May 24, 2007
There’s something for everyone at UW Professional Development Days, June 13-14
Career development and growth here at the UW can mean promotions or transfers, or just finding new inspiration in the position you already have. Either way, UW Professional Development Days, coming Wednesday and Thursday, June 13 and 14, in Mary Gates Hall, will offer something for everyone.
The two-day informational effort is one of the many byproducts of the ongoing Leadership, Community and Values Initiative (LCVI), a campuswide effort begun in 2005 by President Mark Emmert to recognize, promote and sustain leadership throughout the UW community.
The professional development event was created by the 14-member LCVI Career Development Task Force, based on results of a 2005 Universitywide survey. Overseeing it is Susan Templeton, who recently joined the Professional and Organizational Development Office as its career development manager.
“One of the things heard over and over again was that the staff are unclear about what their career and professional development options are at the UW,” Templeton said. “I came on board in January, and one of the things I wanted to do very soon was to have a visible event that could be attended by a large number of staff. So planning for the Professional Development Days began.”
The Professional Development Days event is designed to be convenient for staff, with all events taking place in the short, two-day time frame. And though it all happens on the Seattle’s upper campus area, the event is open to all UW employees, including those in the medical centers, the Health Sciences areas and the Bothell and Tacoma campuses.
The first day, Wednesday, will feature a Career Pathways Panel discussion from 3 to 4:30 p.m. There, five experienced UW employees will talk about their own career paths. The panelists will be:
- Scott Macklin, chief technology officer for the College of Education;
- Alicia Palacio, assistant to the executive vice provost;
- Johnese Spisso, chief operating officer, Harborview Medical Center administration;
- Charles Thompson, maintenance mechanic lead, Grounds Maintenance;
- Gene Woodard, director of Facilities Services, Custodial Division.
After the initial presentations, the meeting will be broken into small, structured discussions. It’s an opportunity for people to connect with UW colleagues and possibly find inspiration for their own futures. Light refreshments will be provided.
“Staff will have an opportunity to share their own career stories, and think about what they might do to move forward,” Templeton said. Those planning to attend should register first, and may do so online at http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/pod/catalog/gen/1/V0150.html. Templeton said she encourages managers and supervisors to give interested employees release time to attend the Wednesday afternoon event.
The main event will be a Resource Fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, where more than 30 different UW offices and units will be on hand with information about their work. These will include:
- Personal education and development opportunities such as the Tuition Exemption Program, the UW Experimental College, the SkillSoft e-learning (where classes are now free due to an LCVI grant), the Evening Degree Program, English in the Workplace, the Professional and Organizational Development office, its counterpart at Harborview, certificate programs and others.
- Technology education opportunities such as Computing & Communications, Catalyst.
- Other groups pertaining to campus life and work, such as the LCVI Initiative, the UW Alumni Association, the Women’s Center, the “Q” Center, UW Work/Life, Disability Employment Services, Toastmasters, the Professional Staff Association and more.
Also on Thursday will be a host of workshops and breakout sessions from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., including sessions on creating resumes, job-search techniques and using the UW Libraries’ online career reference resources. There also will be a special session dedicated to the UWHires online application system and how employees can use it to their best advantage.
Templeton said that several of the breakout sessions on Thursday will take place in Mary Gates’ computer classrooms, enabling participants to follow along online.
Managers and supervisors have not been forgotten in the planning of Professional Development Days, Templeton said. Also on Thursday, Ruth Johnston, a senior associate treasurer with the Financial Management Office, will offer a session on coaching and mentoring staff.
No registration is needed for any of the events on Thursday.
One of the underlying themes of the event is that careers do not always proceed along linear lines but take a more “zigzag” course as people move from one job situation to the next.
Templeton said part of the point of UW Professional Development Days is to remind members of the campus community that they need not move on from the UW to find new employment challenges and opportunities.
It’s all part, she said, of the UW’s ongoing effort to be their “employer of choice.”
For more information on UW Professional Development Days, June 13 and 14, visit online at http://www.washington.edu/president/lcvi/events/profdevdays.html.
