CHILLY Thursday
In this Issue:
- Solar eclipse safety
- Public Health AmeriCorps application
- Award winning picture of the ZSR
- AI-generated versions of the WFU Fight Song
Yesterday around dinnertime we got some rain, and along with it came a 20 degree drop in temperature. Today feels legitimately cold for April!
It’s a busy day for me with meetings, so sharing just a few tidbits with you.
Solar eclipse safety
Next Monday, if we don’t get blocked by clouds, is the much talked-about solar eclipse. Today we are sharing this reminder from our Office of Environmental Health & Safety with your students in their weekly WFU Should Know e-newsletter:
“On Monday, April 8, a partial solar eclipse will cross Winston-Salem. The eclipse will cover approximately 80% of the sun at its maximum at 3:13 p.m. The entire eclipse will last two and a half hours.
Partial solar eclipses are different from total solar eclipses – there is no period of totality when the moon completely blocks the sun’s face. Therefore, during a partial solar eclipse, it is never safe to look directly at the eclipse without proper eye protection.
Do NOT look at the Sun through a camera lens, telescope, binoculars or any other optical device while wearing eclipse glasses or using a handheld solar viewer — the concentrated solar rays will burn through the filter and cause serious eye injury. For more information, see the NASA Eclipse Safety website.“
I was able to find some eclipse viewing glasses on Amazon.com for me and Mr. Daily Deac (and sent some to our ’27 Wolfpack). I suspect your students may be able to grab some at hardware stores locally or other places if they need them.
Public Health AmeriCorps application
This crossed my inbox from the Office of Civic and Community Engagement and I wanted to be sure to share it here. We have a wonderful Public Health AmeriCorps program that is now in its third year. This is an opportunity that might particularly interest students who are hoping to go into a healthcare field (either as a care provider or an administrator, advocate, etc.). See details below, or read this great news story from last spring about our previous Public Health AmeriCorps students. An impressive bunch to be sure.
“In spring 2022, Wake Forest University was selected as an inaugural site for the federally funded, Public Health AmeriCorps (PHA) program. PHA is an AmeriCorps State and National Program that was created in collaboration with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and is hosted through the NC Commission on Volunteerism & Community Service through the North Carolina Governor’s Office. The program aims to address pressing public health challenges and support the training and development of the next generation of public health leaders.
Housed within the Office of Civic & Community Engagement, up to 15 part-time members will each complete 900 hours of service, between September 2024 and August 2025, at mobile health clinics and health care agencies in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County…
This is a paid service opportunity. Priority applications are due by Sunday, April 14 at 11:59 p.m. ET. General applications are due by Sunday, April 28th at 11:59 p.m. ET. Students can apply now.”
Award winning picture of the ZSR
I told you last week that our longtime University Photographer, Ken Bennett, retired. Lyndsie Schlink, who joined the photography team in fall 2022, recently won Best in Show for the February Monthly Image Competition from the University Photographers’ Association of America (UPAA) for this photo of the ZSR Library atrium at golden hour.
And this is not Lyndsie’s first win! This will be her 4th award since she joined Wake Forest.
AI-generated versions of the WFU Fight Song
AI is a big topic in higher education (as well as everywhere else, I suspect). Many of us who work on the communications team play with it from time to time just to see what is possible, and one of my intrepid teammates used a music AI generator to come up with alternate versions of the fight song. So for your listening pleasure, I present to you:
What we are calling an ‘Emotional Disco’ (think ABBA) AI fight song
AI is wild, y’all. So much can be done so quickly. It’s crazy.