As of November 21, 2024, workers may use earned sick time to care for themselves or their spouse in the event of pregnancy loss or failed assisted reproduction, adoption, or surrogacy. Please see the link below for the Mass.gov website. https://www.mass.gov/info-details/earned-sick-time
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Human Resources is pleased to announce that our annual Employee Recognition event will be held in Westborough on Wednesday, January 15, 2025. This annual event recognizes those employees who have been awarded the Commonwealth Certificate of Achievement. The list of certificate winners was emailed to President’s Office staff on November 20. The Commonwealth’s program recognizes the outstanding…
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In November, the UPST team came together to celebrate five remarkable years of UPST at UMass—a milestone defined by innovation, collaboration, and excellence. In this special edition, we honor the achievements that have shaped UPST’s success and recognize the individuals and ideas that continue to propel its mission forward. From bidding farewell to a transformative leader to welcoming new voices…, Marking Five Years of UPST: A Special Anniversary Edition, This year, UPST proudly celebrates five years of innovation, teamwork, and service excellence. To mark this milestone, we’re working on a special edition of the UPST newsletter featuring reflections, success stories, and a look ahead at the next chapter for UPST. We’ve also put together a video we can share now: a heartfelt video montage capturing memorable moments and milestones from the past…, Celebrating David Cho’s Leadership and Legacy , As we bid farewell to David Cho, Chief Procurement Officer and a cornerstone of UPST’s success, we reflect on his transformative contributions over the past five years. To honor David’s leadership and the impact he’s had on the UMass community, we recently held a celebratory gathering, bringing together colleagues and friends to share memories and gratitude. David’s legacy of innovation,…, Supporting UPST’s Future: Highlighting Mike Durkin, Brian Girard and Amand Onwuka , As UPST looks to the next chapter, we are excited to congratulate Michael Durkin as the incoming Chief Procurement Officer. With support from new Deputy CPO Brian Girard and Amanda Onwuka, Director of Service and Quality, UPST is poised to build on its strong foundation. Together, this leadership team is committed to enhancing efficiency, strengthening campus partnerships, and driving innovation…
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In March 2024, we started a new Accessibility Tip of the Month section in the UMass President's Office Connection newsletter. As we wrap up the year, we wanted to reshare the tips we shared from March through November. , March 2024 - Add Alt Text to Images in Email, Word, and PowerPoint, Did you know you can add alt text to images in your emails ? Providing a text description of an image makes it accessible to anyone who uses a screen reader, and also provides a visible text description if an image doesn’t successfully load in an email. You can also add alt text to images in your Word Documents and PowerPoint Presentations . , April 2024 - Add Data Labels to Graphs and Charts, When creating graphs and charts, ensure you label each data point directly. Direct labeling reduces cognitive load for everyone and makes the content more accessible to the colorblind, low vision, and neurodivergent communities. Watch Ann K. Emery’s video “ Remove Legends and Directly Label (Dataviz Accessibility Quick Wins) ” for more on why direct labels improve the accessibility of data…, May 2024 - Creating Accessible Social Media Hashtags, When creating hashtags in social media posts, use camel or pascal case . A hashtag in Camel Case #looksLikeThis, with the first word in all lowercase and then the first letter of each subsequent word capitalized. A hashtag in Pascal Case #LooksLikeThis, with the first letter in each word of the hashtag capitalized. If you don’t capitalize the first letter of each word, a multi-word hashtag will…, June 2024 - Use Descriptive Links, When writing communications, use descriptive links so that everyone reading your communication understands exactly where the link will take them. Link names should be the same as the page name linked to. Be as explicit as you can. Too long is better than too short. Make the link meaningful. Don’t use “click here” or “read more.” Add a short description when needed to clarify the link. Learn more…, July 2024 - Enabling Auto-Captions in Zoom, All meeting hosts can enable auto-captions and a transcript by default in Zoom. This feature can improve the overall experience for hard of hearing and neurodivergent employees that have not disclosed their disability. In addition, always provide a way for meeting attendees to request additional effective communications. Some attendees may request a copy of the presentation ahead of time to help…, August 2024 - Font Accessibility, Use a familiar, simple, and easy to parse font for body content in digital documents, emails, and on digital signage. When selecting a font, ensure that characters are distinct from each other, such as a lowercase l and