Are you interested in joining staff council? GW Staff Council is hosting a call for nominations for the 2025 Term!

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The Staff Council is approaching the end of its inaugural term, and we are seeking dedicated and passionate staff to keep the incredible momentum moving forward. If you or someone you know is interested in contributing to this mission, the Election Committee is now accepting nominations for executive staff council members and representatives from GW’s schools and divisions. Please review the membership criteria and position descriptions below and complete the nomination by September 6, 2024. The 2025 term will begin on January 1, 2025, and conclude on December 31, 2025. 

If you have any questions about the nominations or elections process, please contact the Elections Committee at gwsc_elections@gwu.edu.

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Eligibility
Per the Staff Council Bylaws, GW Staff Council elected members must:

• Have concluded their Introductory Employment Period (IEP).
• Be in a benefited position (part-time or full-time).
• Work in the division they are representing.
• Not hold an executive-level position. Executive positions have employee classes of E1-3; please speak to your HR Business Partner if you have any questions regarding your position level.

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Roles & Responsibilities
The executive officers of the Staff Council include the President, Vice-President, Historian, Treasurer, Parliamentarian, Immediate Past President, Correspondence & Engagement Secretary, and appointed Committee Chairpersons. The Vice-President will transition to President after their term as Vice President concludes. To review a description of each role please refer to our website. 

School and/or Division Representative members are elected to serve as the representative from their area and must serve on at least one standing committee. A list of all the representative areas can be found on our website. 

It’s no secret that DC has its fair share of unwanted guests. And no, we aren’t referring to the members of Congress who don’t share your party affiliation. Unfortunately, we’re talking about rats, and GW is no exception.

That said, we’ve made tremendous progress in getting this scourge under control since their explosive growth during the pandemic, and no one has done more to take these furry menaces on than Nancy Balph. The Christian Science Monitor recently caught up with her to chronical her adventures in pest control.

Nancy enlisted the help of experts to come up with advanced strategies that have helped cut down on the rodent population, including Kevlar door seals, rat-proof geomesh, and Bigbelly trash cans. As she points out, this isn’t a simple problem with a straight-forward, one-size-fits-all approach. “It’s not Joe Schmoe with his spray gun and traps,” she says.

Nancy isn’t going to win this battle on her own, but progress is a victory in and of itself. “Did we eradicate rats from the GW campus?” she asks rhetorically. “No… We are managing them very well though.”

We appreciate you, Nancy. Congress is next.

We love when DSF folks make enough positive waves to attract the attention of local media. In this case it’s VERY local media as Veronica Franklin with the custodial team got her very own video feature in GW Today. Veronica is no stranger to TV or our own internal coverage. Over the years, she’s been a frequent contributor to the various iterations of our newsletter, whether it be sending us photos, participating in write-ups, or simply adding a comment to this very blog. Thanks for all the content and keep it coming, Veronica!