GUEST COLUMNIST
Dear Colleagues, Let me be among the first to wish you a happy spring! Spring is certainly one of my favorite times of the year – a time when the flowers bloom, the grass grows, the birds sing and life becomes renewed. Emily Dickinson once wrote about spring –
For those of us in Human Resources, among other things, spring will bring us an opportunity to renew and rethink how we work together as a community. We will have the chance to use the light of our wisdom, our experience and our commitment to excellence as a way to illuminate and to bring clarity to our accountabilities at Stanford. By the time this article goes to print, you will have heard that we have retained Sibson Consulting to help guide our efforts in a set of objectives and outcomes designed to strengthen our HR community. A high-level summary of our work – which has been dubbed the “HR for HR” project and is to begin later this month – is outlined below.
This work, which will be led by an HR Project Team comprised of central, school and department HR employees, will include four major steps:
Our goal is to finish the pre-implementation phase of our work by late-May/mid-June. Such an ambitious timeframe will require the full measure of our devotion, and even more – a great aspiration to achieve and contribute excellence in a manner that can be fittingly described as the “Stanford Way.” Let our work begin…. SLAC UPDATEThe impacts of the FY08 appropriated budget were severe for SLAC. In the face of unexpectedly low appropriations for this fiscal year and an anticipated continuing resolution for the first four to six months of next fiscal year, SLAC moved as quickly as possible to reduce spending and resize the workforce to reflect a realistic assessment of the future program scope and opportunities. As a result, 191 people at SLAC have been laid off. Seventy-two of these workers volunteered to leave the lab as part of a program that began last November to help with the necessary change in skills of our workforce as SLAC transitions to Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) operations. In early February, an additional 119 people were informed that they were being involuntarily laid off due to the FY08 budget cuts. The targeted headcount reduction of 225 was made up by cancelling funded open requisitions to replace people who had left before the layoff programs began. The layoff was lab-wide. All directorates and all departments were hit. The layoffs per job category were:
SLAC is working closely with Stanford’s Human Resources to assist SLAC workers with possible opportunities elsewhere within the University. Adapted from SLAC Today article by Persis Drell, SLAC’s Lab Director Charlotte Carlson, SLAC Training Specialist
WHERE TO STAY ON CAMPUS
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The Stanford Faculty Club Four rooms and two suites available on-campus for short term visits. Rates: $145 – $195 per night Phone: 650-723-9313 |
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SLAC Guest House Daily or weekly rentals for Stanford affiliates at the 112-room hotel located at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Sand Hill Road. Rates: $89 - $119 per night Phone: 650-926-2800 |
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Stanford Conference Services Short-term summer housing for Stanford affiliates. Phone: 650-725-1429 |
For long stays…
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Stanford West Apartments This complex consists of 628 one-, two- and three-bedroom units on Sand Hill Road. Phone: 650-725-2000 |
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Other Local Rentals |
Barbara Grahn
Human Resources Manager
Does your department want to hire a foreign national?
Are your customers looking to you for guidance through the immigration/visa maze?
Here’s where to begin.
Administrative Guide Memo 28.1, Visas for Employment of Foreign Nationals, is a good starting point for an overview of the process. This policy covers Stanford faculty, academic and regular staff, and non-matriculated students. The Admin Guide lists the various responsibilities for each party involved in the visa process and provides useful links for additional information.
Important note: The Administrative Guide Memo is in transition with regard to submission of visa documents. Stay tuned for updates on this policy.
The Office of Foreign Scholar Services
Within the Bechtel International Center, the Office of Foreign Scholar Services facilitates the process for obtaining employment visas and answers questions related to this complicated and often time-consuming process. The Office also offers seminars for administrators on the visa completion process.
View more information on the Office of Foreign Scholar Services’ Web site or call the Office at (650) 725-7400
The Office answers questions from departments regarding the use of and application for the various types of immigrant and non-immigrant classifications the University uses to facilitate employment by nonresidents. The information only covers faculty and postdoctoral research positions.
