Inbox Highlights: Discounted Tickets and New myGW

Published by Costanzo on January 19, 2024

We encourage you to read all emails sent to university employees, but we realize it’s easy to miss the details in the barrage of content sometimes. Below we’ve compiled a few highlights from recent editions of the GW Information Technology Newsletter, GWell, and Digital Download.

GW Information Technology Newsletter

GWIT’s newsletter

New myGW

The myGW website and GW Mobile app are being redesigned to streamline access to the university’s online services. The new myGW mobile app is also now available for download in the mobile app stores, replacing the existing mobile app. The current GW Mobile app will continue to function until February 1st. Stay up-to-date on rollout details at the New myGW initiatives page. Access the new myGW prior to the official cutover on February 1st by visiting go.gwu.edu/mygw.

GWell

HR’s monthly newsletter.

New Year, New Deals With TicketsatWork

Whether you are looking to celebrate the new year or to plan your next vacation, TicketsatWork has many deals for GW employees to explore this January on flights and hotels, clothing and accessories, choices for maintaining your physical, mental, and financial wellness, and much more! To sign up at no cost, click become a member and enter our company code: GWU.

Benefits Tips and Reminders for the New Year

The 2024 Benefits Tips and Reminders (PDF) is now available to help you start the new year with the most up-to-date benefits information. This document provides step-by-step instructions for how to begin using your newly elected benefits for 2024 such as how to access your medical ID cards, how to contact our benefits’ vendor partners, how to create online accounts with vendor partners, and how to fill a prescription if you have yet to receive your ID card. You’ll also learn about important FSA deadlines and more! As you take some time to review the information provided, remember that you can always contact us for assistance with any questions regarding your 2024 benefit elections.

Digital Download

Quick tips from GW Communications & Marketing Digital Support

Emma Mass Email Overview

January 10, 2024 | 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Learn how you can connect with your audience using Emma, GW’s university-wide mass email tool. This training will cover the user login process, contact management, and Emma’s drag-and-drop campaign editor. Register for the Emma Training.

DSF Trainings: Quarterly Safety Training and Let’s Talk Privacy! General Privacy Awareness Workshop

Published by stephanie.stinfort on January 16, 2024

Each week we’ll be sharing the upcoming training and professional development opportunities available here at GW.

Wednesday 1/17

FBG Quarterly Safety Training
Join us for this quarter’s safety training, which will focus on Lockout Tagout Red Tag. Lockout Tagout, or LOTO, is the de-energizing and securing of equipment, machinery, or processes so hazardous energy isn’t re-introduced during servicing or repair. This includes closing electrical circuits and valves, neutralizing extreme temperatures, and the process of affixing a label, or tag, that communicates information about what’s being done to the machine or equipment and why it’s important. This training will specifically focus on Red Tag; alerting employees not to operate tagged equipment. In order to ensure that this training is accessible to as many people as possible, participants can choose to attend either the morning or afternoon session.

Session One

Time: 7:30am-9:00am
Location: Funger 103

Session Two

Time: 1pm-2:30pm
Location: USC 307

Thursday, 1/18

Let’s Talk Privacy! General Privacy Awareness Workshop
Join us and learn how to be responsible and transparent in the way we collect, maintain, and use Personally Identifiable Information (PII). This workshop will provide you with a better understanding of the essentials of Privacy, including individual responsibility to use PII only for authorized purposes and to protect it from loss.

Time: 11am -12pm
Location: Virtual Register Here

DSF Trainings: APPA – Leadership Academy and FBG Quarterly Safety Training.

Published by stephanie.stinfort on January 4, 2024

Each week we’ll be sharing the upcoming training and professional development opportunities available here at GW.

Monday 1/16

APPA – Leadership Academy
Are you looking to become a more effective leader? Appas course on Facilities management may be for you. This is a 4 level course provides users the skills to change and develop organizations helping to guide and manage the assets of the institution.

Level I Helps your institution achieve sustained superior results by focusing on making individual leaders more effective. The most successful teams and organizations are led and driven by the character, strengths, and talents of their individual members.

Level II Focuses on understanding the dynamics of working together and successful ways to sustain trust which can be used to support successful relationships and team efforts.

In level III Participants develop and strengthen leadership skills while learning basic principles for organizational and managerial effectiveness. Attendees experience a dynamic learning environment utilizing engaging discussion groups, learning games, discovery exercises, synergy, and project collaboration.

Level IV Prepares you with the organizational skills needed to sit at the table in order to provide excellent learning environments.

