HR Newsletter COMMUNICATOR pg 2 Computer Use and Political Activity pg 3 When The Lights Go Down (and out) pg 4 Everybody Has a Story JANUARY, 2012 VOL. 1, ISSUE 1 The College has adopted a new social media policy that further supports the current computer use policy. With ever- changing technology it is important to be clear about the use of social media in our workplace. If you have any questions about the policy please feel free to contact Human Resources. Social Media Policy (new) This policy applies to all kinds of electronic communications, including but is not limited to multi-media, social networking websites, blogs, and wikis for both professional and personal use. Consistent with other College policies, internet postings may not disclose any information that is confidential or proprietary to Bates College or to any third party that has disclosed information to the College. Internet postings must respect copyright, privacy, fair use, financial disclosure and other applicable laws. Employees may not claim nor imply that they are speaking on behalf of the College on personal social media accounts. Social media accounts on behalf of the College require approval of a Vice President prior to initiation. Bates College reserves the right to request certain subjects be avoided, certain posts be withdrawn, and inappropriate comments be removed on Bates College social media accounts. Hiring managers and members of a search committee should not examine or search private social media user profiles when evaluating candidates for employment or promotion. Human Resources staff, upon request, may conduct a social media search and provide business-related information to hiring managers. This policy will not be interpreted in any manner to infringe upon an employee’s legal rights or protections. Social Media at Bates Mary Main, Human Resource Director INFORMING THE BATES COMMUNITY Dates of Interest in January January 5 Biweekly pay date January 12 Monthly pay date January 16 Martin Luther King Jr. Day January 19 Biweekly pay date Everybody Has a Story—Dan Hamann Amie Parker, Employment Manager Every time I conduct an interview for this feature, I am reminded of two things. The first is that we have many creative employees on campus whose talents, for the large part, remain hidden. The second is that each of us carries with us a history of experiences that deeply affect our interaction with others and the way we work. This month I had the honor of interviewing Dan Hamann, the Mason of Facility Services, an employee for whom the above two observations ring true. Born and raised in Lewiston, Dan is the youngest of four children. He points to being the youngest as a large part of shaping who he is as he looked up to and learned from his older siblings. He is frequently reminded today of the lessons they taught him. After graduating from Lewiston High School, he joined the military and spent his time stationed in Alaska, an amazing landscape and one that he loved. A most memorable event from that time period is being discharged and making a marathon road trip from Fairbanks, Alaska to Georgia in just five days by relay driving with a military buddy. He’s reminded of the trip each time he hears music from one of the five cassettes they had available to listen to during the journey. When he returned home to Maine, he went to work as a mason tender for his brother and decided it was probably the hardest work you could ever do and decided to pursue his own career as a mason. After working in commercial masonry for a few years, he decided to venture off on his own to pursue self-employment. He valued the ability to be selective about the work he did and to cho ose those jobs that tapped more into his cre- ative abilities. Masonry is an art in itself. More than just a fixed tile or a brick chimney, the work of masons has been a critical part of vast civili- zations. Consider, for example, the Egyptian Pyramids, India’s Taj Majal or the Great Wall of China. Dan was inspired by architecture in Europe after spending several months abroad in his 20’s. He brings to Bates creative abilities that have the potential to set apart the landscape of the Bates campus. He has constructed a beautiful water fea- ture in the Carnegie Science green house and is currently working on pieces he’s forming from raw brick. In addition to his masonry, Dan points to his love of music as a motivator in his life. After a serious medical incident in 2007 that left him hospitalized for several weeks, Dan distracted himself with music in the hospital and during his long recovery. He now has a passion for sharing the therapeutic benefits of music with other patients and their families and is working on a project to bring attention to this benefit locally. What to learn from Dan Hamann? There is beauty in the every day, there is passion where you least expect it and you just never know what the behind the scenes players on our campus have to offer. Seek out someone you don’t know and introduce yourself; you just never know what you might gain! “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are cre- ated equal.” Martin Luther King Jr., August 28,1963
Transcript
HR Newsletter
COMMUNICATOR
pg 2 Computer Use and Political Activity
pg 3 When The Lights Go Down (and out)
pg 4 Everybody Has a Story
JANUARY, 2012
VOL. 1, ISSUE 1
The College has adopted a new social
media policy that further supports the
current computer use policy. With ever-
changing technology it is important to
be clear about the use of social media in
our workplace. If you have any questions
about the policy please feel free to contact
Human Resources.
