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Campus Journal NewsManagers take lead in new leadership programBy Lori GulaThe new year will bring an exciting program to UNH managers and supervisors -- Managing @ UNH -- which is designed to enhance their management and leadership skills. Managing @ UNH aims to increase leadership capacities at UNH, support the goals and vision of the academic plan, and create consistency in understanding and application of policies and procedures. "As talented and capable as each of us already is, there is always room for refinement of professional skills. This refinement leads to greater personal and professional effectiveness, and supports the university's mission to provide a comprehensive, high-quality learning environment for our most important constituents, our students," UNH President Ann Weaver Hart said. While Managing @ UNH first was introduced two years ago, David Butler, assistant vice president for human resources, said the program that launches in January is a retooled and significantly improved version of the former program. "This new Managing @ UNH program, is absolutely world class and will rival the best leadership development programs in the country" Butler said. "We have spent two years listening to the university community, doing research and developing a program that will be excellent in every respect." The program was developed by Butler and Ann Driscoll, a consultant who formerly directed the Browne Center, in consultation with the president and her senior staff, an advisory group that includes PAT and operating staff representatives from Durham and Manchester, and key staff from human resources. Ginette Couture, chair of the Operating Staff Council said the program is a step in the right direction. As chair, Couture receives feedback from operating staff, and frequent comments concern how employees are evaluated and how promotions are determined. These concerns and others can lead to a lack of faith in the process and in the supervisor or manager. "Simply being good at what you do doesn't necessarily provide the people skills that are required in a manager's position," Couture said. "The program will be a win-win situation. Supervisors and managers will learn the necessary skills, and staff will appreciate the effort of both the university and the managers and supervisors." Linda Hayden, chair of the PAT Council said Managing @ UNH addresses several issues that have been of concern to the council for several years, including effective communication between managers and staff, and professional development opportunities. "If managers and leaders can improve communication techniques, understand how they directly affect the morale and productivity of staff, and improve their people skills, everyone benefits. Just because someone has the educational background needed and has a proven work record does not automatically make them good leaders of people, or managers of more complex programs and staff," Hayden said. The first group of 24 participants from the Durham and Manchester campuses was nominated by President Ann Weaver Hart, her senior staff, and Karol LaCroix, dean of UNH-Manchester. The five-module, 10-day program focuses on skill development in three areas necessary to become an effective leader: self-awareness, working with others, and managing operations. It will run once a month, with the first meeting set for Jan. 22-23, 2003. Among the topics that will be covered are the multiple roles of the UNH manager, understanding the behavior of others, leadership styles, performance management, financial management, conflict management, communications skills, managing change, developing and maintaining high-performing teams, and supporting a diverse work force. Each class will complete the program together. "This is a very deliberate effort to build a deeper sense of shared collegiality among participants," Driscoll said. In addition to the training sessions, participants will meet with mentors four or five times over the eight-month program. They also will participate in a 360-degree feedback survey, which will provide them with information from others (i.e., supervisor, peers and direct reports) about their style and effectiveness as a manager or supervisor. "That information, combined with insights from the training sessions and self-reflection, will form the basis upon which people will be asked to develop a personal plan for continued professional improvement," Driscoll said. UNH hopes Managing @ UNH will be part of a broad leadership development initiative that will include:
"As we build the leadership capacities of individuals we build the overall leadership might of the institution," Driscoll said.
UNH and Sen. Gregg mark research center's fifth anniversaryBy Erika L. MantzU.S. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) visited UNH Tuesday, to mark the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Crimes against Children Research Center (CCRC). The center has received national recognition for bringing attention to child victimization through its studies of missing children, dangers on the Internet and the impact of the justice system on child victims. Gregg has secured more than $9 million over a five-year period for the center's programs through his position as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee in charge of the U.S. Department of Justice. "There is no greater responsibility we have as a society and a government than to keep our children safe, and the center is providing the knowledge necessary to combat those who wish to harm children," Gregg said. "Over the last five years, the center has established itself as a premier facility for uncovering and addressing the victimization of New Hampshire's youth, particularly those who prey on young people over the Internet. I have supported the center for the past five years because of the strong mission it has, and because it is really bringing about significant results." The director of the center, David Finkelhor, thanked the senator for his efforts on behalf of juvenile victims, and said, "the senator's national leadership on this issue has had a very positive impact." Finkelhor said research done by the CCRC shows that there have been recent declines nationally in sexual assault, sexual abuse, homicide and other crimes against children, as well as reductions in missing children and runaways. He noted that this development has been overshadowed by publicity surrounding a number of recent serious crimes. "This illustrates why we need good data and thorough analysis, so that we make sound decisions that do the most to strengthen these encouraging developments," Finkelhor said. The overall goal of the CCRC has been to provide high-quality research and policy analysis to the public, policymakers and professionals in law enforcement and child welfare. One of the center's main accomplishments has been to foster a U.S. Department of Justice publication series, "Crimes Against Children." CCRC staff have authored 11 of these widely disseminated bulletins on topics such as kidnapping of juveniles, crimes against children by babysitters, and child abuse reported to police. Several more bulletins are in production, including ones on child pornography, juvenile victims of hate crimes, and juvenile victims of intimate partner violence. The CCRC also has undertaken landmark studies on Internet crimes against children, child neglect, children's advocacy centers, and the justice system's response to juvenile victims. In October, Finkelhor was invited to the White House to present the findings of the Second National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway and Thrownaway Children, on which the CCRC collaborated. The CCRC also has sponsored annual conferences for researchers from around the world to come to New Hampshire to discuss issues related to child victimization. This summer's conference, with its highlight on clergy abuse, brought 300 researchers to Portsmouth. In addition to its national and international activities, the CCRC has been active in statewide and regional policy issues, as well. The CCRC is conducting evaluations of abuser treatment programs for the New Hampshire Department of Children, Youth and Families, and Finkelhor served on the Boston Archdiocese's Commission for the Protection of Children.
