Natalie Mireles

It is with great pleasure that we announce the 2020 President’s Award of Excellence to recognize staff members who continually go above and beyond for the betterment of Lawrence.

The President’s Award of Excellence (PAE) recognizes exemplary University staff members for their exceptional support and performance for their Department and the University. The President and the PAE Review Committee will select up to 2 individuals annually for this award. 

Criteria:

The PAE Review Committee will carefully consider all nominations, taking into consideration the following criteria:

• Innovation and Enhancement: Drives innovation, initiative and leadership in the workplace through creative ideas which positively impact the University and/or the surrounding community.
• Support of Individuals: Demonstrates above and beyond commitment to provide timely service and support to the students, staff or faculty.
• Stewardship of Campus Facilities & Resources: Demonstrates a high level of care and responsible management for the well-being of the University and its resources for the benefit of our students, staff, and faculty.
• Teamwork and Collaboration: Cultivates trust, respect, and actively includes different perspectives while working in partnership with others to create an environment of comradery and collaboration. 
• Fosters a Diverse & Welcoming Community: Individual is committed to fostering a community that embraces all members and provides equal access, opportunity, and outcome to cultivate inclusion and dialogue across differences. 

Nominee Criteria:

• Nominees must be an active, regular full or part-time staff member with a minimum of one year of service (Senior Administrators (Cabinet), faculty, student workers/students and staff with less than one year of service, casual, temporary, leased/contracted employees are not eligible for nomination.)
• Exhibits consistent demonstration of the criteria listed above
• Demonstrates and maintains consistent job performance that exceeds expectations while displaying high levels of commitment, stewardship and respect

On behalf of Mark and the PAE Review Committee, we strongly encourage you to nominate a deserving colleague for the 2018 President’s Award of Excellence.  You may nominate a staff member from your own department or another department.

Nominations will be accepted now through Friday, January 15, 2021. Nomination forms are available on the President’s Award of Excellence page describing how the employee encompasses the above mentioned criteria. A persuasive nomination will consist of heartfelt examples that illustrate the merit of the candidate, along with real-life anecdotes. The nomination form can be submitted by one of the following methods:

Email:  HumanResources@Lawrence.Edu
Interoffice Mail: Human Resources, Brokaw Hall
WebForm: President’s Award of Excellence

Thank you in advance for helping us to identify and honor outstanding members of our Lawrence University staff!

Did you know our Employee Assistance Program, ERC, provides free webinars and live talks on various topics? Here is what’s coming up this month:

• Resiliency Today: Gratitude – December 3rd from 12:00pm – 1:00pm
  • Explore the science behind gratitude and how it can help to increase meaningful relationships in all areas of your life.
• Parenting Your Child with Special Needs: Positioning for the Future – December 8th from 12:00pm – 1:00pm
  • Assist parents in advancing their capacities to further equip children with valuable life skills as they continue securing the strong foundation for their lives.
• Financial Wellness: Planning Your Financial Future – December 9th from 12:00pm – 1:00pm
  • To prepare for the future you need to have financial resources to fall back on while simultaneously building wealth. This month’s talk will discuss typical roadblocks to saving, how to deal with them and the importance of investing.
• Parenting Your Teen: Career & Life Goals – December 10th from 12:00pm – 1:00pm
  • Discuss career and life goals with their teens in a positive way by looking at their teen’s personal values, interests and work skills. Parents will learn to help their teens discover their true passions.
• Your Healthy Lifestyle: Stick with It – December 14th from 12:00pm – 1:00pm
  • Participants will learn tips and insights to help make dreams a reality through the use of plans, anticipation, saying “yes”, identifying obstacles and their accompanying myths, determining techniques for starting and exploring motivators, flexibility, and how to keep going.
• Caregivers Network: The Latest Tech Trends for Caregivers & Seniors – December 16th from 12:00pm – 1:00pm
  • Explore the latest and greatest technology and gadgets to help older loved ones with communication, medication, safety and isolation.
• Succeed at Work: Diversity in the Workplace – December 17th from 12:00pm – 1:00pm
  • Explore strategies to prevent behaviors that interfere with the ability to work with people who are different. Participants will learn how perceptions, assumptions and biases develop and how they impact your responses.

Click here to register for any of the upcoming monthly talks. To log in to their website and view more resources, use the following credentials:

• Username: ERC
• Password: ERC

The following colleagues have been hired or rehired within the last weeks. If you see them on campus, please welcome them to Lawrence!

