News on the Go #683, January 13, 2009

Topics at a glance: UTPD News ... Spring 2009 Schedule of Classes ... IT SecuritySense ... Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences Grand Rounds ... CPR Training/ Certification ... Cullen Trust for Higher Education Symposium ... 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 ... Dental Services ... Traffic Alerts ... WorkLife Wellness Tip of the Week

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.

Spring 2009 Schedule of Classes

The spring 2009 schedule of classes is currently available at the Registrar’s Office.

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 through Friday, Jan. 16 ($15 late fee).

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

IT SecuritySense

“Lucky 13! Security New Year’s Resolutions" is the focus of the January 2009 issue of the SecuritySense newsletter, available at SecuritySense online.

Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences Grand Rounds

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences will hold Grand Rounds, 11 a.m., Wednesday, Jan. 14, at the Mental Sciences Institute Auditorium. Dr. James W. Lomax, II, associate chairman and director of Educational Programs, Karl Menninger Chair of Psychiatric Education, Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, will present “Learning from Losing: Ethical, Psychoanalytical, and Spiritual Perspectives on Managing the Losses of the Distributed Self in Dementia.”

CPR Training/ Certification

The University of Texas School of Nursing at Houston Alumni Association is sponsoring CPR training and certification for all healthcare professionals and students 1 – 4 p.m., Fridays, Jan. 16, Feb. 13, March 20 and April 10 at SON room 370. Registration costs $50; only cash or checks are accepted for payment. For more information or registration, email alumni@uth.tmc.edu or call 713-500-2095.

Cullen Trust for Higher Education Symposium

The 2nd Annual Cullen Trust for Higher Education Symposium on Translational Research for all students and faculty will kick off 3 – 5 p.m., Friday, Jan. 16, in Onstead Auditorium and foyer, 3rd floor, George and Cynthia Mitchell Basic Sciences Research Building (BSRB) 6767 Bertner, Houston, Texas 77030.  A related poster session dedicated to translational research of the M.D. /Ph.D. students precedes the Symposium at 2 – 3 p.m., in the same location.

Keynote speakers are John Weinstein, M.D., Ph.D., chair, bioinformatics and computational biology, at UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, and Robert Todd, chair, department of medicine, Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Weinstein’s talk: Personalizing Cancer Therapy: Integrative Genomics, Proteomics, and Bioinformatics.Dr. Todd’s topic: Translational Research, Sticky Cells and Acute Inflammation.

Visit GSBS Cullen Trust Symposium for more information.

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 e-mail or inter-office mail to Carmela Bourgeois at Carmela.H.Bourgeois@uth.tmc.edu or to UCT 1716C by Friday, Jan. 16.

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. 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, 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 percent 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. Winning students will be notified by May 1, 2009.

Dental Services

The University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston is currently seeking individuals in need of crowns and bridges to serve as patients for our dental students. All students are closely supervised by fully licensed professors at the Dental Branch. Typical fees are about one-third of the cost normally found in the traditional private practice office.

The only difference is that the procedures performed in an educational setting are not done as swiftly as those in a private dental office. If you are interested in obtaining dental service at a reduced cost please contact Dental.Crowns@uth.tmc.edu.

Traffic alerts

Main Street Closure

Main Street, between Holcombe Boulevard and Dryden Street, will be closed 9 p.m., Friday, Jan. 16 – 7 a.m., Sunday, Jan. 18, due to construction at the Texas Children’s Hospital Maternity Center. Main Street traffic will be detoured at Holcombe Boulevard and Dryden Street. Access to all hospitals, parking garages and buildings will remain open. The contractor will install traffic control devices, equipment and signage. Police officers will be on duty to direct traffic and pedestrians.

University Boulevard Construction

One eastbound lane of University Boulevard, west of Main Street, will be closed until Tuesday, April 7, for construction. During construction, two eastbound lanes and one westbound lane of University Boulevard, west of Main Street, will remain open. The contractor will install traffic control devices, equipment and signage. Police officers will be on duty to direct traffic and pedestrians.

Moursund Street Traffic Flow Adjustment

Two eastbound lanes on Moursund Street, between Bertner Avenue and M.D. Anderson Boulevard, will be closed 7 p.m. – 5 a.m. through Monday, March 17, due to construction activities at the Texas Children’s Hospital Neurological Research Institute Building. Traffic will be diverted to the north side of Moursund Street, with one lane of traffic flowing each direction.

Visit Getting Around for all mobility announcements including Traffic Alerts and Commuter Options.

WorkLife Wellness Tip of the Week

Did you know that the average adult American male or female carries an average of about 40 pounds of pure body fat? That’s approximately 140,000 stored calories or the equivalent of 2,000 pancakes.

If you want to begin reducing “your extra pancakes” and pursue a healthier lifestyle in ’09, call and make an appointment with Sam Hester, cWC, CPT, LWMC, our wellness coach, at 713-500-3327. It’s confidential and free. Visit UT Counseling and WorkLife Services for more information on the wellness services provided.