an uppercase I and the number 1. For example, Verdana has clearly distinct designs for characters. Note that there is no one optimal font, but selecting an easy to parse font will…, September 2024 - Create an Accessible Email Signature, When creating or updating an email signature, here are some recommended best practices to ensure your email signature is accessible: Do not put your email signature in a table to format it. Using tables for layout purposes creates a confusing and verbose experience for assistive technology users. Provide alt text for any images in your signature. For example, you can include the following alt…, October 2024 - Use the Microsoft Accessibility Checker, Did you know that Microsoft has a built-in accessibility checker? You can use the accessibility checker to identify common accessibility issues in your documents and emails, such as missing alt text or hard-to-read text contrast. The checker is available on Windows, Macs, and through Office 365 on the Web. You can find detailed steps of how to run the checker in Microsoft's Improve accessibility…, November 2024 - Add Alt Text to Images in Slack , When uploading images to Slack, you can add a description (or alt text) in Slack . Alt text provides a text-based explanation of a visual for the blind and low vision communities. Once you add the alt text to the image, an ALT button will appear on the bottom left corner of the image. As Slack makes the alt text feature available to anyone, it can also be used on smaller devices by anyone to get…
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Several religious and cultural observances occur during the month of December. We’ve included a summary of each holiday with a link to more details on the DEIA website, including some upcoming local event spotlights.
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The Administration & Finance (A&F) Senior Management Team (SMT) hosted a highly engaging and successful Town Hall meeting on December 11th, fostering an environment for meaningful dialogue about the strategic direction of the A&F Roadmap 6.0. Tasked with coordinating the event, the SMT demonstrated exceptional teamwork and dedication to bring this important gathering to fruition.…, Session Highlights:, , SPARC, SPARC PRO Presentation:, Led by Deirdre Delaney, Anne Zuev, and Eric Gregoire, this session delved into the latest advancements in the SPARC initiative. The presenters highlighted critical updates and shared detailed insights into the financial strategies guiding the University’s future. Their analysis clarified complex topics and demonstrated the foresight behind these initiatives., ERP Presentation:, This session, led by Carol Dugard, Jason MacFadyen, Brian Girard, and Jeff Gull, provided an in-depth exploration of the ERP Roadmap. The team detailed how implementing the ERP system can revolutionize operations by enhancing efficiency and streamlining processes across the organization. Their presentation underscored the transformative potential of this technology in achieving organizational…
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January 2025 DEIA Calendar, The DEIA Communications team keeps a calendar of upcoming diversity awareness months and days recognized either nationally or internationally due to their cultural, historical, or religious significance. , Date-Specific Events, National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month Poverty in America Awareness Month , Date-Specific Events, Sunday, January 4: World Braille Day Monday, January 20: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Tuesday, January 21: World Religion Day Monday, January 27: International Holocaust Remembrance Day Wednesday, January 29: Lunar New Year , Additional Communications this Month , The DEIA Communications team is sending out individual communications around the following awareness events this month: Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service International Holocaust Remembrance Day Lunar New Year Celebration
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On December 5, 2024, UITS (University Information Technology Services) held our Open Forum, a department meeting that started at 333 South Street in the amphitheater, moved to Area 51 after the Covid pandemic, and is now being held in our beautiful state-of-the-art Commonwealth Conference Room. Over 100 colleagues gathered at this tri-annual event enjoying a delicious breakfast buffet, engaging…, Winners of this MVB Program cycle: , Interesting facts about the program:, Formed around November 2018 First Challenge Coin awarded January 29, 2020 to Mounika Bonam 10 nomination cycles to date 83 Nominees and 26 Challenge Coin Recipients!, These are the UITS Most Valued Behaviors:
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On December 12, 2024, Michael Milligan sponsored two tables at the Massachusetts Conference for Women where 18 UMass employees joined more than 11,000 attendees for a day of motivating speakers, educational workshops, and networking. The inspirational conference included workshops on a variety of topics such as inclusion, self-care in the workplace, leadership, and advancement, offering positive…
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