Ellis

Wake Forest recently was featured on an episode of “Hear It From a Peer” on the PeopleAdmin website. The episode was called “Collective Unity,” and it focused on organizational development in higher education.

Wake Forest’s Professional Development Center, which won CUPA-HR’s 2012 Innovation Award, was highlighted as an example of being a change agent that brought unity across departments and successful aligned them with the mission of the university.

Champlin

The summary said, “With professional development activities for both faculty and staff, WFU has been able market this through one location, thus generating a sense of community across the campus, and encouraging collaboration between departments.”

Featured from WFU were: Andrea Ellis, the director of recruitment and organizational development; and John Champlin, the manager of professional and leadership development.

See and hear the episode here »

The Office of Investments presents the first InvestConnect Speaker Series of the semester featuring Guggenheim Partners. The event will be Friday, Oct. 4, from 4:30-5:30 p.m. in the Broyhill Auditorium of Farrell Hall, and it is open to students, faculty and staff. Because of Family Weekend, students’ relatives are also welcome to attend.

Through this series, the Office of Investments brings industry leaders to campus, providing a great opportunity to network and learn more about our speakers’ respective fields. Guggenheim Partners, a global financial services firm with more than $180 billion in assets under management, will be on campus to discuss various aspects of the investment industry, including portfolio management, client services and relations, business development, and marketing.

For those in attendance, there will be a raffle for four box-seat tickets to the WFU vs. N.C. State football game on Saturday, Oct. 5.

Click here to register: PDC Website

Flu season is just around the corner, and anyone can be a potential target. For this reason, Wake Forest is sponsoring onsite flu shot drives in October for faculty, staff and retirees. Talk to your primary care physician to see if the flu vaccine is right for you.

To register for your free flu shot, please visit the Professional Development Center website. Shots are offered at various times from Oct. 1-14.

Flu Facts: The flu is a disease of the breathing passages caused by the influenza virus. It can be as contagious as the common cold & transmitted from people who are already infected. You can also get the flu from others who have been exposed, but have not yet developed symptoms. It is more serious than a cold, often causing severe symptoms (ie body aches, exhaustion, high fever, respiratory inflammation, congestion, cough & more).

For people classified by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as high-risk, it is especially important to get vaccinated (including people over 65; a household contact of persons at increased risk of flu-related complications, anyone with heart disease, diabetes, kidney disorder, blood disorder or an impaired immune system). The flu vaccine is your best protection, as it is 75 to 90% effective in preventing infection.

Contrary to a popular myth, you cannot get the flu from the vaccine since it is made from highly purified, egg-grown viruses that have been rendered noninfectious. Annual flu shots should be received, as new strains develop each year and your body slowly loses its immunity to the flu.

On June 10, members of the Wake Forest community gathered in the Magnolia Room for the Gatekeepers Recognition Ceremony. The event honored 109 faculty and staff that have completed the first three workshops in the Gatekeepers Workshop Initiative in the 2012-2013.

Created by Shayla Herndon-Edmunds, manager of diversity education for Wake Forest, the Gatekeepers Workshop Initiative enhances participants’ cultural competence through tools and exercises that explore perception, various communication and conflict styles; value differences, stereotype threat, implicit bias, contact theory, among other phenomena that impact the engagement of faculty, staff and students on campus.

Provost Rogan Kersh and other University leaders spoke about the importance of cultural competence in building an inclusive community, while participants and internal trainers were celebrated for their efforts.

To date, more than 1,000 staff, faculty and students have attended the Gatekeepers 1 Workshop, “Enhancing Our Community Through Inclusion.”

Check the Professional Development Center’s website for Gatekeeper’s courses available in 2013-14.

The School of Business is very excited about the upcoming completion of Farrell Hall — a building that will not only provide a dynamic home to the undergraduate and graduate business programs, but also represent an exciting addition to the facilities portfolio of the  Wake Forest campus.

The school looks forward to welcoming students, faculty and staff into the space, and it is providing opportunities to tour the building. Currently, tours are scheduled for May 3, 10, 17 and 24 at 3:30 p.m.