Josh Kaphingst – Electrician (Facility Services)

Natasha Wiebusch – Interim Director of Equity & Title IX Coordinator (Office of Diversity and Inclusion)

Victoria Wood – Diving Coach (Athletics)

The deadline to submit any open enrollment changes, additions, or drops to Human Resources is Monday, November 16, 2020 at 4:00 pm. 

If you do not want to make changes to your current benefit elections, you do not need to submit open enrollment forms, with the exception of flexible spending. The flexible spending enrollment form must be completed if you want to participate in health care and/or dependent care flexible spending in the 2021 plan year/calendar year. 

All Open Enrollment materials can be found on the Human Resources website: Open Enrollment.  If you have any questions please contact your human resources representative

For the last eight months, the coronavirus pandemic has created challenges to the way we work and altered many of our duties and responsibilities. Your willingness to take on sometimes unfamiliar tasks and to put in untold extra effort has enabled Lawrence to adapt to the crisis and continue educating our students.  At the same time, many of the expectations and goals we set during last fall/winter’s performance evaluation period are no longer priorities as we complete our work at this time. 

Because it would be difficult to assess progress against those benchmarks and to relieve some of the current administrative burden, it has been decided to make participation in the formal University performance evaluation process optional for this year. If an office or department would like to move forward with conducting performance evaluations, they are encouraged to do so and should not feel compelled to meet regular deadlines if additional time for completion is needed. Feedback compiled through the supervisor evaluation web form will not be collected this year.

If an office or department decides to forgo the formal performance evaluation, supervisors are encouraged to conduct feedback conversations with their employees. Providing constructive feedback is vital to employees’ ongoing development. It can open up a dialogue, communicate and clarify expectations, and play a crucial role in promoting professional growth. Supervisors are especially encouraged to meet with new employees or those that would most benefit from this 1:1 time. These conversations can be documented and utilized for reference in future year’s performance discussions.    

If needed, the Performance Evaluation webpage provides the documents to complete the annual performance evaluation. This webpage also provides helpful information on providing ongoing feedback, introducing change, setting annual objectives and goals, and more. Please do not hesitate to contact your Human Resources representative with any questions you may have or if any support is needed.

Thank you for all you have done to contribute to keeping Lawrence University a strong and vibrant community.

The WAICU Retirement Readiness Plan in partnership with Transamerica is pleased to offer a live webinar designed to help you take full advantage of everything the Retirement Readiness Plan has to offer. To register, please click on the title of the webinar and follow the on-screen prompts.

Retirement. Make It Yours.

Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Time: 12:00pm CST

Join us for a live webinar that will go over some key concepts to consider as you get ready to retire: Investing in retirement, Social Security and income planning, Medicare, legacy and estate planning, and lifestyle considerations.

The WAICU Retirement Readiness Plan in partnership with Transamerica has provided new informational materials. These resources can also be found under the WAICU Retirement Readiness Plan section on the Human Resources Forms & Resources page:

• Tips for Investing Success
  • You deserve the chance to prepare for the retirement you envision. Learn what a difference it makes to start early and increase your contributions regularly.
• Easy Access to Your Account
  • Taking control of your retirement journey should be simple. Learn how to set up and manage your account on any device.
• Basics of Your Retirement Plan
  • Create a foundation for your financial future. We touch on investing for retirement, accessing your retirement assets, and what happens if you change employers or retire.

Now is a great time to also consider your beneficiaries and retirement contribution. If you would like to make any changes, visit the Transamerica website. For help with your account, call 1-800-755-5801 to speak to a retirement specialist.

The deadline to submit any open enrollment changes, additions, or drops to Human Resources is Monday, November 16, 2020 at 4:00 pm. 

If you do not want to make changes to your current benefit elections, you do not need to submit open enrollment forms, with the exception of flexible spending. The flexible spending enrollment form must be completed if you want to participate in health care and/or dependent care flexible spending in the 2021 plan year/calendar year. 

All Open Enrollment materials can be found on the Human Resources website: Open Enrollment.  If you have any questions please contact your human resources representative

Lawrence University is excited to offer an employee referral program which offers a referral bonus of up to $250, less taxes, for the referral and subsequent hire of a campus safety officer or custodian. If you know someone interested in either of these positions, refer them to Human Resources via the candidate referral form.

If the referred candidate is hired, the referral bonus will be paid out in two separate payments. The first payment occurs once the new employee completes 1 month of employment and the second payment occurs after they complete 3 months of employment. For more information on this exciting program and eligibility, please visit the full guidelines here.