Colossians 3:1-4 (NIV)

1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Reflection:

Since the start of the Olympic games this summer, we have seen athletes from around the world come and compete to be number 1 in their particular sport. In team volleyball you may have noticed that there is one player whose uniform differs slightly from the rest of the team. This person is the team’s setter and usually has the best understanding of the game. They know the strengths and weaknesses of each spiker and having spent countless hours of training together, they know how to put their team in the best position to succeed. So in many ways, the setter is the one controlling the game. In turn, the spikers trust their setter to put the ball exactly where it needs to be for the sure kill and the victory.

In this passage Paul does something very interesting in telling the Colossians believers to set their minds on things above, or the heavenly things, which is by anyone’s standards a total impossibility. So how can this be possible for us? Because we have been raised with Christ! We have been made capable and empowered to live a renewed life, with our minds set on things above. Like the spiker on a volleyball team we can confidently go for the victory!

Responding to the Transmission:

We have been raised with Christ! Let’s thank God for this incredible life we get to live in this new resurrection power in Christ. Let’s pray that we would remember this truth today and set our minds on things above and not on earthly things trusting that this is possible because of Christ.

For the past two decades we have been talking about the need to reorganize higher education as part of the sustainability transformation. Much of the early discussion centered on the need to break down the academic disciplinary silos and from those discussions we saw the emergence of interdisciplinary departments, split appointments, and later, integration of knowledge from multiple disciplines into diverse learning settings. Similar discussions were taking place on the operations and administration side of the campus where even deciding where a sustainability staff position should reside was difficult because there were as many logical places as there were aspects to sustainability. In fact, these positions became especially important in demonstrating the need, not only to break down the silos within each of the areas but the need to break down the barriers between operations and academics to create a unified community.

It is in this context that AASHE emerged as an important proponent for ending the silo structure in higher education. But like so many organizations that start small and grow, as AASHE staff began taking on more specialized responsibilities (producing newsletters, planning events, developing specific programs), silos began to emerge. Among the 25 AASHE staff dispersed around the country we began to see a failure to optimize the knowledge and skills of the group. I realized that as Executive Director, I had helped create these silos that we called departments and that it was my job to dismantle them if I wanted to contribute to a sustainable AASHE. So began the process of reorganizing the AASHE staff so we could meet four very important goals.

First, we wanted to take advantage of the skills and knowledge of the staff. Given the wide range of experiences and training of the staff I was convinced that our problems weren’t a lack of talent – we have an incredibly talented staff who come from various sectors of higher education (from sustainability coordinators to institutional researchers to faculty), from other non-profits, and from the for-profit world. What we needed was a structure that would allow staff the flexibility to move among the various initiatives and projects where their skills and knowledge would be used in the best interest of AASHE and would allow them to maximize their professional development.

Second, we wanted to improve our internal communications so there would be better exchange of information among staff. As a virtual organization, we sometimes face challenges in ensuring that we all know what we need to know about what the rest of the organization is doing. We needed to restructure in a way that would ensure we could solve this problem.

Third, we had identified a few holes in our structure that needed to be filled (e.g. marketing) and needed to find ways to move the appropriate talent around while maintaining the quality of the services we provide. On the other hand we found some areas where we have duplication of activity in various departments and we needed to reduce that duplication to free up staff for other work.

Finally, we needed to create a more nimble organization that could more quickly respond to the needs of the members. We recognize that the future will require all organizations to be adaptable and that to be adaptable it is necessary to create structures that allow staffing to shift relatively quickly. Our approach is to not add and subtract staff but rather to move them among various projects that fit their knowledge and skills sets.

So several months ago, I began conversations with the staff about a reorganization. At our staff retreat a number of proposals were developed and they were later reduced to a few which were vetted with the staff until we finally had a single proposal that I presented to the Board of Directors for their review. The board supported moving forward with the reorganization and we have now completed the initial phase of the process.

Instead of 7 departments we will have three work areas (Operations, Information Technology, and Programs). Each of these areas is led by a Director who is a member of a Leadership Team consisting of the three directors and the executive director. The Leadership Team is responsible for ensuring that the organization is following the strategic plan approved by the Board of Directors. They are also charged with ensuring that their work areas do not become silos and that there is cross-area coordination and communication on projects. Directors are also responsible for the assignment of staff within their work area to ensure that skills and knowledge are optimally used to meet member needs. My role of executive director will significantly shift from internal management to external relations and the Board of Directors has revised my job description to reflect that shift.

Reorganizations are not easy on the people in an organization. They require rethinking what we do, how we do it, and who we do it with. They involve shifts of power, responsibility, and authority in a variety of directions. They typically create unease, unhappiness, concern, and disappointment in their early stages. But when done well, they create a more vibrant, effective, exciting organization to be a part of. I want to commend the staff for the support they have given to this process and their willingness (sometimes eagerness) to embrace a new structure for working together to both serve and lead our membership. I am very proud of them. I appreciate the support that the board has given us and I look forward to the new ways AASHE will be able to work with our members.

Our new organization chart can be found at http://www.aashe.org/files/aashe_organizational_chart_8.7.12.pdf .
We will begin shifting to this new structure during the month of August and hope to be fully converted by September.

