Welcome Back to a New Academic Year!

Welcome back to another academic year at UMBC! I hope you enjoyed the summer and were able to take some time for yourself and with your family. We in the Professional Staff Senate are energized and have hit the ground running in our efforts to support and represent our fellow staff members. If you haven’t already done so, please join our myUMBC groups page at http://my.umbc.edu/groups/pss. This is our official website and we plan to post information about our events along with other important announcements. Additionally, we encourage you to email us at ProfessionalStaffSenate@umbc.edu or use the group discussion feature to share feedback, ideas or concerns. The PSS 2011-2012 Action Plan will be finalized in the upcoming weeks, so look out for it on the groups page.

NEW THIS YEAR: Your CUSS (Council for University System Staff) representatives, Brian Souders and Joel DeWyer, will send monthly updates about discussions, decisions and more that affect professional staff across the University System of Maryland.

I also want to share a few other items:

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TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT: Upcoming Programs (for full list of workshops and flyers, go to www.umbc.edu/hr/T&OD/T&ODindex.html)
* Welcome to UMBC event, 9/15 @ 2-4 p.m.: staff are invited to join President Hrabowski and Interim Provost Rous in welcoming new colleagues to the UMBC community.
* Professional Development Day, 9/22 @ 8:15-12:30 p.m.: “Developing Calm, Confident Power at Work” offers techniques to stay calm in challenging times which help our minds thing more clearly, prioritize our workload and accomplish tasks more easily.

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RETRIEVER FEVER – UMBC HOMECOMING 2011 – October 12 – 15, 2011. UMBC’s Homecoming celebration has many great things in store for all members of the community. For a full calendar of events and to register, go to www.umbc.edu/homecoming. The committee is also happy to bring back the popular office decorating contest, go to http://alumni.umbc.edu/homecoming_spirit for more information and to register. A few events that the PSS would like to highlight are:

* Faculty and Staff Social, 10/12 @ 5 p.m. Flat Tuesdays
* Homecoming Kick-Off Bonfire, Pep Rally and Movie, 10/12 @ 6 p.m., Erickson Field
* Alumni of the Year Awards, 10/13 @ 7:30 p.m., Library Gallery
* Men’s Soccer vs. New Hampshire, 10/14 @ 7 p.m., Soccer Stadium
* Midnight Madness, 10/14 @ 9 p.m., RAC
* 5K Dawg Chase, 10/15 @ 9 a.m., Stadium Lot
* UMBC Fest, 10/15 @ 11-7 p.m., Quad
* Kids Zone, 10/15 @ 1-4:30, Sports Zone, The Commons
* Comedy Night featuring Donald Glover, 10/14 @ 8 p.m., RAC

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GET INVOLVED:

* Professional staff members are invited to attend our monthly senate meetings (9/8 and beginning in October - 3rd Thursday of each month, 2:30-4:30 p.m., commons 318).
* The senate has representatives on University and Senate committees. There are openings on the Staff Development and Staff Outreach committees. For more info, please contact Stanyell Bruce.
* There are also many opportunities on campus for staff to contribute to the University. Staff can volunteer for commencement, give during the Maryland Charities Campaign and/or the Faculty and Staff Campaign, teach an Introduction to an Honors University course and more. We will be sure to send you information as it becomes available. .

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PROFESSIONAL STAFF SENATORS FOR THE 2011-2012 YEAR:

Executive Board
Stanyell Bruce, Alumni Relations, President
bruce@umbc.edu, x5-2632

Carrie Sauter, Interdisciplinary Studies, Vice-President
csauter@umbc.edu, x5-2037

Ben Goldberg, Off-Campus Student Services, IT Officer
beng@umbc.edu, x5-5672

Mike Oettel, Shriver Center, Secretary
moetel@umbc.edu, x5-5655

Taifa Simpson, MARC U*STAR Program, Treasurer
hibbert@umbc.edu, x5-2634

Timothy Sparklin, Research Administration, Past President
sparklin@umbc.edu, x5-2737

Senators
Steve Bowers, Financial Services
bowers@umbc.edu, x5-1496

Linda Brown, MIPAR
librown@umbc.edu, x5-1083

Hans Cooper, Registrar Office
hcooper@umbc.edu, x5-1886

Alison Ginder, Residence Life
alisong@umbc.edu, x5-3575

April Householder, McNair Scholars Program
aprilh@umbc.edu, x5-3057

Michelle Massey, International Education Services
massey@umbc.edu, x5-8155

Jenny O'Grady, Institutional Advancement
jograry@umbc.edu, x-1711

Matthew Poland, Sponsored Programs
mpoland@umbc.edu, x5-8155
Alison Rohrbach, University Health Services
arohrbach@umbc.edu, x-1599

Anne Roland, Public Policy
anne@umbc.edu, x5-8457

Laila Shishineh, Undergraduate Education
lailams@umbc.edi, x5-3737

Aki Thomas, Athletics
aki@umbc.edu, x5-2125

Brian Thompson, Graduate School
bthompson@umbc.edu, x5-3578

Beth Wells, Provost Office
bwells@umbc.edu, x5-8907

CUSS Representatives (Council of University System Staff)
Brian Souders, International Education Services
souders@umbc.edu, x5-2624

Joel DeWyer, Commons Administration (alternate)
dewyerj@umbc.edu, x5-1446