Staff appreciation reception showcases women's contributions

IU’s Office for Women’s Affairs sponsored a Staff Appreciation Day reception and craft exhibition Thursday for 25 IU staff members.

The event, which was given in partnership with IU Human Resource Services, Communication Workers of America, Bloomington Professional Council, IU Working Moms and the Office of Multicultural Initiatives, was held at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.

“The main purpose is to remind members of our campus community to thank and acknowledge our staff for the excellent daily contributions that they make to the continuing remarkable success of IU,” said Yvette Alex-Assensoh, dean of the Office for Women’s Affairs.

Alex-Assensoh said the celebration was a way to applaud the excellent work of IU staff and provide a tangible demonstration of appreciation.

“The goal of the celebration, indeed, is to provide a campuswide forum to demonstrate our appreciation, while we also endeavor to showcase the talents of our staff,” she said. “Above all, the celebration brings the community together for a progressive purpose as well as motivating our staff members to continue their fine work on behalf of our campus.”

Due to budget cuts limiting the University’s ability to demonstrate appreciation through pay increases, OWA decided to devise this forum to celebrate and showcase the qualities of staff employees, Alex-Assensoh said.

“There was no existing campuswide effort to recognize their contributions and talents as such,” she said. “I am happy to acknowledge that staff members work incredibly hard and they facilitate the research, teaching and engaging our campus meaningfully. They deserve to be recognized and celebrated in such tangible ways, hence we are happy to do that in partnership with other campus units.”