Register for a tour on the PDC site »

On February 10-12, professional and organizational development colleagues from higher education gathered for the third annual Professional and Organizational Development Conference at Wake Forest. The event, hosted by Wake Forest’s Professional Development Center, offered an informal opportunity to bring together professionals in this field to share best practices and to gain insight from each other.

Fifteen schools participated in the conference.

Learn more about the event on the PDC website »

Please find below updates on several Human Resources initiatives, along with key dates:

Leadership Development Program

The Professional Development Center is accepting applications through March 15 for the 2013-2014 Leadership Development Program. The program continues to be open to 10 faculty and 10 staff members, a structure that creates a diverse learning environment and helps participants gain a new appreciation of the different roles and departments across campus. Please visit the Leadership Development Program web page for further information.

Youth Employment Program

Applications now are being accepted from departments who are interested in hiring a student dependent for this summer’s Youth Employment Program. The program has been enhanced to model the Wake Fellows Program. More information can be found at the Youth Employment Program web page.

Student dependents of faculty or staff who are interested in applying for the program may do so March 15-31 through the Wake Forest career portal. Position descriptions will be posted once the application period begins, and selected students will be notified by April 30. The PDC will offer afternoon and evening resume building classes to help prospective students create their application materials.

Annual Benefits Enrollment

The annual benefits enrollment period will take place April 1-12, offering benefit-eligible faculty and staff the opportunity to review and update their elections. The annual benefits fair will take place on April 2 in Benson 401.

Centralized Temporary Staffing Services

Wake Forest will launch a centralized temporary staffing service later this summer, which will allow the Human Resources team to support your temporary staffing needs in a convenient and cost-effective manner. We will work with campus departments to determine if the temporary staffing needs can be met through in-house “Wake” temporary employees, or through a preferred agency partner. More information is forthcoming.

Please contact the Human Resources team at x4700, or AskHR@wfu.edu, for questions.

On Jan. 5, Information Systems staff performed an upgrade to Sakai, Wake Forest’s learning management system. Previously created sites and their content were retained. It now has new functionality, including improved Profile and Assignments tools, an enhanced content editor with increased math capabilities, and a choice of Gradebooks.

Please see the Sakai Blog for information on what’s new in Sakai 2.8.2. Check out the Professional Development Center (PDC) for a list of classes. Don’t forget that you can also find tips and how tos on the FAQ page.

Today is the final day that Wake Forest staff may register online for a lottery to win free tickets to a men’s home basketball game against Georgia Tech and a special pre-game “tailgate” lunch. The University’s Staff Advisory Council is organizing the staff appreciation event set for Feb. 16.

To register for the lottery, staff may visit sac.wfu.edu. Staff without Internet access may register by calling 758.3224.

The SAC is offering up to two free tickets to the game and tailgate to staff members through the lottery. Those awarded tickets will be offered an opportunity to purchase up to two more tickets at a reduced price of $10 per ticket for other family members.

Up to 400 tickets will be given to staff through the lottery. Since tickets are limited, the SAC is encouraging staff to request tickets only for immediate family members to allow as many staff as possible the opportunity to attend.

The game between the Demon Deacons and Georgia Tech is set for 2 p.m. at Joel Coliseum, and the tailgate event will begin at 11:30 a.m. The lunch will be held at The Last Resort at 513 Deacon Boulevard, across the street from the coliseum.

Wake Forest is embarking upon an exciting new opportunity to develop a comprehensive, campus-wide well-being initiative for students, faculty and staff. As part of the initial stages of this process, the offices of the Provost and Finance & Administration would like to extend an invitation to the entire WFU community to learn about the project thus far and open up the floor for idea sharing.

When Ben Sutton’s gift to spur the renovation and expansion of Reynolds Gym was announced in September, provost Rogan Kersh said: “Well-being means attending to one’s physical and emotional health, emphasizing the importance of character, improving the built environment and much more. A comprehensive culture won’t be something we accomplish with one building, but something we strive to create together as a campus community and then initiate over months and years. If we do it right, our ultimate hope is to enhance Wake Foresters’ well-being across their lifetimes.”

Two sessions will be held in December (click on the link to register through the PDC):

• Thursday, Dec. 13: 10-11 a.m.; Reynolda Hall, Autumn Room
• Monday, Dec. 17: 2-3 p.m.; Reynolda Hall, Heritage Room