Category: Announcements

Dear Fellow State Employees :

Thanks in great measure to your hard work and dedication to efficient and effective government, I will formally announce today that, for the third year in a row, the Commonwealth finished the fiscal year with a budget surplus that includes both revenue and savings. This total surplus of $448.5 million is comprised of the $129.2 million in revenue that I previously announced, plus $319.3 million in savings from unspent general fund appropriations, recoveries, and non-general fund balances. I am pleased to share with you in advance of my public announcement that $187 million in savings, largely due to your continued dedication to spending taxpayer resources wisely, made up the largest portion of the surplus total. To be clear, the largest share of this surplus would not have been possible without the hard work and ingenuity of state employees.

As I announced at my employee town hall last December, my introduced budget included a bonus for state employees, the payout of which was partially dependent on agency savings through innovation and frugality, the same principles applied in the private sector. I recommended an up-to-3% performance bonus, provided that we achieved a state revenue surplus and that agencies returned savings to the Commonwealth. Obligations to the Revenue Stabilization Fund, the return of Transportation’s share of the accelerated sales tax, and the equally mandatory deposit to the Water Quality fund had first call on certain surplus funds. Thanks directly to additional efforts by you and your fellow state employees to save rather than spend down year end balances, the Commonwealth has saved enough to provide for the $77.2 million general fund share of the 3% bonus. This bonus will be paid out on December 1 of this year to all classified employees of the Executive branch and other full-time employees of the Commonwealth.

This is the second time I’ve asked you to rise to the same challenge given to private sector employees across all sectors of the economy. In FY2010 incentives were put in place to end the practice of spending appropriated funds down to zero at the end of the fiscal year and instead identify ways to save state money to receive a one-time 3% bonus. In response to that challenge, in FY2010 we accumulated $174.7 million in savings and unspent balances and you were awarded with a year-end bonus. When I asked you again to generate savings at the end of last year, I had no doubt you would rise to the challenge; however, you exceeded expectations by saving $12.3 million more than in 2010. The culture of prudent use of public funds that we have created, in addition to the historic 2012 reforms to preserve the Virginia Retirement System, will be lasting legacies that we share.

As always, thank you for the world class customer service you exhibit daily for our citizens and thank you for your continued service to the Commonwealth.

Sincerely,
Governor Bob McDonnell

Faculty Special Assignment: Social Media Consultant for University Relations and Advancement

General description of job/objective:

This position will support the University’s use of social media, and will work within the Division of Advancement and University Relations. As a faculty consultant on social media, this person will work primarily on four initiatives:

1) advance and further develop the institution’s social media strategy; 2) work with University Relations and Admissions to develop a social media strategy to engage prospective students; 3) develop an academic model to use social media to engage on- and off-campus constituents; and 4) plan for the production of social media content that can be used across campus.

This position reports to the Associate Vice President for University Relations.

Qualifications:

• Required: Demonstrated experience with a variety of social media platforms and tools.
• Required: Demonstrated experience with video and multimedia production.
• Required: Experience with the use of social media in teaching environments.
• Preferred: Track record of advancing the mission of an institution with effective communication strategies.

Release time and salary stipend: Negotiable.

To apply for the position, please submit a résumé and cover letter to the Office of Human Resources by 5 p.m. on August 31, 2012.

UMW Faculty and Staff,

We are excited about new student arrival and Orientation beginning on August 22.  As always, we invite your participation in the events of this week as we look forward to welcoming these students to our campus community.  

Eagle Gathering is a special orientation event being offered Thursday night, August 23, on Ball Circle, and we are asking for your participation to help make it successful.

Eagle Gathering  is a new ritual/rite of passage for our incoming students that we hope will become a cherished UMW tradition. During the program faculty and staff will be acknowledged, the President will provide comments, and we’ll conclude with a candlelight ceremony to welcome students to UMW.  

Faculty should arrive by 9:40 p.m. and the ceremony will conclude by 10:30 p.m.  (Although this program is late in the evening, we believe your attendance will be time well spent. Your participation would certainly be meaningful to our new students.) 

In addition, the link to the complete Orientation schedule is here: August Orientation 2012.  If you have questions regarding the schedule or events, please do not hesitate to call my office at Ext. 1062.  Please note, Honor Convocation is Friday, August 24, in the Anderson Center.  Those faculty and staff who intend on processing should be in Goolrick Hall in academic regalia by 3:30 p.m. – the ceremony will begin promptly at 3:45 p.m.  

We want everyone to be engaged in the new student Orientation process. Our shared understanding of the spirit and goals of Orientation will make the experience better for our new community members. We intend to:
    • Reinforce UMW’s academic priority and community values,
    • Emphasize the personal “connection” between the UMW community and the new student, and
    • Communicate institutional norms, traditions, and school spirit through positive affirmation and high energy! 

To achieve these goals we have a number of programs designed to emphasize our priorities and connect new students to others in the UMW community and to one another.  Research suggests that the first six weeks in a student’s college career is pivotal to their persistence and success.  I believe the more we personally engage our new students during Orientation, the more likely they will become positive, contributing members of our community moving forward.  

Thank you in advance for the role you play in helping our new students acclimate to UMW. 
Sincerely, 

Doug Searcy, Ph.D.
Vice President for Student Affairs
University of Mary Washington
540-654-1062

Verizon Telephone Directories  

Please stop by the UMW bookstore or Simpson Library to pick up your new 2012-13 Verizon telephone directory. Residential white pages are not included, only business listings and the yellow pages. Residential white pages are available at www.verizon.com/whitepages. A free copy of the residential white pages can be obtained by calling 1-800-888-8448.

All UMW Students, Faculty, and Staff,

Maintenance of UMW’s campus-wide TV service will begin today, and continue throughout the week.

The following list describes which services will be down, and for how long.

Date     Description_______________________________________________________________________________________

Tues, August 7 and Wed, Aug 8   All channels will be offline in all buildings.

Thurs, August 9 and Friday, August 10 All channels will be offline briefly in individual buildings. Each building will experience a half hour interruption of service.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you.

Hall Cheshire

Executive Director, IT Infrastructure

University of Mary Washington

540-654-1379

hcheshir@umw.edu