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All TCU. All the time.

TCU 360

TCU 360

All TCU. All the time.

TCU 360

Students discuss religious topics in a small group. (Photo courtesy of tcuwesley.org)
Wednesday nights at TCU’s Methodist campus ministry provide religious exploration and fellowship
By Boots Giblin, Staff Writer
Published Mar 27, 2024
Students at the Wesley said they found community on Wednesday nights.

Staff Assembly’s new goals expand community efforts

The Staff Assembly has formed two new ad hoc committees, Community on Campus and Mission and Vision, to help further the group’s goal of building community on and off campus and ensuring all voices on campus are represented, an assembly official said.

The Rev. Angela Kaufman, Staff Assembly chair and minister to the university, said the changes were brought about in light of the Staff Assembly’s 10-year anniversary.

“Staff Assembly members and other staff on campus had expressed in recent years the desire to ensure community and connections among staff was just as good today as it was 10 years ago,” Kaufman said.

Craig Elders, chair of the Community on Campus Committee and associate director for Student Affairs Information Services, said the Purple Notes Campaign is one example of a program intended to help build more relationships among university staff. Implemented in the fall, the committee’s Purple Notes Campaign allows faculty and staff to send notes of encouragement, congratulation, condolence and other sentiments to fellow co-workers on an official Staff Assembly note card, he said.

“We call them Purple Notes because we hope to recognize people who have done something special,” Elders said. “When we see somebody doing something purple, or TCU-ish, we want to recognize them.”

Kaufman said the committee and the Staff Assembly plan to make the stationery a tradition among staff and faculty. Purple Notes stationery is available at Staff Assembly meetings or through the Community on Campus Committee members.

While the Community on Campus Committee is working to strengthen co-worker relationships with the Purple Notes, its members are also trying to strengthen relations with the surrounding neighborhood, Elders said. The committee has been working with the City of Fort Worth on adopting a park in the neighborhood to help beautify the area and plant memorial trees, he said.

“It’s not only Staff Assembly that might go out and plant a tree for someone or something in the park, but it would be a chance for Staff Assembly members to get people in their offices and their divisions to join us,” Elders said.

Having staff and faculty unite in an off-campus setting lets neighborhood residents know that the university cares about strengthening its ties to the community, Elders said.

Kaufman said the Mission and Vision Committee, chaired by Carlene Coover, technical trainer for Technical Resources, was formed to further develop the priorities of the Staff Assembly.

Coover said one goal for this semester was to finalize the changes made to the Staff Assembly’s mission statement and implement a vision statement written this past fall. The revised mission statement describes the purpose of the Staff Assembly’s updated goals, while the new vision statement creates an image of the future success the Staff Assembly wants to obtain, Coover said.

“We want to look at the future of Staff Assembly and see if we can figure out what we might want to change,” Coover said.

According to the most recent version of the group’s mission statement, the Staff Assembly wants to improve communications, serve as a sounding board for ideas and address staff member concerns in the interest of bettering the university.

Coover said the changes to the mission statement and the addition of a vision statement are still pending review and approval from the executive committee.

Kaufman said other committee goals for this semester include revising the bylaws, which determine how officers are chosen and how membership is structured, and finalizing the details of a Catastrophic Sick Leave Bank Program that would allow staff to donate unused or unwanted sick days to fellow staff under special circumstances.

Staff Assembly meets every first Tuesday of the month beginning in February at 3:30 p.m. in the Governance Chamber of the Brown-Lupton University Union, unless noted otherwise. The meetings are open to the public.

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