Medicare wants to make sure you’re covered, but active employees enrolled in a CU health plan have more to consider before enrolling. Read more on the Employee Services blog.

Join Colorado football on Saturday, Nov. 6, for the annual Homecoming game. Faculty-staff tickets start at $30 and are available here.

Faculty and staff pricing is also available for Buffalo men’s and women’s basketball. Season tickets to men’s start at $202, while season tickets to women’s start at $100.

For more information on all faculty and staff ticket promotions visit cubuffs.com/facultystaff or call the ticket office at 303-492-8337.

Drop-in vaccine clinics are available for staff, faculty and students at Wardenburg Oct. 12, 14 and 15. Available vaccines include: flu, COVID-19, meningitis and MMR.

Faculty and staff can use the Rec Center for free as part of the Health and Wellness Summit Oct. 12–15. Activities include bouldering, ice skating and fitness classes.

For all the emerging threats and news that are cropping up on the horizon, phishing—one of the oldest pain points in cybersecurity—continues to be a threat to individuals and organizations. Here are a few quick best practices and tips for dealing with phishing threats.

Course alerts are an important component in ensuring undergraduate student success. The process aligns with the university's strategic priority of creating a common student-centered approach to teaching and learning and aims to improve retention and graduation rates for students. If students are alerted early in the semester, they have the time to take action, whether this means seeking additional instructor help or guidance, engaging a tutor or modifying their schedule accordingly.

“We strongly recommend that instructors submit their alerts as early as possible, and well before the drop deadline for the term, to help students improve their academic performance in the class,” said Myers. “Instructors can submit their alerts more than once a term, but only once per student.”
The recommended deadlines for Boulder 16-week courses is Monday, October 11.

The Distinguished Speakers Board (DSB) will host professional climber and TV host Alex Honnold at Macky Auditorium on Monday, Nov. 1, at 7 p.m.

Tickets will be available starting Monday, Oct. 11. Student, faculty and staff tickets will be available in person at the University Memorial Center (UMC) in the Alferd Packer Grill area. Limited general public tickets will be available via Eventbrite starting Monday, Oct. 11.

Students: $2, available in person at the UMC
Faculty/staff: $10, available in person at the UMC
General public: $15, via Eventbrite (tickets for the general public are sold out)

A Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics lecture was highlighted through CU Boulder Today with the incorrect date. The talk, Three launches in one season: LASP’s diverse science and suborbital talent, will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 6, from 7 to 8 p.m. 

LASP scientist James Mason will discuss how LASP has been preparing for three small satellite and sounding rocket launches and will present an exciting launch video. These smaller missions are a fast-growing and flexible segment for the lab and promise to return an abundance of diverse and exciting science.

Being cyber smart is one of the best ways to protect yourself and others from cybercriminals. Learn these terms and increase your cyber smart IQ.

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Each week the system Office of Information Security will publish a new article related to the week's theme. 

The Buff Techs’ troubleshooting and diagnostics services for university and personally owned computing devices are once again available in the Norlin Commons. The Buff Techs currently provide both in-person and online appointments. Get details from OIT.

Are you interested in the earth and environmental sciences? 
Are you an undergraduate student who identifies as a woman?
Are you interested in participating in a successful national scale mentorship program? 
 
The program offers students the opportunity to meet peers from regional universities with similar interests, learn more about careers in earth and environmental sciences and expand their professional networks. 

Complete this five-minute online application to get involved: https://progress.colostate.edu/workshop_signup/
 
What you will receive:

• A large network of peers and professionals in your local region
• A professional development workshop on:
  • Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021, in Colorado/Wyoming
  • Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021, in the Carolinas

This is a unique opportunity that will not be offered again until 2023. Your professors are not involved. Your participation will have no bearing on your course grade or credit. Your application will be confidential. 

This project is funded by the National Science Foundation (award numbers: 2013318, 2013333, 2013323, 2013312, 2013326). 
 
For questions, please contact us at progressgeoscience@gmail.com. 

Clear communication of expectations is beneficial to both the faculty advisor and graduate student advisee. To this end,The CU Boulder Graduate School  recently developed an Advising Agreement that facilitates conversations between graduate students and their mentors on a number of topics.

In a similar vein, the Center for Teaching & Learning has developed a Teaching Assistant/Instructor of Record Agreement to facilitate conversations about expectations. 

National Voter Education Week takes place Oct. 4–8. Make your plan to vote on Nov. 2.

Here is a suggested plan for the week:

Day 1: Register or check to make sure registration is up to date

• In Colorado: govotecolorado.gov
• Other states: vote.gov

See Student Voting Guidelines for more info and how to register your residence hall address correctly.

Day 2: Make sure you get your mail ballot

Colorado voters are automatically sent ballots in the mail, but if you are registered in another state, check to see if they are having an election this fall and make sure you request to be an absentee voter.

Day 3: Get election ready

If voting in Boulder County, check out their 2021 Election Information page for all the pertinent dates and details. If voting from another Colorado county, check out this page to find your county to seek out local information. And, if from another state, vote.gov is a great starting place.

Day 4: Get ballot ready

If voting in Colorado, you can pull up a copy of your sample ballot here and click on “view my sample ballot.”  And just like that, you are ahead of the game!

Day 5: Know your trusted sources

The 2020 election saw unprecedented levels of mis- and disinformation. National and state election experts expect that trend to continue. Please be aware and always seek out or check information against official and trusted sources of election information, such as your local county clerk, or the Colorado Secretary of State’s office before sharing or posting with friends or family.

We hope you will join us for CU’s fourth annual Health and Wellness Summit Oct. 12–15.

The summit is open to CU faculty, staff and students interested in learning more about our holistic approach to health and wellness and about the programs and services available.

Homecoming Wherever You Roam T-shirts are available for purchase. And $10 of the $15 cost supports student scholarships. A limited number of these custom tees are available, so get yours today.

Faculty or staff employed on the Boulder campus, Boulder campus retirees and employees of University System offices in Boulder are eligible for membership.