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 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 Focus on Yourself Friday, GWell, and The GW Staff Council Pillars Newsletter.
A newsletter highlighting Staff Council initiatives and events
Staff Council Meetings You can find meeting minutes from past meetings on the Staff Council website, along with information on upcoming meetings. Registration is required so please be sure to register for any upcoming meetings you’d like to attend.
The GW Staff Council meets on the third Friday of each month from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. EST. GW Staff Council meetings occur via Zoom and are open to the GW community. The next meeting is Friday, April 19.
HR’s newsletter focused on self improvement and professional development.
Leaders at All Levels: Event Planning Friday, April 12, 2024 10:00am-11:00am Register for the WebEx
This month’s Leaders at All Levels session will focus on the essentials of Event Planning, with a focus on in-person events. You will learn the basics of event planning, and you will learn about resources to plan events at GW.
A newsletter from the folks at HRMD highlighting benefits available to GW employees.
Financial Literacy With April being National Financial Literacy month, there’s no better time to learn about engaging in smart money management habits. This month will feature the introduction and foundations to financial well-being.
What is Financial Wellness & Why is it Important? April 17, 2024 at 12pm Register Here
Financial Well-being Overview April 29, 2024 at 1pm Register Here
By now you’ve likely heard that GW’s vacation time policy is changing in July, but are you familiar with how it’s changing? The Benefits Team will be in the Support Building to walk all DSF employees through the details and to take your questions. Just show up at one of the sessions shown below! Can’t make the session? You can always read up on the policy on HR’s website.
Support 211
Thursday, 4/11 at 4pm Monday 4/15 at 3pm Wednesday, 4/17 at 10am
Gerson Parralez for repairing a thermostat in a Mitchell Hall resident room: “Both technicians who came over the past few days were extremely kind and helpful, and did their best to fix the problem at hand as quickly as possible”
Crystal Brown for investigating a ceiling concern in s South Hall dorm room: “Thank you for checking!”
Roderick Garrett Jr for replacing a lightbulb in a Shenkman Hall Kitchen: “Thanks for the new light, guy who fixed it was really helpful!”
Crystal Brown for fixing a drain stopper in a South Hall Bathroom: “We really appreciated Crystal’s work!!!”
Michael Akyea for replacing interior lights at Phillips Hall: “The electrician that came was so friendly, professional and really nice…he’s so great, thank you!”
Each week we’ll be sharing the upcoming training and professional development opportunities available here at GW.
Friday 4/12
Leaders at All Levels: Event Planning This month’s Leaders at All Levels session will focus on the essentials of Event Planning, with a focus on in-person events. You will learn the basics of event planning, and you will learn about resources to plan events at GW.
FERPA workshop for GW staff and faculty This interactive workshop will address FERPA basics and explore requirements for the protection of student records, when those records may be shared, and discuss some of the applicable exceptions to the FERPA requirement for consent.
GW staff and faculty members are encouraged to submit their questions via the event’s registration survey.
Jimmy Thrower and Michael Akyea for replacing faulty light bulbs in a Ross Hall office: “Perfect”
Debebe Demeke and Nestor Fuentes for replacing a leaking dishwasher at Shenkman Hall: “Glad we got a new dishwasher”
Wallace Vauss for assisting a customer who was concerned about a ceiling leak. Wallace inspected and confirmed that there was no leak: “Thank you so much for your help”
Michael Graham for replacing multiple interior lights at 2013 H St: “Michael ALWAYS does a quick and thorough job with our lighting requests.”
Wallace Vauss for unclogging a tub at Munson Hall: “Good work”
Sonny Saadi for assisting with a flooring replacement at Elliott School: “This was such a great experience working with Sonny Saadi! He was a great partner on this project and helped answer many questions that my team had along the way.”
Stephen Morant for fixing and replacing lamps in a Milken office: “Thank you! I don’t know the person who did it; they were quiet and in and out in record time.”
Jose Melgar for replacing a broken microwave at Shenkman Hall: “Very kind person came and took care of my issue right away”
Jason Neves for replacing a shower curtain in a Shenkman Hall dorm room: “Thanks for the new curtain!”
Chris Gammon for fixing a bathroom exhaust fan in a Shenkman Hall bathroom allowing it to run quietly and smoothly: “Thanks for fixing the fan, bathroom sounds much better and air flows.”
Antoine Swilling and Louis Everett for handling a pest issue in Gelman Library: “As a facilities worker myself I must say that the customer service from GWU workers is now and has always been great.”
Terrence Branch for creating Keys for Facilities Central: “The request was handled quickly.”
William Vigil for repairing a water bottle filling station at Ames Hall: “Thanks for getting to this so quickly.”
Kevin Bell for repairing interior lights at Ross Hall: “The issue was quickly and effortlessly resolved. I didn’t expect the ticket to be resolved less than 24 hours after my filing it.”