UMBC has again been named one of America’s “Great Colleges to Work For” by The Chronicle of Higher Education.

“We are a ‘Great College’ because of the people here,” says President Freeman Hrabowski. “This honor yet again affirms what we all know: UMBC is a place that supports people, values collaboration, and fosters trust, respect, and enthusiasm for educating our students.”

An annual survey by The Chronicle asks faculty and staff at institutions across the country to rank their workplaces on a host of factors. UMBC has made the list of “Great Colleges” for three years running. This year, it landed on the survey’s “Honor Roll” because it was ranked highly in seven categories:

• Collaborative governance
• Professional and career development
• Work/life balance
• Confidence in senior leadership
• Supervisor/department chair relationship
• Respect and appreciation
• Tenure clarity and process

You can read more on The Chronicle’s website. Congratulations to all our faculty, staff and students—you truly make UMBC a great place to work!

UMBC has again been named one of America’s “Great Colleges to Work For” by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
“We are a ‘Great College’ because of the people here,” says President Freeman Hrabowski. “This honor yet again affirms what we all know: UMBC is a place that supports people, values collaboration, and fosters trust, respect, and enthusiasm for educating our students.”
An annual survey by The Chronicle asks faculty and staff at institutions across the country to rank their workplaces on a host of factors. More than 500 UMBC alumni currently work for their alma mater in staff, faculty, graduate assistant, part-time and other positions.
UMBC has made the list of “Great Colleges” for three years running. This year, it landed on the survey’s “Honor Roll” because it was ranked highly in seven categories:

• Collaborative governance
• Professional and career development
• Work/life balance
• Confidence in senior leadership
• Supervisor/department chair relationship
• Respect and appreciation
• Tenure clarity and process

You can read more on The Chronicle’s website. Congratulations to all our faculty, staff, alumni, and students – you truly make UMBC a great place to work!

UMBC has again been named one of America’s “Great Colleges to Work For” by The Chronicle of Higher Education.

“We are a ‘Great College’ because of the people here,” says President Freeman Hrabowski. “This honor yet again affirms what we all know: UMBC is a place that supports people, values collaboration, and fosters trust, respect, and enthusiasm for educating our students.”

An annual survey by The Chronicle asks faculty and staff at institutions across the country to rank their workplaces on a host of factors. More than 500 UMBC alumni currently work for their alma mater in staff, faculty, graduate assistant, part-time and other positions.

UMBC has made the list of “Great Colleges” for three years running. This year, it landed on the survey’s “Honor Roll” because it was ranked highly in seven categories:

• Collaborative governance
• Professional and career development
• Work/life balance
• Confidence in senior leadership
• Supervisor/department chair relationship
• Respect and appreciation
• Tenure clarity and process

You can read more on The Chronicle’s website. Congratulations to all our faculty, staff, alumni, and students – you truly make UMBC a great place to work!

Yes, it's August. Yes, Election Day is November 6. But, if this will be the first time that you are eligible to vote, there are some things that you should take care of NOW, if you want to participate in the 2012 Election...

1. Check with your home state's Board of Elections, to see if there is a deadline by which you must be registered to vote. In Maryland, the registration deadline for this election is October 16, 2012.

2. Students who don't have a way to vote in person at home should request an Absentee Ballot (Maryland Residents, look here). Because Election Day falls in the middle of Advanced Registration for Spring Classes AND occurs right around the time that many of your science, engineering, and math courses will be giving their second exam, even students who live nearby may want to vote by Absentee Ballot, or utilize Early Voting options, if they are available in your area.

3. Educate yourself about the candidates! Project Vote Smart is a great web site that brings together information on Presidential and Congressional election candidates . It even includes a tool called VoteEasy, which asks you a series of questions about YOUR views on political issues, and then matches you up with your political "soul mate."

You now have the ability to make your voice heard on issues that directly effect your life - make the most of the opportunity!

Photo Courtesy governor.maryland.gov

Motorola Solutions is looking for an intern to work on the state's new Maryland FiRST website. Maryland FiRST, or Maryland First Responders Interoperable Radio System Team, will connect Maryland's first responders over a secure 700 MHz radio system.

The following is a job description,  taken from a UMBC News post:

It will consist of approved design documentation for public viewing, as well as, secured information for those who are allowed to login.  This site will be organized for easy-viewing of the system description, site map, and relevant documents.  This site will also include a map of the state with site names and hyperlinks in order to get more detailed information about each site.  This web developer will also need to be strong in requirements development, have great organization skills, be creative, efficient and a team player.  Ongoing maintenance of the site will be necessary, too, as documents get updated and additional design documents get added.

 

Furthermore, this position has an added opportunity to use an “SNMP Management Software” tool to develop a “Manager of Managers” for the entire alarming system of the MD FiRST Radio System.  The position offers opportunity to be creative, work with other people and develop tools that will be used for decades by the State of Maryland’s Public Safety Agencies.

Applicants must be graduating on or after June 2013, be pursuing a Bachelor's Degree, and must have classes or coursework in Computer Science Software Development or Software Engineering.

This paid internship offers $17-25/hour depending on year, experience, and skills.

Apply for the position via UMBCworks, and through the following link.