Time: 8:30am – 11:30am
11:30am – 3:30pm
Location: Virtual
Register now

Wednesday 1/17

FBG Quarterly Safety Training

Join us for this quarter’s safety training, which will focus on Lockout Tagout Red Tag. Lockout Tagout, or LOTO, is the de-energizing and securing of equipment, machinery, or processes so hazardous energy isn’t re-introduced during servicing or repair. This includes closing electrical circuits and valves, neutralizing extreme temperatures, and the process of affixing a label, or tag, that communicates information about what’s being done to the machine or equipment and why it’s important. This training will specifically focus on Red Tag; alerting employees not to operate tagged equipment. In order to ensure that this training is accessible to as many people as possible, participants can choose to attend either the morning or afternoon session.

Session One

Time: 7:30am-9:00am
Location: TBD

Session Two

Time: 1pm-2:30pm
Location: TBD

Five Star FixIt Reviews 01/02/2024

Published by stephanie.stinfort on January 2, 2024

Kicking off the year with Kudos!! Congratulations to our first 2024 recipients!

Terry Branch for installing cabinet locks in the SEH Breakroom: “Terry Branch has single-handedly saved the day at the SEH breakroom! The cabinets had no locks, and now they do!”
Norbert Brooks for vacuuming a room at Smith Hall: “Technician arrived promptly and took care of our request. He was friendly and efficient. Thank you!”
Eslie Murraine for checking out a lighting request and explaining to the customer how the lighting system is set up in Building AG: “Eslie was very helpful!”

Inbox Highlights: Staff Meal Plans and Popular LinkedIn Learning Courses

Published by Costanzo on December 22, 2023

We encourage you to read all emails sent to university employees, but we realize it’s easy to miss the details in the barrage of content sometimes. Below we’ve compiled a few highlights from recent editions of GWell, Focus on Yourself Fridays, and The GW Staff Council Pillars Newsletter.

GWell

HR’s monthly newsletter.

Faculty and Staff Meal Plans

Faculty & Staff Meal Plans are available again for the Spring 2024 semester! These plans come at a discounted price for Faculty & Staff and are paid for through payroll deduction (either biweekly or monthly). The deadline to enroll in a plan will be January 12, 2024; no changes can be made after a plan is selected. To learn more about how to sign-up, pay for, and use a Faculty & Staff Meal Plan please visit the dining website.

Focus on Yourself Fridays

Resources to help you develop professionally.

LinkedIn Learning

This past year, Focus on Yourself Fridays provided LinkedIn Learning recommendations in each newsletter. The most popular LinkedIn Learning recommendation was Event Planning Foundations.

Other popular courses included Emotional Intelligence Basics, and Leading without Formal Authority.

The GW Staff Council Pillars Newsletter

The official newsletter for GW’s Staff Council.

Learn How to Make Your Work More Accessible

There are ways that you can make your work more accessible to everyone who encounters it, including those with disabilities. Below are some ways you can learn more about making content usable and accessible.

Provide agendas and materials in advance if you can so people can review and prepare to contribute thoughtfully.
Break up long content into more manageable chunks. For documents, you can do this using headings to designate segments, or you can split into shorter documents. If you’re giving a longer meeting or presentation, make space for processing or questions every 15 minutes.

From the Desk of Baxter Goodly: Happy Holidays, FPCM

Published by Costanzo on December 22, 2023

FPCM Senior Associate Vice President Baxter Goodly sent along the following message to FPCM staff for the holidays.

Team,

We’re coming to the end of 2023 and I can say with confidence that another Fall semester filled with service improvements and major projects has earned all of you a restful Winter Break. These last several months at GW have been marked by significant events, including the introduction of a new university president, the initiation of a substantial effort to revitalize AiM, and the execution of one of the most well-organized move-ins in recent memory.

Your dedication and hard work have truly charted our course for the year, making it a period of transformation and unparalleled productivity (a claim I’m proud to report is backed up by the numbers). Each of you has played a crucial role in the success of our endeavors, and I am immensely proud to be part of such a dynamic and committed team.

As we reflect on the achievements of 2023, I am filled with optimism about the future. The challenges we faced were met with resilience and collaboration, setting the stage for a promising New Year. Looking ahead to 2024, I anticipate more impressive milestones to come, many of which I can’t predict as they will be the result of your own creativity and planning in the face of unexpected circumstances. Together, we will continue to enhance the campus environment and provide the best possible support for our university community.

Many of you will be on campus during the break, ensuring the smooth operation of our facilities and the well-being of our students. I acknowledge your dedication and hard work, and I hope that amidst your responsibilities, you find moments of joy with your loved ones.

Wishing you all a safe and rejuvenating break. Be well, stay safe, and I look forward to reconnecting with you all in 2024!

All the best,
Baxter

Winter Break 2023: Who’s On Campus and What’s Operating?

Published by Costanzo on December 21, 2023

Winter Break is now in full swing and that means our campuses are a bit quieter than usual. That said, we still have 600 residents staying with us through the holiday (and a smattering of faculty and staff), so if you’re a staff member who regularly interacts with our residents, remember to knock on doors and follow usual customer service best practices. The first day of class of the Spring Semester is January 16, but students will begin to trickle back in before that. As a result of reduced numbers, some services may be temporarily halted or modified as seen on the university’s Winter Break adjusted campus services page. Some retail venues may also be closed during break as seen below.

