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Dear Infrastructure and Sustainability team,

I was thrilled to see so many of you at our I&S employee town halls on Friday. Developing and maintaining a healthy organizational culture is one of our five strategic goals in I&S, and I value the opportunity to provide in-person updates and field your questions. I want to thank Amy Moreno for the thought-provoking discussion around unconscious bias and for providing some tools to help us navigate from awareness to action.Ìý

I also wantÌýto follow up on a few of the employee-related questions that came up, as I know not everyone was able to attend. Those questions and answers are listed below.

As I mentioned on Friday, I sincerely appreciate the work each of you does every day to support the university’s mission of education and research, and I look forward to another year of great achievements.Ìý

Sincerely,
David Kang, vice chancellor for infrastructure and sustainability

What types of raises will staff see this year?
Classified staff will see an across-the-board 3 percent raise as of July 1, which will be reflected on July 31 paychecks. For university staff, there is a 2.8 percent merit increase pool that also goes into effect July 1 for July 31 paychecks. In I&S, university staff who earned scores of 3 on their most recent annual review will see aÌý2.1 percent raise; those who scored 4 will see a 2.8 percent raise; and those who scored 5 will see a 3.1 percent raise.

Is there any way for employees to use the tuition benefit at trade schools?
Campus Human Resources is looking into a potential plan with CU System HR on exploring options for this type of use of the tuition benefit. We will be sure to relay this information if such added benefits are incorporated into the tuition benefit program.

Are there academic advisors available for employees using the tuition benefit?
Dahlia Smith is a staff career counselor in Campus Human Resources. She can be reached at 303-735-7808 or dahlia.smith@colorado.edu. Annie Piatt, also in the Campus HR office, focuses on career development for frontline service workers. She can be reached at 303-735-5503 or ann.piatt@colorado.edu. Campus HR also has information online about career development.

Do you foresee a time when we won’t have to use keys to unlock our doors? Many staff currently carry several.
Automation will help reduce the number of doors that require keys to unlock. Our ongoing Strategic Facilities Visioning process and design standards will help guide this push as we define the building types that will be needed by the university over the next 30 years. So the short answer is yes, though it will be somewhat of a gradual process.

Is there something the campus can do to address the safety of staff as pedestrians?
With the innovations of electric bikes, skateboards and scooters--in addition to the everyday pedestrian and cyclist traffic that has been on our campus for years--pedestrian safety on our campus pathways is a major component of the Transportation Master Plan. We want to carefully consider which modes of transportation belong on which pathways to achieve both safety and efficiency for our campus community. Likewise, we plan to engage with the City of º£½ÇÉçÇø as it explores rolling out electric scooters and how that can best be achieved.
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How long have you been working at CU?Ìý
Since February 2017. I started out as a temporary employee with the Environmental Health and Safety Department, before I was hired full time in July 2017. And now I also work at the Rec Center as a group fitness instructor.

What is your favorite thing to do outside of work?
Backpacking and baking.

Tell us something that might surprise us about you?Ìý
I like to knit hats and scarves for friends.

What do you love about CU º£½ÇÉçÇø?Ìý
The atmosphere here. Everyone seems to enjoy working here and the campus is beautiful so I always feel like it’s such a positive place to work.

What has been the most important innovation you have witnessed in your lifetime?
Electric cars. It’s exciting to see how much technology is changing to benefit the planet. And I think it’s important that we keeping moving in that direction.

***Know someone doing great work?ÌýNominate themÌýfor the next VCIS newsletter employee spotlight.***

Our I&S team lost a dear friend and valued colleague in May with Karen Miller's passing. Karen was well-known and liked on our team and across campus. SheÌýworked at CU º£½ÇÉçÇø for 25 years, including 18 years at CUPD and the rest with UtilitiesÌýand Energy Services. Our deepest condolences go out to the Miller family. You can read more about Karen's life in this .Ìý