Category: August 2014

The August Staff Senate newsletter is out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 12
12:00 –  2:00 pm
Prince William Campus, Bull Run Hall, Atrium

Join us for the final Summer Social, with ice cream and a toppings bar. Enjoy the company of your fellow colleagues with a delicious treat. A trivia contest will begin promptly at 1 p.m.  This event is associated with Prince William Campus Fun and Wellness Day.

Charvis Campbell, (703) 993-8585, ccampbe7@gmu.edu, University Life

Gentle Yoga

12:00 – 12:30 pm
1:30 – 2:00 pm
Prince William Campus, Freedom Aquatic & Fitness Center, Studio 218

Team Trivia Contest

1:00 pm
Prince William Campus, Bull Run Hall, Atrium

Part of Mason’s Wellness Initiative and back by popular demand is the second annual Prince William Team Trivia Contest. Gather your colleagues up and pick up a registration packet! Partner with folks from your department or make new friends for a team of two to five people. This event is associated with Prince William Campus Fun and Wellness Day.

For more information, contact Doug Hernandez at dhernan9@gmu.edu.

For more information on other events that day, click here.

 

Every Wednesday at noon beginning in the “Wellness Circle” in front of Merten Hall, meet up with colleagues for a lunch-time walk.   C’mon out and join us!

If you would like to sign up to lead a walk in August or beyond they can visit http://mysignup.com/walkingwednesdaygmu.

Mason Dining’s Faculty/Staff meal plans just got better! You asked, we listened, and we will be providing the variety and affordability you desired.

Starting this fall, faculty and staff meal plans can be used in the Bistro, Southside, The Globe, Pilot House, and Ike’s.   Save up to $200 with plans that include 10, 25, or 50 entries into these five all-you-care-to-eat facilities, serving delectable food for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

The Bistro will continue to serve as a go-to lunch spot this fall, but that’s just the beginning. The Globe, opening soon in the state-of-the-art facility that was formerly the Mason Inn, will highlight Mason’s diversity with rotating menus full of international flavor. Southside, located in the middle of campus, will continue to serve balanced meals throughout the day. For thosef early birds looking for a meal before work, Pilot House will have loaded breakfast options all night until 7am. Finally, the newly renovated Ike’s in President’s Park will be operating 24/7 and be the perfect place to build community at the university by increasing the interaction between Mason students and staff outside the classroom. All of these locations will offer healthy, fresh dining options while providing a great place to network with friends and colleagues.

Byte plans are the cheapest and most convenient way to eat within walking distance of your office:

10 meals per semester for $71 + tax

25 meals per semester for $170 + tax

50 meals per semester for $319 + tax

To sign up, go to the Card Office in the basement of SUB 1 to purchase byte plans, which will be loaded onto your Mason ID. Sign up before September 12 and receive FREE guest passes to bring a friend or colleague to lunch!

For more information about meal plans for Mason Faculty/Staff, visit masondining.com.

If you weren’t able to attend the staff appreciation coffee klatches, it’s not too late for one last opportunity at a great raffle prize: tickets to the Hylton Center for the Arts.

We hope you enjoyed the staff appreciation coffee klatches last month. With visits from K9 Officer Lucy and the green and fuzzy Gunston, to opportunities to win great raffle prizes and a healthy breakfast, our aim was to reach as many Mason staff as possible.

If you couldn’t attend, there’s one more shot a great raffle prize!

Images of all three events can be found on the Staff Senate website photo gallery.

Winners of the raffle prizes are listed on this page of our website.

 

 

Senator Highlight: Megan Kirk
HR Consultant, Human Resources and Payroll
Vice Chair, Staff Senate

I began working at Mason in 2010 and am currently enrolled in the MPA program. To be honest, what initially brought me to Mason was the tuition waiver benefit so that I could continue my education in pursuit of a Master’s degree. However, what keeps me at Mason is an infinitely longer list. I first took a position as an HR Assistant at Mason and started taking classes toward a Master’s degree in Sociology. It didn’t take me long to recognize how truly lucky I was to find a job I enjoyed and a work environment that is both fun and challenging. As an added bonus, I also have thoughtful, encouraging, and intelligent coworkers and supervisors. I embraced this career path and I am now an HR Consultant in pursuit of a Master’s in Public Administration with a concentration in HR.

I joined the Staff Senate in 2012 to be more involved in the Mason community and learn about Mason from different perspectives. The Staff Senate is comprised of Staff members across all campuses, colleges, and departments and it is interesting to learn about what they do and the challenges they face in their jobs. I currently serve as Vice-Chair for the Staff Senate and sit on the Outreach and Education committee.