Here’s an overview of the various types of employment-based classifications:
Click here for details.
J-1 Status
This category of non-immigrant visa is used by the U.S. Department of State to operate its Exchange Visitor Program. The intention of this category is to foster international social, scientific and cultural exchange. Approximately 50% of scholars at Stanford are non-U.S. citizens and are here on a J-1 visa.
The H-1 is a specialty occupation visa for temporary employment, where a Bachelor’s degree is considered a minimum requirement. Stanford must file a petition with the Department of Homeland Security demonstrating that the job in question is one that requires special preparation, and that the person for whom the petition is being filed has that education or preparation. The application process for H-1 visas can be time consuming and costly.
Based on the Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Canada (NAFTA), Canadians engaged in certain professions may apply for TN-1 status. This status is a simpler version of the H-1 program, but employees must be in specific occupations included in the Treaty.
The O-1 status is a temporary employment status that is intended for “aliens of extraordinary ability” such as a Nobel Prize recipient. It is similar to an H-1, except the standard of proof is much higher and difficult to establish. Due to recent changes in the law, the O-1 is rarely used by Stanford. Contact the Office of Foreign Scholar Services if you need more information on this status.
Administrative Guide Memo 28.1 describes three possible sponsorship scenarios:
The visa process is complicated! Here are some suggestions on where to start:
Elaine Chiu
Benefits Project Manager
Wellness Fair is coming May 1
The Benefits Department and BeWell @ Stanford are teaming up again to bring you this year’s Wellness Fair. Arrillaga Rec Center will be ready for Fair visitors from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. You can do everything from climbing the rock wall to watching a healthy cooking demonstration, trying out exercise equipment or getting your cholesterol tested.
Speaking of cholesterol, have you earned your $150 by taking the Stanford Health and Lifestyle Assessment (SHALA)? You can gather information needed for SHALA at the Wellness Fair. There will be an information card for you to record your blood pressure, body fat, blood sugar and cholesterol results. Use that information when taking SHALA.
Robbie DeBastiani
Manager, Benefits Communications
Successsful Collaboration
The Human Resources team for Buildings and Grounds Maintenance, Sustainability and Energy Management (formerly Facilities Operations) recently hosted a Retirement Open House for all employees.
The idea started when we discovered that a number of employees were not participating in either the Tax-Deferred Annuity (TDA) Plan or Stanford Contributory Retirement Plan (SCRP). In December, Lori Branley, Manager of Retirement Plans, was invited to present a retirement plan overview as part of a department-wide all hands meeting. We sent all non-participating employees a letter further explaining the benefit, how to participate, and inviting them to the Open House. Held at a time when employees could drop in on their way home, the Open House attracted close to 100 people.
Representatives from Fidelity, Vanguard and TIAA-CREF attended, as well as representatives from the Benefits Department. The Open House gave employees a convenient venue to talk to plan representatives and get their questions answered. Several employees even took the opportunity to enroll in SCRP during the Open House.
Ann Allison-Marsh
Sr. Employee & Labor Relations Manager
Take a Retirement Refresher
Lori Branley’s one-hour Retirement Refresher sessions were such a success last year that she’s doing it again. Sessions are available during March – reserve your space through STARS. If you have a group in your area who would like to have their own session, check with Lori for available dates, book the room (and take care of any associated fees), and advertise it. A Retirement staff member will come to you.
For this month’s bio we thought we tell you about your News Team. Some of us have already been in this column, so look in the archives for details.
Ann Allison-Marsh, former HRM, newly appointed Senior Employee and Labor Relations Manager. At Stanford for almost five years, working primarily with Land, Buildings and Real Estate, Facilities Operations, Public Safety, Risk Management and the Office of Technology and Licensing with Russ Whiteford. Prior to Stanford, worked in HR in a major retailer, as well as a number of smaller startup companies.
