Tag: Academic Human Resources

sparty statue in fall

HR Welcomes Colleagues and Students Back to Campus

Published on by MSU Human ResourcesLeave a comment

Dear Spartan Colleagues,  

We are pleased to welcome everyone to a new academic year. While some added safety measures, including indoor masking and vaccination, have been put in place to protect all of us, we expect a more typical fall semester for our students. Our university is a space for them to engage with peers and faculty for the best possible learning experience and development opportunities. In addition to our first-year students, some of our second-year students will be on campus for the first time—experiencing dorm life, taking in the beauty of the Red Cedar River, and attending exciting campus events. With these added safety measures, we can minimize the spread of COVID-19 and give these Spartans a great start to their academic year. More information regarding these safety measures, including the vaccine verification and exemption forms, can be found on the Together We Will site.

We all have spent the last year and a half navigating our daily lives, careers, education, families, and more during a global pandemic. If you are experiencing the effects of this challenging time, you are not alone. Many resources are available to us—the Wellbeing at Work guide, the Employee Assistance Program and more information can be found on this page of the Together We Will site. As always, and especially during this time, it is important to practice grace and empathy toward our colleagues, students, and visitors. The pandemic has greatly affected all of us in different ways. We are all doing our best—let’s continue to work through this together.  

On behalf of MSU Human Resources and Academic Human Resources, we want to thank each of you for your continued work and dedication to the University, our students, and our land-grant mission. These are challenging times, but Together We Will. We wish you a safe, healthy, and successful academic year. 

Go Green!  

Richard Fanning, J.D., SHRM-SCP 
Interim Associate Vice President and Director of the Office of Employee Relations 
MSU Human Resources 

N. Suzanne Lang, PhD 
Associate Provost and Associate Vice President 
Academic Human Resources 

HR Wishes Everyone a Safe Academic Year

Published on by MSU Human ResourcesLeave a comment

Dear fellow Spartan colleagues,

Normally at this time of year, we welcome many of our faculty members back to campus and wish everyone a successful academic year. The landscape of this year’s fall semester looks much different, as we find ourselves still in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. 

For many of you, there will not be a return to campus this semester as you continue to work and teach remotely. Others of you have continued working in-person on campus or are preparing to return to a much different environment than the one you left, to campus with far fewer people than usual, wearing your masks and maintaining social distancing.

We continue to work closely with members of the HR Subcommittee of the Reopening Campus Taskforce to provide guidance to units and colleges as they work through their reopening plans. New questions and challenges arise daily, and while we are doing everything possible to address and anticipate these items, we need your feedback to help identify areas you have concerns over or gaps we need to focus on. You can submit your feedback here(anonymously if you wish). We also encourage you to continue to visit the Together We Will website for the latest information for you as a staff or faculty member and the MSU HR website for coronavirus information and resources for employees and departments.

As we continue to focus our efforts on how to ensure your health and safety-related to your work at MSU, it is also important for us to continue to move the University forward. The pandemic has revealed in greater measure areas where more work must be done; one of those areas is related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Both President Stanley and Provost Woodruff have identified DEI work as priorities in their leadership agendas. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the DEI Plan outlined on the President’s website, as well as Provost Woodruff’s letter of greeting to the campus community. 

On behalf of MSU Human Resources and Academic Human Resources, we want to thank each of you for your continued work and dedication to the University, our students, and our land-grant mission. These are challenging times, but Together We Will. We wish you a safe, healthy, and successful academic year.

Sincerely,

Sharon E. Butler
Associate Vice President
MSU Human Resources

N. Suzanne Lang, PhD
Interim Associate Provost and
Associate Vice President
Academic Human Resources