Outside of my life at Mason, I spend much of my time with my dog.  I just adopted a  miniature schnauzer with one blue eye and one brown eye from Lost Dog and Cat Rescue.  He’s shy, but very curious and playful.  I’m always looking for the perfect toy for him, but he will ultimately ignore it as he prefers chewing my socks instead.

Does your supervisor top the charts on best ever boss?  Nominate your supervisor for the 2014 Outstanding Supervisor Award.  The Outstanding Supervisor Award, sponsored by the Mason Staff Senate, is selected based on her or his ability to:

• Promote collegiality in the department,
• Be receptive to employee ideas and engage them in the department and/or university goals,
• Promote and model a positive work-life balance,
• Acknowledge exemplary performance,
• Be fair in acknowledging exemplary performance,
• Encourage professional growth of classified or non-student wage employees,
• Support the work of classified and non-student wage earners,
• Support innovation in the department, and
• Model leadership skills.

Guidelines

• A supervisor may be of any employment category (e.g., faculty, administrative, professional, classified, etc.) but he or she must supervise classified and/or non-student wage earners.
• Supervisor must employed at Mason at time of nomination.
• Nominators must report directly to the nominated supervisor.
• Nominations must be submitted by classified or non-student wage earners.
• There may be more than one nominator on each nomination form.
• Only three nomination forms will be accepted for each nominee. The first three nomination forms received will be reviewed by the committee. Additional nominations will be discarded.
• All identifying information is redacted before reviewed by the selection committee.
• Nominations received after the due date will not be considered.
• Forms must be submitted electronically as a Word document (not PDF) with the nominee’s name in the file name.
• Nominations forms are to be emailed to staffsenate@gmu.edu.
• Nominations will be accepted between Tuesday, August 1 and Sunday, August 31, 2014.

The winner will be officially recognized during the Outstanding Achievement Award ceremony Tuesday, November 4th at 2:30 p.m. in the Global Center Ballroom (formerly the Mason Inn) on the Fairfax campus.

Download the Outstanding Supervisor Award Nomination Form 2014

Questions may be directed to Kathrin Breitt Brown, Staff Senate at 3.4141 or kbreittb@gmu.edu.

Please welcome these stellar Mason employees to the Staff Senate!

Fairfax Campus
Wajahat Ahmed, Human Resources and Payroll
Jocelyn Hanly, Admissions
Amanda Kennedy, FAST, Fiscal Services
Francina Osoria, Division of Special Education & disAbilities Research/CEHD
Amanda Shoemaker, Student Centers
Alex Walsh, English

Arlington Campus
Lauren Clark, Arlington Information

Prince William Campus
Emily Robinson, Hylton Center for Performing Arts, College of Visual & Performing Arts

At-large
Joe Hinrichs, Environmental Health and Safety
Cloud Spurlock, INTO Mason

Re-elected Senators
Megan Kirk, Human Resources and Payroll
Marit Majeske, Hylton Center for Performing Arts
Stephanie Zeher, College of Education and Human Development

Continuing gratitude to these dedicated senators:

Andrew Addison, Events Management, Arlington
Lisa Bair, Academic Advising & Transfer Center, Fairfax
Susan Brionez, Volgenau School of Engineering, Fairfax
Andrew Bunting, Admissions, Fairfax
Rubi Chavez, University Police Fairfax
Amanda Corrigan, School of Art Fairfax
Jennifer Hamilton, University Libraries, Fairfax
Laura Harrison, Provost’s Office, Fairfax
Doug Hernandez, University Libraries, Prince William
Lindsey Lowenberg, Provost’s Office, Fairfax
Dean Naldrett, Freedom Aquatic & Fitness Center, Prince William
Stephanie Payton, Orientation, Family Programs & Services, Fairfax
Nicole Roth, History & Art History, Fairfax
Brett Say, Rehabilitation Science, College of Health & Human Services, Fairfax
Alfred Underwood, DoIT – Classroom & Lab Technologies, Arlington

And a fond farewell to:

Stephanie Barnett, Criminology, Law and Society, Fairfax
Christina Sanders, DoIT, Fairfax
Kevin Diffily, Volgenau School of Engineering, Fairfax
Jacqueline Inskeepm University Life, Prince William
Patrick Ledesma, Events Management, Arlington
Stacey Remick-Simkins, English, Fairfax
Paul Wieber, University Police, Fairfax