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Canisius Honors Employee Service Milestones

President John J. Hurley, congratulates Dianna Civello, interim vice president for institutional advancement, who was honored for 10 years of service.

Canisius celebrated the contributions of employees who reached significant milestones in their tenure at today’s Celebration of Service. The annual event recognizes employees for their five, 10 and 15-year service anniversaries. During this year’s ceremony, more than 110 employees were honored who, combined, have contributed more than 1,000 years of dedicated service to Canisius.

Michael F. Hayes, director of campus ministry, gave the invocation.  The audience enjoyed a musical interlude by Cantio Sacra.  Richard A. Wall, PhD, vice president for academic affairs, read the citations as President John J. Hurley presented the awards.

President Hurley noted that the citations, written by supervisors and peers, show the great respect and affection shared among Canisius colleagues.  He thanked all the honorees for their service.

Sarah E. Signorino, associate campus minister, concluded the celebration with a benediction. A reception followed the event.

Angela B. Fulk, PhD, adjunct professor of English, was honored for 10 years of service; and Jeffery R. Lindauer, PhD, interim dean of the School of Education and Human Services, celebrated five years of service to the college.

This is the 13th year the college has held the Celebration of Service ceremony.  In the spring, Canisius recognizes employees who have reached 20 or more years of service, as well as retirees.

Read a complete list of honorees here.

Przemyslaw (P.J.) Moskal, PhD, assistant professor of digital media arts, celebrated five years of service; and Sharon A. Kasperczyk, alumni engagement officer, was honored for 15 years of service.

 

Thomas M. Prince, computer support specialist for information technology services, was recognized for 15 years of service.

Michael H. Wood, PhD, assistant professor for physics, and Kristina F. Marohn, general chemistry lab coordinator, both recognized for five years of service; Clancy M. Seymour, instructor of kinesiology, honored for 15 years of service to the college; and James P. Wendling, head coach for women’s soccer, celebrated five years of service.

Frank Scinta, adjunct professor of fine arts/music, was recognized for 15 years of service; Amanda Snider, admissions counselor and assistant director of academic affairs events, and Kara M. Schwabel, director of differentiated instruction, celebrated five years of service to the college; and Gordon Anthony, director of athletic facilities, recognized for 15 years of service.

Laura B. Moeller, student records associate, and Nancy M. Rourke, PhD, associate professor of religious studies and theology, were both honored for five years of service to the college.

Mary E. Shea, PhD, co-chair and professor of graduate education and leadership, celebrated 15 years of service.

 Submitted by: marketing and communications

Revised Travel Policies and Procedures

As part of the non-academic program review process, we have reviewed the Canisius Travel Policy, which was originally launched in fall 2012. It became increasingly apparent that the original policy and the website used to book travel needed to be recalibrated to better respond to the needs of our travelers and those making travel arrangements.

Throughout this review, I have stressed that the college needs a mechanism in place that will allow us to (1) account for all persons traveling on college-related business to discharge our legal duty of care, and (2) establish fair and consistent travel practices across the campus.

A team comprised of Jim Beardi, Dean Pavlakis, Dennis Misko, and Deborah Winslow-Schaber, spent several months meeting with many members of the campus community, especially our most frequent travelers, and The Travel Team to understand the issues and concerns and develop reasonable solutions. They have held meetings with academic units, administrative departments, athletics, international travelers and others that yielded significant feedback that has been incorporated into the revised policy. I am satisfied that there has been broad consultation with the campus community on this policy and that most concerns have been adequately addressed.

In addition, the team compared the cost benefits and services provided by The Travel Team with others, including the most popular online discount travel sites. The team compared trips booked through The Travel Team and through other travel sites and demonstrated again and again that The Travel Team delivered fares and services that were at least as cheap or cheaper than competitive sites. I am satisfied that The Travel Team offers us an opportunity to save money and provide a range of services that will make travel more convenient and safe.

Attached is the college’s revised Travel Policy and Procedures that detail the guidelines and practices for requesting travel, making arrangements, duty of care, reimbursement, and reporting/monitoring expenses related to travel.

No policy can address every conceivable situation and I am aware that there are certain types of academic trips that our members of our faculty take with students that might not neatly fit within the policy guidelines. In promulgating this policy, I am according the academic deans and the academic vice president the necessary discretion to approve exceptions to the policy for nonconforming trips. Requests for exceptions should be made through the approval process and must address how the college’s duty of care will be discharged. I should stress that I do not expect that exceptions will become the rule; nonetheless, as the policy is implemented and we are able to better categorize the types of exceptions that are warranted, we will consider revisions to the policy.

Faculty and administrators are encouraged to read the attached documents carefully and attend a training session. Click here to view Travel Policy Procedures. Click here to view Travel Policy Questions. Members of The Travel Team will be on hand the following dates to talk about the changes to the program and walk you through the procedures:

Tuesday, November 12 10:00-12:00 Regis (both), 2:30-4:30 Regis North
Wednesday, November 13 3:00-5:00 Regis South

I am grateful to all of those who led and contributed to this review process and the relaunch of the program.

Submitted by: President John J. Hurley

New process for authorizing travel

To support the revised travel policy’s requirement that all travel be authorized in advance, a new travel authorization system has been launched to make this process as easy as possible. You can access the travel authorization request by clicking All Applications and Services on myCanisius, then clicking the Travel icon.  The request can also be reached through the “My Communities” menu on myCanisius.  Click “More Communities” and then the “Travel Resources” button that appears under it.  Travel Authorization will be clickable on the Travel Resources page.

To view the attached sample form, click here.

A travel authorization can be filled out by a traveler or by someone else on the traveler’s behalf.   It asks for travel destination, dates, the names or number of other travelers, the purpose of travel and any exceptional situations that the approvers should be aware of.   It also calls for an estimate of college-paid travel expenses and the proposed source of funds.   If multiple trips are being scheduled in advance, the approval can accommodate this by accepting an upload of a document detailing all the trips at once.

When a travel authorization request is submitted, the next person who needs to approve it will be notified by email that a travel request is waiting.  When the final approval is made, the lead traveler and the person filing the request, if different, will get an email to say it is approved.

If you have any questions about this process, please contact Human Resources at Ext. 2240.

Submitted by Deb Winslow-Schaber, director, Human Resources

Testing Science Hall Fire Shutters

Dear All,

On Friday, November 8 at 4:00 p.m, the Facilities Management Department will have a contractor testing the fire shutters at Science Hall. The building will remain open however, access will be limited where testing is taking place.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Submitted by: Julie Daniel, operations office manager, facilities management