News on the Go #682, January 6, 2009

Topics at a glance: UTPD News ... Microsoft Exchange 2007 ... Spring 2009 Schedule of Classes ... CCTS Lecture Series ... New Innovator Awards ... Emerging Technologies ... President’s Award for
Mentoring Women ... Save the date: Wellness Fair ... Get Ready for Tax Time ... IRS Dollar Limitations Changes for 2009 ... iModules Scholarship Program ... University Travel Announcement

NEW! UTPD News

Now, news and announcements from The University of Texas Police Department can be found on the Workplace page of the intranet. This new section includes safety tips, security reports and crime alerts.

Microsoft Exchange 2007

The health science center will soon be upgrading its e-mail server to Microsoft Exchange 2007. What does this mean for you?

• Bigger e-mail boxes (up to 3x the space)
• More user-friendly web mail
• Faster logon time
• New features

All of your current emails will remain intact after the migration is complete. The upgrade is scheduled to take place in January. More details to come.

Spring 2009 Schedule of Classes

The spring 2009 schedule of classes is currently available at the Registrar’s Office. For Dental Hygiene, Dental Postgraduates, Nursing, Medical Clinical Research, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Health Information Sciences and Public Health students, registration runs through Friday, Jan. 9.

Late registration for Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Medical Clinical Research, School of Nursing, School of Health Information Sciences and School of Public Health students is Monday, Jan. 12 – Friday, Jan. 16 ($15 late fee). Late registration for Dental Postgraduates is Monday, Jan. 5 – Friday, Jan. 9 ($15 late fee).

For more information, visit UTHSC-H Academic Registration Calendar – 2008-2009.

CCTS Lecture Series

The Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences presents the following lecture series, noon – 1 p.m., Thursdays throughout January, in the UT Professional Building, 11th floor. The January schedule includes:

• Jan. 22 – “CCTS/SPH Research Opportunities in the Lower Rio Grande Valley," presented by Joseph McCormick, M.D., regional dean, SPH, Brownsville Regional Campus.
• Jan. 29 - "Ligand-directed Tumor Targeting and Molecular Imaging in Cancer Medicine," presented by Wadih Arap, M.D., Ph.D., professor, Genitourinary Medical Oncology at UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

For more information, contact Linda.N.Gilbert@uth.tmc.edu.

NIH New Innovator Award

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) are seeking applicants for the New Innovator Awards. This program supports exceptionally creative scientists who take highly innovative, potentially high-impact approaches to major challenges in biomedical or behavioral research. The New Innovator Awards provide up to $1.5 million in direct costs over five years and are for early career investigators who have not received an NIH regular research (R01) or similar NIH grant. The agency expects to fund up to 24 New Innovator Awards in September 2009. The New Innovator Award competition begins with a proposal submission period that runs through Thursday, Jan. 15.

For more information, visit NIH Roadmap for Medical Research.

Emerging Technologies

Technology-based communication tools are rapidly advancing and evolving. Get your hands on these technologies and explore how they can be used in teaching, learning and research. Learn how education in the academic world is being rapidly shaped by these emerging technologies in Emerging Technologies for Teaching, Learning & Research, 5 – 8 p.m., Tuesdays beginning Jan. 13, at the University Center Tower, room 1414.

A sample of the tools to be explored:

• Blogs
• Podcasting
• Social networking
• Augmented reality
• Content sharing
• Portable technologies

This course is available for graduate credit or as fee-for-service without credit. For more information about this course, contact Cynthia.L.Phelps@uth.tmc.edu, 713-500-3926.

President’s Award for Mentoring Women

Have you ever encountered someone that impacted your personal growth or assisted in your career development? Did they act as a role model?

The Committee on the Status of Women is now accepting nominations for the 2009 President’s Award for Mentoring Women, which recognizes one individual from each of the following categories: Faculty, Classified Staff, and Administrative & Professional.

Nomination applications must be submitted via email or inter-office mail to Carmela Bourgeois at Carmela.H.Bourgeois@uth.tmc.edu or to UCT 1716C by Friday, Jan. 16, 2009.

For more information on the award and to access the nomination application, visit Committee on the Status of Women and scroll to the bottom of the page. Please contact Carmela.H.Bourgeois@uth.tmc.edu, 713-500-3041 with any questions.

Save the date: 5th Annual Wellness Fair

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston will hold the 5th Annual Wellness Fair, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 28, at the UT Medical School Leather Lounge. The wellness fair is open to all students, faculty and staff of the health science center and offers a variety of health-related information and activities. Some of the health-related activities may include blood pressure, cholesterol, carotid artery and vision screenings, as well as chair massages and door prizes.

For more information, contact Pauline.M.Habetz@uth.tmc.edu, 713-500-8425.

Get Ready for Tax Time

To prepare for filing your Federal Income Tax, now's the time to verify the address on your current pay stub. Your W2 form for filing with your Federal Income Tax will be mailed to the address listed on your pay stub by Saturday, Jan. 31, 2009. If your address is not correct, inform your departmental contact person or e-mail sdr@uth.tmc.edu to avoid a delay in receiving this important payroll tax document.

IRS Dollar Limitations Changes for 2009

The Internal Revenue Service has increased the dollar limitations on benefits and contributions under qualified retirement plans for the Tax Year 2009. The new dollar limitations on 403(b) contributions effective Thursday, Jan. 1, 2009, are shown below along with a comparison of current limits:

For additional information on this and previous year’s limitations, visit the Internal Revenue Service.

There are limits imposed by the Internal Revenue Code on how much you can contribute to your UTSaver Tax Sheltered Annuity program (TSA) and/or Optional Retirement Program (ORP). In addition to your employment at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, if you are self-employed or if you have more than 50% ownership of a corporation, partnership or other entity and you or the entity maintains a qualified defined contribution retirement plan or Simplified Employee Pension Plan (SEP) in which you participate, it is possible that the contributions to your TSA and/or ORP and the other qualified plan or SEP will be combined in applying a single Internal Revenue Service dollar limitation on contributions to these plans.

It is your responsibility to provide both employee and employer contribution information to such qualified plans or SEPs from such outside employment to your local benefits office so that your contribution amount to your TSA and/or ORP can be properly computed. If contributions to your retirement plans exceed the dollar limitation, you could be subject to extra taxes.

Additional information can be found by logging onto UT Retirement Manager, by contacting Lashonda Mayo-Mozell at 713-500-3960 or by calling the benefits main number at 713-500-3935.

iModules Scholarship Program

iModules, an online alumni community, will provide individual $2,500 scholarships to five students enrolled in secondary or higher education institutions that are current iModules clients. The iModules Educational Scholarship Program was established in March 2008 and was founded on the belief in assisting students with pursuing their educational goals.

Visit the 2009 iModules Scholarship Program site for more information or to apply. Application deadline is April 15, 2009. Winning students will be notified by May 1, 2009.

University Travel Announcement

Advantage Rent-A-Car has closed the following airport locations: College Station, Corpus Christi, Dallas/Ft Worth, Harlingen, Killeen Fort Hood Regional, McAllen, San Antonio and Waco Regional, as well as locations in downtown Austin, Corpus Christi South, Longview and Tyler. Other locations in Colorado, Florida and Arizona also are closed. Please contact one of the other two state-contracted agencies, Avis Rental Car at 1-800-331-1212 (State of Texas Rate identifier F999 744) or Enterprise Rent-A-Car at 1-866-398-5080 (State of Texas Rate identifier TX744 PIN # UTH), if you need to make other reservations. For more information, contact Diane.E.Collard@uth.tmc.edu.