The offices of Human Resources and Institutional Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, are excited to announce a new change to Missouri S&T’s Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) policy. In accordance with federal law, the university provides employees with the ability to take a leave of absence for family, medical reasons, or leave for military families while maintaining job protection. Under the previous policy, leave could be taken for an employee’s illness or that of an employee’s child, spouse or parent. The new policy will now extend that coverage to include sponsored adult dependents, including the child of a sponsored adult dependent. View the new policy or read frequently asked questions and answers about FMLA.

Three policies were recently updated and are available online. They are:

• Policy memorandum II-11: Appointment, Review, and Continuation to Named or Endowed Positions
• Policy memorandum II-15: Chancellor’s Professorships
• Policy memorandum II-20: Graduate Student Registration

View all S&T policy memoranda.

Dr. Brian Scassellati, professor of computer science, cognitive science and mechanical engineering at Yale and director of the National Science Foundation Expedition on Socially Assistive Robotics, will speak at Missouri S&T in February. Scassellati will present “Building Robots That Teach” at 10 a.m. Monday, Feb. 6, in Room 209 Computer Science Building.

As part of the MAE Centennial Seminar Series, the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering will host a presentation by Tim Barefield 3:30-4:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, in Room 199 Toomey Hall. Barefield currently serves as chief operating officer of Pershing Square. He is a 1983 mechanical engineering graduate of Missouri S&T. Get more details.

Join representatives from AT&T, Boeing, RSM and S.M. Wilson as they discuss “The Employer Perspective, Career Fair and Interviewing” at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7, in St. Pat’s Ballroom C of the Havener Center. Light refreshments will be provided by career opportunities and employer relations (COER).

The Mid-Missouri Chapter of the American Statistical Association is sponsoring a short course, “Introduction to Statistics for Spatio-temporal Data,” by Dr. Chris Wikle, professor of statistics at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The course will be held 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, in the Leadership Auditorium at the MU Student Center in Columbia. The deadline for early registration is Thursday, Feb. 16. For more information, including registration fees, please visit the Mid-Missouri Chapter of the American Statistical Association website.

With Missouri’s General Assembly now in session, faculty, staff and students interested in the latest news from the state capitol should subscribe to the University of Missouri System Legislative Update. This weekly newsletter is delivered to your inbox every Friday with information about state and federal issues that impact, or could impact, the university. Subscribe.