August 2023 A & F Times

Table of Contents

1. August Column
2. Look At What We're Doing!
3. Sustainability on Campus
4. Events & Happenings
5. Anniversaries!
6. Thank you for contributions

August Column

Sonoma State University Police Chief,
Nader Oweis

Throughout the summer, anyone that was on campus for even a minute noticed the campus was buzzing with laughter, smiles, and good cheer from the over 4,000 conference attendees, thousands of concert goers, and hundreds of visiting guests. This was in addition to the sounds of major improvements and updates to our pathways, sidewalks, roadways, lighting, landscape, parking lots and electrical feeders, just to name a few.

If this summer is any indication of what the fall semester will bring, this buzz will definitely turn to excitement from our new and returning students. The students, along with our faculty, will undoubtedly take notice of the many efforts to create a safe and healthy learning and working environment. But, none of these achievements could have happened without all of your hard work and dedication to the campus, especially from those in the A&F Division.

As the fall semester approaches, there is still much work to do. Recent court decisions, budget woes, reduced enrollment, and other factors out of our control have created barriers for us to overcome. But, I am confident that together we can maintain the roar of success. Success that not only addresses the potential barriers, but also takes into consideration the overall positive culture of being a Seawolf – one that supports the well-being of all, inclusive of people from all walks of life, while working constructively, respectfully, and honestly together.

So with this in mind, I ask for your help. Continue to fill the campus with laughter, smiles, and good cheer this fall semester, as I am confident they will bring lasting positive effects throughout the year and beyond.

Look At What We Are Doing!

IT has been diligently working with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) to make our campus more equitable and address the needs of our students, faculty and staff. Sadie Pettit has been working with Tramaine Austin-Dillon on the pronoun functionality. In MySSU, students will have the ability to select their pronoun which will display on many pages for faculty and staff including the Class and Grade rosters and Advisee Center. MyHR will hopefully see this update during the CHRS upgrade yet to be scheduled. Josh Anderson from the IT Enterprise Applications team has completed a project with campus partners to review all MySSU queries with first name. This effort focused on determining if the provided first name should be primary or preferred or both in the query results. Primary name continued to be provided if there was a clear business need, and in many cases, the preferred name was provided in addition to or in place of the primary name in the absence of a business need. Queries have been updated to replace or include preferred names to support appropriate outreach and communication with students.  Future queries requesting First Name will be reviewed for the appropriate type - Preferred or Primary or both. This effort highlights the importance of communicating with our students in a way that makes them most comfortable and I appreciate Josh's efforts in this area. Coming soon, we will be implementing Pathlock "on top of" MySSU and MyHR which is a toolset that fixes pages which do not meet accessibility standards. Koushik Damera from IT Enterprise Applications will be the technical lead for this effort. We should see this implementation complete by the middle of the Fall term.

Facilities held their Summer BBQ in July where they also issued six Seawolf Awards. Dana Twedell explained, "The winners are selected by their peers. Our FM team members vote for the Seawolf nominees. For this award we use the word SEAWOLF to define service excellence, and this is considered when selecting the nominees. 'Our SEAWOLF award recipient supports our mission by maintaining a high level of customer SERVICE to the campus community that far and above EXCEEDS normal standards. Their support of our campus is ADMIRABLE on all levels. Their continued WILLINGNESS to take OWNERSHIP of their work, to LISTEN to the needs of their clients, and to always maintain a FRIENDLY customer based mentality is commendable, and worthy of this award.' The voters get to select their top 5, and then we reward 6.

This year's winners are:

• Tara Bogart, Facilities Administration
• Jamie Hermann, Facilities Administration
• Umbra Cox, Housekeeping
• Dylan Ratto, Housekeeping
• Steve Bartnowski, Operations and Engineering
• David Hudkins, Landscaping

Congratulations to the Contracts and Procurement and Accounts Payable team for reaching $900,000 in savings during the last fiscal year. This total was realized by savings on bids, various rebates, identifying incorrect invoices from vendors, utilizing CSU systemwide contract pricing, negotiations, and finding discounted pricing. Well done!

Remembering Moe Calvez

This last May, we lost one of our colleagues and friends to cancer.  Maurice "Moe" Calvez was a beloved member of the IT department and throughout campus.  Following are some remembrances of him from his colleagues...

• I always remember Moe with a friendly smile. My first day at SSU, he not only helped me set up my laptop but also provided me with a desktop stand-up adapter so I could work comfortably, and a laptop bag in case I needed to travel :) . We also talked about Canada, I lived in Montreal for several years and I shared his love for that great country and its warm people. I always remember him like this, a very kind, smiling and warm person. With appreciation - Ivonne
• It's true what they say about Canadians. Moe Calvez was one of, if not the nicest people I've ever met. He is missed every day. - Todd Wright
• I had the pleasure of working with Moe for many years, as he specialized in supporting the CMS Team in IT. IT support can be very frustrating, as the troubleshooting often took hours. He regularly handled the issues with a smile and grace. His presence, humor and contributions will be greatly missed by our team. - Amanda McGowan
• I always knew Moe was a wonderful human being, and I learned so much about him at his memorial service, that I wish I would've known while he was still with us. Miss him greatly.
• Moe was a rare type of person who makes everyone around them want to be a better version of themselves. The world is a less beautiful place without him in it. - Vaughn Bellwood

You can learn more about Moe and the legacy he leaves behind on the Ever Loved website and the Winnipeg Free Press obituary.

Sustainability on Campus

In an effort to support sustainability on campus, as well as supporting our now smaller grounds and landscaping crew, a new ride-on, clean diesel mower has been added to the tools they use. This high capacity mower is three to four times more efficient in speed and mowing capacity and is more sustainable for our environment. 

Travis Vining appears to be enjoying the new mower!

Through a variety of technologies, this new mower has been able to reduce the nitrogen oxide* and particulate matter it produces to a level that meets the strict Tier 4 emissions requirements. One of the technologies applied allows for a more complete combustion and another recirculates the exhaust gas.  This allows the engine to perform better. Additional technologies are also applied for cleaner emissions including using software to maintain optimal engine performance by adjusting how the engine operates.

Previously it could take up to four hours to mow the lawns North of Salazar - using inefficient equipment that produced greater carbon emissions. This new mower can complete the same job within one hour and has allowed our landscaping crew to save time and money, and is helping Sonoma State to reduce the amount of carbon produced on campus.

Another way the campus is using this cleaner form of diesel is in two of the generators on campus. While they use a different technology to meet the strict Tier 4 requirements, this technology  reduces the nitrogen oxide emissions produced by the generators.  This is done with the addition of a liquid solution that is injected into the exhaust to convert the nitrogen oxide emissions to nitrogen and oxygen, by-products which do not cause harm to the environment.

These steps, and others Sonoma State University are making, are helping our campus to become more sustainable and resilient.

*Nitrogen oxide (NO₂ NO_x)

Events and Happenings

August 18, 2023 - Convocation

Please join President Lee, Provost Moranski and Faculty Chair Krier at Weill Hall to celebrate the start of the 2023/2024 Academic Year.  Reception at 8:30 a.m., program begins at 9 a.m.

August 21, 2023 - First day of classes!

Here's to a wonderful academic year for all!

Anniversaries!

These folks celebrated anniversaries in June 2023!

Thank you for your contributions...

This newsletter is a labor of love.  I enjoy putting together a collection of bits an pieces from our daily activities to highlight some of the work our division accomplishes every day.  But it is definitely not a solo effort, your contributions, news, photos and the things you share make the newsletter what it is.  Please continue to share hodenfie@sonoma.edu