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Week of December 1-5

2025

CETL: Faculty, instructors invited to join teaching and learning Communities of Practice 

The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) invites instructional faculty and graduate teaching assistants to join a Community of Practice (CoP). These groups provide opportunities to connect and network with colleagues, share strategies, and support one another in teaching. 

Each CoP meets virtually a few times during the semester, making it easy to participate when your schedule allows. Faculty can explore topics relevant to their experiences, interests, and needs along with their Virginia Tech colleagues. 

For more information and detailed descriptions of these CoPs, visit the CETL programs webpage or email CETL. 

University Libraries and Faculty Affairs: Overview workshop, drop in Q&A for Elements system 

University Libraries, in partnership with Faculty Affairs, is hosting online workshops and drop-in Q&A sessions on Virginia Tech Elements – the university’s faculty activity repository used for managing department and college-level data, broader institutional analytics and reports, and the public profiles system. 

The workshops are designed to provide faculty with an introduction to Elements, any new interface features and functions afforded by the latest upgrade, and how to generate reports populated with Elements data (like a Faculty Activity Report) through the University Data Commons. 

Faculty are encouraged to join the workshops for Q&A during the first ten minutes of each session and stay for updates on topics such as system functionality, how to optimize automatic updates of scholarly works, how to import scholarly works, and how to manually add and edit all types of activity information. 

For more information and to register for an upcoming workshop session, visit the Elements workshop webpage or email Ginny Pannabecker with University Libraries.

TLOS: Accessibility Professional Certification Grant Program call for applications 

Technology-enhanced Learning and Online Strategies (TLOS) is accepting final applications for the Accessibility Professional Certification Grant Program. 

Grant recipients will have the opportunity to develop cross-disciplinary knowledge of disabilities, accessibility, universal design, and the associated standards expertise and earn the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC) certification. 

Training topics include disabilities and assistive technologies; accessibility and universal design; and laws, standards, and organizational management. Cohort members will meet weekly via Zoom to review materials, ask questions, and see assistive technology demonstrations. 

The deadline for applications is Wednesday, December 3. 

For more information, read this TLOS grant program campus notice or visit the Accessibility Professional Certification Grant Application webpage.

Faculty Senate: Join Faculty Senate president for December 5 ‘office hours'-style meeting 

Faculty Senate President Justin Lemkul invites all members of the university community to join him for his next "office hours"-style meeting, Friday, December 5 from 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. in 328A Burruss (inside the Faculty Affairs suite.) 

These monthly sessions are designed to address general questions, comments, and concerns related to any aspect of the Faculty Senate's mission. Refreshments will be provided by the Office of Faculty Affairs. 

For more information including dates and times for each monthly session, visit the Faculty Senate website. Private or confidential meetings can be requested and scheduled by emailing Justin Lemkul.

ICYMI: Open forums set for inaugural executive director of Institute for Advanced Computing 

Open forums with finalists for the inaugural executive director of the Institute for Advanced Computing (IAC) have been scheduled for early December. Forums are open to the Virginia Tech community and will be held in-person and virtually. 

The executive director will serve as the visionary and strategic leader responsible for launching, shaping, and growing the institute. Working collaboratively with senior university leadership, the executive director will lead the institute in becoming a national leader in advanced computing research and education. 

Forums are scheduled to take place in Alexandria on the following dates: 

  • December 1: Candidate 1, Academic Building One, Boeing Auditorium 
  • December 4: Candidate 2, Academic Building One, Boeing Auditorium 
  • December 8: Candidate 3, Academic Building One, Boeing Auditorium
  • December 11: Candidate 4, Academic Building One, Boeing Auditorium

For more information, visit the senior administration search webpage. Links to the livestreams will be available on the senior search page on the day of each forum.

Additional Resources and Updates

Newsletter Spotlight: Hokie Family eNews (Student Affairs) 

Please submit a Google form or email Provost Communications for comments or recommendations to improve the Weekly Communications Update or to share faculty, staff, and academic program personnel information.

Visit the provost’s website frequently for new and updated university information. All members of the campus community should also read their VT News daily email for further important updates, notices, and resources.