What is your New Year’s Resolution?

That last ten pounds. Quitting smoking.  Discarding your fashion faux pas from the past year. Every year, we think about what to get rid of. Why not focus on gaining something, like a little knowledge?New Year's Resolution Note

Today’s careers are more demanding than ever. What is cutting edge today may well be obsolete tomorrow. Professional development and job skills training have become an essential part of most careers. But how do you find the time to perform the obligations associated with your job when you are trying to stay on top of your skills with ongoing training and other professional development activities?

elevateU can help to meet these demands. Take a course, whenever it’s convenient for you.  Watch a five minute video to boost a specific skill.  Download an audio book to listen to on your commute.  So many options, to make the most of your precious time.

As we approach a new year, you may want to watch this elevateU video:Continue Reading… What is your New Year’s Resolution?

Michigan Tobacco Quitline

The Michigan Tobacco Quitline is now open to all MSU employees, spouses of MSU employees and MSU students.  It is a free service that provides access to a professional Quit Coach and a personalized quitting strategy, along with other resources to help individuals quit tobacco use. You can even call if you are helping someone else quit smoking.Tobacco Quitline Flyer

This flyer can be used to post in your office or to forward to your colleagues.

This service is provided to MSU members courtesy of the Michigan Department of Community Health, the MSU Healthy Campus Initiative and the MSU Physician’s Office.

Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) to learn about how you can get help to quit smoking.

Job of the Week 12/5/14

This week we are highlighting an executive staff assistant (Posting #0556) in the College of Education. The successful candidate serves as Executive Staff Assistant for the College of Education providing administrative and executive secretarial support to the dean and assisting with office management, while demonstrating judgment and maintaining strict confidentiality; duties include, but are not limited to: scheduling, coordinating, and maintaining the dean’s calendar and arranging travel, including domestic and international; assisting with event planning to include: catering, scheduling, booking of venues, registration, and providing on-site event support (including non-regular work hours); providing support to college-level committees and projects; interacting with administrators, trustees, alumni, donors, students, faculty, staff, and other constituents in order to represent the dean and the College of Education in a professional and confidential manner; attends meetings with and for the dean in order to acquire and disseminate information; composes and edits documents and correspondence; compiles and tracks financial data for the dean’s budget; acts proactively, handling diverse and multiple tasks and effectively prioritizing work during frequent interruptions; these and all other duties assigned are done in a confidential and professional manner; will use extensive knowledge and understanding of university policies and administrative procedures in order to respond to inquiries and initiate necessary courses of action; performs other duties as assigned.

For a complete description of this position, and to view all of our current postings, please go to www.jobs.msu.edu and select Support Staff under the Fast Jobs Search.MSU Jobs Icon

Clerical-Technical Award 2014

Annually, the Clerical-Technical Award is presented to an exemplary clerical or technical employee at MSU. The award is made possible by Dr. Charles and Marjorie Gliozzo who established a fund in honor of Thomas and Concettina Gliozzo in 2001. According to Dr. Gliozzo, “the CTS are the backbone and the infrastructure of the university and they deserve recognition.”

Anne Simon poses with her cake at the 2014 CT Award ceremony.
Anne Simon shows off her celebratory cake at the 2014 CT Award ceremony.

The recipient of the 2014 Clerical-Technical Award is Anne Simon. Simon has been a dedicated MSU employee for 29 years. She began working for the College of Music in 2005 and quickly became indispensable to the department, acting as the sole office assistant in the graduate office. While Simon has myriad responsibilities in this position, she has proven to be an amicable and diligent worker, a wonderful colleague, and a fantastic resource. An intimate ceremony was held in Anne’s honor on October 31st. Present were co-workers, students, friends, family, and Anne’s supervisor, David Rayl. Rayl nominated Anne along with several co-workers and students.Continue Reading… Clerical-Technical Award 2014

Protect Yourself When Shopping Online

smartphone
Exercise caution when shopping on your smartphone. tablet or computer.

