Onboarding tips for new faculty members and postdocs

  • Human Resources/Payroll and mailroom – see Emily Lange or Caitie Bruning in the main department office (273 Altgeld Hall) as soon as possible after arriving on campus, to finalize your documents 
  • University ID (I-card) – visit the ID center inside the Illini Union Bookstore (809 S. Wright Street; note that the bookstore is not located in the Ilini Union building)
  • Office assignment, keys, maintenance requests – contact Math Facilities
  • Computer support – contact Math IT to request help with getting or maintaining office computers or monitors, and accessing departmental printers
  • Cloud storage – register for a Box account
  • Webpage – find your departmental homepage at the faculty directory page and log in at your page to add material. Then to make a personal page, you may use Publish or cPanel or a non-university web publishing system.
  • Semester dates – see the official calendars and check for religious holidays when scheduling exams for your courses
  • Class schedule for each semester – Course Explorer
  • Course descriptions – Course Catalog
  • Teaching assignments, syllabi and textbooks – find your teaching assignment, read the official syllabus for your course (which generally specifies the textbook), and correspond with Becky Bishop in the main office to order the textbook for your course and get yourself a copy. For any questions about your course assignment, the syllabus or textbook, contact the Associate Chair for Instruction, Vadim Zharnitsky.
  • Learning Management Systems – Canvas resources and sign-up, and Moodle resources and sign-up. Prof. Ashlee Espinosa (who teaches theater in California) has made a series of instructional videos for Canvas. In particular, her 45 minute video “Canvas Course Setup (FULL TUTORIAL)” tells you pretty much everything needed to set up a standard 400 level course in our department.
  • Teaching advice – the Course Catalog shows who has taught the course in recent semesters; new faculty members and postdocs are encouraged to contact people who taught the course recently, as these colleagues are usually more than happy to share their course materials and insights
  • Mathematics Library – due to Altgeld renovations, all books have moved to the Main Library for a few years; the Math librarians are extremely helpful, so please do introduce yourself to Becky Burner and ask for assistance with the online and physical resources
  • Business office – for grants and reimbursement questions, see the business office resources or send email to the staff.
  • Mathematics Department website – for general information and links
  • Department resources, including room reservations – departmental resources page
  • For teaching-related inquiries, please contact the Associate Chair for Instruction, Vadim Zharnitsky.
  • Not sure which staff member can help you? See the Staff Duty Assignments and the Contact Sheet for Math personnel.
  • For matters not covered above, please ask the Associate Chair for Faculty, Richard Laugesen.