In Brief: Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, UA Cares is coming, CUES fellows named

Sept. 6, 2023
Andy Ober, University Communications
Bienvendios - UA Hispanic heritage month image

The halftime show at the Hispanic Heritage Night football game will feature a mariachi and folklórico performance.

Football, food and folklórico all part of Hispanic Heritage Month celebration

Cultural performances, profiles on social media and branded merchandise will all be a part of the University's celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15-Oct. 15.

The University will again honor the Hispanic community using a cultural logo, which will be featured on branded merchandise available at the BookStores and the University's Amazon site. Hispanic Heritage Month merchandise will also be available on the Fanatics online store for the first time. A portion of the sales from these sites will help benefit students through the Adalberto and Ana Guerrero Student Center.

The annual Hispanic Heritage Night football game is Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. against the University of Texas at El Paso. The University of Arizona Hispanic Alumni Tailgate begins at 5 p.m. on the southwest corner of North Cherry Avenue and East University Boulevard. The event will feature pre-game music by Tecnobanda La Picosa. Tickets to the tailgate and the game can be purchased on the Hispanic Heritage Night ticket page. Tickets to the tailgate include food, beverages and a seating area. Tickets are not required to watch the live music and entertainment.

Arizona Athletics will display facts about the University's Hispanic-Serving Institution designation on the video board at Arizona Stadium before the game, and halftime will feature a mariachi and folklórico performance. Athletics will also be featuring content through its Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, including interviews with Hispanic student-athletes and staff members.

Hispanic Heritage Night is also being supported by the Latinx Faculty and Staff Association, which is encouraging Hispanic faculty and staff members to join. The association was featured in Lo Que Pasa in April as part of a series on affinity groups at the University.

The University focuses throughout the year on providing Hispanic students and employees with opportunities and resources to enhance their campus experience and supports projects and initiatives to spotlight the culture and contributions of the Hispanic community. See some related stories from the last year below.

UA Cares begins Oct. 2

University employees will once again have the opportunity to show their generosity and support University and community causes with the return of UA Cares, which runs from Oct. 2-Nov. 3. The University's annual workplace giving campaign encourages employees to donate to any department, college, program or initiative through the University of Arizona Foundation or to local nonprofit organizations through the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona.

Employees can make a one-time donation or set up a recurring payroll deduction through a UA Cares tile that will appear on the UAccess Employee homepage.

"This is the first year in the history of the campaign that people will be able to roll over deductions year to year, so they won't have to re-enroll every year," said Nick Hilton, assistant director in the Office of Government and Community Relations and coordinator of UA Cares. "They can set it up in the fall and let it run for a few years if they want."

Another change is that, beginning this year, there will be two honorary chairs for the campaign – one faculty member and one staff member. The chairs will be announced in the coming weeks.

Employees can hear from the honorary chairs as well as nonprofits seeking support at a kickoff event set for Sept. 28 from 3-4:30 p.m. on the Dunlap Terrace of the Arizona Sands Club, located in the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility. The event is free, but registrations for the kickoff event are limited to the first 80 people.

For those looking to donate their time, there are dozens of volunteer opportunities available through the United Way throughout the campaign. The University will also partner with the United Way for a blood drive on Oct. 3 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. in the Arizona BookStores at the Student Union Memorial Center. Those interested can sign up for a time to donate blood online.

Details on other events, including the annual Pumpkin Crafting Contest held by the Office of the Provost and volunteer projects at local schools, are being finalized. More information will be shared in the Oct. 4 edition of Lo Que Pasa.

CUES announces 2023 distinguished fellows

The Center for University Education Scholarship has announced its sixth cohort of distinguished fellows. This year's fellows will focus on topics including public service in the borderlands region, quantitative environmental science and using cybersecurity datasets in course design.

CUES Distinguished Fellowships support faculty scholarship and innovation in university education. Fellows are chosen by a multidisciplinary review committee and receive as much as $20,000 per year for up to three years for their projects. Each of this year's projects are being funded for three years.

"The 2023 fellows have raised the bar on what scholarship of teaching and learning can be on our campus and for our community," said Guadalupe Lozano, CUES director and endowed chair. "Their projects reflect genuine commitment to students and to research on teaching and learning, validating the promise of CUES' newest effort, our SOTL signature workshop series."

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning workshop series, held in February and March of this year, focused on research questions, study designs and methods, and was designed to help faculty members prepare CUES proposals.

The fellows and their projects are listed below.

Alex Braithwaite, Professor, School of Government and Public Policy
Cultivating compassionate and culturally grounded public service: The Asylum Project

Katrina Henry, Associate Professor of Practice, Department of Environmental Science
Quantitative environmental science: Shaping a new educational research discipline

Li Xu, Professor, College of Applied Science and Technology
Using cybersecurity data sets to enhance course design and online student learning