News

President Robbins and Dr. Jane Hunter welcomed the ACE Fellows at a reception in January.

The university plans to get 60% of its power from wind and solar by the end of 2020 as part of the agreement.

A nationally recognized scholar on teaching and learning offered faculty advice on stoking students' curiosity, fostering community in the classroom, building patterns and structure in teaching routines and more during presentations on campus last week.

Leaders of two shared governance councils representing nonfaculty employees said their primary focus this year is figuring out what representation will look like once the University Career Architecture Project has been completed. Guiding the work are the results of a survey sent out to employees over the summer about shared governance. The biggest challenge will be developing a group "that adequately represents the breadth of University Staff," says Jennifer Lawrence, chair of the Appointed Professionals Advisory Council.

A group of UA researchers is leading a grassroots effort to provide skills training designed to increase data literacy among researchers. "From the arts to the sciences and engineering, data science is quantitatively and qualitatively transforming research," says Vignesh Subbian, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Through an inclusive process that involved faculty, staff, students, alumni, community members and others, the University of Arizona has identified a core purpose and values, which articulate why the University exists and what it stands for. 

The College of Engineering's new leader says he is excited to be at a university where the mission matches up perfectly with his vision for engineering education. "The University of Arizona has so much positive change going on right now, with a new provost, new deans and a new, visionary president," David Hahn says. 

To help new students navigate the academic landscape of the UA, the Advising Resource Center is introducing a new initiative called Wayfinders. It's a network of academic advisers who, in addition to their regular positions in their respective colleges, will serve as campuswide advising experts for first-year students. 

MSE assistant professor Zheshen Zhang is leading the construction of the Interdisciplinary Quantum Information Research and Engineering instrument, known as Inquire, at the UA. Inquire is the world's first shared research and training instrument to help researchers in diverse fields – including those with no expertise in quantum information science – benefit from quantum resources.

A project in the honors college that will  help to inform UA Strategic Initiative 1.1B5 Design a new Gen Ed curriculum is underway. The project is part of the university-wide CUES (Center for University Education Scholarship) Program. In this pilot, professors from three different disciplines are cooperatively teaching a diverse group of mainly freshmen students who, like their professors, come from across the intellectual spectrum.