Category: News Flash

This category is for general news and announcements.

Help MSU compete in RecycleMania 2016

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White paper and mixed paper at MSU recycling center on Tuesday November 9, 2010. Photo courtesy of Communications and Brand Strategy.
White paper and mixed paper at MSU recycling center. Photo courtesy of Communications and Brand Strategy.

Last year, MSU was one of 394 colleges and universities that participated in the friendly competition RecyleMania. MSU contributed more than 1 million of the 80 million pounds that was recycled across the country in the competition. Spartans can do even better during RecyleMania 2016, which runs from February 8 to April 1, by coming together to recycle more and throw out less.

In addition to continuing regular recycling habits, staff and faculty can get involved by hosting an office clean-out. The service is free and provided by the Surplus Store and Recycling Center. If your office already has recyclables prepared and sorted, Recycling Center staff will arrive at your office, help load the items and remove them that day. Or, temporary containers can be dropped off at your office and picked up at a later date. To schedule an office clean-out, call 517-355-1723.

There are a few additional ways staff and faculty can participate in RecycleMania. This year MSU Recycling is emphasizing book reuse and recycling. Books that are collected will be sold for reuse through the Surplus Store, donated to local charities or recycled. Organize a book collection by calling 517- 355-1723.

From noon to 2 p.m. on Thursday, February 26, at Auditorium and Tuesday, March 15, behind Wells Hall you can get a picture with Scrap Metal Sparty and talk to MSU recycling staff.

Like the MSU Recycling Center’s Facebook page for recycling tips and updates on RecycleMania.

What to do when stopped or contacted by MSU police

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A police officer will always inform you of the reason for a traffic stop. Photo courtesy of MSU police.
A police officer will always inform you of the reason for a traffic stop. Photo courtesy of MSU police.

The MSU police work hard every day to uphold the laws and ensure the safety of everyone on MSU’s campus. To provide more insight into their actions and prepare citizens, the MSUPD put together a brochure that explains what to do when stopped or contacted by the police. The department is proud to have been the first agency in the country to introduce a brochure such as this more than a decade ago.

Included in the brochure are explanations for how your actions can reassure the officer and how you can expect to be treated. The MSUPD’s goal is to protect you and to ensure their own safety. Hundreds of police officers are assaulted while on traffic duty each year, and as a result, certain safety precautions have been put into practice.

Here are a few key points from the brochure:

If you are contacted on the street:

  • Stay where you are
  • Answer questions truthfully. You also have the right to ask questions of the officer
  • Remain calm

If you are pulled over in your car:

  • Wait for the officer and stay in your car with your hands on the steering wheel
  • If it’s dark, turn on an interior light
  • Wait to retrieve your license, registration and proof of insurance until the officer requests it
  • Exit the car only if the office requests it
  • Do not argue at the scene; you have the right to contest a citation at a later time

If you have a compliment or complaint about an officer’s actions, you can contact MSU police directly or contact the Police Oversight Committee.

Reach the full brochure  and learn more about MSU community team policing at police.msu.edu.

Call for nominations: 2016 Be Spartan Green Outstanding Awards

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Be Spartan green award picture
The MSU student group SPARTA (Students Planning Advanced Retrofit Technology Applications) accepts an award for Outstanding Student Organization at the 2015 Be Spartan Green Award Ceremony.

Michigan State University’s Sustainability department wishes to recognize the outstanding individuals and departments who have made significant contributions to on-campus sustainability. Be Spartan Green Outstanding Awards are given to staff, students, faculty and campus partners who have demonstrated their support of sustainability on campus.

Nominations are currently being accepted for the 2016 Be Spartan Green Outstanding Awards. The deadline for submission is Tuesday, March 1.

All nominations must be submitted through the Be Spartan Green Outstanding Awards Nomination Form.