Smartphones and tablets are some of the most popular shopping tools this holiday season. At any given time you may have your financial information, family photos and contact information on one or several devices you carry daily. It’s important to protect yourself against digital pickpockets, hackers and identity thieves by following some basic safely rules:

  • Protect your device first and its contents second. Update your apps and operating system frequently. Updates often contain security patches to help protect you. Install anti-virus and malware protection on your device.
  • Enable locks on all electronic devices requiring a password to unlock. The default lock codes are generally only four digits (Apple calls this a simple passcode), select the ‘password’ option to use at least an eight character alphanumeric password. Most devices will also allow you to limit the number of attempts before the phone locks.
  • Disable Bluetooth if you are not using it, others can discover your device without your knowledge. Remember when you paired it with your car and the password was 0000?
  • Turn OFF Location Services or Tracking; this allows apps to know where you are, where you shop or even where you work.
  • Limit online shopping to when you are on a secure Wi-Fi network, like your home. If you must do business while out, turn OFF wifi and use your phone’s 3G or 4G network, it is far more secure than a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Continue Reading… Protect Yourself When Shopping Online

Events Round-Up December 2014

Here are some events happening over the next month that may be of interest to MSU faculty and staff. Please visit the links for more information. Many events require registration.

Community Events

Wednesday, December 3

The Christmas Music of Manheim Steamroller, 7:30 p.m., Wharton Center for Performing Arts

Friday, December 5

Wonderland of Lights begins, 7:30 p.m., Lansing

Saturday, December 6

18th Annual Holiday Light Parade, 6 p.m., Williamston

Winter Glow, 3 p.m., East Lansing

MSU Arts and Crafts Holiday Show begins, times vary. MSU Union

Saturday, December 13

MSU College of Music: A Jazzy Little Christmas, 8 p.m., Fairchild Theatre

Tuesday, December 16

Annie begins, 7:30 p.m., Wharton Center for Performing Arts

Saturday, December 20

State Room Holiday Tea, 2 p.m., Kellogg Center

Development, Training, & Wellness

Wednesday, December 3

Recipe for Health Cooking Series: Pecans, 12:10 p.m. – 12:50 p.m., Brody

Thursday, December 4

The Spartan Experience, 8:30 a.m – 4:30 p.m., Nisbet

Access 2010 Part I, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., New Horizons

Thursday, December 11

Honing Your Emotional Intelligence, 1 p.m. – 4 p.m., Nisbet

Accessible Web Design, 1 p.m. – 5 p.m., Computer Center

My smartphone can do that?

Nearly 72 percent of the cell phones currently in use are smartphones.   But do you know how smart your phone really is? Here are a few things you might find useful. Note: there are many versions of Android so these may not work on every phone.smartphones

You can take a screenshot just like on your computer. On an iPhone – press and hold the Home button along with the Sleep/Wake button, you’ll hear a shutter click and the image will appear in your Camera Roll or Photos section. For Android, pressing the Power and Home buttons at the same time will grab an image of the screen and save to your Gallery. Remember to press both buttons at the same time, and hold them until the shutter sound is heard. (You need to hold the Power button slightly before pressing the Home button, then hold them both down.)

Listen to music on your phone with a sleep timer. Many people use their phone to listen to music as they go to sleep, but you don’t want it running all night and draining your battery. On an iPhone, go to the Clock app and click on “Timer”, then “When Timer Ends”. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and select “Stop Playing”. For Android, open the music player settings. Find “Music auto off” and set it to however long you want the music to play.

