Tuesday, April 18, 2023

How do you herd cats? You ask them to work on a committee! When the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) needed to address human resources (HR) functions across its many departments, its top administrators were asked to create a committee to facilitate conversations among those departments. The CLAS Human Resources Hub Transition Committee was created to facilitate the centralization of HR functions in CLAS. This large and somewhat controversial project required a good deal of negotiation and communication among many different departments.  

Liz Cecil, a UI staff member and administrator for three CLAS departments: The School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Communication Studies, and Cinematic Arts, volunteered to work on the HR Hub Transition Committee. According to those who know her, she has worked tirelessly and effectively to facilitate communication between central CLAS administration and departmental administrators, which has promoted a smooth implementation of this important centralizing functioning of HR in CLAS. Her work on this committee was on top of her work in the Political Science Department. While it may not have actually been herding cats, Liz did an amazing job bringing people together.  

In addition to the HR Hub Transition Committee, Liz served on the CLAS Staff Recognition Committee, another function beyond her normal duties. Some of the responsibilities include soliciting nominees for recognition, reviewing the nominations, helping to determine the recipients, and organizing the recognition ceremonies for the recipients. 

Liz’s contributions to CLAS inspired some of her colleagues to nominate her for the David J. Skorton Staff Excellence Award for Public Service, which Staff Council awards to individuals who have made significant contributions and have shown “exceptional imagination and dedication to improving the university community.” While Liz was not chosen this year, her colleagues demonstrated that Liz’s contributions to CLAS were worthy of this type of recognition. Staff Council is pleased to put a spotlight on the nominees for awards to highlight the wonderful contributions UI staff make to benefit others, their units, and the larger university community.