LITS turns out in record numbers for 2018 Town Hall
Despite cold and rainy conditions, the 2018 LITS Town Hall drew 330 attendees, the most ever recorded for a division-wide event. Tull Auditorium was standing-room only as employees flocked to hear about university strategy from Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Dwight A. McBride and Enterprise Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice Provost for Library Services and Digital Scholarship Rich Mendola.
The program was moderated by John Connerat, Director of LITS Strategic Initiatives, and organized by the LITS PATH Committee, which was launched by Leslie Wingate, Director of Campus and Community Relations, and Rob Renner, Director of HR, who now serve as advisors to the committee. In addition to the guest speakers, the event featured a Q&A session, door prizes, and lunch served to everyone in attendance.
Provost McBride discussed the strategic framework, “One Emory: Engaged for Impact,” and how employees could all be active participants in their daily jobs. He described One Emory as a “call to action” so that each employee’s work is more “informed by an enterprise way of thinking.” His goal is to move Emory “from excellence to imminence” through the cultivation of all-star academic talent and by committed optimization of resources inside Emory.
The Provost talked about improving students’ transition from Oxford to the Atlanta campus and treating new students and faculty in ways that befit the status of their recruitment to Emory. His goal is to raise Emory’s imminence by increasing the retention of these highly sought individuals.
Rich Mendola thanked the division for its outstanding work and pointed out that LITS is positioned to take on the initiatives of its new university leaders through strong project focus and because of the operational work that is done to support the mission on a daily basis. “It’s what keeps us going. Fundamentally, everyone in this room plays an important role.”
Mendola said he is often asked what his strategy is for LITS and he stated, “Ninety-percent of the answer is that my strategy is supporting Emory’s strategy.” As such, he pointed out that most of the work already underway in LITS “lines up nicely with the strategic pillars.”
Wingate announced that the PATH Committee would be working to host a division-wide employee awards ceremony in the spring, with more information to be forthcoming soon. The goal is to have a separate event that honors both the service award winners and the significant contribution recipients.
Many thanks were given to the PATH (People, Awards, and Town Halls) Committee, which currently consists of the following members: Amy Allison, Cecilia Bolich, Maya Cody, Kyle Fenton, Dawn Francis-Chewing, Susan Henschen, Shoba Mallik (co-chair), Wade Moricle (chair), Rob Renner (advisor), Jack Scott, Alex Tudor, Veta Williamson, and Leslie Wingate(advisor). Special thanks were also given to Jason Brewer, Michelle Crawford and Linda Richardson, who provided support, and to Geoff Huitt, who video-recorded the event.
Additional thanks went to the staff of Emory Law School, who made Tull Auditorium available to our entire division and provided excellent support.
The PATH Committee was designed to be a cross-section of our entire organization. Anyone interested in joining PATH should contact Wingate at lwingat@emory.edu.
