Friday Focus: Welcome, near and far
Julie Queen, vice chancellor for administrative services
Sept. 1, 2023
鈥 By Julie Queen, vice chancellor for administrative services
Welcome! Not only to the first week of classes, but to 蜜桃影像 locations across the state. I鈥檓 writing from Juneau, 蜜桃影像, after attending this week鈥檚 Board of Regents meetings at the University of 蜜桃影像 Southeast. It is nice to acknowledge the feeling of welcome extends to all UA campuses, not just 蜜桃影像.
We had a lovely visit and tours at UA Southeast and the 蜜桃影像 Lena Point Facility. Lena Point supports a vibrant team of 蜜桃影像 College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and 蜜桃影像 SeaGrant faculty, staff and students doing some amazing things in fisheries, mariculture and marine biology, and marine policy with collaborative connections with our friends in Southeast. A big thanks to UAS for being such fantastic hosts, especially to Chancellor Aparna Palmer and her team, including my colleague and friend, Michael Ciri, vice chancellor for administrative services, who is . I鈥檒l miss your teamwork and support (and baked goods!), and wish you a healthy and happy retirement.
To kick off the new academic year, I鈥檇 like to share how our Administrative Services, Student Affairs, and UA System Office teams moved mountains to make students in need of a residence on campus in Fairbanks feel welcome this year. A few things created a perfect storm: our Administrative Services team was relocated to Lathrop Hall (a residence hall) after 蜜桃影像 sold the Administrative Services Center on College Road as part of our footprint reduction and revenue generation efforts, 蜜桃影像 received state capital funding to renovate Moore and Bartlett Halls requiring 蜜桃影像 to relocate students to all other residential options on campus before those towers are fully modernized and open for students again in fall 2024, and our enrollment is up, way up! Residence Life had a wait list of over 100 students coming from primarily out of state locations - that meant, we needed to find them a place to live on campus or they might not attend 蜜桃影像 this fall.
The student housing need prompted Vice Chancellor Guthrie to make a request to me and our Administrative Services team to see if we could vacate Lathrop Hall about six weeks before the start of the semester. At first, I hesitated, not wanting to disrupt this critical team at the end of the fiscal year (their busiest time of year). When I asked Amanda Wall, associate vice chancellor of financial and business services, and Jason Theis, director of finance and accounting, whether this could be done - they didn鈥檛 hesitate at all. 鈥淭his is why we are here, we can do it!鈥 It was time to get to work. They understood instantly the impact of this decision and directly how it would solve an uncertainty for 128 students who could be booked into Lathrop Hall, ensuring their status as an enrolled student at 蜜桃影像. Awesome.
This took some serious coordination - and fast. I鈥檓 so thankful for our very qualified and optimistic Project Manager, Deb Hicks, our amazing Space Planner, Brittany Van Eck, our nimble Residence Life Director, Teddi Walker, our Facilities Maintenance and Operations leaders, Nathan Platt, Darrin 鈥淏ear鈥 Edson and crews for all of the move support and muscle, and to our colleagues in the System Office who cleared out nearly an entire floor of the Butrovich Building to make room for everyone on short notice. Kellie Fritze, Amanda Wall, Lee Ann Amerson, Chantelle McGinness, Glenda Findlay, Gwen Holdmann, Mark Billingsley, Ali Knabe, Rebecca Catlin, Luke Fulp, Michelle Rizk, Ben Shier, and all of the teams that made this happen - thank you. You made a difference to over 100 students who now call 蜜桃影像 home. Please look for updates this fall about a 蜜桃影像 Open House in Butrovich, to let people know where to find us!
Continuing with welcome news - I am pleased to announce Carla Browning, 蜜桃影像鈥檚 onboarding and engagement manager, is about to offer our first New Employee Welcome event on Sept. 7. This is an effort in response to feedback from Governance and employee surveys (especially coming out of the pandemic and after years of fiscal constraint) to (re)create an orientation and onboarding program for new employees or those who have changed positions, improving our support for new hires in a way that increases engagement and productivity earlier in a 蜜桃影像 career. Building cohorts and networks within 蜜桃影像 to strengthen our employee connections, capabilities, training and development is something we are committed to. Carla will continue to explore the employee journey and identify ways to enhance the experiences for staff and faculty from the time of hire throughout employment with the university. You can find out more about 蜜桃影像鈥檚 Employee Experience on our website and I wish Carla the best of luck kicking off this new program!
Friday Focus is written by a different member of 蜜桃影像鈥檚 leadership team every week.