In the Know – Issue 90

Montclair Receives Grant to Help Students Return and Finish College

“Project Restart” will create comprehensive support for students who stopped attending to earn their degrees.

ADP Partnership Connects Students to Business Expertise

The growing partnership provides scholarships and access to mentors to prepare the next generation of professionals.

Making Scientific Research More Accessible

Montclair’s Mario M. Casabona Future Scientists Awards competition highlights student researchers’ abilities to effectively communicate complex scientific findings.

In the News

• President Jonathan Koppell was ranked No. 35 on ROI-NJ’s Influencers Power List 2024: Super 60. He is noted for his vision and creativity. A digital version of the Power List issue is also available.
• Provost Junius Gonzales is featured in an episode of the Higher Digital podcast “Transformed” discussing his experience as a higher ed leader.
• Te Wu (Management) is quoted in this NJBIZ article about how law firms are integrating AI into their practices to increase efficiency.
• Journalist and media pundit Jeff Jarvis wrote a guest column for NJ.com proposing that Bell Labs, which is set to close down in Murray Hill, be preserved as a historic site and museum of the internet. In the column, he uses Montclair’s collaboration with Paterson to open a museum at Hinchliffe Stadium as a model that the owners of Bell Labs and others can follow.
• Burak Tamaç (Political Science and Law) wrote a piece on stablecoins for CoinDesk, an online news publication about bitcoin and digital currencies. The article was republished by Yahoo! Finance.

Important Updates

• W-2 forms are now available for print and download in Workday. From your Workday home page, under “Applications,” please select the “Pay” icon, then select “My Tax Documents.” Once in My Tax Documents scroll down and you’ll see a table with available tax year W-2 documents that you can view/print. If you do not see this notation, your W-2 will be mailed by Monday, January 29. If you were employed by Bloomfield College during January 1, 2023, through June 30, 2023, you will receive a separate W-2 for earnings during that time period. Questions? contact Workday Support at wccsupport@montclair.edu or 973-655-5000, Option 3.
• Request the company of our university pupscot, Pebbles at your upcoming events! Let Pebbles be a paw-sitive presence at your event, fostering a sense of well-being and support for everyone involved.
• Connect with and hire students at the spring Part-Time Student Job Fair on Friday, March 1. Register for a table and post available positions via Handshake. Questions? Contact the Office for Experiential Education and Career Connections at careerconnect@montclair.edu.
• The Executive Board of the University Senate is gathering feedback on making significant changes to the academic calendar. The survey links to a draft calendar to review. Responses will be collected through Friday, February 2.
• Do you identify as a first-generation college student? Apply for Tri-Alpha, which recognizes academic achievements, promotes leadership and provides support networks for first-generation college students/faculty/staff/alumni. To qualify, you must meet the definition of a first-generation student at the time you completed your bachelor’s degree. To be part of Tri-Alpha, faculty and staff must be willing to serve as mentors for current first-generation students. The deadline for applications is February 18.
• Faculty and staff are invited to submit publications to be entered in the University Authors Recognition Program. Published monographs, textbooks, exhibit catalogs and/or produced creative endeavors resulting in CDs or DVDs in 2023 or 2024 are eligible. To submit publications, use this form. For media (CDs, DVDs), use this form. Submission deadline is January 31, 2024. Publications will be listed in Montclair State University Digital Commons. For questions, contact Paul Martinez, martinezp@montclair.edu.

