Dear Faculty Colleagues,
Our students’ college experiences are shaped by their health and well-being. The valuable partnership between our faculty and the Division of Student Affairs allows us to collectively capitalize on our expertise to support the academic success of every student — undergraduate, graduate and professional. Faculty play a critical role in our students’ health and well-being. Students may come to you first for guidance and help, or you may notice that a student’s mood and behavior has changed. With the fall term underway, we wanted to share a variety of the Division’s student life and well-being resources that you can use for student mental health concerns, emergencies and conduct issues.
The Counseling and Mental Health Center’s Counselors in Academic Residence (CARE) Program is positioned in every college and school to provide localized and accessible support for students, and consultations to faculty and staff. To find locations to access CMHC mental health services across campus, including counselors located in your school or college, see this map. In addition, Texas Well-being provides guidance and strategies to help faculty and college/department administrators make small shifts to in- and out-of-the-classroom conditions and in teaching activities and practices that can make major differences in students’ mental health and well-being. This fall, Texas Well-being and SHIFT, along with the Center for Teaching and Learning, Longhorn Wellness Center, Dell Medical School, School of Nursing and College of Natural Sciences, will be offering workshops on Enhancing Student Well-being, Strategies for Social Connection and Engagement for Faculty. You can register here.
To expand access to counseling services, CMHC has partnered with TimelyCare, a virtual mental health and well-being platform that is free for currently enrolled students. TimelyCare offers 24/7 on-demand emotional support, scheduled counseling, health coaching and more, available in 240 languages.
The Behavior Concerns Advice Line (BCAL) is a fast and simple way for anyone to report issues or concerns about any member of the University community, including students and teaching assistants. BCAL staff triage calls and route them appropriately. Call 512-232-5050 24/7 or share your concerns online.
The Office of the Dean of Students includes a variety of teams and resources to support students through their college experience. These resources include:
- Student Emergency Services helps students and their families during difficult or emergency situations. Assistance includes outreach, advocacy, intervention, support and referrals to relevant campus and community resources. The team assists students with the class absence notification process during critical situations such as medical or family emergencies, and also operates the Student Emergency Fund. If you become aware of a critical issue, please email Student Emergency Services or call 512-471-5017 to begin the process.
- UT Outpost food pantry and career closet for all UT students.
- Attorney consultations for student legal issues and presentations on legal topics.
- Student Conduct and Academic Integrity administers the student conduct process for potential policy violations, including academic misconduct. Conduct faculty resources include ideas for preventing and addressing academic misconduct, a flowchart for responding to classroom disruption and an Academic Integrity Videos module on Canvas Commons. These videos cover topics including due process, collusion, plagiarism and more. We encourage you to add one or more videos to your classes to help your students avoid academic misconduct.
If you have any questions about these resources, please email Dr. Charlotte Canning, special consultant to the vice president for student affairs on faculty relations and secretary of the general faculty. She has also prepared a one-page resource document for faculty with further information regarding academic integrity at the University.
We appreciate your support in the spirit of our shared goal to help ensure that every student is healthy, engaged and successful — and ready to change the world.
Sincerely,
SONCIA REAGINS-LILLY
Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students
SHARON L. WOOD
Executive Vice President and Provost