Kickoff Event: Love (& Life) in the Time of Covid-19 - (March 16, from 12pm-1pm)
Kickoff Speaker: Laura Putnam, MA, Author of Workplace Wellness that Works: 10 Steps to Infuse Well-Being and Vitality into Any Organization
Description: Inspired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ Love in the Time of Cholera, this session offers information, tips and hope. At a time when our country is confronting three overlapping crises – a pandemic, financial distress, and a reckoning with racism and injustice – how do we each cope and how can we each make a difference? Participants will come away with practical strategies to sustain well-being, purpose, and a sense of meaning.
Length: 1 hour
Registration is not through PeopleSoft. Go to Zoom Meeting Registration
Microsoft Teams Top Tips - (March 18, from 12:30pm-1:30pm)
Facilitators: Geoffrey Duke, Senior Systems Administrator and Mike Austin, Director of Systems Architecture & Administration
Description: Take your Microsoft Teams use to the next level. Come learn the best practices for existing features, explore new features that have recently been added to Teams, and get a sneak peek at features being released in the coming months.
Length: 1 hour
PeopleSoft Course Code: EDU509
Microsoft OneDrive for File Backup and Sharing - (March 22, from 12:30pm-1:30pm)
Facilitators: Geoffrey Duke, Senior Systems Administrator and Mike Austin, Director of Systems Architecture & Administration
Description: Microsoft OneDrive for Business provides each UVM employee and student with 1 TB (Terabyte) of individual cloud storage. Come learn how you can access your files from any device, share files with anyone, co-edit files, and more.
Length: 1 hour
PeopleSoft Course Code: EDU510
Upbeat Strategies for Being Alone: An EAP Guided Discussion - (March 30, from 12pm-1pm)
Facilitators: Taryn Austin, MA, LCMHC, LADC, Invest EAP Director of Clinical Coordination
Description: Join us in a conversation about the challenges people are experiencing during COVID-19, particularly loneliness and isolation. EAP Clinical Director, Taryn Austin, MA, LCMHC, LADC, will facilitate a conversation that allows participants to share, join and ultimately guide participants to resources and opportunities ending with feelings of hope and kindness.
Learning Outcomes:
- Engage in a conversation about how participants are navigating challenging times.
- Evaluate self-care activities that can help address your feelings of loneliness or isolation.
- Reflect on acts of kindness that you can do as an act of self-care.
Length: 1 hour
PeopleSoft Course Code: EDU500
On-campus interns: A win-win for students and your department - (April 1, from 12pm-12:45pm)
Facilitators: Amanda Chase, Ed.D, Internship Coordinator/Career Counselor
Description: An overview of how internships can allow departments to mentor tomorrow's leaders and benefit from students' innovative ideas and fresh perspective. We'll talk about how to set up internships, recruit candidates, create an effective experience, adapt internships remotely, and considerations for credit and compensation.
Length: 45 minutes
PeopleSoft Course Code: EDU501
Radical Self-Care - (April 5, from 12pm-1:30pm)
Facilitators: Jenna Emerson, Health and Sexuality Educator Living Well, UVM Center for Health and Wellbeing and Annie Valentine, Education and Training Manager, Center for Health and Wellbeing
Description: This workshop challenges the notion of a one-size fits all version of self-care and uplifts the importance of community/collective-care. Through discussion, reflective writing and embodied practices we will explore what radical self-care is for you and what supports a thriving community for all.
Length: 1.5 hours
PeopleSoft Course Code: EDU502
Parenting in a Pandemic - (April 7, from 12pm-1pm)
Facilitators: Melissa Murray, Director, UVM Women & Gender Equity Center and Judy Rickstad, Campus Victim’s Advocate, UVM Women & Gender Equity Center
Description: Parents and caregivers are really struggling. Navigating the lack of childcare, supporting remote schooling, juggling work demands, the lack of social outlets and support for kids and adults, and the fear and anxiety of living in these particular times all contribute to a sense of overwhelming isolation. Join us as we come together in an informal virtual space to offer support, share resources, make connections, and more. Space will be provided to breakout into smaller groups based on the age(s) of your kiddo(s) and connect about specific challenges and joys.
This space will be facilitated by Judy Rickstad and Melissa Murray, who are both staff members at the Women & Gender Equity Center. Judy and Melissa are both parents and have been co-leading a Parenting Group out of the Women & Gender Equity Center for the last 2 years.
Length: 1 hour
PeopleSoft Course Code: EDU503
Living & Working in a Pandemic: Making Space for Grief - (April 13, from 12pm-1:30pm)
Facilitators: Laura Engelken, Director of Interfaith Education & Engagement and Christa Hagan-Howe, Diversity Educator, The Center for Cultural Pluralism
Description: The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted our lives in ways that have forced us to drastically reimagine many of the structures and patterns that guide our daily lives and relationships with the world. In the midst of all this adaptation, both at work and at home, there also comes loss. Research shows that creating opportunities to acknowledge such loss and its impact upon our lives enables us to more effectively engage what we are experiencing, as well as create space for new possibilities.
This small group workshop offers space to reflect upon one’s experiences surrounding COVID-19 and identify resources and ways for processing grief that may be particularly helpful as the pandemic wears on.
