by Tyler New

I’ve had several bosses since I entered the workforce as a cashier at a local grill during my freshman year of high school, all of whom have been supportive, have been accommodating and have helped me grow. For example, my first boss, Rafael, would occasionally let me have dinner on the house to reward me for my hard work. He would even drive me home if closing the restaurant took longer than expected, saving me a long walk in the dark that literally went uphill both ways. Other bosses were supportive, too, and were flexible in scheduling my work hours; they always took my uncompromising high school schedule and my plethora of extracurricular activities into consideration when giving me my hours for each week.

Despite their generosity and their benevolence, however, I cannot select any one of these individuals to call the best boss I’ve ever had. The best boss I’ve had so far is Eric Martinez, who is leaving his position at Towson as A&F’s Divisional Communications Specialist for a position in Colorado on May 15. He has not only been exceptionally supportive, courteous and understanding of how my academic schedule intersects with my work schedule, but he is also a good friend.

As English majors, Eric and I already had common interests and a foundation for friendship when I first started working for him in July. Though we don’t always enjoy the same authors or works of literature—I can’t stand Chaucer, but Eric thinks that he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread—we’ve always been able to discuss books that we’ve read, professors that we’ve had and classes that we’ve taken. As time went on we discovered that we have other interests in common, too—we both enjoy the show The Big Bang Theory, for example. Bazinga!

But the fact that Eric and I became friends isn’t why I consider him the best boss that I’ve ever had. He has also been extremely supportive and courteous, both to me and to my immediate coworker, Eric VanLieshout. I can always count on him to say, “Thank you for your help today,” when I leave either to go to class or to go home. Even if he is in a meeting when I leave, I inevitably receive a text from him when the meeting ends that thanks me for my help.

Eric has also helped me develop professionally, and he has always expressed unwavering confidence in my abilities. I was shocked when he asked for my help with the Annual Report; it spoke volumes about what he thought I was capable of. He was also very patient when I experienced the learning period that comes with almost every job during the first week or so. Such patience is not as common as one may think; I’ve heard many horror stories about how bosses deal with less than perfect employees during their first days. But Eric has not only been a mentor to myself and others; he himself has been a great employee and a great asset to both Towson and to the division.

Eric has a long history at Towson; he holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from TU, and he has worked with the division for quite some time, in various positions. Save for its graphic design, he is completely responsible for engineering and creating the innovative T³, an improved version of the Daily Digest; he wrote the B-CaUSE Report, a summary of important sustainability accomplishments and initiatives from several colleges in Maryland; and he has worked closely with the Go Green Initiative, engineering the “Trash the Ash” campaign, among other contributions. These accomplishments are not exhaustive, by any means; rather, these are just some of the things Eric has done since I started working for him. From what I have seen in my 10 months here—and he has worked at TU since 2008—Eric has proved to be invaluable to the division.

Colorado gained an outstanding worker in Eric Martinez. I wish him luck, though I know he won’t need it. I am sure that he will make the most of his time there, just as he did at Towson. So thank you, Eric, for your help.

Last year’s games were a big success; read Brianna’s Dollars and Common Sense write-up of the 2012 games for the full report.

Expect another year of great competition and true sportsmanship!

Come out and celebrate this great tradition!

Mark your calendars!

by Katie Barth

Every now and then I’m reminded of why I love working at a college. I work for the University Store in marketing, and I focus primarily on sending messages out to the public, whether that be a status update on our store’s Facebook page, an ad on our website, or simply showing up to events and being involved. There are times when I can’t help but be moved by something or someone. This week, for instance, I have been doing quick photo shoots with students all centered around spring. We have all this cute and fun new product in bright colors and fluorescents but that isn’t what my focus is. I want to show the general feel that I get from Towson, and that I hope others get too.

As we all know, our University has changed quite a bit over the past 10 years. We have opened new academic buildings, enrolled new students, built new residence halls, grown significantly in numbers and have taken on a new President, all while facing a huge budget crisis. In spite of these enormous changes, however, the feel of our “Towson” has remained the same. Throughout this time of change the University Store has adapted and has tried to keep up. I see a significant difference in the store from when I started ten years ago to now.