Social Media Policy (new)This policy applies to all kinds of electronic communications, including but is not limited to multi-media, social networking websites, blogs, and wikis for both professional and personal use.
Consistent with other College policies, internet postings may not disclose any information that is confidential or proprietary to Bates College or to any third party that has disclosed information to the
College. Internet postings must respect copyright, privacy, fair use, financial disclosure and other applicable laws. Employees may not claim nor imply that they are speaking on behalf of the College on personal social media accounts.
Social media accounts on behalf of the College require approval of a Vice President prior to initiation. Bates College reserves the right to request certain subjects be avoided, certain posts be withdrawn, and inappropriate comments be removed on Bates College social media accounts.
Hiring managers and members of a search committee should not examine or search private social media user profiles when evaluating candidates for employment or promotion. Human Resources staff, upon request, may conduct a social media search and provide business-related information to hiring managers.
This policy will not be interpreted in any manner to infringe upon an employee’s legal rights or protections.
Social Media at BatesMary Main, Human Resource Director
INFORMING THE BATES COMMUNITY
Dates of Interest
in January
January 5 Biweekly pay dateJanuary 12 Monthly pay dateJanuary 16 Martin Luther King Jr. DayJanuary 19 Biweekly pay date
Everybody Has a Story—Dan HamannAmie Parker, Employment Manager
Every time I conduct an interview for this feature, I am reminded of two things. The first is that we have many creative employees on campus whose talents, for the large part, remain hidden. The second is that each of us carries with us a history of experiences that deeply affect our interaction with others and the way we work. This month I had the honor of interviewing Dan Hamann, the Mason of Facility Services, an employee for whom the above two observations ring true.
Born and raised in Lewiston, Dan is the youngest of four children. He points to being the youngest as a large part of shaping who he is as he looked up to and learned from his older siblings. He is frequently reminded today of the lessons they taught him. After graduating from Lewiston High School, he joined the military and spent his time stationed in Alaska, an amazing landscape and one that he loved. A most memorable event from that time period is being discharged and making a marathon road trip from Fairbanks, Alaska to Georgia in just five days by relay driving with a military buddy. He’s reminded of the trip each time he hears music from one of the five cassettes they had available to listen to during the journey.
When he returned home to Maine, he went to work as a mason tender for his brother and decided it was probably the hardest work you could ever do and decided to pursue his own career as a mason. After working in commercial masonry for a few years, he decided to venture off on his own to pursue self-employment. He valued the ability to be selective about the work he did and to cho ose those jobs that tapped more into his cre-ative abilities.
Masonry is an art in itself. More than just a fixed tile or a brick chimney, the work of masons has been a critical part of vast civili-zations. Consider, for example, the Egyptian Pyramids, India’s Taj Majal or the Great Wall of China. Dan was inspired by architecture in Europe after spending several months abroad in his 20’s. He brings to Bates creative abilities that have the potential to set apart the landscape of the Bates campus. He has constructed a beautiful water fea-ture in the Carnegie Science green house and is currently working on pieces he’s forming from raw brick.
In addition to his masonry, Dan points to his love of music as a motivator in his life. After a serious medical incident in 2007 that left him hospitalized for several weeks, Dan distracted himself with music in the hospital and during his long recovery. He now has a passion for sharing the therapeutic benefits of music with other patients and their families and is working on a project to bring attention to this benefit locally.
What to learn from Dan Hamann? There is beauty in the every day, there is passion where you least expect it and you just never know what the behind the scenes players on our campus have to offer. Seek out someone you don’t know and introduce yourself; you just never know what you might gain!
“I have a dream
that one day this
nation will rise up
and live out the
true meaning of
its creed: We hold
these truths to be
self-evident: that
all men are cre-
ated equal.”
Martin Luther King Jr., August 28,1963
Computer Use and Political Activity
Gene Wiemers, Vice President for Information and Library Services and Librarian
With only three weeks to go before the Iowa caucuses and the 2012 election season, I write to remind you that college policy prohibits the use of Bates technology (including Bates e-mail and e-mail lists) for political activity on behalf of individual candidates. This includes any advocacy for or against a candidate. Here is the relevant para-graph from the Bates computer use policy:
Bates College computing systems are available to the Bates com-munity to further the educational goals of the College. Bates College does not permit you to use its computing resources to support com-mercial enterprises you may have, not-for-profit activities unrelated to the educational goals of the College, work on behalf of political candidates, or any activity that could compromise the tax-exempt status of the College. Reasonable use of College-owned or oper-ated computing resources for personal non-commercial purposes is permitted if it does not entail a direct cost to the College, impede network operations, or violate College policies. If you are in doubt about a particular case you should contact the Vice President for In-formation and Library Services.