Wallace Vauss for repairing a toilet in Smith Hall: “The technician arrived even more promptly than expected. I had only asked for our toilet seat to be tightened, but he noticed the handle was leaking and fixed that for us as well. The work was completed perfectly in under 15 minutes and totally exceeded our expectations. Thank you so much for all you do!”
Tony Standard for unclogging a shower drain at FSK: “Technician was very polite and professional and quickly resolved our issue. He left the area clean and made a great impression. Fixing our shower made our week. Thanks!”
Jose Ventura for reinstalling a closet shelf and rod that detached from a 2109 dorm room wall: “The workers were very nice, quick, and on-time. Loved their service.”
Kevin Jackson for unclogging a bathroom sink at Madison Hall: “Hi, the technician was extremely nice and professional. He also fixed the bathroom very fast!”
Souk Vongs for replacing interior lights in an women’s bathroom and Hallway at Enterprise Hall: “Super fast response”
Terrence Branch for replacing a key for a Tompkins Hall office: “Mr. Terrence Branch did a superb job in both a timely response and an expert solution to the problem.”
Each week we’ll be sharing the upcoming training and professional development opportunities available here at GW.
Tuesday 3/26 -Thursday 3/28
APPA Virtual -Level III: Managerial Effectiveness On this level, 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. The content of this program complements and builds upon the individual skills learned in Level I and the interpersonal skills developed in Level II.
Leaders learn how to apply leadership skills that are essential in today’s workplace.
Leaders master strategies for handling and ultimately solving difficult conversations and situations.
Leaders learn how to model strong leadership skills through knowing their own strengths and complementing the strengths of others.
Digital Roundtable – myGW This month, our roundtable discussion will focus on the new myGW. The new myGW website and mobile app are designed to provide centralized access to the GW resources that are important to you through a customizable interface. Join us for an introduction to the new tool and learn how to personalize your myGW dashboard.
These roundtable sessions are open to anyone, whether you’re looking for answers to specific questions or just want to listen in and learn from the expertise of others
Please give a round of applause to this weeks Kudos recipients!
Antoine Swilling and Louis Everett for handling a pest issue in Gelman Library: “As a facilities worker myself I must say that the customer service from GWU workers is now and has always been great.”
Terrence Branch for creating Keys for Facilities Central: “The request was handled quickly.”
William Vigil for repairing a water bottle filling station at Ames Hall: “Thanks for getting to this so quickly”
Kevin Bell for repairing interior lights at Ross Hall: “The issue was quickly and effortlessly resolved. I didn’t expect the ticket to be resolved less than 24 hours after my filing it.”
Wallace Vauss for repairing a toilet in Smith Hall: “The technician arrived even more promptly than expected. I had only asked for our toilet seat to be tightened, but he noticed the handle was leaking and fixed that for us as well. The work was completed perfectly in under 15 minutes and totally exceeded our expectations. Thank you so much for all you do!”
Tony Standard for unclogging a shower drain at FSK: “Technician was very polite and professional and quickly resolved our issue. He left the area clean and made a great impression. Fixing our shower made our week. Thanks!”
Each week we’ll be sharing the upcoming training and professional development opportunities available here at GW.
Tuesday 3/19-Thursday 3/21
APPA Supervisor’s Toolkit Supervisor’s Toolkit has been specifically designed to meet the needs of the facilities management professional. It is a structured, open-ended, and pragmatic approach to developing supervisors. It is not so much a teaching program as a development process, designed to help supervisors realize both personal and professional growth. The program has been newly designed as a full three days of training.
APPA Virtual -Level I: Individual Effectiveness Level I helps your institution achieve sustained superior results by focusing on making individual leaders more effective. Participants will discover that the pursuit of effectiveness will have enduring positive impacts on both their personal and professional lives. This level includes a 360-degree benchmark providing participants with feedback from managers, peers, and direct reports and clear indicators of their top strengths as well as areas to target for improvement.
Leaders learn to be effective leaders, not victims, and are responsible and accountable for their actions and subsequent consequences.
Leaders learn to live by a personal vision, mission, and values commitment that serves to guide their life.
Leaders learn that credibility and integrity stem from personal trustworthiness that is demonstrated in all they say and do.
Procurement 101 Training These training sessions are customized for our end-user departments to learn how to navigate the procurement process and provide them with the necessary knowledge and skills to make well-informed purchasing decisions.
Siteimprove – Addressing Accessibility Issues Join our team and a customer success manager from Siteimprove for an overview of how to use the platform’s accessibility features to address any issues and make your sites more accessible for everyone.
ERAPPA: Inclusive Physical Space Framework The Inclusive Physical Space Framework (IPSF) is intended to guide and empower post-secondary institutions to plan, build, operate, and maintain physical spaces on and off campus which uphold strategies for accessibility, well-being, and sustainability. This webinar will discuss some of the key themes addressed in the Framework and open a discussion on how it can be applied in a university campus setting.