Upcoming Events

• TODAY – Instructional Technology and Design Services (ITDS) invites you to Fridays with ITDS at 11 a.m. for a conversation with Christopher Donoghue (Sociology) about how leveraging technology and practicing a pedagogy of care can foster a sense of belonging in your classroom that addresses student needs, creating more supportive learning environments.
• The Office of Faculty Excellence invites you to join the next session of its new series: Fostering Intellectual Engagement through Active Learning on Wednesday, January 31. In this workshop, participants will draw on Marshall Ganz’s public narrative framework to engage students in telling stories that motivate others.
• On Friday, February 2 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. the Global Center on Human Trafficking at Montclair will hold its 2nd Annual Legislative Breakfast and Smith/Wellstone Award Ceremony. This year’s breakfast will examine the issue of safe, affordable, and appropriate shelter and housing for survivors of human trafficking in New Jersey. Experts, lawmakers, policymakers and those with lived experience will discuss the challenges and gaps in housing and the impact on survivors’ recovery and reintegration.
• One Day for Montclair, our annual Giving Day, is scheduled for April 25, 2024. Interested in learning how you can participate? Attend a zoom session on Friday, February 2 at 10 a.m. Learn about growing funding areas for campus, how to become a One Day champion, fun challenges and more!
• Attend the virtual Graduate Open House on Sunday, February 4. Hear directly from faculty, staff, admissions and others and explore programs with breakout sessions throughout the day.
• Register for the Innovative Design for Effective Assessments (IDEA) course, a three-week online course intended to provide faculty with a variety of innovative assessment strategies to improve student learning outcomes in online, hybrid or in-person classes. The next session will run from February 12 to March 3.
• Register for Occupational Health’s blood drive on Wednesday, February 14 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The blood drive will take place in Student Center Ballrooms B and C. Donors will receive a free lunch bag.

Reminders

• Take advantage of the State Employee Discount Program with access to discounts in various categories.
• Worried about a student’s well-being? Please fill out a CARE Report form to connect students to mental health support and resources. Faculty and advisors can complete an alert via Navigate for academic concerns.
• EMS has installed hemorrhage/bleeding control kits and Narcan in Automated External Defibrillator (AED) cabinets on campus and is offering training sessions on how to use the hemorrhage control and Narcan kits. If you or your department would like to participate in these training sessions, contact EMS at 973-655-7836 or ems@montclair.edu.
• Did you know the Center for Writing Excellence is open to all University employees? The center provides free, confidential appointments for feedback on all types of writing including professional documents, emails, memos and improving general writing skills. In-person and virtual appointments are available.
• Land on a broken link or dead end on montclair.edu? Report your experience here.
• The new University Calendar is here. Powered by the University’s room booking system, 25Live, all event listings should be entered here. Still need training? Register for online or in-person training.
• The email listservs “For Sale,” “Campus” and “Discuss” are now opt-in only. All members have been unsubscribed and to participate you need to re-subscribe. In addition to changing subscriptions from opt-out to opt-in, please see below for the purpose of each list.
  • Campus: employees may share University events and similar information of broad general interest to faculty and staff.
  • For Sale: employees may post items they want to sell or give away, but this list is strictly for occasional personal use. It may not be used to promote a private business.
  • Discuss: employees may use this forum for the open exchange of views on a wide variety of topics.

Support for Staff and Faculty

• The Employee Assistance Program provides free, confidential support services for employees and their families – including locating resources for substance abuse, mental health and self-help. For more information, view the CONCERN brochure.
• If you or a loved one is experiencing a mental health crisis or thinking about suicide, call or text 988, the nationwide 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline for free, confidential support, 24/7.

Kudos

• To Nina Bailey (Mathematics), who was co-recipient of the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators Dissertation Award.
• To Dawn Meza Soufleris (Student Development and Campus Life), who presented at the inaugural New Jersey Mental Health Summit, held at Seton Hall University. Her topic was “The Power of Pebbles: How a 14 lb Puppy Changed a Campus Mindset.”
• To Steve McCarthy (Communication and Media), who presented his Holocaust documentary film Eva’s Promise at a screening this week at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City.
• To Kasia Malinowska (Social Work and Child Advocacy), who co-authored a chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Global Drug History, which has been selected as one of the Best Historical Materials published in 2022 and 2023, by the Best Historical Materials Committee of the Reference and User Services Association.

Social Media Post of Note

Have an item you’d like included in Kudos or Reminders? Want to nominate a staffer for our spotlight? Use this form to tell us. Read more about our people and programs in the University News Center and in back issues of In the Know. And find out what’s happening on campus in the Events Calendar.