No images? Click here July 6, 2020 Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion welcomes new team memberAngela Gintz joined the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion as campus director of equity education and programming on July 1. In this role, Gintz will provide leadership in the development, implementation and facilitation of strategies, plans and programs, including BaCE, IDI and other initiatives of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. She will also teach student success seminars and courses with special topics on equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging. Gintz comes to WSU Vancouver from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore. where she served as director of inclusion and multicultural engagement. In that role, she worked closely with undergraduate students, staff, faculty and administration to deliver programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion. She is excited to meet everyone at WSU Vancouver and looking forward to building a strong, sustainable and equitable community together. Gintz earned her undergraduate degree in linguistics from University of California San Diego and her master’s degree in higher education administration at University of the Pacific. “Say Their Names”“Say Their Names” is a sound-based memorial to the thousands of Black, Asian, Hispanic and Native American people brutalized and murdered by police actions, or while in police custody. The intent is to bear witness to the memories of these people, and their lives cut short, as we hear their names. “Say Their Names” speaks the name of each victim aloud, and displays on screen the name, age, date and place of death for 2,000 victims of police killings and/or murders identified between 2015 and the present. “Say Their Names” is a collaborative project of Creative Media and Digital Culture faculty member John Barber; CMDC Technician Greg Philbrook; and CMDC Electronic Literature Lab Manager Holly Slocum. “Each of us undertook different roles to bring this project together in a matter of days in response to the resounding chant heard in protests around the world, to ‘Say Their Names,’” said Barber. Listen to “Say their Names” now or visit the archival webpage for the project to learn more. Are you working from home, but coming to campus?If you are working from home in accordance with Gov. Jay Inslee’s Stay Home, Stay Healthy order, but have reason to come to campus, be sure you:
If you are an essential employee who reports to campus daily, you don’t need to let your supervisor know daily. They are already counting on you. To learn more about the COVID-19 Employee Symptom Attestation program, read the online FAQs. You may also be interested in reading the Return to Work Guide. Parking lots closed for pavingThe following parking lots/areas will be closed to traffic and parking for paving and striping Monday and part of Tuesday.
WSU freezes personal services contracts and discretionary purchases of equipment and softwareFollowing Gov. Jay Inslee’s lead, WSU has enacted a freeze on non-essential personal services contracts and discretionary purchases of equipment and software until further notice. The freeze applies to new personal services contracts and amendments to existing personal services contracts, and to the acquisition of equipment and software over $5,000. The freeze applies for all fund types except donated (fund 846), capital appropriation (funds 057 and 062), federal or other sponsored program sources (funds 145 and 143). Requests using faculty start-up funding should be submitted to document compliance with the freeze, but will receive an exemption approval. Areas may request an exemption by submitting the Freeze Exemption Request form to Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Lynn Valenter. The exemption request must then be signed by Chancellor Mel Netzhammer indicating the critical nature of the purchase and the unit’s ability to cover the cost within existing resources, without the use of carryforward, and in light of expected budget reductions for FY2021. The freeze guidelines, exemption request form, and frequently asked questions are posted on the Purchasing Services website and the WSU COVID-19 website. You can access the form directly by visiting the Finance and Operations Forms webpage. Cost-saving measures may impact workforceShort- and long-term workforce impacts and other strategies for cost savings may be necessary due to the financial and operational impact of COVID-19. Get your furlough questions answered, including furloughs for grant-funded positions, by reading the Workforce Impact Policies and Procedures FAQs. Have you received a letter asking you to repay unemployment?Human Resource Services has learned that some employees are receiving letters from the State Employment Security Department indicating they owe money for an overpayment of unemployment benefit. If you receive communication from the Employment Security Department regarding an unemployment claim you did not file, immediately report the fraud to ESD by going to the Fraud page on the ESD website and using the Fraud Reporting Form. The ESD has said victims will not be responsible for paying back money paid out as a result of a fraudulent claim. In addition to reporting the fraud to ESD, recommendations to protect your identity include:
More information can be found at: In case you missed itReminders
EventsBaCE: Accessible Documents and Video Captions Noon – 1 p.m. July 7 Learn the importance of captioning for videos and strategies to make sure your office documents are accessible using the tools built into Microsoft Office. BaCE: Deaf 101: Diversity within the Deaf Community Noon – 1 p.m. July 10 Understand more about diversity within the D/deaf community and working with these individuals to create accessible environments. Noon – 1 p.m. July 10 The Social Hour is holding space for WSU Vancouver faculty, staff and students who identify as People of Color. It is also open to advocates for equity, diversity and inclusion. This is a space of community and support where you can show up, connect, interact, decompress and just be. 11 a.m. – noon July 17 Event Accessibility As the Black Lives Matter movement drew international attention to structural racism worldwide, Sue Peabody, Meyer Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and History, accepted an invitation to publish an op-ed in Le Monde on July 2 supporting the renaming of the Colbert room in France’s National Assembly. Jean-Baptiste Colbert supervised the establishment of the Code Noir, the laws regulating slavery in France’s Caribbean Colonies. On July 3, she participated in a live-streaming debate sponsored by the Fondation pour la Mémoire de l’Esclavage concerning the racist legacy of the Code Noir. WSU Vancouver In The NewsWhere were you when the pandemic hit? June 30, 2020 Mike Caulfield, director of blended and networked learning at Washington State University Vancouver, said something like, “Being an ed tech right ... Doctoral candidate researches gender, religion in Hindi soap opera June 29, 2020 Sreenidhi Krishnan, doctoral candidate in WSU Vancouver's anthropology department, said she won a dissertation grant of $500 to study the culture of ... Resourcefulness and resilience: Local thesis shows in a global pandemic June 22, 2020 Across the river at Washington State University Vancouver, Associate Professor of Fine Arts Avantika Bawa said that working with new restraints provided new possibilities. |