I urge you to open a personal account on any number of commercial services that are now available if you plan to use e-mail, databases, mailing lists, or any other technology to support your activity on behalf of a candidate.
You can find the complete computer use policy at: www.bates.edu/ils/policies/access-use/computer-use-policy/
Marc Glass, Project Manager and Market Analyst, Bates Communications Office
Ashley Shinay, Bates Fund Gift Officer, Advancement
Check Your Benefit
Statement
Ken Emerson, Associate Human Resource Director
Now that the annual enrollment period is over, we encourage all employees to make sure their benefit elections and covered dependents are correct by viewing their Benefit Statement through the Garnet Gateway.
To check your Benefit Statement follow the procedures below:
• Sign into the Garnet Gateway
• From the Main Menu click on the Benefit Statement Option
• Click on the drop down box next to “As of Date” and choose January 01, 2012 if you are a monthly employee and December 18, 2011 if you are a biweekly employee
• Review your benefit elections and covered dependents
If you changed medical plans be sure to provide your new Aetna ID card the next time you seek services or go to fill a prescription.
Also, for those employees who use a debit card to access their Healthcare Reimbusement Account funds please remember that the Benny card expires 12/31/11 and you will need to use your new GDI Debit Card for your 2012 contributions.
If you have questions on your benefits or who is listed as covered dependents please contact Ken Emerson at 786-8271 or via email to [email protected].
There are plenty of issues that can arise during nature’s winter tantrums. This month, we con-sider a few of the safety consid-erations that pertain to winter storms. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has out-lined some safety tips to help us react, or better yet, prepare.
When the power goes out we often turn to alternative types of heaters and/or generators to keep things running. These devices can be used safely if we use them according to manufactur-ers’ instructions and keep them properly maintained. Read the manuals! Run your generator outside; never in a closed garage or basement. Keep them away from doors, windows and vents. Carbon monoxide is a deadly poison and is a byproduct of both gasoline burning equipment and fuel burning stoves. Sparks from both generators and wood stoves, while different in nature, can both start deadly fires.
Use the appropriate size exten-sion cords from your generator and never run any cord under carpets. Never operate the gen-erator connected to a power source; the safest way to operate your generator is through a trans-fer switch which prevents back flow. When you touch a genera-tor, be sure your hands are dry to avoid electrical shock. It’s best to house your generator on a dry surface under an open canopy-like structure.
If you use an alternative heat source, pay careful attention to distances. Keep heaters three feet away from combustible surfaces and be sure that children do not come in contact with hot sur-faces. The safest alternative heat-ers have “tip switches” which will automatically turn off the heater if it is knocked over. Use only the fuel recommended by the manufacturer. If you are us-ing a liquid fueled space heater, let it cool before refueling and do the refueling outdoors, away from the house. Liquid and gas
When the Lights Go Down (and out)
Ray Potter, Environmental Health and Safety Manager
fueled units must be ventilated to the outdoors. If you are firing up the fireplace be sure the damper is open and the chimney flue is clear. Use a fireplace screen and keep an extinguisher handy. When removing ashes from a fireplace or woodstove use only a metal container and cover the container with a metal lid to smother any smoldering embers before emptying the ashes out-doors. Better yet, soak ashes in water.
Check the batteries in those carbon monoxide and smoke detectors! If you have hard wired detectors make sure they have battery back-up and change the batteries when you change the clocks in the fall. If you didn’t do that, do it now. Test detectors every month to be sure they will work when they are needed.
Stay safe, stay warm. Be prepared.
If you use
an alternative
heat source,
pay careful
attention to
distances.
Bates
Enrichment
Week 2012
Bates Enrichment Week is scheduled for June 11–15, 2012.
The Training and Development Committee is currently seeking ideas for workshops.
Please send any ideas you might have to any of the following committee members:
Linda Carter
Lee Desiderio
Sue Dunn
Donna Duval
Ken Emerson
Mary Main
Melani McGuire
Mike Milliken
Ray Potter
Keith Pray
Christine Schwartz
Sherry St. Amant
Heather Taylor
Andrew White
If you are interested in teaching a class, we would love to hear from you. We do not pay for course instructors but do pay for course materials so please keep this in mind when submitting your ideas.
