May 22 Staff Forum Recap
The May 22 Staff Forum in the Bill Bordy Theater started with a welcome from President Pelton. Christina Harrington (Office of the Arts) spoke next about the launch of ArtsEmerson’s 10th season, “Celebrating 10 Years Bold.” She gave an overview of the season’s 10 shows, of which 5 are returning and 5 are new commissions by ArtsEmerson. Fan favorites that are returning include The 7 Fingers’ US premiere of Passengers, Homer’s Coat’s An Iliad with award-winning actor Denis O’Hare, and the Isango Ensemble’s The Magic Flute. New productions include the world premiere of Detroit Red about Malcolm X’s Boston days, Triptych (Eyes of One on Another) in cooperation with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation and composed by Bryce Dessner of The National, and the US premiere of Plata Quemada by TEATROCINEMA.
She showed the season’s trailer, debuted the organization’s new logo, and reminded staff of the great ticket details available to the community. The first show, Passengers, is on sale now, and the rest of the shows will be on sale soon.
Illona Yukhayev (ITG) took the podium next to give a refresher on the College’s new professional development platform LinkedIN Learning. What was formerly known as Lynda.com was sold to LinkedIN Learning. Yukhayev reminded the audience of the breadth of courses available on the platform—everything from figure drawing and brand management to business and MS Office. She also noted that courses are available in seven different languages.
The new URL is linkedinlearning.emerson.edu. She said that Lynda.com URLs will no longer redirect after December, so staff should update any documents they use with Lynda.com URLs. She encouraged people to direct any questions to the ITG department and also plugged the department’s blog, itg.emerson.edu/word.
President Pelton shared his remarks next. He thanked everyone who supported Commencement and said that there is Commencement video up on YouTube. He gave an update on construction projects. The Little Building should be reopened on August 15, and more than 1,000 students will call the LB home. 172 Tremont is opening this month and will house the Campus Center. The Fitness Center will remain in Downtown Crossing until 2021, at which time it will move to Piano Row. The LB crane should be down by June 15, and the Walker scaffolding should be down in August.
He said that the sidewalk widening project will likely begin in early August, stop in November for the winter months, and begin again in April with expected completion by September.
All retail spaces are expected to be occupied around April. The College is also working with the City to install a lighted crosswalk at Boylston Place across Boylston Street.
Pelton then shared information about Title IX-related events that happened on campus in mid-April. The incident started with a list of student names appearing on the Little Building. Additional names were added to the list as well as through other avenues. He and other senior leadership spoke with a number of students and parents in the weeks following.
Pelton is currently putting together a working group of students, staff, and faculty to look at Title IX procedures and what he calls the “ecosystem” around Title IX. He ended his talk there and then took questions from the audience.
Next, new staff were invited to introduce themselves, and the floor was opened for announcements. Pam Walsh (HR) mentioned the date of the staff appreciation reception, June 12, in the Dining Center. Kellie Fuller Grindlay (HR) reminded staff to sign up for Workday trainings. Christine Del Favero (Alumni Relations) invited staff to Alumni Weekend this weekend and asked that people RSVP to alumni@emerson.edu. Eric Glaskin (Financial Aid) invited attendees to join the Emerson contingent in the Boston Pride Parade on June 8. Cathy Liebowitz (Sustainability) announced the next Clean Out Your Office event on June 20. And last, but not least, five raffle winners were chosen.
Nancy Howell (Marketing)