grapev ne Residential and Student Service Programs
Spring 2014
Change is Here to Stay at RSSP A
s I look back on the past year, I am struck by the transformation taking place at the University, within the Division of Student Affairs, and certainly within Residential and Student Service Programs (RSSP). From our new chancellor to structural reorganization at the campus level to welcoming new our new colleagues, change e
From th
Associate Vice Chancellor
has been and will continue to be the one constant. As we move forward into our planning for 2014-15, you’re going to hear a lot about Change, Our New Normal. It is important to me and the RSSP Cabinet that staff knows as much as possible about the changes on which we are working to ensure the wellness of the organization as we as a unit work to practice the culture of care embraced by all of Student Affairs. In our work to support the Student Affairs Think Big: Strategic Priorities Initiative (SPI), we are going to be considering efforts that support the success and satisfaction of students and staff. While you will be hearing more about SPI, I want you to know that we are integrating the Division’s planning into our own. Going forward, you will be asked to engage in helping identify and implement initiatives the support our four priorities: 1) student Continued on Page 2
Berkeley UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
New Child Development Center Vice Chancellor Harry Le Grande, Director of Organizational Services Mary-Ann Spencer Cogan and Associate Vice Chancellor LeNorman Strong on May 14 cut the ribbon on the new RSSP child development center. For details, see Page 2.
inside>>>>>>>>>>> girton moves....................3 bike program....................5 Halloween fun................6 Fond Farewells...............7 holiday fun......................8
Change is Constant for RSSP, Division achievement and satisfaction, 2) containing the cost of attendance/ stays and what goes away in our work as we focus on and resource prigenerating new net revenue, 3) common good initiatives across Student orities. We’ve had frank conversations about the reality that as a culture Affairs, and 4) organization health and positive culture. within student affairs work, we have real difficulty letting go. Because Our work on organization health and positive culture will be an im- of the passion we bring to our work with students in support of their portant focus as we look at organizational and individual wellness. This success, and with what each of us brings personally as our commitment priority will encompass the work we will do to support employee health to our job, our profession, our department, and the University, finding and wellness while we also undertake initiatives that enhance RSSP’s a strategy to change our culture so that we can make decisions about effectiveness as a service organization, including employee training and what stops is difficult. development, recognition and engagement. We are establishing new An important aspect of our strategic planning will be the increased and enhanced approaches to collaborating within and across the Divivalue of data-driven decisions. We need context and evidence to guide sion of Student Affairs as we start work toward this priority. Mary-Ann our work. If we have an ongoing data-collection and analysis process Spencer Cogan, in her role as Director of Organizational Services, will be utilizing quantitative and qualitative information, then we will begin to leading us through a number of initiatives as she works RSSP strategic priorities closely with Lance Page, David Atwood, and the Student Affairs Learning and Development team. Some of the work being considered includes enhancing our We know that a lot of how a student experiences his or her university Promoting student RSSP New Employee Orientation program, exploring is in the relationship. Unfortunately, while the University has experisatisfaction and how to make staff on-boarding more meaningful, enced financial exigency, we have become increasingly transactional. success and exploring ideas that will provide easier access by One of our priorities is to go back to the relationship foundation. employees to the learning and development resources available across campus. While we don’t have all of the Now that the SA organizational integration piece is done, now we Minimizing rate answers yet, we look forward to the ideas that will lead are looking at a number of different initiatives. We will be framing increases to initiatives to take better care of the people in our up workgroups on these priority items to help us in that regard. organization. Another priority for the next three to five years is There are a number of initiatives that work teams are looking at Ensuring the generation of new net revenue. As RSSP focuses organizational health to help us in this regard. We need to define first and then look at on ways of containing the cost of room and board in personal care within our culture. order to reduce their impact in increasing the University’s affordability factor, we must look for new sources This where we look at how we collaborate and partner more with Support and of revenue. We realize that we will need to be more our Student Affairs colleagues in the kinds of initiatives that help leadership for creative and aggressive in the kinds of opportunities us as a team, but also help us with the mission of the University. common good that we pursue. The challenge is how do we collect, analyze and make meaning initiatives Part of our planning work will require that we have from that information, and