Sheila Hoover, OED's new instructional designer, began her position on September 22, 2008. Sheila has been at the University for a number of years, most recently as an instructional designer for the Department of Clinical Lab Sciences. Sheila also earned her Ph.D. from the University. Sheila is officed in the Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action suite in 247 McNamara. She can also be reached at 612-625-3582 or hoove004@umn.edu. Welcome Sheila!
After twenty-seven years at the University of Minnesota, the irreplaceable Sue Hancock is retiring. Please join us for a reception to celebrate Sue on Thursday, October 23, 2008, from 4-6 p.m. in the Campus Club. View the invitation to the reception. Please RSVP to Barb Chapin at 612-624-0594 or chapi001@umn.edu.
The fall OED all-staff meeting will be held on Monday, October 20, 2008, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Mississippi Room in Coffman Memorial Union. In preparation for the meeting, all staff will be expected to read OED's new vision framework, "Reimagining Equity and Diversity: A Framework for Transforming the University of Minnesota." Download the PDF of "Reimagining Equity and Diversity or stop by 432 Morrill to pick up a printed copy.
All OED staff are invited and encouraged to attend open forums with the three candidates for the Disability Services director position. The times and places for each candidate's forum are:
Sandra Meicher: Tuesday, October 21, 2008
10:30 – 11:15 am, 402 Walter Library
Donna Johnson: Tuesday, October 28, 2008
10:30 – 11:15 am, 402 Walter Library
Wendy Harbour: Thursday, November 6, 2008
10:30 – 11:15 am, 402 Walter Library
More information about each candidate is available here.
The Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Office has moved to the second floor of the McNamara Alumni Center, suite 247. On Wednesday, November 5, EOAA will host an open house from 4-5 p.m., directly following the fall EOAA Liaison Conference. All OED staff are invited to come for a treat and a tour!
On August 1, 2008, the Office for University Women officially changed its name to the Women's Center. “Our constituents had been asking for a name that seemed more inviting and welcoming, that would enable incoming and current students, faculty and staff, and women in the community to more easily find and utilize our programs and services,? said Peg Lonnquist, interim director of the Women’s Center, about the name change. More information about the name change is available on the Women's Center's brand-new web site.
The University of Minnesota Equity and Diversity Breakfast will be held on Thursday, November 20, and the Equity and Diversity Breakfast Implementation Team is looking for volunteers to help at the event. Volunteer slots are available between 7 and 10 a.m. for any amount of time; tasks include helping with set-up, check-in and registration, and directing traffic during the event. Volunteering is a great way to be a part of the event--and breakfast is included in the deal! To volunteer at the Breakfast, please e-mail Minerva Munoz.
Adeniyi Ayinde has joined Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action as a student intern to collect and catalog diversity recruitment source information to create a searchable diversity recruitment source database. Niyi is a senior in the College of Liberal Arts majoring in African American Studies. He will be contacting representatives from the various OED units to help gather recruitment source information for the
database.
Niyi's work is in support of EOAA's SPIF grant project to develop a diversity recruitment database that Human Resources and search committees can use to source diverse candidates for open University positions.
The Women's Center has had a number of new staff come on board this semester. Teaona Hasbrouck, Executive Office & Administrative Specialist, holds a BA in Anthropology with a minor in Gender Studies from Boise State University. In addition to her administrative experience with the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Idaho, Teaona worked as a Residential Specialist at the Women’s and Children’s Alliance and interned with the Idaho Women’s Network. Laura Ihry and Laura Dalman both began this semester as student employees: Laura Ihry is the undergraduate Program Assistant; Laura Dalman is the graduate College Student Personnel Psychology (CSPP) Intern.
Donna Johnson will join OED on January 5, 2009, as the new Director of Disability Services. Currently, Donna serves as a Senior Research Fellow in the U's Institute on Community Integration, a unit of the College of Education and Human Development. Donna is no stranger to DS, where she has worked previously as a Project Coordinator and Assistant Director. Donna has been at the University since 1991. Welcome Donna!
Beginning December 1, 2008, administrative oversight of the Bridge to Academic Excellence shifted to the Office for Undergraduate Education in a move designed to streamline efficiency and reporting structures, and take advantage of the program's many partnerships with other programs focused on undergraduate education. "While we think this move makes sense, we will greatly miss Steve and and his staff," says Rickey Hall. "Steve took a concept on paper and created a vibrant, exciting, and successful program." Both Steve and Minerva Munoz, assistant director of the Bridge, will continue to office in Klaeber Court and hopefully will continue to partner with OED units on programming and projects. In addition, Rusty Barcelo will continue to serve on the Bridge's advisory board. Many thanks to Steve and Minerva for their contributions and collegiality; we wish them well in their new "home."
