I am preparing this newsletter as the first day of summer is upon us. Summer in many ways is synonymous with vacation.  This year, perhaps more than ever, there is a temptation to put your head down, continue working, and pass on taking your vacation time.  Without flights, hotel, and campground reservations binding us, time away from work may not feel like a priority. I feel that the opposite is true.  The last year has been challenging for everyone in a myriad of ways.  It is important to unplug, spend some time outside, chase your kids or pets around (without worrying about them interrupting a meeting), or just do what makes you happy.  We have ambitious goals for this fiscal and we need to be rested and recharged to tackle them.  I have committed to taking my vacation AND disconnecting from work.  When I am away, I’ve asked a colleague to cover my absence.  I encourage you all to do the same. Happy vacation!


 Other Side of the Game book talk

Advancement Leadership Team (ALT) would like to thank everyone who read, participated, and submitted feedback on the Other Side of the Game facilitated session on June 23. Below are two lessons learned from the book and some additional readings recommended by our facilitator, Celina Caesar-Chavannes.

  1. Oppression reverberates beyond the walls of an institution. The powerlessness that comes from systemic oppression reverberates in so many ways, whether it is through people attempting to grab and assume power (even if that power is also oppressive) in other spaces (like Khalil) or in the lack of hope that can permeate an entire generation (as is illustrated through Devonte).
  2. Forgetting history is a strategic tool of the status quo. Once they've read this play, it is their responsibility to remember and recall a history of activism and resistance that occurred in this place and recognize the way their work either supports or impedes the current iterations of that activism today.

ALT values all opinions and wants to invite you to share your thoughts on the play and/or the discussion.  Please take a few moments to complete the anonymous survey to provide your feedback. We will keep this survey open until Friday, July 9, so you have time to share your thoughts and opinions if you choose to.

To continue in the footsteps of the Board of Trustees, we are going to move to the next book, Colonized Classrooms, by Sheila Cote-Meek. ALT would like to invite our colleagues to join us in reading this book and joining a facilitated session in the fall. More details to come this summer.

If you are interested in reading Colonized Classrooms, please contact Kate Bearse and she will order you a copy of the book.


Building a Better Workplace

ALT spent the past few weeks reviewing the Building a Better Workplace (BBW) presentations. We discussed the recommendations from each group and determined which we were able to act on immediately. We have already committed to ambitious fiscal goals which will require a great deal of time and energy. We also want to allow everyone time to take their vacation, rest, and recharge this summer. In light of this, we have chosen the following priorities to complete by Sept. 1, 2021:

  • Establishing meetings norms
  • Unit descriptions 
  • Staff bios on the website
  • Employee spotlight to include current staff

Read the full list of recommendations.  We will re-visit this list at the end of the summer and Identify priorities to be completed during the fall months.  


Jobs with Advancement

We need your recruitment help. Know great talent that would be a good addition to our team? If so, please promote the vacancies below with your networks and let’s find some amazing new team members.

Applications (including a cover letter and résumé) must be submitted through CareerQ. For additional information on this posting, please reach out to either Carla or the hiring manager for the position you are interested in.

Apply

Available Position:

POSITION UNIT AND DEPARTMENT CLOSING DATE GRADE
Executive Director, Development, Faculty of Health Sciences Development, Faculty of Health Sciences July 5, 2021 12

Did you know?

Stonewall Riots

June 28 is the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. The Stonewall riots (also referred to as the Stonewall uprising or the Stonewall rebellion) were a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Patrons of the Stonewall, other Village lesbian and gay bars, and neighborhood street people fought back when the police became violent. The riots are widely considered to constitute one of the most important events leading to the gay liberation movement and the 20th-century fight for LGBT rights in North America.


Today LGBT Pride events are held annually throughout the world toward the end of June to mark the Stonewall riots.  

"Stonewall riots". This page was last edited on (2021, June 26). In Wikipedia.

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