MyLU Insider

Audience – Readers

Category: Audience – Readers

Remember: Snow and ice safety

Snow and ice storms often include dangerous sheets of ice and banks of snow, transforming parking lots, steps and sidewalks into precarious situations for faculty, staff and students to navigate. Major contributing factors causing slips and falls include: improper footwear for winter conditions, walking too fast for conditions or carrying laptops or other materials. The following information will help reduce the chance of a slip and fall injury. 

When walking over snow and ice, remember to:

  • Choose the right type of footwear
    • Wear slip-resistant shoes or boots and dry off your shoes as soon as possible after entering a building.
    • High heels: Office staff should wear shoes or boots with good traction and then change into dress shoes after arriving.
    • Avoid wearing high heels outdoors.
  • Go slow on ice and snow
    • Take shorter steps, keeping feet shoulder-width apart.
    • Walk slowly and deliberately so you can react to traction changes.
    • Change your gait when walking on a slippery area—walk with your feet slightly turned out for better balance and make wide turns.
    • Use caution when entering buildings and use rugs and mats to remove tracked-in snow (wet shoes on dry floors are almost as dangerous as dry shoes on wet floors).
  • Take the best route
    • Look for slip hazards and scan the path of travel.
    • Follow the clearest route to your entrance, even if it’s not the most direct.
    • Avoid areas that have not been cleared.
  • Avoid carrying items
    • Keep your hands empty so that your arms are free to move for stabilization—use bags or backpacks if needed.
    • Don’t carry packages that block your view.
    • Drop off heavier loads near the door to avoid carrying them a long distance.
    • If you must carry something, use a rolling cart and keep loads small and balanced.
  • Safe falling techniques
    • When you feel yourself start to fall, let your body go limp. This will allow your body to naturally roll into the fall.
    • Keep your wrist, elbows and knees bent. Don’t try to break your fall.
    • Tuck your chin in and throw your arms up to protect your head.

Audition for the United States Marine Corps Band!

Join SSGT William Killian, musician placement director, in the Conservatory lobby Jan. 10 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to talk about the Marine Corps Band and find out how to audition. An audition date will be set in early February.

You can also sign up for a 1:1 chat with SSGT Killian in Career Services that same afternoon. Reserve your spot on LUworks now.

Now available at Mudd Library: Higher education resource guide

Interested in keeping up with the business of higher education? Of course you are! That’s why your friends in the Mudd Library have compiled a handy research guide to help you keep up with the latest news and research affecting higher education. The guide contains a link to premium access to the Chronicle of Higher Education and other useful resources that can help you with your work at Lawrence.

Higher Education: The Business of Lawrence

Questions? Ask your friendly reference librarians! We’re here for the whole Lawrence community!

Our next provost and dean of the faculty

A message to faculty and staff from President Mark Burstein:

Dear Lawrence faculty and staff,

I am very pleased to announce that Catherine Gunther Kodat will be joining Lawrence as our next provost and dean of the faculty. Katie will also join the English department as a full professor with tenure.  

Katie comes to Lawrence from Lewis & Clark, where she is dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. She began her academic career at Hamilton College, where over 17 years she rose from assistant to full professor, chaired the English and creative writing department, and directed American studies. She won the Class of 1963 Excellence in Teaching Award at Hamilton in 2008. Between Hamilton and Lewis & Clark, Katie served as acting provost and dean of the Division of Liberal Arts at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia.   

Katie’s academic background, accomplishments, and interests are a perfect fit with Lawrence. She started her undergraduate career at the Peabody Institute as a piano performance major. She completed her bachelor of arts degree summa cum laude at the University of Baltimore and her doctorate in English from Boston University. Katie has received many honors, including a Fulbright Lecturer Grant to Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem (ELTE) in Budapest, a research fellowship at the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford, and the Millicent C. McIntosh Flexible Fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. Her recent book, Don’t Act, Just Dance: The Metapolitics of Cold War Culture, has received significant acclaim. Between college and graduate school, Katie was a reporter for the Baltimore City Paper and then the Baltimore Sun, where she was a metro desk reporter and the paper’s chief dance critic. 

