Carnegie Mellon University

The Piper

CMU Community News

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November 10, 2011

News Briefs

Poster Recognizes Veterans at CMU

Jonathan Carreon, a junior in electrical & computer engineering, created a poster recognizing veterans of U.S. armed forces who are members of the Carnegie Mellon community. He found there are 10 undergraduate students, 41 graduate students, 11 faculty members and 90 staff members. Carreon is a five-year veteran of the Navy. A high-res image of his poster can be found online at http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/user/jcarreon/workspace/vet_day_poster.jpg.

Book Store Streamlines Textbook Adoption Process

The Carnegie Mellon Bookstore is has a new streamlined textbook adoption process for this year at http://cmu.verbacollect.com/session/selfassign. For a brief tutorial visit vimeo.com/verba/review/29697633/09a101d693. For assistance, contact Matt Senvisky 412-268-2967 or msenvisk@andrew.cmu.edu or Chris Coleman at 412-268-1033 or ccoleman@andrew.cmu.edu.

Ten Thousand Villages Supports The CMU Children's School

Shop at Ten Thousand Villages in Squirrel Hill from 6 - 8 p.m., Nov. 17 and a percentage of your purchase will be donated to a scholarship fund for The CMU Children's School. The Children's School is an early childhood laboratory school and offers morning and afternoon preschool and full-day kindergarten programs for children ages 3 to 6. Ten Thousand Villages, located at 5824 Forbes Ave., is a fair trade retailer of artisan-crafted home decor, personal accessories and gift items from across the globe.

My Keepon Makes Commercial Debut

KeeponMy Keepon, the dancing, tiny and spongy yellow snowman-like robot developed by CMU Ph.D. robotics alumnus Marek Michalowski to study social development and autism, made its commercial retail debut last Friday, Nov. 4 at the Toys R Us in New York City's Times Square. A portion of every purchase will be distributed to researchers and practitioners investigating the use of robots in autism therapy. For more, read the My Keepon story at http://www.mykeepon.com/story.

Robotics Institue Featured on Travel Channel

Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute will be one of the Pittsburgh sites featured at 8 p.m. tonight (Nov. 10) on the Travel Channel's "Off Limits" series. The show also will feature the Carrie Furnace, Duquesne Incline, Braddock Locks and Dam on the Monongahela River, Fort Pitt Tunnel, Mellon Arena and Primanti Brothers.

Great American Smokeout Planned for Nov. 17

Smokers across the country use Nov. 17 as the date to make a plan to quit or to quit smoking. To support the effort, University Health Servies will host a free quit smoking group at CMU. All CMU community members are welcome to join. The eight-week program will run Mondays from noon to 1 p.m. from Nov. 14 through Jan. 16 (no meetings on Dec. 26 or Jan. 2). To register, email Kelley Shell at kshell@andrew.cmu.edu.

United Way Campaign Update

Carnegie Mellon's 2011 United Way Campaign, which runs through Dec. 16, has more than $40,000 in pledges to date, and the need has never been greater. Through July of this year, calls to Southwestern Pennsylvania's United Way 211 HelpLine have increased by 79 percent for folks who lack insurance and are seeking healthcare, by 100 percent for those seeking food stamps and by 450 percent for those seeking mortgage assistance. If you have no yet had a chance to donate, you can do so online at http://www.cmu.edu/hr/unitedway.

Review Online Directory

Human Resources reminds faculty and staff to review their department and individual information in the Faculty/Staff online directory (http://www.cmu.edu/hr/directory/index.html). Changes/edits can be made throughout the year. Quick search tip: When searching individuals (https://directory.andrew.cmu.edu/services/people/search) you may use an * as a wild card to search for a partial name. Contact Darlene Scalese with directory questions at dscalese@andrew.cmu.edu.

Are You a Notary Public?

Human Resources is updating notary public information listed in the online Faculty/Staff Directory. If you are a notary public and willing to provide notary public services free of charge to employees and students for official university business, and would like to be included in the directory, please send email to Darlene Scalese at dscalese@andrew.cmu.edu and include your name, department, location and phone number.

Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Discounts

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is offering the university community discounted tickets to several performances in November and December. Shows include the Beijing Dance Company (Nov. 15 at the Byham Theater), Dr. Suess’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (Nov. 22 and 27 at the Benedum Center), The Priests in Concert (Nov. 30 at the ByhamTheater) and PJO Holiday Performance (Dec. 18 at the August Wilson Center). To order tickets, go to http://www.culturaldistrict.org and login using the promo code CMU1112 to receive the discount.

Discounted Tickets to Pittsburgh Opera

Staff Council has arranged for members of the Carnegie Mellon community to purchase discounted tickets to the Pittsburgh Opera's 2011-12 season. This season's schedule at the Benedum Center includes "The Pearl Fishers," Nov. 12, 15, 18 and 20; "Tosca," March 24, 27, 30 and April 1; and "The Abduction from the Seraglio," April 28, May 1, 4 and 6.  For show times and to purchase tickets, go to http://bit.ly/pnghPw

Online Training for Faculty and Staff

Carnegie Mellon has an agreement with Lynda.com to provide faculty and staff with on-demand access to more than 50,000 video tutorials from expert authors covering hundreds of courses, including Photoshop, Microsoft Office, email, Flash, Final Cut Pro, design principles, digital photography, print and Web design, digital video, animation, creative inspiration and much more.  Visit http://www.cmu.edu/lynda for instructions and access.

Dining Services Wants Your Feedback

Housing and Dining Services is conducting the National Association of College and University Food Services Customer Satisfaction Survey through Sunday, Nov. 13. Details about the survey can be found at http://www.housing.cmu.edu/survey/nacufs.html. All participants will have an opportunity to win prizes, such as free food or a pair of Penguin hockey tickets (donated by the campus vending company, AVI Vending). Feedback you provide will help to recognize strengths and areas for improvement. Questions can be directed to plaid@andrew.cmu.edu or 412-268-2139.