CU Grow is Clemson University’s staff development program. Founded in 2020, CU Grow provides a framework to support the personal and professional growth of University staff in full-time positions. The year-long program includes workshops and training, skills development, experiential learning and volunteer service. The program is open to staff members across the state with at least three years of service and a performance rating of successful or higher.
Interested staff are encouraged to attend one of the upcoming, one hour sessions. Read Clemson News for more information.
Military and Veteran Engagement will hold Green Zone Training on June 19 (10 a.m.-12 p.m.) and July 18 (1-3 p.m.) at Vickery Hall 201. Registration is available via Tiger Training.
Faculty, staff, and fellow students play an essential role in helping veterans and military-connected students transition to life at Clemson. Green Zone Training provides an opportunity to learn about the military student experience and how you can best to support this population.
Mission: Green Zone Training provides faculty, staff, and students with an understanding of the military experience of our students as they transition from the military to campus life.
After Green Zone Training, participants will:
Understand who our students are
Understand the military experience
Learn about the veteran experience in higher education
Learn what you can do to support veteran and military-connected students
Familiarize yourself with valuable on- and off-campus resources
Treatments and consultations are conveniently available in Fike
Recreation Center. In collaboration with
Campus Recreation physical therapy appointments are available for students,
faculty, staff, and the community. Free
designated parking adjacent to Fike is reserved for physical therapy
patients. Most insurance policies,
including BCBS, are accepted.
A second office is located off campus at Patrick Square. For an appointment call: (864) 643-1344
I hope you all are in good health and high spirits. As your Staff Senate President, I wanted to take a moment to share some updates and important information with you all. First and foremost, I want to express my gratitude for your continued commitment and dedication to our Clemson University. Your professionalism, innovation, stewardship, and curation of duties are truly commendable, and I am honored to serve a staff that consistently delivers exceptional results.
My heart has been filled by all of the staff recognitions during this Spring season. From the Spring Awards Ceremony, all the individual College award ceremonies, Public Safety awards and graduations, and University Facilities Workforce and Leadership Development programs graduates and Performance Awards. Congratulations to all the staff members who receive bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees! I wanted to say thank to Mandy Hayes for consistently producing excellent Graduation ceremonies!
We
celebrated the Staff Senate’s 40th Anniversary on May 21st
and I am grateful for all who could attend, and the memories shared. Our
Membership Committee will be working with Otis Pickett (University Historian)
to preserve our unique history! Fun things that began in 1984: Macintosh
computer, Tetris, “Where’s the Beef?”, and Alex Trebek hosting Jeopardy, to
name a few!
40th anniversary commemorative coins.
Thank you
to Ale Kennedy and the HR team for the Employee Appreciation Lunch and Employee
Resource Fair both events were well attended. I want to also thank our
Activities Committee led by Co-Chairs Victoria Perry and Donna Jervis for
representing Staff Senate at each of these events and many more.
Our next Staff Senate meeting is scheduled for June 13th at 2:30pm. We will be joined by Tony Wagner, Executive Vice President and COO, and Theodora (Theo) Wills, CIPM, CIPP/G/US, FIP (Chief Privacy Officer). This meeting will be held virtually via Zoom. Please mark your calendars and make every effort to attend, as we have several important topics to discuss. Your active participation is crucial to the success of our Senate. Your feedback and suggestions are invaluable to us. If you have any ideas, concerns, or suggestions that you would like to share with the Staff Senate, please do not hesitate to reach out to me, any of our Senate members, or Submit Your Feedback. We are here to serve as your advocates and make a positive impact Clemson wide.
Jeff Anthony and Ale Kennedy serve at an employee appreciation lunch.
The SC Botanical Garden offers a lot of activities and opportunities.
Docent Orientations
Saturdays: June 15, Aug 17, or Oct 19
Do you like interacting with the public? Do you have an interest in plants or nature in general? This is the volunteer opportunity for you! We are seeking docents to support our mission of education and outreach and to enhance the visitor experience at the SCBG. Orientation will introduce attendees to our various weekday and weekend docent opportunities and will equip participants with information about the SCBG’s history, mission, garden spaces and features, as well as techniques for communicating effectively with the public.