how do we go forward. the right linkages between the Division and RSSP in place. The last thing we want to do is add more bureaucracy that makes it more difficult to get work done. We recognize see the big picture a lot more clearly. As we start to look at alternative that change sometimes feels like more bureaucracy in and of itself, so strategies, we need know who’s using services for what reason and how looking at what we intend to do and making sure that staff are both successfully those services are delivered, whatever the user population informed about what we’re trying to do AND empowered to do what might be. The kinds of insight we gain from our metrics has the potenneeds to be done, including offering ideas to correct unintended diffitial to help us improve program and service delivery and to become culties, is key to our success. more efficient. A year from now, how we undertake our work will look and feel The RSSP organization of today is not the same as it was in May significantly different from just six months ago. We will all feel more 2013, and the organization of today is not the same as it will be next comfortable with processes and the support available to us. We will September. The priorities on which we are working across Student all have more experience with our connections with and support from Affairs and internally within RSSP will sharpen our directions. The Campus Shared Services, Student Affairs Business Operations and structural changes that we’re putting in place, the new staff roles that other administrative changes implemented to strengthen work across have been identified and some new team members that we anticipate Student Affairs. bringing onboard within the next months will certainly add a lot to There is no doubt about RSSP continuing as a vital service organizaour work toward accomplishing priorities and making us a stronger tion within our university. The fact of the matter is that we are evolving, organization. I encourage us all to remember that change takes time, and for the next six months or so, it is going to be change, change, and that the one constant in our work is change. If we all give our best change. The RSSP Cabinet is working diligently to be more inclusive and thinking and best work to the efforts that are underway, we will be communicative, along with our Student Affairs partners, about where more effective in meeting the needs of our students. As we meet their we’re headed, why, and how you can help us. We as leaders have to needs in increasingly effective ways, we will make their experience one be clear about the change process so that we can support our team that they will cherish, one through which they flourish and thrive, not members so that they too become increasingly knowledgeable with our merely survive. I’m counting on you to join me as we work together to priorities and directions. provide the best programs and services possible to the members of I and my colleagues on the Student Affairs Executive Team talk the UC Berkeley community. increasingly about how to engage our teams in efforts to focus on our Go Bears! priorities while undertaking the important tasks of identifying what — LeNorman Strong, Associate Vice Chancellor
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Dwight Way Center to Open in August
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n May 14, RSSP celebrated the opening of its newest infant/toddler care and education facility, the Dwight Way Child Development Center. Speakers at the ribbon-cutting and open house event included Harry LeGrande, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs; LeNorman Strong, Associate Vice Chancellor for RSSP; and Mary-Ann Spencer Cogan, Director of Organizational and Child Care Services for RSSP, among others. Dwight Way will be Berkeley’s fifth Child Development Center, and home to 42 infants and toddlers when it opens this August. This will bring Berkeley’s total early childhood education and capacity to 256 children, between the ages of three months to kindergarten. The 6,650 sq. ft. building will also be certified LEED Silver.
Bittersweet Parting For ECEP’s Girton Hall T eachers, parents and kids gathered last year to say a bittersweet farewell to Girton Hall, the original center of the Early Childhood Education Program (ECEP). The building, which was moved to a hillside in the Botanical Garden in Strawberry Canyon, closed to make way for an addition to the Haas School of Business. “Girton Hall has had many, many wonderful caregivers within ECEP and RSSP,” said Christine Hansel, Program Director for ECEP. “Just as babies compel us as adults to fall in love with, protect and nurture them, this beautiful building, nestled among a grove of redwoods has made many of us who have had the privilege to spend time here its devoted guardians.” Designed by famed architect and Berkeley alumnae Julia Morgan, Girton Hall was originally built in 1911 as the Senior Women’s Hall that served as a social center for women students. During World War II, the building was used as a dormitory for women nurses in training. In 1970, on the wave a second national women’s movement that encouraged the participation of mothers in the work force, the decision was made to bequeath Girton to a grassroots student childcare operation that was then operating out of a room in Eshelman Hall, and the UC Berkeley-run Child Care Services Program was launched. Hansel, who spoke at the gathering, started at Girton in 1982 as head teacher/director. She ended her farewell speech with a look
Christine Hansel talks about Girton Hall’s past and future.