Length: 1.5 hours
PeopleSoft Course Code: EDU504
Me At My Best® – How can we each leverage well-being as an avenue to become our version of Me At My Best®? - (April 14, 12pm-1pm)
Facilitators: Laura Putnam, Author of Workplace Wellness that Works: 10 Steps to Infuse Well-Being and Vitality into Any Organization
Description: What are the keys to not just surviving – but fully thriving? How can we each become “Me At My Best®” – whatever that looks like for us? Through a combination of stories and science, learn about the secrets needed to thrive. Attendees will get up to speed on the multiple dimensions needed to be their best self: physical, emotional, financial, career and community. Come away refreshed and armed with specific takeaways to catapult yourself into a revitalized way of living.
Length: 1 hour
Registration is not through PeopleSoft. Go to Zoom Meeting Registration
Epic Ergonomics: The Ergonomics of Working from Home - (April 19, from 12pm-1pm)
Facilitators: Laura Rice, Epic Wellness
Description: Have you found yourself working from home – on the couch, kitchen counter, or from the kitchen table? During this presentation we will review some of the most common behaviors that come with working in spaces that are not designed with a full workday in mind. Included in the presentation are tips and tricks on how you can work better in these spaces to prevent RSI and body aches.
Length: 1 hour
PeopleSoft Course Code: EDU506
Communication Breakdown: When ZOOM & Teams Just Aren't Enough to Stem Personal and Professional Isolation - (April 21, from 12pm-12:45pm)
Facilitators: Krista Malaney, Communications Professional for UVM Human Resource Services, and Professional Writer
Description: Social isolation has been problematic in work settings and personal life even before COVID-19 forced us to stay at home, quarantine, and socially distance. Despite the many technologies that connect us, the implications of isolation are real, especially for people who live and work alone and for marginalized groups who lack access (older adults, people of color, low income individuals, people living in congregate living situations without access to digital technology or outside visits). More than ever, this lack of face-to-face human interaction has increased emotional distress, however there are creative communication strategies that can help increase our sense of connection and lessen personal and professional anxieties.
This session will focus on ways UVM employees engaged in telework can use technology and other tools to reach across the digital divide, boost communication, and create meaningful connections to: 1) reduce loneliness, 2) encourage self-care, 3) remain engaged in fulfilling work, and 4) inspire one another to remain open and flexible with one another during COVID-19.
Length: 45 minutes
PeopleSoft Course Code: EDU507
Overcoming Pandemic Fatigue: Self-Care, Connection, and Well-Being in Times of Disruption - (April 27, from 12pm-1:30pm)
Facilitators: Oleh Kaarmik, Talent Development Specialist, Professional Development & Training
Description: In the past year, we’ve endured a global pandemic, a massive economic crisis, and widespread social unrest. A critical part of succeeding through it all will involve embracing the quest to move forward to emerge stronger, together. And while there are no easy answers, let’s explore the five counteractive ways to reenergize ourselves in times of disruption.
“In the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity.” (Albert Einstein)
Length: 1.5 hours
PeopleSoft Course Code: EDU508
Best Practices for Supervisors in a Remote Environment - (April 29, from 12pm - 1:30pm)
Facilitators: Peter Blackmer, Director for Labor and Employee Relations, and Maggie Ferron, Labor and Employee Relations Professional, Human Resource Services
Description: Among the many changes brought about by Covid-19 is the fact that most of campus now works remotely, and telecommuting will continue to be an option in the future. This change to a remote environment has raised new challenges for supervisors: How do I communicate effectively in a remote workplace? Should I be treating exempt and nonexempt employees differently? How do I continue to hold employees accountable? How can I best engage and empower my team for maximum productivity? This workshop for current supervisors offers an opportunity to share what has worked in the remote environment, and share best practices and resources for supervisors from the Labor and Employee Relations team.
Length: 1.5 hours
PeopleSoft Course Code: EDU511
Coping with the Climate Crisis - (April 29, from 12pm-1:30pm)
Facilitators: Caylin McCamp, Education & Outreach Coordinator, Office of Sustainability and Lindsay Foreman, Health Educator, Center for Health Wellbeing
Description: Surveys show that most UVM employees understand the reality of the climate crisis and are rightfully concerned and distressed by it. This is in addition to other stressors like the pandemic, racial injustice and economic crisis. This session will skip the climate science and instead discuss psychological and emotional responses to climate change reported by campus and share strategies for coping in crisis, foster heart-centered resilience and tap into our potential for making change. Much of this session will be activity and discussion based in order to build community together. Participants should come willing to share their own experiences.
Length: 1.5 hours
PeopleSoft Course Code: EDU505
Born To Move, Told To Sit: How to recognize and overcome common barriers to movement - (Fall - Sept. 15, from 12pm-1pm)
Facilitators: Laura Putnam, Author of Workplace Wellness that Works: 10 Steps to Infuse Well-Being and Vitality into Any Organization
Description: Americans sit a lot. There are a multitude of factors that keep us from moving: classrooms where kids sit for hours at a time, work environments that keep employees in front of computers, even groceries that are delivered to our homes. Meanwhile, we are inundated by a stream of fad exercise classes and news stories about the dangers of sitting. We’re told: “Move more, sit less!” We are left to feel that we’re failing ourselves and that we are to blame. The truth is, there’s a bigger story. We are born to move, but societal systems “tell” us to sit. This session examines the “biological-cultural” mismatch we’re up against – and provides a path forward. After hearing this talk, participants will rethink next time they’re asked to “Have a seat!"
Length: 1 hour
Registration is not through PeopleSoft. Go to Zoom Meeting Registration