Block calls and texts. Have you ever had someone get your number and continually call or text even if you tell them to stop? To block calls on an iPhone with iOS 7 or later, open the Phone or FaceTime app. If the person is already a contact, tap his/her name, scroll to the bottom of the page and tap “Block This Caller”. Then tap “Block Contact”. If the person isn’t a contact, tap the “Info” button, then scroll to the bottom of the page and tap Block this Caller. Then tap Block Contact. If you want to block texts, open the Messages app and tap a message from the person you want to block. Tap “Contact” in the upper right and then tap the “Info” button. Scroll to the bottom and tap “Block this Caller”. Then tap “Block Contact”.   You can edit your blocked contacts later at these locations: Settings>>Phone>>Blocked, Settings>>Messages>>Blocked or Settings>>FaceTime>>Blocked. On Android, go to Settings>>Call settings>>Call block. Under “Incoming calls” tap “Call block list” and then tap “Create”. You can enter a number, or tap the picture icon to find the number in your Contacts list or in your call logs.

Take better pictures. You can take photos by tapping the screen but it’s hard not to shake when you tap. On an iPhone, the volume up button can be used as your shutter button. Android has Voice Control in the camera app settings letting you take pictures with commands like “smile” and “cheese”.

Thank You Wharton Center!

Wharton Center Evening
The Wharton Center lights up the night with its beautiful facade.

The Wharton Center for Performing Arts is a pivotal source of entertainment on campus. Its mission, “
 to enrich the lives of Michigan residents and strengthen the value of the arts in everyday life by serving as a leading resource for renowned arts entertainment and education programs” is one that is vehemently carried out by Wharton’s high quality productions. The center hosts a wide variety of shows that are sure to be enticing to all. This holiday season, there will be a slew of wonderful acts performed at Wharton, ranging from the Nutcracker to Manheim Steamroller. To view the Wharton Center’s website and a comprehensive list of upcoming performances, visit its website: http://www.whartoncenter.com/.

This month, we extend our gratitude to the Wharton Center for serving as a cultural mecca to the community. Thank you Wharton Center for all that you do!

Raise Awareness for Diabetes

Ask your doctor about your risk of diabetes and if you should have a screening test done.
Ask your doctor about your risk of diabetes and if you should have a screening test done.

November is American Diabetes month. The purpose of American Diabetes month is to raise awareness. According to the American Diabetes Association:

  •  Nearly 30 million children and adults in the United States have diabetes.
  • Another 86 million Americans have prediabetes and are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
  • The American Diabetes Association estimates that the total national cost of diagnosed diabetes in the United States is $245 billion.
  • Diabetes causes more deaths a year than breast cancer and AIDS combined.

So what is diabetes? There are two variations. As explained by MSU’s Health eGuide, Type I Diabetes occurs when the pancreas ceases to make insulin, a hormone that helps the body use sugar for energy. Lack of insulin causes a high blood sugar level which can be harmful to many parts of the body and can increase risk of other health complications. Type II Diabetes differs in that the body is still able to make insulin, however, it is unable to use it in the right way. While Type I Diabetes is not yet preventable, Type II can be avoided by living a healthy lifestyle.

This month and into the holidays, do your best to engage in a healthy and active lifestyle! You also can donate to help find a cure for diabetes here.

elevateU Contest Winners

If you attended this year’s HR benefits Fair, you may have noticed that Professional Development Services ran a contest. Everyone who completed a class between October 14 and October 31 in elevateU was entered into a drawing to win one of two prizes. The winners are:

Contest Winner Jamie Lake
elevateU Contest Winner Jamie Lake poses with her State Room gift card and elevateU headphones.

Dennis Bond, Manager of Web Services, College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, who won a basket full of MSU items, including a beautiful stadium blanket.

Jamie Lake, Payroll, Residential and Housing Services, who won a $50 gift certificate to the State Room.

Dennis has been making the most out of his elevateU access. “I’ve really enjoyed using elevateU. It’s quick and easy to jump into a course, and it’s also easy to return if you have to put it down. I’d definitely recommend trying it and have already started assigning courses to my own team.”

Many others have found elevateU helpful as well, both in building skills for their current job, as well as positions they may aspire to. Here are the top 10 classes that MSU employees have taken so far:Continue Reading… elevateU Contest Winners