Once again nominations are being sought for the Planning and Information Resources Division Employee Recognition Program.

The Employee Recognition Program provides an avenue whereby Planning and Information Resources employees’ exemplary contributions and achievements will be recognized.

This effort will support the values established by the Planning and Information Resources organization. As a division, we are committed to the on-going recognition of the achievements and contributions of our staff who are committed to the divisional values.

Three awards are given each year to the nominated employees who best exemplify and further the following fundamental values:

• A passion for our work
• An atmosphere of mutual respect, collaboration and professional respect 
• A distinct customer focus 
• A spirit of innovation 
• An emphasis on agility

This year’s awards are based upon performance from April 2011 through March 2012. Nominations will be accepted through March 31, 2012. 

Nominations may be received from any source, internal or external to the division and submitted to the awards committee, in care of the director, IT Services, or submitted electronically to http://matrix.scranton.edu/pir/employee-rec.shtml.  

The following information should be included:
(1) Nominee's name
(2) Description of the specific contribution or action made by the nominee
(3) How the nominee's action(s) and contribution(s) demonstrate at least one of the five values listed above
(4) Nominator's name The nominator should give as complete a description as possible regarding what the nominee accomplished to deserve the award and how it demonstrates one or more of the Divisional Values.

If you have any questions concerning the Planning & Information Resources employee recognition program, please e-mail Jerome.Desanto@scranton.edu.

The Feb. 23 IT Forum, to be held in Brennan Hall, room 509, will demonstrate many of the features within the Live@edu environment, including SkyDrive, and other highlights available to the University community. Outlook Live, our new email program, is just one of the “apps” included in Live@edu. Online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, or web apps as we refer to them, allow all Live@edu users to create and share documents, “in the cloud” with anyone we choose.

Faculty can create on-line projects for students, who can then view and edit those projects. All users can collaborate on any issue with anyone having a link to a particular document or file. Storage of pictures, personal files, or anything else can be stored within the 25 gigabyte storage area that all users receive. Uploading and downloading from SkyDrive is fast and easy. All this is available to all Live@edu users, from anywhere in the world, on any device that is internet-connected.

Register now, click here! (Or log into: my.scranton > University Links tab > Events and Facilities box on left > select link for IT Services Training and Event Registration.) Lunch will be served and prizes will be given. All members of the university community are encouraged to attend and learn more about Live@edu.

The annual employee party for University faculty and staff and ARAMARK and Follet on-campus employees will be held on Saturday, Feb. 18. The event will begin at 7 p.m. and conclude at 10 p.m. There will be a buffet dinner, drinks and dancing. Employees who attend will be eligible to win prizes including a top prize of $500. Reserved seating is also available for groups of 8 to 10. To RSVP or to reserve a table, please go to the following links:

R.S.V.P. Click Here

Table Reservation Click Here

The Office of Equity and Diversity invites all staff and faculty hired within the last two years to attend essential Sexual Harassment Prevention Training. Training sessions have been scheduled for the following dates:

Spring 2012
Day Sessions:
Feb. 21, 11:30 a.m.
Feb. 24, 2 p.m.
April 12, 11:30 a.m.
April 26, 11:30 a.m.

Evening Sessions:
March 6,  4:30 p.m. *DeNaples Center, room 405
March 22, 4:30 p.m.

Sessions are generally held in Brennan Hall, room 500. (March 6 will be held in the DaNaples Center, room 405.) A light meal will be served at each session. Managers are urged to remind their staff to schedule to attend. Separate sessions will be held for managers and supervisors.

To schedule your session, email diversity@scranton.edu.

Each semester the Weinberg Memorial Library and the Center for Teaching & Learning Excellence (CTLE) offer a faculty and staff advancement series called "Technology on Your Own Terms." The series introduces University faculty and staff to emerging technologies in order to encourage innovation in the workplace and in the classroom. All faculty and staff members are welcome, but seats are limited, so please register for sessions you plan to attend at www.scranton.edu/ctleregistration (under Technology On Your Own Terms).

Three Technology On Your Own Terms sessions will be held this spring:

Facebook Timeline: What You Need to Know About the New Facebook Profile (or Facebook Gets a Face-Lift)
Wednesday, Feb. 15, from 1 – 2 p.m., in WML305

If you're a Facebook user, you may have heard of a new feature on the popular social networking website called Timeline: the newest version of the Facebook profile. You may have even converted your own Facebook profile into this new format, or visited the profiles of Facebook friends who have already converted to Timeline. Whether you have already opted-into the new profile format, or are holding out until you learn more, there is a lot of information about this radical new feature that all Facebook users need to know in order to use it with purpose and control. During this presentation, Librarian Donna Witek will give an overview of Timeline, including information about its design, functionality and use. She will demonstrate the key tools within Timeline that will enable users to get the most out of the new profile format. And, she will cover the relationship between your privacy settings and Timeline. Attendees who own tablets or laptops are encouraged to bring them to the session; however, this session does not require that attendees have a computing device. A light lunch will be provided.

Preserving Your Family Memories: Part I (Physical)
Tuesday, March 13, from noon – 1 p.m., in WML305

Special Collections Librarian Michael Knies will discuss the basic preservation problems relating to personal collections of books, photographs, negatives, personal papers, audio/visual recordings, and other paper-based collectibles. Limited attention will be paid to three dimensional objects. Proper storage and handling will be emphasized. A light lunch will be provided.

Preserving Your Family Memories: Part II (Digital)
Thursday, April 5, from noon – 1 p.m., in WML305

Increasingly we capture moments to remember in digital rather than physical format: we document our lives in digital photographs, videos, social media, email and websites. In this workshop, Digital Services Librarian Kristen Yarmey will introduce you to the concept of digital preservation. We’ll talk about common misconceptions (for example, why digitizing your photos is not the same as preserving them), some of the major challenges involved in maintaining digital files over time, and some basic strategies you can take to help make your digital memories last. A light lunch will be provided.