Category: December 2017

Faculty and staff are invited to the 2017 university holiday parties:

Fairfax Campus Holiday Celebration: Tuesday, December 19, 1:30 to 4 p.m., Johnson Center, Dewberry Hall

Toy drop off for INOVA Children’s Hospital and food drive for the Patriot Pantry will be located in the Cinema lobby during the event.

SciTech Campus Holiday Luncheon: Monday, December 11, noon, Beacon Hall

Arlington Campus Holiday Reception: Tuesday, December 12, noon, Founders Hall, Multipurpose Room

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Staff Senate, I’d like to wish you the happiest of holiday seasons. Here’s hoping you find time to relax, visit with family and friends, and travel safely.

This is also a good time for each of Mason’s 3,200 staff members to reflect on the valuable role we play at a university that continues to grow in size and stature, and to remind ourselves how we can best support each other as colleagues.

The Staff Senate did just that as a group at our December general meeting. We participated in a visioning exercise led by Shernita Parker and Laura Titkemeyer from Mason’s HR & Payroll Organizational Development, Learning, and Coaching office.

Shernita and Laura asked us to fill in this blank as it pertains to our jobs at Mason: “When things work well, it looks like….” Instead of voicing our answers as frustrations, we were encouraged to frame our answers in a positive light. The responses incorporated autonomy, trust, humor, efficiency, personal growth, flexibility, civility and many, many others. (You can read them all by enlarging the accompanying photo, which I like to think of as an organizational thought bubble of sorts).

I know this might look like a list of abstract and aspirational terms destined to be forgotten by lunchtime. But that wasn’t the case. This exercise provided clarity on how each of us can play a role to support each other as colleagues and feel a sense of satisfaction in the workplace.

We recommend reaching out to the Organizational Development office to schedule a group exercise for your unit. Just by taking part in crafting a shared vision, you gain a better understanding of how you can transform your workplace into a great place to work.

Happy Holidays, and enjoy your time off!

 

Very Respectfully,

Christopher Maier – Chair, Staff Senate

1. George Mason IV was born on December 11, 1725.
2. During debate on the Virginia Declaration of Rights, and due to illness, George Mason was absent from the Committee of Safety for several weeks and did not attend the fourth convention, held in December 1775.
3. George Mason was one of seven men, in December 1786, the Virginia General Assembly elected as the Commonwealth’s delegation, to attend a meeting in Philadelphia the following May, to devise amendments to the Articles of Confederation, which would result in a more durable constitutional arrangement.

The next Mason Administrative Professionals meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 12 from 11:30 – 12:30 in The HUB VIP II.  

Since the holidays can be a stressful time Shernita Parker, Director, Organizational Development, Learning, and Coaching, Human Resources/Payroll, will be joining us to lead a mindfulness session.   

If you would like to attend, please RSVP to mapmason@gmu.edu … the MAP group welcomes anyone working at George Mason who considers themselves to be in an administrative professional role.

Senior Vice President Jennifer (J.J.) Wagner Davis will host “Java with J.J.” on Wednesday, December 20, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. in Merten Hall, Room 1201. J.J. will provide an initial review of the Governor’s newly released proposed budget and the financial impacts to Mason. The floor will be open for questions after this brief presentation.

The University Financial Update forum can be accessed as follows:

Fairfax: Merten Hall, Room 1201 (live)

Videoconferencing will be available as follows:

Arlington: Founders Hall, Room 720

SciTech: Bull Run Hall, Room 254

Loudoun: Signal Hill, Room 101

Front Royal: Academic, Room 219

Contact Jennifer Wilson at jwilso44@gmu.edu with questions. We hope to see you there!

With the winter break just around the corner, the Staff Senate wanted to provide you with helpful tips on how to set up a temporary out of office voicemail and email messages.

To set your temporary out of office voicemail, follow the steps below.

1) Access your voice mailbox by either pressing the Message key on your desk phone or dialing 703-993-7900 if you are off campus.

2) Press 8 – 2 – 3.

3) Press 5 to record your message, then hit the # key to save.

4) Press 9 to set the expiry date.

5) Enter the expiry month, then hit the # key to save.

6) Enter the expiry day, then hit the # key to save.

7) Enter the expiry time (military time can be used), then hit the # key to save.

 

To set your temporary out of office email replies, follow the steps below*.

On a PC, open Outlook and click on File, then select Automatic Replies (Out of Office).

On a Mac, open Outlook and click on Tools, then select Out of Office.

On Office365, open Outlook web client and click on the Settings gear button, then select Automatic Replies.

When you have opened the Out of Office option, you can select the appropriate start and end dates and times. Make sure you have an updated outgoing message for both internal and external senders as these programs do not always update both.

*You can set this up ahead of time and set the dates for it to be in effect.