to Girton’s future: “As our ‘little house’ moves up the hill to the Botanical Garden, I am consoled by the fact that Girton Hall will once again look out to the San Francisco Bay, as Julia Morgan had intended, and that it will continue to be a social gathering spot for University families that we can all continue to visit and adore.” 3
Dishing It Up in Gilroy
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Above, garlic-infused cream puffs. Right, halibut atop vegetable hash served with a toum (a Lebanese/Syrian emulsified sauce).
wo Cal Dining chefs traveled to Gilroy last year to compete in the inaugural Garlic Bowl held as part of the Gilroy Grlic Festival. Mary Ferrer (left), Executive Chef, and Ida Shen, Associate Director, Culinary and Catering, took on chefs from San Jose State and Fresno State. Each team had one hour to to prepare two dishes that contained a minimum of six cloves of fresh garlic. The winning school received a $5,000 scholarship, with the other two taking home a $1,000 scholarship. Fresno State took the top prize, with Cal Dining finishing third when they missed the deadline on their second dish. While they were disappointed, the judges had high praise for the Berkeley team’s creations, calling the main dish a “a delicious American take on a French classic.”
Performance Management is Good for Students, Staff
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erformance management, the process of creating a work environment in which people are enabled to perform to the best of their abilities, is increasingly recognized as a strategy for creating a results-oriented, high-performing organization. Organizations that use a comprehensive performance management approach report high degrees of employee satisfaction, increased effectiveness, and higher levels of accomplishment of priorities. Performance management is also a good tool for team development, starting with the relationships between employees and their supervisors. Residential and Student Service Programs (RSSP) is at the forefront of service excellence and commitment to students and has been working toward increased effectiveness through utilization of performance management tools. The important work staff does each day enriches students’ lives by fostering a
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live/learn community that supports their development into global citizens and leaders. To that end, the RSSP Cabinet recently implemented quarterly performance “check-ins” as a strategy to increase communication about goals and progress. This two-way discussion is designed to bring the dialogue of achieving goals and staff work needs to a higher priority. The successful adoption of this practice will ensure staff’s hard work and efforts are aligned with Divisional goals. The Division of Student Affairs aspires to become the employer of choice in the Bay Area by 2025. And, the Student Affairs Learning & Development Office has worked to provide support within RSSP and the rest of the Division to utilize performance management in See Performance, Page 5
Martinez Garners Praise From Around the Globe
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aximino Martinez Commons (MMC) has garnered praise from a variety of groups who have toured the student-housing facility since opened last fall. Architects and engineers from the University of Copenhagen, who are members of the International Alliance of Research Universities, toured Martinez Commons with Director of Capital Projects Chris Harvey and, he said, they “were very impressed.” Chris Harvey shows off Martinez Commons to visitors from the University of Copenhagen. IARU, compromised of 10 of the world’s leading universities, has committed to providinstitutions have in common, such as accommodation services, ing leadership that will influence their respective regional comcommuter transport, air travel, renovation, new construction, and munities and encourage engagement by others at an international campus and grounds maintenance. level. The members began collaborating on issues of sustainResidential and Student Service Programs this past year also ability in 2006 with the establishment of sustainability principles. welcomed a large university delegation from China. They were This collaboration has led to the development of cross-cultural touring student housing buildings throughout the United States exchanges to promote best practice in campus sustainability. that exemplified best practices. And attendees to the yearly Projects have begun to emerge on measuring and addressing the American Institute of Architects conference, which was held in San environmental impact of the campus activities that the members’ Francisco, also toured MMC.