The award categories include:

  • Outstanding Staff Member
  • Outstanding Student Employee
  • Outstanding Faculty Member
  • Outstanding Student Organization
  • Outstanding Student Research Project
  • Outstanding Campus Partner/Vendor
  • Outstanding Community Partner
  • Outstanding Alumni

The winning nominees and nominators will be invited to a special recognition event on Wednesday, April 20. Last year’s winners can be viewed on the 2015 Be Spartan Green Earth Day Gala webpage.

Performance Excellence training available now

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MSU_PE_Brand2Michigan State University has launched Performance Excellence, the new performance management process for support staff. Performance Excellence is designed as a three-part continuous cycle that enables ongoing feedback and support for employees.

Training for all supervisors and support staff  is now available in elevateU and should be completed, at the very latest, by the end of February. The training program will review the process and the skills needed to carry out Performance Excellence effectively. Training will take approximately 35 minutes to complete. An average score of at least 75 percent correct on the post-topic questions and final test is needed to be considered complete. Once that is accomplished, you can print a certificate of completion.Continue Reading… Performance Excellence training available now

Ruth Jameyson “Above and Beyond” Award nomination deadline approaching

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Ruth Jameyson died in 2007 at the age of 100 years. Photo courtesy of University Archives & Historical Collections
Ruth Jameyson died in 2007 at the age of 100 years. Photo courtesy of University Archives & Historical Collections

The Ruth Jameyson “Above and Beyond” Award  is a relatively new award that honors the late Ruth Jameyson, who served as the secretary to MSU President Robert S. Shaw from 1938 to 1941 and secretary/administrative assistant to President John A. Hannah from 1941 to 1969. While working full time at MSU she earned a master’s degree in economics.

The Ruth Jameyson Award is given to a deserving full-time MSU staff member that is working toward a graduate degree. The recipient will be honored at the Distinguished Staff Award reception in May 2016 and receives a $2,500 stipend.

A nominee must be a regular, active support staff employee with at least five years of service to MSU and must be enrolled and attending a post-baccalaureate program at MSU or elsewhere. MSU staff are encouraged to nominate coworkers that meet the qualifications and are considered deserving of the award.

The award recipient will be selected depending on job performance, academic success and contributions to his or her department and the university. The extent to which the candidate upholds the ideals of Ruth Jameyson will also be considered.

Nomination forms and supporting materials are due Friday, January 29, 2016. They should be sent to H. Michael Rice at riceh@msu.edu .

Engage with your community on Martin Luther King Jr. Day

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MLK and LBJ
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and President Lyndon Johnson shakes hands after the signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

MSU’s Project 60/50 began in 2014 as a community-oriented conversation starter that derived its name and mission from the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. These two historical pieces of legislation were born from a diverse yet united community’s countless hours of organized campaigning and conversation to achieve the worthy and crucial goal of equality.

The struggle for civil rights continues in this country, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day provides us with the opportunity to reflect on progress and assess what lies ahead. Dr. King has brought hope, inspiration and motivation to millions during and after his lifetime. His encouragement of peaceful protest and widespread awareness of ongoing discrimination remain relevant today.Continue Reading… Engage with your community on Martin Luther King Jr. Day

MSU offers support for smoking cessation

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The benefits of quitting smoking have been made very clear throughout the last few years. In addition to the numerous health improvements, such as a return to regular breathing patterns and a decrease in the risk of heart disease and many forms of cancer, quitters also enjoy saved money, a better sense of smell and taste, more freedom with time and scheduling, and much more. However, knowledge is rarely enough to end an addiction. Many smokers find the task of quitting daunting, or even impossible.

Eligible faculty and staff at MSU don’t have to go through the process alone. The Breathe Easy Tobacco and Nicotine Cessation Program offers behavioral support and, if desired, medication, to aid the quitting process. The next information session is Wednesday, January 27 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. in 247 Olin Health Center. Attending the information session does not obligate attendees to enroll in the program. To register, call 517-353-2596 or email health4u@msu.edu.

The program is absolutely free.  MSU faculty, staff, graduate student employees, retirees, and their adult benefits-eligible family members are eligible to participate in this program.

