CU Engineering Employee News & Resources - Sept. 5, 2023

Faculty and staff on monthly payroll can now purchase their own parking permit online. You no longer need to submit applications and allocation forms through your unit parking liaison.

Wednesday, Sept. 13. 1:25-2:15 p.m., JSCBB Butcher Auditorium | Add to your calendar
Please join Dean Keith Molenaar for the fall all-college meeting, which will include the official rollout of our strategic plan. More details coming soon!

Dean Keith Molenaar will be serving up donuts and other treats to kick off the semester. Stop by to mingle and grab a treat of your own!

• Sept. 6 – 8:45-10 a.m., Engineering Center main lobby
• Sept. 12 – 9:30-10:30 a.m., Aerospace Engineering Sciences Building main lobby (East Campus)
• Sept. 14 – 9:30-10:30 a.m., Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building (East Campus)

Friday, Sept. 15. 9:20 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Aerospace Engineering Sciences Building
Sandia Day is designed to foster and advance the partnerships between the University of Colorado Boulder and Sandia National Laboratories. University faculty and staff can expect to learn about Sandia as a laboratory and facilities, as well as programs within the laboratory designed to foster partnerships.

Wednesday, Sept. 27. 2:30-4.30 p.m., UMC Connections
Take a break and join us for a few rounds of bowling at the UMC. Shoes, games and non-alcoholic beverages are on the CEAS HR team. All CU Engineering faculty and staff are invited! RSVPs are requested.

Applications due Dec. 15​
If you plan to take a fall 2024 differentiated workload, please ensure your applications is submitted to CEAS HR by the deadline. Visit our page on Differentiated Workload Semester for CEAS Instructional Faculty for more information.

Applications due Jan. 15, 2024
​If you plan to take an AY 2024-25, fall 2024, CY 2025 or spring 2025 sabbatical, please ensure your application is submitted to CEAS HR by the deadline. Visit our College Procedures for Sabbatical Leave for more information.

Requests may be submitted at any time. Staff members should discuss the request and cost-share with their supervisors before applying; procedures may vary across units. For full consideration, requests should be submitted at least two weeks before the professional development registration deadline or payment due date. Requests for funds are approved on a first-come, first-served basis per fiscal year (July 1-June 30).

• Chantel Lehl, CS - August
• Laura MacDonald, MCGE - August
• Robin McClanahan, ECEE - August
• Lindsey Morford, CS - August
• Yumie Kajino Smith, MCEN - August
• Robin Elliott, ECEE - September

• Tim Faiella, NCWIT - September

• Joan Wiesman, AERO - August

Adam Zheng, Educational Technologist and Engineer - CS
Adam is an Information Systems Engineer for our department; he quickly made himself invaluable to the department with his excellent IT skills. He keeps our extensive server infrastructure running smoothly which directly supports both our education and research missions and he is ready to assist any member of our department with technology-related questions. He helps to lead our department’s computing and educational technology committees and he is a perfect liaison between our department and OIT, helping to make sure that anything our department is doing with technology is compliant with OIT’s for safety and security. He is a highly valued member of our team.

Claire Bennett, Area Director, Student Support & Advising Services - CS
Claire Bennett is the Area Director for Student Advising & Support Services – Computing and manages all of the department’s undergraduate academic advisors who in turn support the ~1200 CS majors that we have in our residential programs. She also collaborates with the academic advisor for our post-bacc program as needed to support that program’s students. Claire goes above and beyond to help our students as they encounter issues in their academic journey and she plugs into everything in our department related to undergraduate education so that our faculty and staff have the information they need to understand how curriculum and policy decisions may impact our students. She also provides excellent support to our undergraduate academic advisors ensuring that they have opportunities to engage in professional development to help further their own careers. She is a highly valued member of the CS community.

Luis Villalobos, Engineering Recruitment Senior Specialist - ADMIN
Luis Villalobos is being nominated for a Staff Incentive Award, based on his work on the EngiNearMe summer program. Luis always has a “can-do” attitude, but it really shines through with intensive summer programs like this. Luis recruited an amazing cohort of students and mentors for this year’s program, on top of doing his “normal,” incredibly busy spring-time workload. Additionally, Luis stayed in the residence hall with the students (!) for the weeklong program. This was not a requirement but Luis wanted to be sure that there were no issues and he would be around if needed. This is an inconvenience for any staff member, but Luis is the world’s biggest Nuggets fan and chose to be in the residence hall to watch the final game, while also organizing a watch party for the students. Students reported that they loved spending time with Luis this week and as the admissions cycle proceeds, we know that many of these students will decide to attend CU Engineering because of their relationships with Luis.

Lauren Darling, Senior Engineering Projects Consultant - ITLP
Lauren Darling, Senior Engineering Projects Consultant, is being nominated for a Staff Incentive Award based on her work on our EngiNearMe summer program. Lauren has worked with us for several years on this program and her enthusiasm, dedication to students, and consist ability to go above and beyond is unmatched. She arrives early, stays late, works 1:1 with students, comes in on the weekends, and prepares for months for EngiNearMe. This would be extraordinary if she were on our team, but she’s not, and this is an extra project that she takes on outside of her work. She is a delight to work with and student always rave about their positive experiences with Lauren.  EngiNearMe is one of our most successful pipeline programs and I’m confident that we would not have this level of success without Lauren’s commitment.

Coco, aka CocoPuffington, looking slim for summer after shedding some weight. Coco is loved by Tara Scott in ChBE.

Frank (left) and Beans (right) luxuriating in style.  These two are loved and adored by Meredith Canode on the CEAS Dean’s Office admin team.