9 – 11 a.m. Oct. 31
Dengerink Administration Building, Room 129
RSVP by end of day Oct. 30

If you missed the academic planning Town Hall on Oct. 1, or you feel you have more to add to the conversation, come to the Focused Conversation on Thursday. The Focused Conversation is a condensed version of the Town Hall. Join members of the Academic Planning Advisory Committee to lend your voice to WSU Vancouver’s academic future.

Results from the Town Hall meeting are now available on the Academic Planning Sharepoint site.

1:30 – 3 p.m. Nov.1
Firstenburg Student Commons

WSU Executive Chef Jamie Callison will be on campus to sign his new cookbook, “The Crimson Spoon.” The 200-page, photo-illustrated cookbook features many of Callison’s highly acclaimed gourmet dishes and recipes. Recipes range from extravagant to simple and draw from each area of WSU’s food resources, such as the Organic Farm and Creamery, as well as from the Pacific Northwest. “The Crimson Spoon” will be for sale for $38.

Nicholas Kristof’s keynote address for the 2013 Public Affairs Lecture Series is sold out, but there are still many ways to participate in this year’s series focused on sex trafficking:

A Conversation with Nicholas Kristof
4 – 5 p.m. Nov. 4 
Firstenburg Student Commons

Audrey Miller, editor-in chief of the VanCougar and master in public affairs graduate student, will conduct an interview with Nicholas Kristof, New York Times columnist, author and Pulitzer Prize winner, regarding his body of work, his journalistic style and the issue of sex trafficking. Audience members will have an opportunity to pose questions. Members of the WSU Vancouver community are invited to attend.

Sex Trafficking in the Portland-Vancouver Region
12:10 – 1 p.m. Nov. 6
Dengerink Administration Building, Room 129

Learn about sex trafficking issues in our own community from a panel featuring an assistant U.S. attorney from Oregon, a lieutenant from the Vancouver Police Department, a probation officer working with victims of sex trafficking, and a faculty member from Portland State University. Members of the WSU Vancouver community are invited to attend.

Engage-In: Join the Fight Against Sex Trafficking
2 – 4 p.m. Nov. 8
Firstenburg Student Commons

Guests will learn how to contact legislators to effect change, learn how sex trafficking affects Clark County, engage in civil discourse and discuss sex trafficking topics.

“Playground: The Child Sex Trade in America”
4:30 – 7 p.m. Nov. 14
Dengerink Administration Building, Room 129

“Playground,” a documentary by Director Libby Spears, follows the trail of a missing girl in the U.S. and is a comprehensive look at the child sex trade in North America. A screening of the movie will be followed by a question and answer session. Guests will also have an opportunity to meet representatives from and learn about local organizations that support sex trafficking victims. Free and open to all.

Finance and Operations will provide two trainings to help staff familiarize/review basic finance processes.

• 10 – 11 a.m. Dec. 9, Dengerink Administration Building, Room 236
  Topics include: account structure and budget monitoring; purchasing and purchasing card rules; forms and regulations
• 10 – 11 a.m. Dec. 12, Dengerink Administration Building, Room 236
  Topics include: travel policies, forms and regulations; and payroll policies, forms and regulations

Trainings will provide an overview of the basic concepts. If you are a new employee responsible for any of these functions or would like a refresher, please attend.

WSU Vancouver is committed to improving its sustainability performance in all areas of operations. In order to fulfill its sustainability responsibilities, WSU Vancouver is establishing a Sustainability and the Environment Committee. The SEC will be comprised of faculty, staff and students. The committee will meet monthly and work collaboratively to achieve the following goals:

• Complying with applicable federal, state and local regulations
• Conforming to environmental, social and economic best practices
• Fostering the conservation of natural resources
• Supporting and enhancing social responsibility
• Promoting community and economic development

The SEC will work to establish WSU Vancouver as a community resource for sustainability in higher education and to help the university to more fully integrate sustainability into its teaching, investigative and outreach mission.

If you would like to be a part of this new committee please contact Robert Bacon, sustainability engineer in facilities operations.

Students from the fine arts department’s Visual Concepts class have mounted “Better Shades of Grey” in the Science and Engineering Building Gallery. The exhibit includes a series of painterly sculpture that explore the possibilities of the black-and-white value scale. Student artists worked with the principles of repetition and continuity in design, and explored traditional and experimental painting styles. The pieces in the exhibit combine approaches that include the predictable and the unpredictable through processes that are cathartic, intuitive, and also plan and rule based.

Student artists included in the exhibit are: Amanda Bondurant, Eli C, Caleb Carroll, Tanner Clark, Sarah DeVincenzi, Stephen Palermini, Ann Peters, Amy Robert, Henry Rolfs, Kelsea Rothaus, Nicholas Walker, Madison Watson, Lucas Wiseman and Brittany Wouden.

Each year WSU closes the campus to all non-essential business operations at all locations between the Christmas holiday and the New Year Holiday as a way to save money. The timing of the holidays dictates December Closure days.

Monday, Dec. 23 is a normal work day. WSU will be closed in observance of holidays on Dec. 24, 25 and Jan. 1. WSU will be open for essential operations only, on Dec. 26, 27, 30 and 31.

Essential operations include designated business offices as well as public service operations.

Employees not deemed as part of essential operations are to account for the closure dates with appropriate accrued leave, personal holiday and/or leave without pay.

The December Closure calendar through 2015 can be accessed online. FAQs are available, too.

Please contact Human Resources at 5-9094 if you have questions regarding December Closure.