We are no longer just at our desks or hiding in a back office; we join you, the TU community, out on campus and celebrate you as much as we can. I have made a point to reach out and find students to model our clothes, to represent our product and to look great doing it. Our Facebook page is completely filled with images of students, faculty and staff wearing the product and enjoying their University in whatever way they choose. Our website celebrates our campus in much the same way. We have also taken on a new look in the actual store, removing the clunky customer service counter and replacing it with two streamline desks in two different locations in the store. The new, open sales floor makes room for new products and new activities. We look forward to the potential this fresh space offers our customers and us.

The store has also dedicated much of its time and money to supporting student groups, sponsoring events, doing community service and exceeding customer service expectations. Our store consists of full-time staff members (12 of which are TU alumni) and student employees. We are learning about our campus community and are committed to it as much as any other department.

We are very fortunate that our Towson brand is such a great one because it means our products are  more than just  sweatshirts or  hats They represent the college careers of students as a unique experience. It is a source of pride.

Towson is home for me in many ways. I met my partner here, I got my degree from here and I have worked here for (going on) 10 years. Towson is every day for me. These students are just a few of the smiles I have seen blossom and become something great right before my eyes, and that is definitely something to feel proud of. The University Store will continue to find new ways to highlight, engage and celebrate Towson University’s campus community. We hope you will join us in doing so.

Unfortunately, there are disadvantages to technology – as we all know. For all the benefits, technology also creates new problems to be solved. The numerous programs, passwords, websites and so on can quickly stir up a headache – to say nothing of “efail,” as Michael Bachman, OTS, has termed the overwhelming tangle of emails we all know so well.

Enter Microsoft Lync, a new program available free of charge to all TU faculty and staff. Students can attend faculty/staff hosted meetings.. Lync is a one-stop shop for communications. It offers video chats, video conferences, telecommuting and instant messenger. Do you want to make sure so-and-so knows that you received their last email, but don’t want to send another email? Send them a quick instant message! Voila, less inbox clutter! Do you need to walk to a meeting across campus, but it’s raining outside? Video Conference! (Admittedly, you should probably use an umbrella instead of Lync, but the point is that you could use Lync.)

But wait! There’s more! (This is turning into an infomercial) You can set up online meetings with invites that sync directly to Outlook calendars. You now have an alternative to acquiring a WebEx host account and passwords. Multiple users can collaborate and work on the same document, at the same time. Tired of holding a telephone? Lync can do conference calls!

But wait, that’s not all it does! Lync has more features than I have time to tell you about, and its versatility means the possibilities are ENDLESS!

Lync is like everything Billy Mayes ever sold combined into the ultimate, most awesome thing ever, and then you called in the next 10 minutes for twice as much awesomeness at no extra cost (except separate S&H)…
… BUT BETTER!!

So call in the next 10 minutes!

But really, go online and take the Lync tutorial NOW to be entered to win a prize. Seriously, I’m not joking about the prize drawing.

by Tyler New

I wrote earlier about the blooming of spring and the benefits that the spring season brings for students, faculty and staff, but I did not mention the positive things A&F does during the spring—the products of the division’s efforts and concern for both campus and the environment.

Facilities Management contributes to the facilitation of EnvrioFest, TU’s Annual Environmental Conference held by Student Affair’s Civic Engagement. The conference raises awareness about environmental issues and about how human actions affect these issues. In addition to gaining a deeper understanding about these issues and about this relationship, attendees are given information about careers that provide opportunities for solving these issues.

This event is further helpful in gaining environmental awareness and in discovering opportunities to help for those who attend because The Baltimore Collegetown Network of Institutions is participating—students and faculty from other schools will be attending, too.

The date that this event is being held—April 27—is well-timed; Earth Day was on Monday, April 22, and the spring season has come into its own. So not only do the members of A&F enjoy the sunshine, but they do what they can to ensure that the environment is healthy, too!

So thank you, Facilities Management! Your contributions are appreciated.

by Clara Fang

“So, what do you do for a living?”
The question has been asked of me hundreds of times, and more often than not, the answer yields blank stares and further questions.
“I’m a sustainability coordinator at a university.”
This time I am talking to a nurse at an urgent care clinic.
“Oh. Is that where you keep the students from dropping out of school?” She asks casually as she wraps the blood pressure gauge around my arm.

At times like this I am left to ponder how evocative this word sustainability is that everyone uses so liberally but nobody seems to understand. Everything is “sustainable” these days—sustainable tourism, sustainable agriculture, sustainable business and sustainable development. Yet despite its ubiquity, sustainability has become a catch phrase known only to insiders, the same way that cultural critics know heteronormativity. Seriously, try saying sustainability five times in a row. Try fitting it on a conference brochure. No matter how you put it, it’s an awkward and ugly word, meant to deter the layperson.

