Welcome to the Faculty Senate

• For the latest COVID-19 updates at the University of Houston, please visit https://uh.edu/covid-19/

Announced June 29 – UH’s Power-On website was developed through a collaboration by faculty and staff across several UH offices and colleges. The website serves as a central resource for instructional strategies and supports for faculty and students to continue teaching and learning through the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic...and beyond. Faculty are encouraged to check out the UH Best Practices Guide, which describes HyFlex and online teaching formats and strategies and offers practical tips for developing online course materials, facilitating synchronous sessions, engaging online learners, and assessing learning at a distance. Watch the “Introduction to Best Practices in HyFlex and Online Pedagogy at UH” video.

July 6-31 – There will be an array of training sessions offered to faculty in the coming weeks to equip with teaching tools and strategies. Many of the sessions will be led by fellow UH faculty and instructional designers. Trainings and virtual office hours offered through Faculty Engagement and Development (FED) include HyFlex/Online Essentials, Learning Objectives, Big Picture Design, Putting Courses in an LMS, Delivering and Streaming Lectures, Course Materials, Engaging Students Basics, Strategically Engaging Students, Assessing Participation, and Closed-Response Assessments. See the FED Calendar  for further details and to register for upcoming sessions. Faculty Development and Instructional Support (FDIS) will be offering trainings and virtual office hours on Blackboard, Respondus, and other instructional technologies. See the FDIS Calendar for upcoming dates.  

July 7, 1-2pm and July 9, 10-11am – Email invitations have been sent to faculty for upcoming virtual faculty town halls with President Khator to discuss the reopening of UH. RSVP for preferred date preference is requested. Questions can be sent to director@uh.edu.  

July 10, 12-12:30pm – Faculty are invited to join Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer, Dr. Amr Elnashai, for the bi-weekly VPR virtual office hours. The next session will be on July 10 at noon. These 30-minute Q&A sessions address topics such as Phase 2 research reopening, college level research data analysis, and research excellence. Faculty should join the UH Research & Innovation Teams site, navigate to the VPR Virtual Office Hours channel, and then accept the Zoom meeting invitation to have the event added to your Outlook calendar. For further details about Phase 2 research reopening, visit the DOR website. 

Now Available – The University of Houston has launched two contact tracer programs. Coordinated by Dr. Bettina Beech and Dr. LeChauncy Woodard of the College of Medicine, the self-paced, online programs provide training for how to conduct high-quality contact tracing, a skill that can help reduce the spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19. The UH Epi Corps program is available for free to UH students, faculty and staff. Faculty can login using Cougarnet credentials for the program registration. The Population Health During a Pandemic: Contact Tracing and Beyond program is available to the public for free through the end of July. For more information about these programs, visit the UH Contact Tracer Program website.