.
• Awarded a total of $35,000 to 27 recipients of the 2013 Student Enrichment Awards for their contributions to strengthen the university community through their events, activities and projects. Received applications from registered student organizations all over UT campus and departments within Student Affairs.

Texas Student Media (TSM)

• Honored as a finalist (The Daily Texan) in five categories for the Society for Professional Journalists (SPJ) Region 8 Mark of Excellence Awards: best all-around daily student paper, best affiliated website, general news reporting, editorial writing and general column writing.
• Honored as a finalist (Texas Student Television) in five categories for the Society for Professional Journalists (SPJ) Region 8 Mark of Excellence Awards: best all-around television newscast, television feature reporting, television sports photography and television sports reporting

The Center for Students in Recovery (CSR)

• Planning our upcoming spring brunch with special remarks by Dr. Gage Paine and Peter Gaumond with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy – Recovery Branch.
• Looking forward to Director Ivana Grahovac delivering at the keynote speech during the April 19 Southern College Health Association conference at the University of Alabama.

University Health Services (UHS)

• Conducting a quick survey on vending machine use around campus on behalf of the Wellness Network Healthy Dining Workgroup. Asking staff, students and faculty to take a moment to complete the survey and then pass it along to others. Access the survey here.
• Conducted a series of focus groups of users and non-users of UHS and the second biennial survey of students who have never used UHS to learn more about students’ thoughts on healthcare, opinions about UHS, who students turn to for health information and more. Anticipating information from these assessments will help ensure that we are meeting students’ needs and refining our communication to students about our services.
• Introduced students to our clinical and professional staff at the 2013 Bagels & Lox with Students & Docs on March 8. Hosted by the UHS Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC), this annual event connects students with healthcare professionals in a fun, relaxed setting.

University Unions

• 

  Participated in the the 93^rd annual Association of College Unions International (ACUI) Conference in Saint Louis, Mo., represented by Crystal King, Cecilia Lopez, Nick Parras and Jennifer Zamora.

• Hosted a series of focus groups for current student employees and supervisors of student staff to evaluate the student employee experience in the Centers for Student Life.
• Bringing four candidates to the 40 Acres to interview for the post of University Unions Executive Director.

Hogg Auditorium (HMA)

• Served as the location for the student production of Spring Awakening, produced by Alpha Psi Omega: Mu Chapter. See the photos.
• Scheduled to be the location for an exciting set of student events this April, including the Student Events Center Texas Revue, the Student Endowed Centennial Lectureship hosting Biz Stone, Indian Students Association’s Taal, the Longhorn Singers’ Spring Show, the Student Events Center Asian American Culture Committee’s InspirASIAN – Redefine Your Generation and Delta Sigma Phi’s Philanthropy Event.

Student Activity Center (SAC)

• Selected the winners of the Through Our Eyes Photography Contest for the Spring 2013 theme “Longhorns Around the World.” Displaying the 15 winning photos out of 168 submissions outside the SAC Auditorium and online through the end of summer 2013.
• Was showcased in Amy Yurko’s Keynote Address at the Association of College Unions International (ACUI) Conference among her examples of innovative learning environments outside the classroom.