The University of Iowa’s liveWELL programs and services are designed to support you in your health and wellness efforts, no matter where you find yourself on the health continuum. Access to available mental health resources and ways to build resiliency is ‘top of mind’ for so many of us these days. We’d like to ensure you are aware of a new offering about an upcoming liveWELL program, Be Kind to Your Mind. Students in the Department of Health and Human Physiology have teamed up with liveWELL to deliver this three-week mental well-being program that starts November 1. The upcoming program is focused on positive, mindset, resilience and other “protective factors” against stress and burnout. The program runs November 1-23! Persons registered by November 3 will get a gratitude journal in campus mail and you earn liveWELL Points for participating.

The Employee Assistance Program recently implemented a new service to support staff with a temporary financial hardship. The UI Emergency Hardship Fund supports costs, up to $1000, related to an emergency event or crisis, resulting in financial hardship. Temporary financial hardship means a hardship event rather than a pre-existing financial concern or obligation.

In the liveWELL Fall 2021 newsletter, we explore the benefits of a regular gratitude practice to protect mental and emotional well-being. You can also find more information about our upcoming liveWELL trainings which feature resources and tips for resilience, mindfulness, financial well-being, and caregiving.

An international celebration of sustainability in higher education! The goal of Campus Sustainability Month is to raise the visibility of campus sustainability and provide campus sustainability advocates with a platform to deepen campus engagement around sustainability. In that spirit the Office of Sustainability and the Environment encourages everyone on campus to connect with sustainability on campus, and beyond.

The David J. Skorton Staff Excellence Award for Public Service is given annually to individuals who have made significant contributions and have shown “exceptional imagination and dedication to improving the university community.” Service must include activities of high quality in staff governance, committee work, policy improvement, program creation, etc. and must be outside normal job responsibilities.

The HR Staff Recognition Committee in concert with the CLAS Staff Council Awards Committee submitted a revised budget proposal at the start of the year, which was approved by Dean Sanders. Changes include increasing the value of the staff gift for the Recognition Event for all staff in attendance. There will also be changes to the CLAS Leadership Award which will now be two monetized awards – The committees want to emphasize that this is leadership of any kind and not just for CLAS Staff in unit supervisory roles. Nominations for the CLAS Leadership Award and the Mary Louise Kelley Staff Excellence awards will be due in the first half of February, 2022.

Excelling at a job in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences means simply completing a bulleted list of job tasks which—presumably—taps into skills and education the employee already has, right? Doesn’t a degree in hand and work experience under the belt equate to a smooth career path? “Professionals are increasingly called upon to do more with less—not just at Iowa but in the work world in general,” says Jen Knights, a marketing and community engagement specialist in the School of Social Work.

Barbara J. Wilson, executive vice president and vice president for academic affairs for the University of Illinois System, will become the 22nd president of the University of Iowa on July 15, 2021. The Board of Regents, State of Iowa, announced Wilson as its unanimous selection at its meeting in Iowa City on Friday, April 30.

The University of Iowa operates on two distinct salary increase cycles and each college/division has determined the cycle in which they may provide adjustments. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences operates on a January 1 cycle.