Appalachian Lab Monthly Newsletter
Did you know that each employee group at UMCES has a shared governing council?
Shared governance is a structure of decision-making in academia that reflects the common interests and responsibilities of all constituent groups. At UMCES, faculty and post-docs are represented by the Faculty Senate, students are represented by the Graduate Student Council, FRAs are represented by the newly formed FRA Council and staff are represented by the Staff Council. Chairs of each group attend Administrative Council meetings, actively participate in review of policies and procedures, and solicit feedback as well as disseminate information to their respective constituent groups. Shared governance requires mutual understanding, respect, trust, and honest communication, and it promotes collaboration, transparency, accountability, and inclusivity. Shared governance gives you a voice in decisions that are made about the operation and direction of UMCES! If you have questions about a particular topic or want more information from your AL representative, you should contact the following individuals:
Faculty Senate – Xin Zhang and Emily Cohen
Graduate Student Council – Sarah Roth
FRA Council – Robin Paulman
Staff Council – Heather Johnson
New AL Faces
Taylor Breton, Graduate Research Assistant
Taylor is a graduate research assistant studying for her master’s degree in the MEES program beginning this fall semester with Katia Engelhardt. Her research focuses on the restoration of submersed aquatic vegetation of the Hudson River, looking at genetic diversity and genotypic identity. She will be working with the Hudson River NERR to focus on the restoration and genetic identity of Vallisneria americana in Stockport, NY. In her spare time, Taylor loves to crochet and practice yoga.
Recent Happenings & Announcements
Air Handler Replacement Update – Tentative Building Closure in October
The air handler unit replacement has been tentatively scheduled for October 24th through the 28th. For safety reasons, access to the building will not be permitted during this time period, so please plan accordingly. The dates are still only tentative because the project is weather-dependent. We will make the final decision on whether to move forward by October 21st.
UA Update
At the September Town Hall, Lisa Ross introduced Riniya Countiss to the AL community. As AL’s human resources representative, Riniya, will participate in all search committees. She can also assist with applicant tracking, minimum qualification filtering, and other search-related administrative functions, like interview scheduling, to help relieve your burden. She has expertise to help with standardized question development and best practices for hiring.
Exciting New Paper Authored by AL Researchers
Joely DeSimone led a paper recently published by Emily’s research group in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences entitled, “Persistent species relationships characterize migrating bird communities across stopover sites and seasons.” This paper has elicited much interest from the press and Joely was interviewed on Baltimore’s NPR station and she also appeared on Science Friday earlier this month. You can also check out stories about the research in Nat Geo and Audubon Magazine.
Watershed Moment Community Learning Event
On Tuesday, September 24, Keith Eshleman, Matt Fitzpatrick, Emily Cohen, Joely DeSimone, and Claire Nemes presented “Water, Forests, and Wildlife in Western Maryland: Environmental Science at the Appalachian Laboratory,” as part of the Watershed Moments Community Learning Series. The event took place at the Performing Arts Center of Garrett College and engaged a new crowd of attendees who were interested in the work of the Lab.
Johnson Award Ceremony and Reception
We hosted the Richard H. Johnson Environmental Education Award last month. Marie Miller from Allegany College of Maryland’s Forestry Program was this year’s honoree. Here is Marie pictured with Dave and Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm:
Spotlight on Safety - National Hearing Protection Month
October is National Protect Your Hearing Month – a time dedicated to raising awareness about preventing noise-induced hearing loss. In the U.S., hearing loss is the third most common chronic physical condition after high blood pressure and arthritis. Even is you are not faced with noise hazards at work, you could be experiencing them at home. Hearing loss is permanent and most people don’t notice that their hearing is damaged until it’s too late.
If you want to know whether you are exposed to damaging noise on the job or at home, you can download NIOSH’s free Sound Level Meter app to measure your noise exposure risk.
It’s also important to be mindful of the volume at which you’re listening to music or videos through headphones or ear buds.
When you’re mowing the grass or using other heavy equipment, it’s important to wear ear protection, like foam ear plugs or protective ear muffs. Foam ear plugs are only protective if you wear them correctly. Check out this brief video for some tips on using foam ear plugs correctly to best protect your hearing:
Administrative Reminders - Workday
The transition to Workday for administrative financial and payroll services is rapidly approaching. We encourage everyone to participate in one of the Workday Town Hall sessions on either Tuesday, October 1st at 10 AM or Wednesday, October 2nd, at 1 PM. You should have an email from Lisa Ross with more information about the Town Hall sessions.
Blackout Period
There will be a blackout period from October 31st to November 15, 2024 for invoice processing and other associated financial tasks. Administration will NOT be able to make changes or enter any new appointments into the HCM system from November 2nd to November 15th. Please plan accordingly. A full list of last day activities and their impact may be found here.
There may be other services impacted so please be patient as we prepare to transition to this new system.
How can I help?
If you have not already done so, be sure to complete your training sessions in Workday and try to allow for as much advance notice as possible for any administrative services you may need. Please be patient with the staff as they learn the new system and deal with the transition.
New Publications
DeSimone, Joely G., Lucas W. DeGroote, Stuart A. MacKenzie, Jennifer C. Owen, Andrea J. Patterson, and Emily B. Cohen. 2024. Persistent species relationships characterize migrating bird communities across stopover sites and seasons. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
Larkin, Jeffrey T., Darin J. McNeil, Lauren Chronister, Michael E. Akresh, Emily B. Cohen, Anthony W. D’Amato, Cameron J. Fiss et al. 2024. A large-scale assessment of eastern whip-poor-will (Antrostomus vociferus) occupancy across a gradient of forest management intensity using autonomous recording units. Journal of Environmental Management.
DEI Update
The AL DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) group would like to welcome all new faces to AL! We invite you to join us for our monthly meetings. You can find our meeting times on the AL EVENTS calendar, and communications/reminders about AL DEI group meetings are sent via email and on our slack channel. As a reminder, all AL-ers are welcome at all DEI meetings and we would be more than happy to see new faces. Our next meeting will be on Monday, September 30th at 10AM. Please join us!
Mark Your Calendars
- AL Seminar & Potluck Lunch- September 27th @ 11 am – Practice Talks for AOS Meeting
- AL Seminar – Luca Morreale – October 18th @ 11 am
- Air Handler Unit Replacement – Building Access Restricted – October 24th through 28th (tentative)
- MEES Colloquium at HPL – October 25-26th
- Western Maryland STEM Festival at FSU – October 26th
- Frostburg Halloween Parade – Tuesday, October 29th @ 6 pm
- AL-loween Seminar & Potluck Lunch – November 1st @ 11 am
Do you have an announcement or update you’d like to include in a future newsletter?
AL’s monthly newsletter is issued during the second week of the month. Please submit any announcements and updates to Katie Kline or Heather Johnson before the close of business on the first Friday of each month to ensure that your content can be included in that month’s newsletter.