Reclaimed Bikes Help Staff Get Around Campus
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f you’ve walked around the courtyards of the University resident halls, you’ve probably noticed the hundreds of bicycles that students bring to campus each semester. Most students take the bikes home with them, but did you ever wonder what happens to the ones left behind? Until recently, those abandoned bikes were kept for 90 days (in case a student came back to claim them) and then sent to be recycled. Enter Enrrique Villasana, Associate Director of Maintenance and Trades, who joined RSSP in April 2013. He started a program to tune up the bikes and let Facilities Services staff use them to get around campus and even check them out for the weekend if they want. “The bikes were just getting recycled and I thought, ‘we can use them,’” said Villasana. “It became obvious that with parking and checking out vehicles that the bikes were a good solution for trips across campus and to Foothill and Clark Kerr.” Villasana asked Niles Breithaupt, Facilities Operations Specialist, to check out the bikes, pick the ones in the best condition and get them mechanically ready to use. The 15 resulting bikes, stored at Unit 1, will be available for check out once staff completes safety training. “We will continue to grow the program if it gets more popular,” said Villasana. “We just have to wait he 90 days and if a student ever comes back and says, ‘hey that’s my bicycle’ we’ll gladly turn it over to them.”
Enrrique Villasana shows off some of the bikes.
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Performance Management is Key to Success Continued from Page 4
Halloween at RSSP
motivating staff to give their very best. To attract the best staff, Student Affairs must continue to strive to create a high-performance culture. This will enable the Division to continue to meet and, in time, exceed students’ changing expectations. Student Affairs has adopted performance-management strategies (performance management training for all supervisors and quarterly goal reviews), which help to align the Division’s priorities, in addition to a creating a more structured performance management approach. Structure leads to increased innovation and results, as well as greater creativity and productivity. The Student Affairs leadership team is intentionally aligning the goals of the Division to create clear outcomes, clarity of purpose and action. Providing performance management training to supervisors will enhance their skills to motivate, coach and engage. The impact alone of employees understanding performance standards is an increase of performance by 36.1 percent (Corporate Leadership Council, 2002 Performance Management Survey). Cultivating this “best-in-class” experience will only be realized by high-performing staff all being on the same page. Being on the same page means: • Understanding the Division’s collective and individual goals • Receiving timely support to achieve them • Continually trying to improve how we conduct our work The capacity to evolve abilities and mindset to deliver on this plan ensures Student Affairs is positioned for current and future students to leave their own legacy of innovation and excellence. Learning and applying new tools will take time and the Division leadership has the utmost confidence that Student Affairs can evolve and grow these practices. — LeNorman Strong, Associate Vice Chancellor and Lance Page, Learning and Development Manager, Division of Student Affairs
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Fond Farewells Residential and Student Service Programs hosted three celebrations last year to honor the work of Eddie Bankston, Kurt Libby and Jeff Urdahl when they all retired within a few months of each other.
Photographs by Carol J. Tady
grapev ne Grapevine is published for employees of Residential and Student Service Programs at the University of California, Berkeley. Please send all correspondence to: Carol Tady, at cjtady@berkeley.edu ————— Writing, editing, design and photography contributors: James Carroll, Matthew Sun, Marty Takimoto and Carol J. Tady You can also find Grapevine on the “O” drive. Just go to the “All RSSP” folder and look for the Grapevine folder.
Stay Day
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he Division of Student Affairs will host the fifth annual Stay Day: The Student Experience Conference conference on June 10. This year’s sessions will focus on the conference’s theme of Creating a Culture of Care. For more information, visit: sa.berkeley.edu/stayday
Right, last year’s Stay Day co-chairs James Carroll and Erin Wixson
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RSSP Celebrates Holiday Season
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esidential and Student Service Programs staff gathered at Memorial Stadium in December to celebrate the holiday season. The event featured fabulous food, a photo booth and lots of giveaways. One very popular part of the day was the “candy bar.� Each attendee was given a small jar to fill with a variety of candy to take home. Thanks to all of the volunteers who made this event possible!
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