Have you been wanting to schedule a guided tour of the garden but can’t find the time during the week? We’re now offering monthly Saturday tours of the Garden! These tours last approximately an hour and focus on the Garden’s history, development, and seasonal highlights. From the Camellia Trail to the Butterfly Garden, there is always something of interest and beauty to see.
There are so many ways to get involved and help support the South Carolina Botanical Garden – time, talent and funds keep the Garden’s 295 acres open year-round with no admission fee. They need the support of the community, fellow gardeners, businesses, teachers, donors and anyone who wants to help people connect with nature and culture.
Discover the many ways you can contribute by visiting the SC Botanical Garden webpage or email them at: scbgfriends@clemson.edu
Getting your MBA has never been so easy – live where you want, learn how you want, and let Clemson help cover the cost with Employee Tuition Assistance! Learn more during our upcoming virtual info session on July 9, 2024, from 12 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Can’t make it? No problem! Please email us to set up a call with our team: mbaprogram@clemson.edu
Most of you know I’ve been away for the past few months. My family has had the honor of adopting a precious baby boy, Urijah Timothy. After bringing him home from California, he and I have had some precious one-on-one time as we have welcomed him into our family unit and transitioned to a life with three children.
By the time this
newsletter is released, I will be back at work. If anyone has ever been on extended leave,
especially parental leave, you know how difficult the prospect of returning to
work can be. I’m definitely feeling that.
But I’m also able to step back and see how this change in my family has given me some needed perspective in the face of difficult situations I see in my work. For example, one of the problems I was facing before I left on leave was the fact that a colleague no longer wants me to attend meetings that I have always attended. That is disappointing. However, now that I have even more to do at home, I can reframe the situation from a personal snub to a relief that I am excused from yet another meeting. While this colleague may not like me or want my help, I have three little ones at home who do like me and who need me—sometimes a little too much. I can let this one go.
Another area I have been able to get perspective on is upward feedback. The Ombuds Office provides this upward feedback to leaders across the institution with the goal of moving the needle on making Clemson a better, fairer place. Upward feedback can be difficult when the leader I am addressing does not want to hear what I have to say. At the same time, even when I think a conversation was a failure, I can’t always know how what I say is absorbed. We’ve talked to my older kids, Zeke and Havi, about Urijah’s adoption, and they were able to be with us in California when we went to bring Urijah home. I recently heard Havi, who is three, explain adoption to her friend, and while it never seems like she is listening to me, it was remarkable how much she absorbed. At work, I recently had the experience where an in-person feedback conversation went poorly, but I found out later that my recommendations were followed. If we are moving toward a better Clemson for faculty, staff, and students, I can live with the fact that I won’t get the credit for providing that feedback. Instead, I will focus on helping the person in front of me however I can and trust that that is enough.
Another important lesson of these past few months refers to the “and” stance, which I have written about a lot in this newsletter. The and stance says that we don’t have to choose between things; multiple things can be true at the same time and multiple perspectives can be valid at the same time. This has never been more apparent to me than in navigating the relationship between Urijah’s birth family and our family. Urijah’s mom is his mom AND I am his mom. Urijah’s birth family loves him AND his new family loves him. We don’t have to choose which one of us is his “real’ mom or which family truly loves him. Urijah is surrounded by love and care. The and stance can be so helpful amid complex situations because we usually go into them trying to figure out who wins or who gets to claim something that the other must then relinquish. It just doesn’t have to be like that. And as these past few months have made abundantly clear to me, there is so much else to focus on! I’m happy to be back and excited to learn what I missed. Don’t hesitate to schedule coffee or lunch with me or to reach out if I can be helpful in your situation.
What is the Ombuds Office?
The Ombuds Office is a confidential,
independent, neutral, and informal space for staff to process concerns, get
information, and develop options for how to move forward in a difficult
situation. I can provide education,
conflict coaching, mediation, and facilitation as well as referrals to other
resources across Clemson. If you are
unsure how to move forward in any way, I can help you work through it.
Tessa Byer Phone: 864-656-5353 Email: tbyer@clemson.edu Address: 135 Old Greenville Hwy, Ste. 203 (Next to Esso!)
Save the date for upcoming training offered by the Ombuds:
