Reconnect, Restructure & Relaunch

Together Again at the Fall Town Hall Meeting

After three years we were back together for an in-person Fall Town Hall Meeting! It was wonderful to see friends, reconnect with team members and enjoy some of the delicious UCSB catering (this author loves the coconut chocolate chip muffins). 

Willie Brown started the morning by thanking all of us for pivoting and reimagining our responsibilities, thereby keeping HDAE fully functioning during unprecedented times. We then watched a video with senior leadership introducing themselves and sharing their areas of oversight. 

Willie also talked about the future of HDAE. As the UCSB student, staff and faculty populations continue to grow, HDAE must restructure to meet the increasing needs. Care is being taken to meet the new demands with thoughtfulness to what has worked well historically. What is needed moving forward, and how to do it, is under consideration without losing sight of the values that make HDAE the special place it is.   

I then had the pleasure of sharing the WE CARE values and examples of them in action. The values have been in progress since 2019, we had a soft launch in 2020, and now it’s time to relaunch them and remind us all of what makes UCSB and HDAE a world-class institution.  

• Welcoming. We make the campus a place of welcome for students, staff, faculty and guests. Embedded in this value is a commitment to the people we serve and the resources we manage. During Move In, we welcomed more than 10,000 students and their families. Danny Mann of Residential Operations introduced students waiting at the Santa Catalina staging area to each other so they had someone they knew in the building on the first day.  
• Ethical. We conduct our work with the highest level of integrity. We take care to be transparent, communicative, fiscally responsible, and environmentally conscious. This includes paying attention to new workplace trends, personal and professional development as well as technical skills. Learning and Development has several opportunities for learning. If you’re interested in participating, please email me at ghuerta@ucsb.edu or apply online. 
  • Sign up for the Professional Competency Program starting November 2nd. 
  • Participate in a workshop with Shira Minerd: Creating your own Wellness Toolbox on December 6th. 
• Collaborative. We value team-based work to achieve excellence across all our services. Working together makes our organization stronger, and we are able to bring to the table a variety of experiences and strengths. We are a human centered organization. We make decisions that change lives. We often collaborate to make that happen. We want to give recognition to the many HDAE staff on the COVID Support Team, as well as Student Affairs and UCPD who came together to support students who needed isolation housing.
• Agile. We embrace opportunities to think differently about the way we do our work in order to remain flexible to best practices and evolving needs of our customers. We value a living and learning environment that looks towards the future. Look at all we have been doing these last thirty-two months, and how we are walking into 2023 proudly! Immediately after the COVID lockdown our CFO Melissa Jarnagin started working to find a way to keep all staff employed. Some staff members participated in the Temporary Work Opportunity Program and served in new ways across the campus. The Dining team pivoted to serve the community by cooking and packaging meals for those in need. The Campus Store quickly transitioned to an online enterprise.   
• Respectful. We respect the rights and dignity of others and are responsive to the needs of our diverse communities. After the Strategic Planning think tank in August, leadership has recommitted their support for the Deepening Understanding Conference. We will be offering more opportunities to talk about the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion. Join our planning committee via this Google Form.  
• Excellent. We provide excellent service in all we do, keeping students at the center of our mission. We take care with our customers and our colleagues. We take pride in helping the campus run smoothly and in supporting the academic mission of the institution. Excellent customer service creates excellent relationships, and relationships change lives. Mario Jiménez exemplifies that when he talks about all of the graduations, birthdays, and weddings of students he has been invited to over his many years at UCSB.  

After my presentation, Amy Jacobs, HDAE Human Resources Business Partner, then took the stage to welcome 106 new team members who have joined our team since our last Town Hall Meeting in October 2019 as well as 53 staff members who have been promoted. Welcome and congratulations everyone! And thank you to each and everyone of you for embodying excellence, while twisting and turning with agility to all of the new and different ways our world has changed and for bringing those new skills into the 2022-23 academic year.  

Our last activity of the morning was filling out WE CARE Thank You cards. Each employee was encouraged to write themselves a thank you for all they had accomplished these last thirty-two months and identify which of the values they had practiced. We pulled five cards and those people were given a Campus Store gift card. Remember to use your WE CARE Thank You cards when you catch a co-worker demonstrating a value. We’ll see you on December 14th for Town Hall Cheer — bring your Thank You cards!