April 6, 2006
‘Thank-you party’ planned
Friday, April 28, will be a day for saying thank you. Members of the UW administration will take the opportunity to thank faculty, staff and retirees for all they’ve given to the University, and faculty, staff and retirees will be able to take a moment to thank people on campus whom they appreciate.
The occasion is the UW Community Celebration, planned for 4 p.m. that day in the lobby of Meany Theater. Part of Washington Weekend, it is designed as a party for the “in crowd” — the people who fill all the essential roles at the University.
The thank-yous really begin before the party gets rolling. Faculty, staff and retirees are invited to go to www.uwfoundation.org/kudos and say a thank-you in writing to anyone on campus. This could be a colleague, a boss, the person who cleans the parking garage or the friendly cashier at the HUB. Submit your thank you by Friday, April 14 to ensure it is displayed at the event.
Then, at the party itself, a video camera will be set up near the Meany ticketing area and attendees can go before it to sing the praises of whomever they choose. The video will be streamed on the University Week Web site after the event.
“One of the most important things I ever read in a management book is that no one ever gets thanked enough,” said Bob Roseth, director of the Office of News and Information and a member of the task force that is planning the event. “We wanted to provide people with an opportunity to thank those in the campus community who make this a good place to work.”
The task force is part of the Steering Committee for the Leadership, Community and Values Initiative. Roseth said the event comes out of a survey that was conducted last year as part of the initiative.
“In the survey, people felt a fairly strong identification with the units within which they work, but in a lot of cases they felt the desire for a greater sense of belonging to the larger institution,” he said.
The UW Community Celebration is a chance for people from all units to come together and toast each other for jobs well done.
“President (Mark) Emmert has said repeatedly in many settings that we don’t do enough to talk about our own accomplishments,” Roseth said. “He’s characterized it as Pacific Northwest shyness and says we need to be prouder of the things we do, and publicly so.”
Guests will enjoy appreciation, food and drink, and short addresses from President Emmert, Provost Phyllis Wise and representatives of student groups. Everything is free, and supervisors are encouraged to grant release time.
Faculty, staff and retirees should have received an e-mail invitation by now. Kindly RSVP by Friday, April 21, at http://www.washington.edu/alumni/weekend/2006community_celebration.html.
“If all goes well, we hope that this will become an annual event,” Roseth said.