Venue	Altered Hours	Closed
Subway	Normal Hours Except When Closed	Dec. 25
Starbucks (1959 E St.)	Dec. 23-25: 8am-3pm Dec. 30-Jan. 1: 8am-3pm	Not Closing for Winter Break
Secretea	Normal Hours Except When Closed	Dec. 25
Tonic	Normal Hours Except When Closed	Dec. 23-30
Carvings	Dec. 22-23: 8am-4pm Dec. 26-30: 8am-3pm Jan. 2-5: 8am-3pm Jan. 8-12: 8am-10pm Jan. 13: 8am-12am	Dec. 24-25 Dec. 31-Jan. 1 Jan. 6-7
Point Chaud	Normal Hours Except When Closed	Dec. 19-Jan. 14
Starbucks (Gelman)	Dec. 22-Jan. 3 Monday-Friday: 6am-6pm Saturday-Sunday: 6:30am-4pm	Dec. 24-25 Jan. 1-2
South Block	Normal Hours Except When Closed	Dec. 19-Jan. 14
Panera	Jan. 2-8: Close at 6pm	Dec. 22-Jan. 2
The Bistro	Normal Hours Except When Closed	Dec. 20-Jan. 3
Beefsteak	Hours Subject to Change	Not Closing for Winter Break
Pete’s Coffee	Jan 2-5: 7am-3pm Jan 8-12: 7am-3pm	Dec. 23-Jan. 1 Jan. 6-7

Below you’ll find all the buildings we expect to have occupants and the number currently staying.

District House – 94
South Hall – 75
Thurston Hall – 53
Mitchell Hall – 44
JBKO Hall – 23
Fulbright Hall – 21
FSK Hall – 18
Dakota – 17
Guthridge Hall – 17
1959 E Street – 15
2109 F Street – 14
Munson Hall – 14
Building JJ – 11
International House – 11
Lafayette Hall – 11
Greek Townhouse A – 9
Madison Hall – 9
Potomac House – 8
Greek Townhouse F – 4
605 21st Street – 3
2123 F Street – 2
Strong Hall – 2
603 22nd Street – 1
Greek Townhouse B – 1
Greek Townhouse C – 1

Faculty and Staff Winter Celebration 2023 Photo Roundup

Published by stephanie.stinfort on December 21, 2023

Last week faculty and staff got together at USC to enjoy the GW Winter Celebration. A great time was had as employees mingled over good food, listened to live music, and even got their likenesses captured by one of the several caricature artists. Night Staff enjoyed a more intimate celebration, leaving with portraits, photobooth pictures, and prizes. Thanks for wrapping up the year with us in style!

Five Star FixIt Reviews 12/18/2023

Published by stephanie.stinfort on December 18, 2023

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! Take a moment to read about this weeks Kudos Recipients!

Tim Lindsey for fixing a standing desk at Enterprise Hall: “Even though the problem he was called to fix wasn’t clearly listed under Facilities, he tackled it perfectly. He downloaded the manual, read it and came back the next day to fix it.”
Raymond Wallace for adjusting the temperature at an Enterprise office: “Very prompt and effective response thank you!”
William McKnight for opening the heating valves and restoring heat to a Rome Hall classroom: “It was so quick!”
John Gutierrez for adjusting the temperature at an SEH lab: “When I asked for a change to the temperature in my office, I could feel the change a couple of hours later.”
George Clemons and Louis Everett for their assistance in treating a pest issue at Madison Hall: “George was excellent to talk to when he came for the pre-pesticide inspection and the gentleman who completed the pesticide application was just as excellent to talk to. Great job and very thankful for your help!”
Souk Vongs and Roger White for repairing a broken door lock at Innovation Hall: “Great Techs! Very happy with experience.”
Jose Chevez for unclogging a bathroom sink in Guthridge Hall: “They showed up much faster than I expected”

GW Today: Thurston Earns LEED Platinum

Published by Costanzo on December 13, 2023

Thurston Hall has been awarded LEED platinum certification and GW Today is all over this tremendous achievement. As our chief news source explains, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a widely used rating system to recognize “green” building. Check out the article for quotes from our very own Director of Sustainability Josh Lasky and Assistant Vice President for Construction Management and Campus Planning Adam Aaronson.

Josh Lasky:
“When I lived in Thurston, it was a much different space,” Lasky said. “I’m a little jealous that students today have such an incredible living environment to enjoy in one of the most progressively designed green buildings in the District of Columbia.”

Adam Aaronson:
“Being able to achieve the energy savings while reusing an existing historic structure is certainly a challenge. And the team really rose to the challenge. This really took the collective effort of the design team, the construction team and all of the dozens of people at GW that were involved.”