So why did we start using the word sustainability so much anyway? Environmentalism was born out of the conservation movement, where individuals like John Muir and Aldo Leopold advocated the preservation of wild lands in opposition to development and industrialization. But in the late twentieth century, traditional environmentalism was perceived as elitist and narrow – a movement focused on the preservation of nature at the exclusion of human welfare, including those of indigenous people who have used the lands for ages.

Sustainability, as opposed to environmentalism,  is considered a more inviting and inclusive term because it implies the connection between the environment and the welfare of societies that depend on the environment. The widely cited definition of sustainability from the United Nations, “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” articulates this balance. The emergence of environment, social equity and economic viability as the three pillars of sustainability soon became another widely accepted definition of sustainability. “Sustainable development” is a term meant to reconcile economic growth with conservation. The term says: “we are in favor of development, within certain constraints.” It was meant to not alienate non-environmentalists.

Except it did the opposite.

The word environmentalism is limiting, but it is derived from a word that most people understand. As we all know, the environment refers to nature, our surroundings, ecosystems and the planet in which we live. To be an environmentalist means to be someone who is an advocate for these entities. It is based on an actual object that people can relate to. Sustainability is a concept that is intellectual and abstract, but the word itself is not self-explanatory. And what do you call people who believe in sustainability? Sustainabilitists? Try saying that five times.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines sustainable as “able to be maintained at a certain rate or level.” It is related to sustenance, “the maintaining of someone or something in life or existence.” When we sustain a medical patient, we don’t mean to heal him; we mean to keep him alive. When we say we want to sustain an institution’s finances, it doesn’t mean to grow it; it means to keep it from falling into debt. How long can people be sustained on polluted air? A long time. They could live for decades with asthma and eventually die from lung cancer, but they are sustained in the meanwhile. How long can the planet sustain global warming? Forever. Seventy percent of the world’s species may become extinct, but there will be enough to sustain life on earth no matter what we do.

In nature, sustainability is not a healthy state of things. A healthy ecosystem is vibrant, thriving, dynamic and creative. In a climax ecosystem, such as a mature rainforest, diverse species find their own niches and the activities of one feed those of another. Human societies are the same way. A healthy human society is defined by the flourishing of human rights, arts and culture. A society that values its natural and human assets doesn’t merely sustain them. It allows each to thrive in its own way. A society that merely sustains itself is in trouble; it is on the verge of collapsing.

Sustainability implies that the goal is to maintain the status quo. But has it been established that the status quo is good? The birth of modern democracy was a systemic change that had nothing to do with making the existing system at the time more sustainable. Many countries have sustainable development as their goal. Development could refer to progress in knowledge, happiness, or social equity, but in most cases, sustainable development refers to economic growth. And who benefits from that growth? Even if it can be sustained indefinitely growth alone does not lead to knowledge, happiness, or social equity. Mark Heiman in his essay “Education for Sustainable Development: Addressing the Oxymoron” writes, “We cannot change our relationship with nature until we change the social relations of production, as the same system that exploits nature also exploits human labor.” Sustainability isn’t necessarily sustainable until we define what it is that we are sustaining.

In George Orwell’s essay, “Politics and the English Language”, he advises writers to never use a Latinate word if a plain Anglo-Saxon one will do. He was convinced that people who couch their ideas in flowery, Latinate language are trying to hide something. Sustainability is a Latinate word if there ever was one. It is  technical, abstract and political. You will never hear sustainability in a poem. It will never appear in a pop song. It is not poetic and certainly not inspirational.

Sustainability is a technical requirement, not an aspiration. It dumbs down the value we place on the environment to merely utilitarian ones. But if we want to inspire, motivate and help people envision a better future, we must aspire to something more than sustainability. To merely “sustain” ourselves while the rest of the world is collapsing is not enough. So instead of sustainable, let us be eco-conscious, eco-positive, earth-oriented and environmentally responsible. We are not here to put the needs of nature above those of the people, but to deliver environmental justice, a world where everyone is entitled to the basic necessities of clean air, clean water, fresh food and shelter. Let us leave our children a planet that isn’t just sustainable, but vibrant, flourishing, abundant and life-giving for all.

All birthdays listed are based on the contributions of divisional staff. If you would like to have a birthday added to or removed from the list, please email adminfinance@towson.edu.

