This year’s Staff Council Spring Assembly, in conjunction with the Year of Discourse and Dialogue, will have the theme “Conflict and Complex Conversations.”
The May 28 event, which was announced at Staff Council’s April 16 meeting, will feature Frits Pil (distinguished service professor in the Katz Graduate School of Business and research scientist at the Learning Research and Development Center), who will cover “the basics of how to understand and approach conflict, and how to engage in clear communication, including saying no, expressing anger productively and hearing others effectively.”
Pil’s presentation will include a chance for some participant practice. The event will be from 10 a.m. to noon May 28 in the William Pitt Union Assembly Room.
In other news: Staff Council will be holding its next biannual officer elections beginning May 23 for a new position — vice president of membership — as well as for the long-standing posts of president, executive vice president, vice president of finance, vice president of public relations and parliamentarian.
The vice president of membership will be in charge of new member recruitment, engagement and retention, including helping with the organization’s annual new-member orientation and the mentorship of current members, with the goal of increasing the group’s numbers and recognizing the work of participants.
Nominations from among the membership for all the offices are being accepted now through April 28, with voting taking place across a month (May 23-June 24). Voting starts with choosing the president. If a candidate for multiple offices is elected president, they are eliminated from the ballot for lower offices, for which voting follows one at a time.
Staff Council’s next meeting will be May 21 at noon, during which its presidential candidates will speak.
— Marty Levine
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