November 12, 1998
Campus quiz: This seal adorns which campus building? (Clue: this is tricky. Answer below.)
Flex tax savings
Now is the time to enroll or re-enroll in the Health Care and Child Care Flex Spending Plans for 1999. If you are currently enrolled in these plans for 1998, you must re-enroll for next year; they are not automatically renewed.
The annual maximum for the Health Care Spending Plan has increased from $2,400 to $3,000, providing potential for higher tax savings. Flex plans offer tax savings by permitting pre-tax budgeting for out-of-pocket health and child care expenses. The Office of Human Resources has sent material about the plans and enrollment forms to all eligible faculty and staff. Those interested must respond by Nov. 30. For more information, call 935-5907.
Cyber Life
Student Life, the undergraduate newspaper on campus, has launched an online edition with the complete content of its print counterpart. Students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the University can now read the paper, contact the staff and search the archives online. Users can sign up for free e-mail briefs, a summary of the top stories of the day delivered directly to the subscriber's e-mailbox. Check it out at http://www.studlife.com.
Relatively speaking
It is the University's policy to discourage employment of near relatives in the same department. Near relatives include spouse, parent or child, brother or sister, first cousin, uncle or aunt, nephew or niece and in-laws of the same degree. This policy does not rule out employment of relatives in other departments, and in fact, the Office of Human Resources encourages referrals of friends and relatives for positions elsewhere at the University (from the Hilltop Campus "Summary of Policies and Procedures" staff handbook).
Assessing essays
A new software program evaluates and grades students' compositions before their professors even get their hands on them, according to The Washington Post. The Intelligent Essay Assessor will be available commercially in a few months. It is one of the first major efforts to evaluate the content of a student's writing, rather than just its spelling and grammar. Designers Peter Folz of New Mexico University and Thomas Landauer of the University of Colorado say the program is intended to give students feedback on their initial drafts. Educators at all levels have expressed an interest in the software, the Post said.
Did you know?
The University's students have received national recognition in fields ranging from genetic engineering to fashion design. Students have won graduate study awards including the Rhodes, Fulbright, Marshall and Truman scholarships and Goldwater, Mellon, Putnam, National Science Foundation and National Graduate fellowships, as well as the Howard Hughes Fellowship for undergraduate research.
Answer: This handsome ornamentation is on the south wall of Brown Hall -- but Goldfarb Hall, built last spring, partially blocks it from view.
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