Dear all,
Welcome to the new International Faculty mailing list - there are
currently 60 members on this list and we will use it to send out
meeting invitations, reminders, as well as any other information
relevant to the group. You can also send out emails to everyone by
simply sending an email to intfaculty@lists.it.utsa.edu.
You can also still reach out directly to Anegla (cc'ed) or myself.
With everyone hopefully finishing up the spring semester on a
strong note, here are a couple of things we worked on throughout
and a few items for the fall.
- First, we are still working with Academic Affairs on a new
memo on immigration & visa support. Per our last meeting,
there has been a verbal commitment that all TT faculty will
receive full support towards the Green Card, I believe now is a
good time to watch closely and hear from faculty going through
the process. If you know any new faculty or other currently
dealing with immigration issues, please reach out to Angela and
me.
- Second, we have heard form the International Student
Association during our last meeting. This is a great group of
students supporting international students coming to UTSA. They
are looking forward to working with us and collaborating on
events and initiatives. They are also looking for a faculty
advisor which should not be a lot of work but a great
opportunity to further connect. Please reach out to Angela and
me if you are interested and we can connect you!
- Third, we will be at the BOLD Resource Fair for incoming
faculty on Monday, August 1, 3:30-4:30. This is a great
opportunity for our group to onboard and support new faculty -
remember, you were there once, too. We might even want to host a
social event just for international faculty during that week
(see below). Again, please reach out to Angela and me if you
would like to help here!
- Finally, we have not hosted a group social yet nor have we
continued to work on by-laws and institutionalizing leadership.
Maybe this is a good time to restate that Angela and I are doing
what we are doing simply because there has been no one else. If
you wish to become more involved, have an idea for a social
event, or want to lead the group, please let us know and we will
get you there!
Sorry, this is already a lot of information - the bottom line is,
we now have a way to easily reach out to everyone and we will
continue to get this group of the ground. Summer and new faculty
onboarding will be important here as is our continued lobbying for
better immigration & visa support. We will be in touch
throughout the summer and let you know about fall plans. Most
likely, we will be hosting monthly meetings again but we hope to
have them in-person
Thank you for your interest in the group & please reach out
if you have any questions!
Matthias
