Texas A&M University-Texarkana Campus Connection August 2015

The Campus CONNECTION Issue 18 August 2015

In this issue Employee Corner P.2 Reminders & Updates P.3

Texas A&M University-Texarkana Partners with Paris Junior College

Employee Enhancement P.4 Supervisor Corner P.5

Now You Know Current Staff Openings 

Director of International Studies 



Counselor

Coordinator of Community College Transfer Center

Compliance Updates 

University Procedure (UP) 32.01.01.H0.01, Complaint and Appeal Procedures for Faculty Members

Texas A&M University-Texarkana has partnered with Paris Junior College to offer upper-division education courses on the PJC campus, beginning this fall. This is the first time A&M-Texarkana has offered courses at PJC. Courses will include Foundations of Education on Mondays from 5:30-7:45 p.m. and Emergent Literacy Development on Mondays from 5:30-7:45 p.m.

“As a native of Lamar County and a graduate of Paris Junior College, I’m thrilled to support the partnership between A&M-Texarkana and PJC,” said Dr. Glenda Ballard, dean of the College of Education and Liberal Arts at A&M-Texarkana.

“A&M-Texarkana has a strong teacher education program, and we have prepared many educators in the greater Northeast Texas area,” Dr. Ballard said. “We want to partner with PJC to make that degree program as accessible, as affordable, and as relevant as we can make it.”

“Future teachers now have more opportunities at PJC this fall,” said PJC Dean of Communications and Fine Arts Dr. Ken Haley. “We have two upper-level education courses offered on our campus by Texas A&M University-Texarkana. Not only will the partnership provide additional opportunities for our education students and more teachers for area schools, it will allow our students who want to pursue their education degrees at A&MTexarkana a chance to save commuting miles.”

For more information about bachelor’s degrees offered by A&M-Texarkana, contact the Texas A&M UniversityTexarkana Mt. Pleasant Center at (903) 434-8357 or mpcenter@tamut.edu.

Employee Corner Employee of the Month June BIRTHDAYS Janice Early Neisha Federick LouAnn Cole Cori Larey Kelly Coke Joan Brumm Judy Sander Hasan Ferdowsi Lacy McMillon Addison Eric Pennington Hausler Vicki Stringer Jennifer BradTammy Kelley ley Shannon Reyn- Toney Favors olds Selena Jefferies Laura Currey

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Dr. Gary Stading Dean of College of Business

Morgan Moses Secretary II– CELA

Angela Owens Resident Life Specialist

Cori Larey Congratulations to Cori Larey, Enrollment Processing Specialist in Enrollment Services, who has been named Employee of the Month for June 2015 at Texas A&M University-Texarkana. This is Cori’s third time to receive the coveted award.

“It was an honor to present Cori with her third Employee of the Month Award. She and Casey Roberts are the only A&M-Texarkana employees who have won this distinguished award three times,” said Jayson Ferguson, Chair of the Staff Council.

“Cori is a tremendous asset to the Enrollment Services office as well as the university,” her nominator wrote. “The Enrollment Services office has recently undergone a reorganization. In the midst of the busy new enrollment season of summer and reorganization, Cori continues to take on additional tasks and never complains.

She greets each person with a smile, whether it is a coworker or a student.”

The Campus Connection Issue 18 August 2015

REMINDERS & UPDATES

New Parking Hangtags on Sale New faculty and staff parking hangtags for 2015-16 are on sale. Cost of the hangtags is $30 for full-time employees. Cost is $10 for adjunct faculty and parttime employees.

Tags can be purchased in the Business Office and the University Police department.

The Campus Connection Issue 18 August 2015

Employee Enhancement Look and Act Promotable You’ve got a job, but unless you plan to make it the last job you ever have, think long-term. Act like you’re a man or woman on a mission, always prepared to take the next step, to take your career to the next level. Dress accordingly. In fact, dress for the job you want, not the job you have. Showcase your work when you can. Go above and beyond.

Unplug to Recharge Have you ever counted up how many hours of “screen time” you usually have per day? In other words, outside of normal business hours, screen time refers to the amount of time you spend watching television, on the computer, phone, or tablet. Rapid technological advancements are making it more enticing to spend increasing amounts of time on devices for both personal and professional reasons. Though it may be tempting to just sneak a peek at your work emails after hours, it is important for health and well-being to ensure that you are sticking to a healthy work-life balance when possible.

Start by observing your screen use for a couple of days or even a week. As you probably know, TV watching, Internet surfing, and devices in general can lead to more time on a screen than was originally intended. Total up how many hours you were on a device each day, and use that to then set a new goal for yourself. Determine how much of your work-related screen time is necessary. Often, we may find ourselves blindly answering emails, even though they can probably wait until you go into the office the next morning. If it isn’t a must, try physically moving your phone out of reach; the more clearly defined home and work time you have, the better it is for your well-being.

To help reach your goals, set limits for yourself. How much television would you like to limit yourself to each day? What about tablets and phones? Start off by setting a timer, or commit with family members to watching one or two shows and then turn the television off. Use this as an opportunity to enhance family communication and leisure. Decide together what other activities you can do in lieu of screen time and talk about the importance of “going dark” from time to time. You may be surprised what you learn about your family just by swapping one TV show per week with a half an hour of conversation with one another.

The Campus Connection Issue 18 August 2015

Supervisor’s Corner 3 Toxic Behaviors to Address Now Regardless of your position in an organization, you have the responsibility to address certain behaviors that are detrimental to the team and organization. Whether, as a manager, you address an employee’s misconduct or you correct your own negative actions, here are three behaviors to put an end to immediately: 1. Being rude to newcomers. More tenured employees may feel threatened by an enthusiastic, talented newcomer and choose to be rude, indifferent or overly competitive. They may even withhold information and support because they fear they are being replaced. Ensure that you and others are giving new hires the welcome they deserve. Be friendly, helpful and accommodating.

2. Sabotaging change efforts. Change is difficult for many people; however, some employees go out of their way to complicate changes. They won’t provide information, return calls or emails from coworkers, or participate in brainstorming and problem-solving meetings.

While you can be concerned about change, you still have to enforce it and do everything in your power to make it a success. As a manager, if you learn that certain employees are hindering a change, address it immediately and explain the behavior will not be condoned.

3. Making other people’s lives difficult. Misery loves company, and some people will abuse coworkers and employees simply because they are discontent in their own lives.

They make unreasonable demands, act rudely and put other people down as often as possible. Address such negative behaviors head-on. Be professional and respectful, but point out their actions. If that doesn’t help, you may need to go to HR or their boss for mediation.

You don’t have to accept abuse in the workplace.

Supervisors are supposed to play a role in reducing workplace stress. What areas of workplace stress most affect employees? Knowing what they are would help me consider strategies to at least deal with the most important issues. I know I can’t intervene in everything.

A. You are correct. You won’t be able to intervene in every issue, but there are broad categories of stress worth knowing about that can help you stay attuned to relationship and workplace dynamics with which interventions could reduce the impact of stress. Stress research usually focuses on 1) conflicts with supervisors, 2) complaints about the work culture and factors associated with it, and 3) dissatisfaction with making too minimal a contribution, not feeling like one belongs, is included, or fits in.

This includes a feeling of not being valued for one’s contributions to the achievements of the work unit.

Keep these categories in mind in conversations with employees and when dealing with normal workplace conflict. They can alert you to take action, and this can reduce turnover if you jump on problems quickly and resolve them. Turn to the Employee Assistant Program (EAP) to help you, as needed.

The Campus Connection Issue 18 August 2015