Katie’s interest in Lawrence drew early attention from the search committee. Our interactions with her only increased our interest. Among the many references we received, one colleague told us: “She is super smart. She is very organized. Katie is capable in all of her work. She is highly responsible and firm when firmness is needed. She is a good listener, open to ideas of others. She has a clear sense of priority and focus for what matters. Her approach is certainly open to revisions. She is not in any way loose in her thinking or assertive of her own view, but she is firm as well.” Others commented on her high standard of transparency and ethical leadership and her sense of adventure and interest in having fun.

In terms of her ability to represent the faculty within the administrative structure, another colleague said: “She is a passionate advocate for her faculty. I see all the passion of her breadth of knowledge articulated there. I know her academic background, but if I just saw her operating, I would not be able to identify her particular discipline. She has been at a liberal arts school and has been at a conservatory. She knows the terrain very well.”

Katie will formally join us in July, but she and her husband, Alex, will be on campus for a welcome reception on January 17 immediately following the faculty meeting. We will be in contact with more information about this reception in a few weeks.

I want to thank Tim Spurgin, who chaired the search, and the members of the search committee for this wonderful outcome. Search committee members included: Ameya Balsekar, Dominica Chang, Scott Corry, Samantha George, Pete Gilbert, Mark Jenike, Cathy Kautsky, Jenna Stone and Nancy Wall. They invested a significant amount of time and energy in the process. Also, thank you to the many members of our community who interviewed finalists this fall and to the Tenure, Promotion, Reappointment and Equal Employment Opportunity Committee, which met last week to consider Katie for a tenured position.

From the beginning, it was clearly a difficult task to find someone who had the temperament, experience, and love of the liberal arts to carry forward the very successful tenure of Dave Burrrows. I think we have found such a person and I am thankful to everyone involved. I am particularly grateful that Dave will remain at Lawrence as a professor of psychology after he steps down from the provost position.

I know you will all join me in welcoming Katie to Lawrence. I hope all of you are enjoying the break and that everyone has a wonderful holiday season. 

Yours,
Mark

Campus closed Dec. 24–Jan. 1

Campus will be closed for the holidays starting Saturday, Dec. 24 through Sunday, Jan. 1. Campus will re-open on Monday, Jan. 2.

Although campus is closed, the IT network and email will continue to function normally. Snow and ice removal will continue during the daylight hours. Campus security will also be available—if you need anything, contact 920-832-6999.

Reminder: Important payroll deadlines

As we look ahead to the holidays, the payroll office wanted to remind you that the Lawrence campus will be closed the week of Dec. 26 and, since payroll falls during that week, adjustments to the time sheet submission/approval process will need to happen.

Below is a timeline of important dates to ensure the Dec. 30 payroll processes smoothly:

  • Thursday, Dec. 22: submit timesheet for approval to supervisor by 4 p.m.
  • Friday, Dec. 23: supervisors approve time sheets by 8 a.m.
  • Monday, Dec. 26–Friday, Dec. 30: campus closed for holiday
  • Friday, Dec. 30: payroll date

Also, the payroll on Dec. 30 will not have any benefits withheld, as this fiscal year we have 27 pay periods (instead of 26) and we chose this payroll to be the one to not withhold benefits—Happy New Year!

To meet the needs of campus during the week of Dec. 26, a small number of employees will need to work (e.g., grounds, security). Those who work during this week should have been notified by their managers to establish their work schedules and discuss paid time off alternatives.

We wish you all a safe and happy holiday season.

Save the date: Jan. 6 Convocation

What do Assistant Professor José Encarnación, current student Irene Durbak ’17, alumna Carolyn Armstrong Desrosiers ’10, former non-degree-seeking student Christopher Ducasse, journalist Fritz Valescot, LUCE (Lawrence University Cello Ensemble) and the Lawrence University Symphony Orchestra all have in common?

Find out Friday, Jan. 6 at 7 p.m. in Memorial Chapel when Janet Anthony, George and Marjorie Olsen Chandler Professor of Music, speaks about her 20 years of music-making and cross-cultural exchange in Haiti.

There will be performances of Haitian music, including two works composed by non-degree seeking students at Lawrence, short film clips from Kenbe La directed by Armstrong Desrosiers and Stephan Anunson, and reflections on the transformative power of music.

We hope to see you there!