May 1 – Tom Alcide, OTS

May 2 – Matt Moran, Facilities Management

May 3 – Randy Peaker, Human Resources

May 4 – Jim Monroe, OTS

May 7 – Nick Gingue, Auxiliary Services

May 7 –Connie Proffitt, Bursar’s Office

May 8 – Joe Oster, Auxiliary Services

May 8 –Dorothy Proctor, University Budget Office

May 8 – Dave Schroeder, OTS

May 11 – Phillip Morgan, Facilities Management

May 11 – Dave Rose, Facilities Management

May 15 – Jeff Clark, Facilities Management

May 16 – Karen Michalak, OTS

May 16 – Betty White, Bursar’s Office

May 17 – Jonathan Lindhorst, Facilities Management

May 18 – John Logan, Facilities Management

May 20 – Carl Heckler, Facilities Management

May 22 – Craig Hirsh, Facilities Management

May 23 – Andrew Charles, Facilities Management

May 23 – Susan Fata, Auxiliary Services

May 23 – Ed Millard, Facilities Management

May 23 – Shawn Rauscher, Facilities Management

May 26 – Myron Esterson, Auxiliary Services

May 26 –Sandy Levin, Financial Services

May 26 –Jeff Sutton, Procurement

May 28 –Lorraine Hart, Financial Services

May 30 – Nisar Khan, OTS

May 31 – Rick Morrocco, Human Resources

May 31 – Sandra White, Bursar’s Office

But enough bad news; there is good news – you can help!

How? Eat spaghetti! Spread the word – Lissa O’Donnell of OTS is holding a Spaghetti Fundraiser and Bake Sale on April 27 to raise money for the National MS Society. Lissa is participating in the National MS Society’s “MS Capital Challenge Walk” in September. She is working to raise $1,500 for her team Gary’s Gang.

In September, Gary’s Gang will walk 50K “in honor of many individuals, including my roommate from college and dear friend Gary who was diagnosed with MS a little over 2 years ago,” Lissa says. “Part of my mission is to raise as much money as I can for the National MS Society to help doctors, researchers, patients and their families who are fighting this disease.”

Help Lissa and fight MS!

Fundraiser Information:

When: Saturday, April 27, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. The dinner will be buffet style; guests can arrive anytime during the event

Where: Towson United Methodist Church (Right down the street from the TU Administration Building)

Cost: Advance tickets cost $10 for adults and children 12 and older; $5 for children 5 – 12; children under 5 eat free. Tickets purchased at the door will cost an additional $5.

Contact Lissa for tickets and additional information, or visit her personal fundraising web page.

Lissa can also contacted at LKO1783@gmail.com

The National MS Society is a non-profit, voluntary health organization whose mission is to cure Multiple Sclerosis and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. The Society provides funding for research, public and professional education, advocacy, patient aid and community service programs. All contributions to the Society are 100 percent tax deductible.

Blog article complied by Eric VanLieshout

Information on Multiple Sclerosis taken from http://multiple-sclerosis.emedtv.com/multiple-sclerosis/multiple-sclerosis-diagnosis.html

By Tyler New

It’s that time of year again—the days are warm, the evenings are cool and relaxing, and beach season is right around the corner. I don’t know about you, but spring is my favorite season. It signifies the birth of a time period in which life has a pleasant tinge to it, where many can’t help but be in a good mood despite most difficulties or circumstances that would otherwise bring them down. I personally enjoy the effects of this beautiful weather, as I take every opportunity I can to play Ultimate Frisbee, basketball and disc golf with my friends.

The beginning of spring and the beginning of such pleasant weather also signifies that the term is almost over—a comforting thought for many people. Though I enjoy school and enjoy the life I have on campus, I find myself looking forward to the end of the term at certain points because of the stress and workload of my classes.

I imagine that these sentiments are shared by many members of the division. Though A&F and other professional workplaces do not have summers off, summer also signifies a time of relaxation for employees at such institutions. Children are home from school, family reunions are organized and the opportunities for vacations are more prevalent.

The weather also has benefits that relate to work, in addition to personal pleasure. Some articles and studies suggest that good weather is directly linked to employee productivity. So, in addition to personal benefits and in addition to reminding us that there are things to look forward to in the near future, the weather helps make work better, too!

I hope that the other employees of A&F find as much time to enjoy this spring weather as I plan to. Ultimate Frisbee is very serious business, and I plan to give it the attention it deserves.