All new staff are expected to participate in these required trainings within their first six months of employment.
Staff Handbook
The Division defines onboarding as the time period prior to being hired through the employee’s first year of employment. We strive to provide all new Division staff with a common onboarding experience. Having a common experience helps staff commit to our shared Student Affairs values and see the impact of our work as a team.
About The Division of Student Affairs
Employee Well-Being Resources
Division Expectations
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Professional Development & Travel
Professional development is accomplished through a variety of methods, including but not limited to presenting at national/regional/state conferences, serving on boards or committees, writing in journals and trade magazines, and participating in on-campus opportunities through the division or university.
Professional Development funds for professional development activities that are in direct support of work functions and individual professional development plans may be requested through the Office of the Vice President.
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Expectations for Contract Staff
The following dates are highly encouraged “all hands on deck” events for contract staff. Graduate assistants and classified staff are also invited to provide support.
- Fall Opening
- Through the Division’s team effort, we welcome new and returning students back to campus.
- Commencement
- The staff’s commitment to work is a key element in making Commencement successful and memorable for the graduates, their families, and friends. Attendance and participation for both graduate (Friday) and undergraduate (Saturday) ceremonies is an expectation of all contract staff.
- Fall Opening
Division Information and Resources
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Flextime & Flexplace
The Division recognizes that fully serving the student population oftentimes means spending hours at work beyond 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Monday–Friday. An additional purpose of this policy is to recognize occasional excess hours worked by an employee. A supervisor may approve reasonable, intermittent flexible hours in recognition of hours worked that are clearly in excess of the standard work week.
In such cases, the flexible hours option involves the downward flexing of the number of work hours in any given week and should be implemented within a reasonable time frame and as close to the period of excess hours worked as possible.
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Assessment
Assessment makes it possible to measure our impact and tailor our services and programming to the students we serve. Though assessment may not be everyone’s area of expertise, it’s something everyone is capable of with a little guidance.
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Incident Report
This form may be used by any member of the Ohio University community wishing to file a report, either on their own behalf or on the behalf of another person. University Equity and Civil Rights Compliance (ECRC) will review the information in the report and take the appropriate actions, including making necessary referrals and/or providing options for support.
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Job Descriptions
The Division of Student Affairs strives to include equity and social justice in all employees’ day-to-day work. As part of this commitment, a past committee worked toward embedding social justice language into all administrative, classified, and student job descriptions.
The Division of Student Affairs strives to include assessment in all relevant employees’ day-to-day work. As part of this commitment, the Learning Goals Committee is excited to share our goal for embedding assessment language into all relevant administrative, classified, and student job descriptions. The target date for completing this work is August 2024.
Leadership and Committees
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Open Forums
Division open forums are typically held once a month or bi-monthly throughout the year.
These meetings are not required, yet highly encouraged for all staff members. During the open forums, Division leadership communicates pivotal updates, shares strategic information, and provides a time for division staff to get together and share.
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Division Committees
Committees are formed to be inclusive of department representation and individual preferences. View current committees and updates from past projects.
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University Committees
Staff will be asked to represent student affairs on university-wide committees managed by campus partners. These are typically related to a position’s area of specialty (e.g., event production, health promotion, crisis management).
Staff are also encouraged to join their respective senates.
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Student Affairs Leadership Team (SALT)
Student Affairs Leadership Team (SALT) meets regularly throughout the academic year. These meetings are designed to share and communicate information among and between all departments within student affairs. This group is comprised of department heads and directors and VPSA staff.
One Thing Campaign
Graduate Assistant Selection Process
The Graduate Assistant (GA) selection process responsibilities are housed in the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs (VPSA) and are carried out in partnership with faculty from the Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) program in The Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education and Human Services.
During fall semester, departments are asked to make updates to their graduate assistant position descriptions to post online.
The VPSA office and HESA faculty work together to coordinate selection and recruitment. Each year, the timeline is sent out during fall semester.
Questions about selection and recruitment can be directed to Erin Morgenstern at erinmorgenstern@ohio.edu.
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Email Signatures
All staff should be utilizing their OHIO email account to receive and send work-related emails. Staff are expected to include a signature.
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Pronoun Guidelines
Ohio University is committed to fostering an environment of inclusiveness and supporting students' preferred form of self-identification. With this in mind, the Student Names policy 12.021 provides definitions for and uses of names and pronouns recorded for students.
It is expected that faculty, staff, and students will make every effort to call students by their preferred name and utilize students' pronoun usage.