Sometimes the first step is the most difficult. The team at Breathe Easy can guide you along the rest of the way to quitting. Listen to the testimonials from real graduates of this program:

 

Reminder: Upcoming university holidays

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Red Cedar River in winter.
Snow-covered Red Cedar River. Photo courtesy of Communications and Brand Strategy.

It might not look like it outside, but the winter holidays are coming up! The university will be closed on the following days:

  • Thursday, December 24
  • Friday, December 25
  • Thursday, December 31
  • Friday, January 1

We hope you take this time to relax, eat delicious food and spend time with loved ones! As the year comes to a close, we would like to thank everyone for all of their continued work in making MSU an outstanding university. Let’s make 2016 even better!

From everyone at MSU Human Resources, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

New Performance Excellence Program Starts in January 2016

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MSU_PE_Brand2On behalf of Michigan State University, MSU Human Resources has launched Performance Excellence, the new performance management program that will replace the current Performance Development Program. If MSU is to continue to be a leading research university, talented staff who are continually developing their skills to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world are needed.

Performance Excellence includes the following three important stages:

  • Performance Planning and Goal Setting
  • Continuous Feedback, Coaching and Development
  • Annual Performance Review

Employees will move to the Performance Excellence program in 2016.

There are two key items to note during the transition from the old process to the new process:

  1. Performance Excellence will have new forms to aid in this process. For annual reviews that are due between January 1, through June 30, 2016, supervisors and staff will use the new Annual Review form with the current rating system (which is included on the PDF form). On July 1, the rating system will change to four performance levels and the Annual Review form will reflect those changes for reviews due from July 1 forward.
  2. Beginning in January, after an Annual Review form is completed, supervisors and staff must also complete the Performance Planning form, either on the same day as the review, or within 30 days of the review.

All support staff and those who supervise support staff need to complete an online class on Performance Excellence. The class will be available in mid-January and will be accessed through elevateU. MSU HR will announce when the class is available.

For detailed information about the Performance Excellence process, additional learning opportunities, forms, tools for employees and supervisors, and much more, please visit the Performance Excellence website.

If you have questions regarding rollout of the program in your area, contact your college or division-level HR representative.

‘Tis the season … for phishing, credit card skimming, and email offers that are too good to be true

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The holiday season is a boom for hackers, phishers and scammers. Phishing is a form of fraud in which the attacker tries to learn information such as login credentials or account information by masquerading as a reputable entity or person in email, IM or other communication channels. One of the most common ways to send malicious software to your computer or steal account information is through email. You should be wary of emails that are from unknown sources or that you were not expecting. Never open an attachment from these sources.

A safe way to look at emails that are in question is to drag them to your junk email folder which disables links and attachments and allows you to read the content of the actual email safely.

You should also be wary of emails that do the following:

  • Example of a phishing email
    An example of a phishing email, disguised as an official email from a fictional bank.

    Promote amazing deals on the hottest gifts. If it looks too good to be true, it is!

  • State that you need to confirm your credit card number on an online order.
  • Ask for any personal or banking information – no reputable company will ever ask you to email personal information.
  • Encourage you to follow a link to a login page to verify your account or fix a problem. Even if the URL looks real, it could be disguised that way. Hover over the link and look in the lower left corner of your screen to see the real URL. If you think it is legitimate, go directly to the company’s website and log in from there, or call the company.
  • Appear to be real messages from your bank or credit card company. Go directly to the website you use for online account management or contact them by phone.

You should monitor the statements for your bank accounts and credit cards closely, and contact your credit card company if you see unknown charges on your account.

If you know that you have received a phishing email, contact the company that the email is pretending to be from to bring their attention to the scam.

If shopping online, shop only with reputable companies and avoid shopping on unsecured Wi-Fi.  It may be convenient, but you might as well put your credit card number on a billboard.

The new chips in credit cards can be scanned from several feet away. RFID blocking wallets or card sleeves can help to protect your information.

Stay on the lookout this season to secure your money and your identity!