The OED “Play Day” has been scheduled for Thursday, May 28, 2009, for lunch and afternoon entertainment for all OED staff. The planning committee has been formed to coordinate the day; contact Barb Chapin with questions.
The new OED IT Help Desk system has been rolled out to all units and is now available for use at http://it.oed.umn.edu. The Web-based system will allow for easier fulfillment and monitoring of help requests by OED IT staff as well as OED employees filling out help requests. The new system allows users to:
• Request assistance when you encounter a problem using your computer hardware or software, the network/Internet, printers, OED fileserver or a 4D system.
• Request that specific IT equipment be set-up or moved to a new location.
• Request the purchase of hardware or software (with the approval of a departmental IT Purchase Approver)
• Check on the status of a previously submitted request.
Instructions for using the new system are available here.
Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action consultant Kimberly Simon recently joined a cultural competency collaborative with several metro area colleges and universities including St. Catherine, St. Olaf, Macalester, and Dunwoody. The purpose of the collaboration is to explore the feasibility for developing shared training programs and opportunities around cultural competence. The group plans to pool resources to provide educational programming, and share best practices.
Several units have welcomed new staff in recent weeks. Graduate student Thomas Sarmiento has joined MCAE to work with the Wallin Scholars, through a generous donation from the Wallin Foundation. Also new to MCAE is Kamarrie Gooding, who is the unit's new assessment evaluation coordinator. In DS, four new staff have joined the ranks: David Johnson in Student Services; and Lisa Beller, Cassie Lang, and Katie Johnson in the Interpreter/Captioning Unit. The GLBTA Programs Office is very pleased to welcome Shawyn Lee, the office's new assistant director, and also pleased that Ross Neely has accepted the position of program associate.
Welcome to all new staff!
On March 1, 2009, the University implemented a new, automated system for tracking P&A vacation leave. This has meant some changes in how P&A employees in OED submit and track vacation days. All P&A employees must use the new Faculty/P&A Vacation Leave Reporting form, which is available as both a PDF and a Word document. Processes for submitting the form are as follows:
• P&A employees who report to Rusty Barcelo, Kris Lockhart, Rickey Hall or Eric Schnell should submit completed forms to Kitt Young-Atlas.
• All other P&A staff should submit completed forms to Lori Young-Williams, 3rd floor Morrill Hall. Processes related to vacation leave vary from unit to unit, so check with your supervisor to ensure that any other guidelines related to taking vacation in your unit are being followed.
• Civil Service and Bargaining Unit staff will continue to follow the same procedure and use the same forms used in the past.
P&A vacation balances are now available to view online on pay statement. Although reporting of vacation is taken will be in days, days are converted to hours in the system for tracking in alignment with existing PeopleSoft functionality. If you have any questions, please contact Cheryl Brady or Lori Young-Williams.
A new online data-gathering tool is now available to OED units with the need for online registrations/RSVPs, evaluations, surveys, or other information management. The web tool is managed by Kris Layon in System Academic Administration and is available to OED units at no charge. A few of the pilot projects using the tool include:
• A site for poster session proposals
• A site for conference registration
• A site for conference evaluation
For more information about the new tool, or to set up a time to discuss possible projects using the application, e-mail Kris Layon.
The relocation of the GLBTA Programs Office, MCAE, and the Women's Center from Klaeber Court to Appleby Hall is scheduled for the week of July 13-17, with normal operations resuming during the week of July 27-31. Phone numbers and e-mail addresses will remain the same for all staff members of the three units. For more information or questions about the move, contact Eric Schnell.
The application period for the Scholarly Excellence in Equity and Diversity (SEED) Awards is now open. The SEED Awards program honors outstanding diverse undergraduate students who are currently registered for full-time study at any of the University of Minnesota's campuses. SEED Award recipients (the 2008 recipients are pictured at right) are diverse students who demonstrate impressive achievement and leadership in academic performance and community outreach and activism. Eight to twelve SEED Awards, ranging from $1000 to $3000, will be awarded at the 2009 Equity and Diversity Breakfast on November 19, 2009. The deadline for submitting a SEED Award application is September 25, 2009. Complete information and application instructions are available on the SEED Award web site.
