{"id":125564,"date":"2020-07-31T10:04:24","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T16:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=125564"},"modified":"2021-02-24T16:32:25","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T23:32:25","slug":"staff-association-to-work-towards-transparency-equity-and-inclusion-in-upcoming-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=125564","title":{"rendered":"Staff Association to work towards transparency, equity and inclusion in upcoming year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The world of work is different than it ever has been before. Many UCCS employees have worked remotely since March, and many will continue to do so through the fall semester. Large events are postponed. Public spaces on campus are operating at limited capacities. But none of this has changed Alex Baker\u2019s focus on the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Baker, case manager in the Office of the Dean of Students and the new president of the UCCS Staff Association, the work of the shared governance body is more important than ever before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker is the first openly gay\npresident of Staff Association \u2013 something that imbues his work with a focus on\nequity, diversity and inclusion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStaff Association is on a really\ngood trajectory,\u201d Baker said. \u201cWe\u2019ve gained significant credibility as a shared\ngovernance body. It\u2019s my responsibility to take the groundwork we\u2019ve laid and\ncontinue to turn it into something bigger and better \u2013 to give the opportunity\nfor more voices to be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy dream is to ensure that every\nstaff member at UCCS feels included,\u201d Baker continued. \u201cThere\u2019s a seat at the\ntable for everyone. And if there isn\u2019t space at the table, then obviously, we\nneed a bigger table.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alex Baker, case manager for the Office of the Dean of Students and new president of the Staff Association<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This year, Staff Association will\nprioritize improving policies and processes regarding the staff hiring process,\nespecially around equity and pay. The body will work towards transparent\ncommunications regarding the impact of the incentive-based budget model on\nstaff as well as protections for staff in the COVID-19 era. In line with its commitment\nto diversity, the governance body is also working to create two new temporary\ncommittees, one focused on diversity, equity and inclusion and the other focused\non women\u2019s issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staff Association also aims to\nimprove its own communications to campus \u2013 including by offering listening\nsessions each semester, developing new digital communications strategies and creating\na feature on its website allowing staff members to raise anonymous concerns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis year, more than ever, it\nwill be important to hear staff concerns,\u201d Baker said in a recent Staff\nAssociation retreat. \u201cI want us to be able to offer an open door to hear those\nconcerns and then bring them up to leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker\u2019s commitment to diversity\nisn\u2019t the only facet of his personal values that he brings to his leadership\nrole in Staff Association. He also highlights the importance of recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, Staff Association created a new staff recognition program called Clyde\u2019s Kudos. The program allows any member of campus to submit a shout-out to a UCCS staff member for doing good work \u00ad\u2013 work that is often invisible to the rest of campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe all do things that perhaps only our supervisors or our own teams know about,\u201d Baker said. \u201cClyde\u2019s Kudos is a way to celebrate the good, hard work we do as a campus, as a department, as a unit and as an individual. It was created so that all staff can feel that what they are doing is recognized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven if people say they don\u2019t like to be recognized for things, there\u2019s a deep part in all of us that wants to know that the work we are doing is good,\u201d Baker continued. \u201cI love the idea of a cheerleader \u2013 and sometimes we can\u2019t be our own cheerleaders. Having a net of people encouraging you and reminding you that the work you\u2019re doing is visible and valuable is so very important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Baker, the program is emblematic of where he wants Staff Association to go in the future \u2013\u00a0and how he wants to show up as a leader. His approach to his new role shot through with empathy. He also brings to the role an understanding, especially in the midst of a pandemic, of the need to tune in to the concerns of staff members and respond on both an organizational and a human level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to find a way to show up\nfor our staff in the specific ways that they need,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes we get defined by the work we do. Sometimes it\u2019s hard \u2013 even for us \u2013 to remember that there is a human being behind the work. But everyone deserves to feel empowered to do their job. Everyone deserves to be recognized for the work they are doing and feel like they can show up to work fully and wholeheartedly. Isn\u2019t that all of our responsibility?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All staff members are part of the Staff Association, the official voice of UCCS staff in shared governance. The governance body believes that valued and empowered staff who engage as their best selves are successful both personally and professionally. Any staff member may attend the monthly Staff Association meeting, which takes place on the first Wednesday of every month. Learn more about Staff Association and find out how to get involved online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alex Baker, case manager in the Office of the Dean of Students and new president of the Staff Association, shared the governance body’s priorities for the upcoming year. (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":114896,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,49],"tags":[319],"class_list":["post-125564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-campus-announcements","tag-uccs-staff-association"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/IMG_4788.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-wFe","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=125564"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125586,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125564\/revisions\/125586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/114896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=125564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=125564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=125564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}