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UCUR Program


Check-In & Breakfast

8AM - 9AM

Breakfast Mixers with Partners

Registered participants check-in at the Student Union.

Breakfast Mixers:

  • Cultural & Social Transformation - Student Union West Ballroom (croissants, bagels, muffins, danish, fruit, yogurt, hardboiled eggs, coffee, & juice)
  • Graduate School - Alumni House Ballroom (French toast, scrambled eggs, sausage, breakfast potatoes, fruit, pastries, coffee, tea, juice)
  • College of Humanities - 2110 Language & Communication Building (scrambled eggs, bacon, croissants, bagels, coffee, & juices)
  • STEM (College of Science, College of Mines & Earth Sciences, and College of Engineering) - Student Union Saltair Room (muffins, croissants, protein bars, yogurt, bananas, apples, oranges, fruit pouches, & coffee)

Music provided by: Derek Coombs and Sean Wilson

Session A

9AM - 10:30AM

Oral and Creative Presentations

Guided Tour I

10:30AM - 11:30AM

Utah Museum of Fine Arts

Registered participants will join us for a guided tour at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. Share in conversation as you explore the UMFA’s global collection that spans 5000 years of creativity. You’ll also spend time with Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea, a special exhibition featuring contemporary work from five museums that highlights many voices—including Black, Indigenous, Asian American, Latinx, and LGBTQ+—who stake a claim in the American West.

Tour: Full. 

Demystifying Graduate School

10:45AM - 12:15PM

Demystifying Graduate School & Tips to Conquering Imposter Syndrome

Alumni House Ballroom

In order for students to be successful in the Graduate School application process, they must understand the “hidden curriculum of academia” (Estein et. Al., 2022) including, what skills are needed for a competitive application, and where to find funding for research assistantships and fellowships. This workshop provides important information for demystifying the application process. In addition, the presentation seeks to acknowledge how intersectionality,  first generation and other identities can impact feelings of imposter syndrome and affect students’ journey.  Lastly, the presentation will address institutional supports that can support academic success and a successful transition to Graduate School.

Presented by Dr. Tiffany Baffour, Associate Professor, College of Social Work; Associate Dean, Graduate Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, The Graduate School

Dr. Baffour's presentation slides

 

Search the digital schedule 

Download the program as an e-pub or pdf.

Session B

10:45AM - 12:15PM

Oral and Creative Presentations

Lunch

12:30PM - 1:30PM

Lunch Remarks

Alumni House Ballroom

Boxed lunch provided to registered participants.
Poster awardees recognized. 


Event open to the public. 

Music provided by Derek Coombs and Sean Wilson.

Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Mitzi Montoya, University of Utah

Dr. Montoya joins the University of Utah as the new Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. She brings with her strong leadership skills, including years of service in dean and provost positions at several universities in the U.S., including the University of New Mexico, Oregon State and Arizona State University. Montoya’s experience in leading large academic enterprises has given her an eye toward problem-solving and engagement. Throughout her career she has supported student and faculty success, enhanced entrepreneurial ecosystems, and led collaborative initiatives to find solutions for social, technical and political challenges. As provost, Montoya seeks to inspire students, faculty and staff; lead innovation efforts; and help the U become a top 10 public university with unsurpassed societal impact.

Senior Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Chase Hagood, University of Utah

Dr. Thomas Chase Hagood serves as the Senior Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Utah. His approach to student development and passion for student success initiatives emerged from a commitment to research-based, faculty development as well as academic training as a historian and wealth of experiences as a faculty member. Since his arrival at the U in July 2021, SAVPAA Hagood's work at Utah includes cultivating creative partnerships between the various units of Undergraduate Studies and other entities across the university to enrich students’ learning experiences as well as enhancing the University’s national and international reputation for excellence in undergraduate education. SAVPAA Hagood earned his Ph.D. from University of Georgia.

Associate Vice President for Research Jake Jensen, University of Utah

Dr. Jakob Jensen currently serves as the Associate Vice President for Research and Professor of Communication in the College of Humanities. Dr. Jensen was born in Circle, Montana, a rural community located in a federally-designated frontier county. After leading Circle to a state championship in Speech and Drama, Dr. Jensen received a speech scholarship and Pell Grants to attend Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. Following graduation from Concordia, Dr. Jensen completed his M.A. and Ph.D. in Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Jensen began his faculty career as an assistant professor in the Brian Lamb School of Communication at Purdue University before relocating to the University of Utah.

Dr. Jensen’s central research program examines how to communicate complex information to non-experts. Over the last decade, he has conducted a series of message experiments examining how to communicate scientific research to the public. Dr. Jensen’s research program has received multiple awards, including the Golden Anniversary Monograph (twice) from the National Communication Association which honors “the most outstanding scholarly monograph published during the previous calendar year.” In terms of funding, Dr. Jensen is the first communication scholar to win the prestigious New Innovator Grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). His work has also been supported by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the American Cancer Society, the Department of Defense, the Sorenson Legacy Foundation, the Utah Department of Health, the Huntsman Cancer Institute, the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication, the Indiana State Department of Health, the Center for Families, the Immunology, Inflammation, and Infectious Disease Initiative, and the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering.

Here is Jake’s full bio on our website: https://research.utah.edu/about/meet-the-avpr-jakob-jensen.php.

Associate Dean Annie Isabel Fukushima, Undergraduate Studies, University of Utah

Dr. Annie Isabel Fukushima is Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, the Director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, and Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies in the School for Cultural & Social Transformation at the University of Utah. She is the author of the award-winning book, Migrant Crossings: Witnessing Human Trafficking in the US (Stanford University Press, 2019). She also serves as the Co-Principal Investigator and Founder of the University of Utah Gender-Based Violence Consortium. Fukushima is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition.

Edén Cortes-Lopez, Special Projects Coordinator, Utah System for Higher Education

The Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) is governed by the Utah Board of Higher Education and is comprised of Utah’s eight public colleges and universities and eight technical colleges. The CEO of USHE is the Commissioner of Higher Education.​

Search the digital schedule 

Download the program as an e-pub or pdf.

Guided Tour II

1:30PM - 2:30PM

Utah Museum of Fine Arts

Registered participants will join us for a guided tour at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. Share in conversation as you explore the UMFA’s global collection that spans 5000 years of creativity. You’ll also spend time with Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea, a special exhibition featuring contemporary work from five museums that highlights many voices—including Black, Indigenous, Asian American, Latinx, and LGBTQ+—who stake a claim in the American West.

Tour: Full. 

Mary Fairbanks

Session C

1:45PM - 3:15PM

Oral and Creative Presentations

Session D

3:30PM - 5PM

Oral and Creative Presentations