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Reminder: Submit your President’s Award of Excellence nominations

REMINDER to submit your submission for the President’s Award of Excellence. The award recognizes staff members who continually go above and beyond for the betterment of Lawrence.

Nominees must meet the following conditions:

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

You may nominate a staff member from your own department or another department by Nov. 11. Nomination forms are available on the PAE page and must accompany a one- to three-page, typed testimonial describing how the employee encompasses the award criteria.

The nomination form can be submitted by one of the following methods:

Email: Excellence@lawrence.edu
Fax: 920-993-6026
Interoffice mail: Rochelle Blindauer, Human Resources
Hand deliver: Rochelle Blindauer, Brokaw Hall Room 108

If you have additional questions, please see the President’s Award of Excellence FAQ page or contact Rochelle Blindauer at 920-832-6541.

SAAC canned food drive going door-to-door

As a part of the Midwest Conference Canned Food Challenge, the Lawrence University SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) is collecting canned food items as well as monetary donations to donate to Blessings in a Backpack. LU SAAC is asking for the help of staff and faculty members to help collect these items on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 11:30 a.m. Each $1 donated will count as two cans in the MWC Canned Food Challenge.

On Thursday at 11:30 a.m., SAAC members will be going door-to-door to faculty and staff offices to collect canned food items or monetary donations at the following buildings:

  • Briggs
  • Youngchild & Steitz
  • Main Hall
  • Admissions/Career Services
  • The Conservatory
  • Brokaw
  • Sampson House

If your office is not on this list or you will not be present at that time and would like to donate, please come to one of those buildings at 11:30 a.m. or drop your items off with a colleague!

 Blessings in a Backpack is a program for local elementary schools who have a high number of students who are on assisted lunches or demonstrate a high need for extra food that they are unfortunately not getting at home. BIAB gives these kids backpacks of food each Friday during the school year to make sure they are getting enough to eat on the weekend. LU SAAC has already been in contact with the local BIAB chapter, and it will use the monetary donations or canned food items to help stock these backpacks at local Appleton elementary schools for students who are in need. 

If you have any questions, please contact SAAC advisor Ashley Wellman (ashley.l.wellman@lawrence.edu).

Careers at Lawrence

The following job openings are available. If you are interested, please apply online or send a resume to humanresources@lawrence.edu. View full job postings on Lawrence’s job website.

  • Executive assistant for the Office of the VP for Student Affairs
  • Director of alumni admissions engagement
  • Assistant baseball coach (pitching)
  • Assistant director of athletics fundraising
  • Associate director of parent giving
  • Tenure-track assistant professor, vocal coach
  • Custodian
  • Tenure-track assistant professor, cello
  • Tenure-track assistant professor, voice
  • Assistant professor of ethnic studies
  • Postdoctoral fellow in Jewish studies
  • Campus security officer

D-Term internship: First Steps Recovery and Wellness internship in West Virginia

Engage in an in-depth D-Term experience at First Steps Recovery and Wellness Center in Huntington, W.Va. First Steps is a nonprofit organization that supports addiction recovery and transition out of homelessness.

From Dec. 2 to Dec. 10, you will be involved in peer support, educational classes, evidence-based curriculum, weekly AA meetings and activities for individuals who are experiencing homelessness, have mental health issues and/or have a co-occurring substance use disorder. You will also work with the First Steps team to educate participants about available support services. In addition, you will experience drug court firsthand, where individuals who have been sentenced on a drug-related crime work with advocates from First Steps and the court system to pave an action plan for their road to recovery.

If you are interested in nonprofit work and/or addiction/homeless recovery, then this internship is for you.

Further info:
Through the generosity of a Harmony House board member, housing will be provided. Some funding for D-Term travel may be available if you have demonstrated need and submit your request by the application deadline of Nov. 14.

Please submit resume and cover letter to Mandy Netzel, assistant director of Career Services, employer and alumni relations, by Nov. 14 at 5 p.m. at amanda.g.netzel@lawrence.edu.

Camp Akeela info session Nov. 7

Camp Akeela is where quirky campers thrive!

Assistant Director and Wisconsin On-site Director David Baker will be on campus to talk about summer counseling positions with Camp Akeela in Wisconsin and Vermont. Join David for an info session from 10:30 to 11 a.m. on Nov. 7 in the Warch Campus Center, Kraemer Room.

Camp Akeela is a camp for kids that may need a little extra social support. Many campers have a diagnosis of high-functioning autism and other nonverbal learning disabilities. Some campers, however, have no diagnosis at all and just need extra support in the areas of making and sustaining friends.

Camp Akeela will be hosting students throughout the summer of 2017 on the Lawrence University campus. Camp counselors will receive free housing throughout their experience.

Reminder: Convocation next Tuesday

A reminder to the campus community: Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Natasha Trethewey will speak at next Tuesday’s Convocation at 11:10 a.m. in Memorial Chapel.

Trethewey, whose talk is entitled The Muse of History: On Poetry and Social Justice, has combined her mixed-race background and profound writing skills to convey the plight of the southern black woman. Her first collection of poems, Domestic Work (2000), detailed working-class lives and jobs and won the Cave Canem Prize for a first book by an African American poet. In 2007, Trethewey was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for Native Guard (2006), an exploration of death and war. Other acclaimed works include Bellocq’s Ophelia (2002), a fictional narrative of prostitution in 1900s New Orleans; Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi (2010), a non-fiction collection; and Thrall (2012), an examination of mixed-race fathers and children.

In 2012, Trethewey was named the 19th U.S. Poet Laureate. She is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of English and Creative Writing at Emory University and also has held teaching positions at Duke University, the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill and Yale University.

Trethewey earned a bachelor’s degree in English at the University of Georgia, a master’s degree in English and creative writing from Hollins University and a master of fine arts degree in poetry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

An informal question-and-answer session will immediately follow the Convocation in the Chapel.

Summary of Lawrence Retirement Readiness Plan changes

As you know, Lawrence made several changes to our retirement program, effective Jan. 1, 2016. The Office of Human Resources wanted to provide you with an update on some things that have—and have not—changed, to give you an update on some of these changes and to clarify some questions about the plan.

 

What Has Changed

What Has Not Changed

Number of plans and plan name

Lawrence used to maintain two separate plans: The Lawrence University Defined Contribution Plan and The Lawrence University Tax Deferred Plan.

We have merged these plans into a single plan: renamed The Lawrence University Retirement Readiness Plan.

The retirement plan provides for Lawrence contributions on your behalf and also offers you the opportunity to save for your retirement, up to maximum amounts set by the IRS.

Record-keeper

Previously, the plan used two record-keepers: TIAA and Fidelity.

We have selected Transamerica as the sole record-keeper for the plan.

Note: Transamerica will report all assets that are still with TIAA and/or Fidelity, however have no control over TIAA and/or Fidelity funds.

Investing your contributions

Amounts you contributed before Jan. 1, 2016 remain with the investment funds you have selected. Amounts you invested with TIAA funds remain invested in the TIAA funds you selected. Amounts you invested with Fidelity funds remain invested in the Fidelity funds you selected.

All amounts contributed after Jan. 1, 2016 will go into the new plan and be invested in funds offered through Transamerica.

You may direct that amounts invested with TIAA or Fidelity be transferred to Transamerica, but this is your decision.