Hello UMW Colleagues,

It is time to reevaluate existing telework agreements and submit renewed or updated agreements for the 2024 fiscal year. Per state guidelines, telework agreements must be reevaluated annually. Beginning this year, all telework agreements will be valid July 1^st  through June 30^th of the following year.

Please review your telework agreements with your supervisor and submit renewed or updated forms with the appropriate signatures. Anyone expecting to telework at all, regularly or intermittently, must have an agreement on file. Classified employees must fill out the Classified form. A/P Faculty and Wage employees may use the Non-Classified form.

Instructions for submitting renewed/updated telework agreements:

·         Complete the appropriate form (you may edit/revise your existing agreement, or begin a new one – blank forms are attached);

·         Obtain the appropriate signatures: classified employees just need the employee’s signature, non-classified employees will need employee, supervisor and Cabinet/VP signatures (as indicated on the form).  Classified agreements that increase the number of telework days will be sent to Richmond for approval as indicated on the DHRM form.

·         Email the completed forms to Deborah Burton at dburton@umw.edu and make sure to copy your supervisor and area Cabinet member/VP.  If your telework schedule has changed, please indicate this in the email.

Helpful telework information and resources may be found on the UMW Telework webpage, including guidance for managing telework/hybrid teams and resources for employees.

All existing agreements are set to expire June 30^th, 2023, so please be sure to get these updated and submitted as soon as possible.

PLEASE SEE YOUR EMAIL FOR TWO ATTACHMENTS:
-DHRM Classified Telework Agreement
-UMW Non-Classified Telework Agreement

Best,

Deborah Burton
Compensation & HRIS Analyst
Office of Human Resources
(540) 654-1215
dburton@umw.edu

The next University of Mary Washington Women’s Leadership Colloquium Coffee Talk event will be held Tuesday, June 13, from 8 to 9 a.m. in the Jepson Alumni Executive Center’s Kalnen Inn Living Room, 1119 Hanover St, Fredericksburg. Street parking is available on Hanover Street.

June’s Coffee Talk will cover the topic of “Courage and Taking Risks.”

There is no doubt that successful leaders have demonstrated the courage to take risks. This session will focus on lessons we can learn from having the courage to take risks. We’ll discuss some of the best risk taking practices, as well as examples of some heroic risk takers. Taking risks does not mean we will succeed every time. Yet, having the courage to take risks opens many doors, ultimately leading to personal and professional growth.

Register for the June Coffee Talk or visit us online.

The following information is from Digital Learning Support: 

As communicated previously, UMW Blogs is being retired as a web publishing platform. If you do not use UMW Blogs you can disregard this message, but if you have a UMW Blogs account please note the important information below.

On July 1, 2023, the ability to log in to UMW Blogs will end. 

While we are retiring UMW Blogs as a web publishing system, we are not deleting the content that has been created there since 2007. As part of this work, every blog will move to a “static state.” This means that all existing UMW Blogs web pages will continue to be available, but no new pages can be created, and no existing pages can be edited.

• If you have a current website in UMW Blogs that you want to modify or edit in the future, you must migrate to our new platform, Sites@UMW, by July 1, 2023.
• If you have a current website on UMW Blogs that you want to delete, please follow these instructions to delete it before July 1, 2023: https://umwblogs.org/guides/deleting-a-umw-blogs-site/

For assistance with migration, deletion, or if you have any questions, please contact us at dls@umw.edu.

Thanks,

Jerry Slezak, Director – Digital Learning Support  
Cartland Berge, Director – Digital Knowledge Center  
Shannon Hauser, Associate Director – Digital Knowledge Center

Center for Community Engagement Director Sarah Dewees (center) accepts the Employer of the Year Award.

In March, the University of Mary Washington received the Employer of the Year award from the Virginia Division on Career Development and Transition for its participation in Start on Success (SOS), a school-to-work program launched by the National Organization on Disability.

SOS uses early opportunity, close individual support and collaboration to prepare at-risk students for competitive employment and independent living. Participants continue on to postsecondary employment or education at a rate of 75 to 85% – three times higher than the overall rate for students with disabilities.

Starting with the 2021-22 academic year, UMW established a partnership with James Monroe High School (JM) for a paid internship program for high school seniors who receive services through an IEP and are on a path to complete a standard or advanced diploma, with paid internship experiences.

Selected students enroll in a credit-bearing Career and Technical Education course and then participate in a paid internship at a local business with an assigned mentor to assist with problem-solving, accommodations and applying workplace readiness skills. Students are carefully selected into the program in the spring of their junior year and receive classroom instruction to prepare them for field experiences in the fall of their senior year. Participants spend three hours a day, five days a week, at their placement, over the course of 16 weeks. They are accompanied on campus by the program coordinator who checks in regularly with each student.

During the 2022-23 school year, the UMW departments of Dining, Student Health and Facilities hosted seven students on the Mary Washington campus. UMW Dining hosted two students in 2023, providing them with a series of experiences related to marketing, customer service and hospitality.

“The University of Mary Washington staff have gone above and beyond with their mentorship role on the job site through encouragement and guidance,” said JM Special Education Job Coach Angela Poteet. “Your efforts did not end on the job site as you have supported students by attending their athletic events, stayed in touch after graduation and encouraged students to seek post-secondary education.”

Since its 1994 inception, the SOS program has been implemented in over a dozen cities around the U.S. and has served more than 4,000 students. Virginia piloted it in 2014 and has since successfully implemented this model in urban, rural and suburban communities. The JM Start on Success program is funded through the VCU Center on Transition Innovations.

Center for Community Engagement Director Sarah Dewees accepted the Employer of the Year award for UMW on April 4 at a Fredericksburg City School Board meeting.