PAT Council welcomes new members, elects officersBy Lori GulaThe PAT Council welcomed newly elected representatives and selected its leadership for the coming year, with Linda Hayden retaining her position as council chair. The new council members are Tracy Boyle, District 2; Rick MacDonald, District 7; Sonke Dornblut, District 13; Phil Hammond, District 14; Michael Wood, District 16; and Scott Valcourt, District 21 (at-large). The District 15 seat is open. Stephen Dunholm, who represents District 8, was elected vice chair, and Hammond, who previously served on the council as secretary, will hold the secretary position. The council said goodbye to several members following a lunch of pizza, soda and desserts. Andy Shepard, Linda Wood, Stephen Judd, Joe Pace, Suzanne Bennett, Gary Armitage and Rachel Hopkins received certificates from President Ann Weaver Hart in appreciation for their work on the council. Gregg Sanborn, executive assistant to the president, made the presentations. Following an explanation of the council's committees and upcoming issues, representatives discussed a donor sick leave program proposed by the OS Council. The program would allow staff to donate time to coworkers facing catastrophic illnesses after the coworkers have exhausted all leave and sick time. Two plans have been discussed. One creates a pool built by staff sick time donations that are available to anyone who applies for the time. A second allows staff to directly give sick time to a specific coworker. Departments must approve the donation of time with the second plan. At a separate meeting members of OS and PAT councils were presented information on the State of New Hampshire's donor sick leave plan. The PAT Council discussed that allowing coworkers to use donated sick time could create a financial liability for departments because they would not have the money to hire temporary help while the employee was out on extended leave. In addition, under the state plan departments decide whether they can afford to allow staff to participate in the donation program. This choice concerned some council members who theorized that "rich" departments may be more willing to allow staff to participate. "This could result in us promoting a system that works for some departments and not for others. We're trying to get away from that," District 3 Rep. Kathryn Stuart said. The council agreed to continue working on the plan and consult with Human Resources about the issues discussed. "There has got to be a way to do it. It's just more complicated," Sanborn said. In other business, the council tabled a request to change the by-laws. The council had discussed removing the University Governance Communication Council, which was disbanded by UNH President Ann Weaver Hart. Under former President Joan Leitzel, the UGCC assisted with communication between employee and student governance groups, dean's council and the president's office. The council agreed that it should review the by-laws as a whole to determine if other updates are warranted, and then make all of the changes at one time.
Device patented by UNH engineers is out of this worldBy Amy SeifA new invention enabling the passage of electrical signals across a vacuum chamber, developed by UNH, is orbiting between the sun and the Earth as an integral part of an instrument on NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) satellite. A recent United States patent award gives the inventors exclusive use of the "Surface Trace Electrical Feedthru" for experiments in space. The feedthru was designed at the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, with assistance from Ceramic To-Metal Seals, Inc., during the development of the Solar Energetic Particle Ionic Charge Analyzer (SEPICA). SEPICA is an instrument on ACE determining the magnetic charges of solar and interplanetary energetic particles, helping to meet the satellite's larger mission to observe energetic particles within the solar system. Typically, space instruments like SEPICA are encircled in a large pressurized chamber that contains gas. This gas acts to clean wires of previous electrical charges so the wires can be used to pick up the charges of the space particles being studied. SEPICA, however, is such a large instrument that space requirements on the satellite couldn't be met with the addition of an outside chamber. This new invention made the chamber smaller and brought it inside the instrument. Mark Granoff and Philip Demaine of UNH are the inventors of the device, along with David Broderick and Stephen Ingemi of Ceramic To-Metal Seals, Inc. This partnership, initiated over the development of the feedthru, is likely to produce other new useful devices, as the inventors continue to work together on developing new technology for the Plasma and Supra Thermal Ion Composition Instrument (PLASTIC). PLASTIC will measure the speed and composition of solar wind on board the STEREO satellite after launch into space in 2005.
SHARPP director candidates to visitThe Search Committee for the SHARPP program director has invited five candidates to campus during the week of Dec. 16. Meetings open to members of the UNH/Durham community are listed below. Copies of candidate materials are available for review at the reference desk of the Dimond Library.
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