Off work activities include a number of community focused activities, e.g., soccer coach, non-profit fundraising, high school Forensics (speech and debate) judge, and various other community events. At home family includes two kids, a husband, grandpa (gardener extraordinaire!), three cats, one lopped ear rabbit, one Russian tortoise, and two foster kittens. Yes, we foster kittens and get them ready for adoption. Our
current kittens, Bart and Lisa, will be ready for adoption in about eight weeks. And if you are interested in becoming a forensic judge, the state championship is in Santa Clara this year and I am actively recruiting judges to help. See me if you want a
kitten or want to judge! It seems that I'm always recruiting for something!
Coming Soon!Have you ever met a drum-playing, mountain biking, Bikram yogi who also happens to wield magic on web pages? No? Let me introduce you to Jackie Buttice (pronounced in Italian “Bu Ti Che”), our Multimedia Designer in HRIT since May 2006. Without Jackie’s talent, the newsletter that you are reading right now would be as interesting to look at as a home appliance manual.
Jackie’s story started in Los Angeles, where she was born into a very glamorous family. Her Dad was a record executive, her Mom a model. After being surrounded by famous and beautiful people the first few years of her life, her family decided to sell their house to….David Hasselhof!
During junior high in San Diego, Jackie’s classmates were smart enough to appreciate her wonderful sense of humor and voted her Class Clown. Her teachers, however, did not necessarily share the sentiment and decided that her loud, gregarious personality could use some toning down. So they moved her to sit next to Will, the quietest boy in the class. Will was so “straight and dorky” and so unlike any of her friends, that Jackie thought that he was kind of interesting. But it wasn’t until Will, in an uncharacteristic show of defiance, refused to participate in 9th grade PE class that Jackie really fell in love. As proof that opposites really do attract, Jackie and Will have now been happily married for nine years.
After graduating from UCSD with a degree in Media and Computing, Jackie tried braving the elements in Pennsylvania and D.C. before settling down in the Bay Area. Being “married with no kids (yet)” has allowed Jackie and her husband to travel the world in the past few years.
The U.K., the Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland, and the Caribbean are just a few of the places that they have visited. Her most recent trip to Barcelona was especially memorable, both because she got to celebrate her birthday there and because she got to visit with her sister, who is stationed in Morocco as a Peace Corps volunteer.
When they are not busy traveling the world, Jackie and her husband also record their own music. She plays the bass and the keyboards and her husband plays the guitar and the drums. To balance out all this creative energy, she practices Bikram yoga (for zen) and mountain biking (for adrenaline).
In March, 2007, Charlotte Carlson joined SLAC as a training and development specialist to assist SLAC’s 1,500 employees. Currently Charlotte is working on developing new employee performance training, leadership development, and working closely with managers on the many changes that are occurring at the lab.
From January 2000 to March 2007, Charlotte was the Manager of Training, Development & Employment for the City of Palo Alto, California. In this role, she was responsible for the professional development, performance improvement and talent management of over 1,200 City employees.
Prior to joining Palo Alto, Ms. Carlson was Corporate Training Manager for the San Mateo Community College District, a consulting arm of the community college district delivering needs assessments and customized training interventions to small and medium sized organizations.
Ms. Carlson holds a Master’s degree in Organizational Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Science and is currently working on a Certification in Coaching from the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology. She is an instructor in the undergraduate program at Menlo College and offers seminars on “How to Build a Learning Organization” and “Management Talent Exchange Program Opportunities”.
She is a member of the American Society for Training & Development and Northern California Human Resources Association.
After being married to a Stanford alum for nearly 10 years, Elaine (graduate of the blue and gold school) decided to make the full conversion and joined Stanford’s Benefits department in November 2005. She is now a project manager in the Benefits department. When she is not project managing at Stanford, Elaine enjoys doing yoga and hanging out with her three year old son. Their shared passion is puzzles...they are now up to 100 pieces!
Under Construction!
Barbara Grahn has a couple of recurring themes in her life. One is working at Stanford, the other is being a ski instructor. Since the two are pretty mutually exclusive, right now, Barbara is concentrating on Stanford.
