Goings On

I have been busy with a wide variety of activities during the last few weeks.

Monday, October 24 several staff participated in the Women's Economic Summit in Nashville. This annual one-day meeting focuses on issues that affect women in business. Awards are given to women who have made achievements helping other women. Two former (or current) CIS customers received awards: Carolyn Hardy who recently sold her bottling company in Memphis and Cordia Harrington, the president of The Bun Company, a Nashville based firm. Congratulations to these outstanding women.

Tuesday, October 25 Donna Kelly and I co-hosted a group of congressional staffers at the Outdoor Anthropological Research Facility (aka The Body Farm). Faculty from the anthropology department conducted a tour of the new Bass Building and the research facility. We have received tremendous federal funding for our law enforcement programs and look forward to a continued good relationship with this group.

Wednesday, October 26 I participated in the Compensation Advisory Board. The board heard presentations from each campus and institute on their Employer of Choice model and their market analysis. More to come on these two issues in a separate post. Suffice it to say, IPS is well ahead of many parts of the university in our planning and implementation of best practices.

Thursday and Friday of the same week the UT Bord of Trustees met on the Knoxville campus. Marty Spears is the new IPS representative on the Research, Outreach and Economic Development Committee of the board. Many issues were discussed during the board meeting, but the primary item that impacts IPS is the approval of our FY2013 budget request to THEC.

This is just a sample of the many activities occurring across the university that affect IPS.