Barbara’s history is incredibly confusing, either by chance or design, but here it goes...Barbara was born and raised in the Bay Area, and at the tender age of 19 followed her muse to the slopes of Tahoe, as have so many before and since. She found she really enjoyed teaching skiing and being a ski bum. Barbara also met her future husband on the slopes, although they didn’t get married for seven years. (I told you this was confusing). After she tired of trying to live on snow alone, Barbara went to Oregon at the age of 22 and pursued a degree in occupational therapy. Unable to find a job in her chosen profession, she soon took to the slopes again, teaching skiing to special needs clients.
Somehow, Barbara met up with her future husband again and this time married the guy. Barbara started working at Stanford in 1985 as a Community Associate in Escondido Village while her husband was getting his Ph.D in biological sciences. From that job she moved on to the Central HR group formerly known as Training and Organizational Development. She worked there from 1989 to 1999, when she left to pursue other interests.
Barbara has a very strong creative side – while she was away from Stanford she wrote two career planning books, A Fork in the Road and Just Around the Corner, for young adults and baby boomers, respectively. She is also an artist and exhibits her hand painted photographs at local galleries. Oh, I forgot, somewhere along the line, Barbara got degrees in Ornamental Horticulture (in Oregon) and Human Resources Services and a Master’s in Public Administration (College of Notre Dame). (I think she might have done that at night while skiing with her left side and writing a book with her right side).
Barbara and her husband have a 22-year-old son who gravitated to Oregon (is it a gene thing?) to attend college. He has a degree in videography and multi-media, leading to speculation that Barbara’s creativity has been passed to the next generation.
While she was away from Stanford, Barbara worked as an HR Manager for a small medical device company, Avacore Technologies, Inc, where she played a variety of roles. The company is connected to Stanford through the Office of Technology Licensing, since Stanford is a customer. Barbara left that company when it relocated to Michigan.
Barbara didn’t lose her contact with Stanford, even while she was “gone.” She did contract work for Stanford as a campus readiness specialist for the initial PeopleSoft implementation and also did a stint in the office of the Vice Provost for Student Affairs while Teofila was on maternity leave.
More traveling, getting her children’s’ book published and living in Italy for six months are all on Barbara’s agenda in the long term. For right now, though she is happy to be at Stanford, a place she loves and continues to return to again and again.
Sharys has worked at Stanford for almost ten years. In her spare time she loves participating in a host of sedentary activities including knitting, reading, doing jigsaw puzzles, and playing bridge. Sometimes she gets up to get something to eat.
Sibson Consulting is a division of The Segal Company, a leading, independent firm of benefit, compensation and human resources consultants. As a private, employee-owned consulting firm, Sibson Consulting has a long history specializing in strategic HR solutions that help organizations maximize the return on their human capital investments through the planning, implementation and operation of total rewards, compensation, retirement and health benefit programs. Sibson Consulting's services encompass talent management, benefits, organization design, sales effectiveness and change management. Sibson has served more than half of the Fortune 500 companies.
Please join us for the March Birthday Celebration. All HR staff are invited to come by for a piece of cake and a chance to network with colleagues.
Friday, March 21
3:30 – 4:30
655 Serra St,
Magnolia Conference Room
• Cindy Martin, Manager of Human Resources Information Systems
• Ann Allison-Marsh, Senior Employee and Labor Relations Manager
A Warm Welcome to ...
• Kulneet Homidi, HRA for Dean of Research
• Martha Wood, HR Manager/Business Partner for the Stanford Alumni Association
Is your name missing? Let us know when you joined the HR staff, your title and department.
To find current Human Resources positions available throughout the organization, click here.
Want to read a bio from last year, or look up something you saw in the HR Newsletter? Our archive starts with September 2006 and runs through the December 2007 edition. To check it out, click here.
Let us know how we’re doing. If there is a topic you’d like us to consider or an article you’d like to submit, email the News Team c/o robbiekb@stanford.edu and type Reader Feedback in the subject line.
