I&S Employee Newsletter - November 2019

Dear Infrastructure and Sustainability team,

If you happened to bump into me last week, chances are good that I couldn’t help myself but tell you how excited I was about the success of the I2SL event our campus hosted on Oct. 23 and 24. I’m still basking in the glow a bit. 

For those who couldn’t attend, I2SL is the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories, which held its annual conference and technology fair Oct. 21 to 23 in Denver. The conference is the leading international conference focused on energy efficiency and environmental sustainability in laboratories and related facilities. It included attendees from around the world from higher education, the private sector and beyond. 

This year, the conference also included an extension event on our campus Oct. 23 and 24 that offered a behind-the-scenes look at the collaborative efforts at CU Boulder to create and maintain efficient and sustainable laboratories. CU Boulder experts from across our academic, research and operations units -- including several from Infrastructure and Sustainability -- presented on the partnerships driving these efforts at the university. 

I want to commend Kathy Ramirez-Aguilar from CU Green Labs and Shannon Horn from Planning, Design and Construction in particular for leading the charge in organizing this great event for our campus. The feedback I received from attendees was overwhelmingly positive -- including the theme that the coordination and collaboration going on across our campus on these sustainability efforts is not the norm at many universities. It was a nice reminder that this spirit of collaboration is real at CU Boulder across multiple levels. It’s certainly present in I&S. While sometimes projects or objectives might take longer to accomplish than we’d like them to, our staff works collaboratively with departments from across campus to achieve meaningful outcomes on a daily basis. 

October 24, day 2 of the Boulder I2SL extension, coincided with with us hosting an APPA leadership academy event that I was able to drop in on. I enjoyed witnessing the influence and leadership role we play with our peer institutions. The energy from these two events made that day easily one of my favorites in my time at CU Boulder, and I am so proud of the passion you all exhibit every day in support of the campus mission.

Sincerely,
David Kang, vice chancellor for infrastructure and sustainability 

Be sure to check your email inbox for the University of Colorado System’s Diversity Enagement Survey. The CU System has invited students, faculty and staff from all four campuses to participate in the survey. The survey addresses the inclusiveness of our academic learning and working environment and defines our areas of strengths and opportunities for improvement. The survey takes about 10 minutes, is confidential, and the deadline for completing it is Friday, Nov. 15. See the CU Connections story for more information. 

Staff Council invites all CU Boulder staff, faculty and students eligible to donate blood to participate in its blood drive today, Nov. 5, through Thursday, Nov. 7. Blood center reserves have been critically low this year, making it an especially crucial time for donating. The blood drive will take place in two locations: 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 5, 6 and 7 at the Student Recreation Center; and Nov. 6 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Bloodmobile in front of the Administrative and Research Center (ARCE) on East Campus. For more information on the event, contact Lauren Thompson at 720-333-0675 or lauren.c.thompson@colorado.edu.

The International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories Conference and Technology Fair extension event in Boulder proved a huge success. Several staff members from Infrastructure and Sustainability took part in making it so with their presentations. View a gallery of photos from the event. 

How long have you been working at CU?  
I have been working for CU for nine years now. I started on July 5, 2010. But technically, I have been working on campus since I was a student back in 2004. 

What is your favorite thing to do outside of work? 
I really enjoy cooking in my spare time. Growing up in restaurants, I often enjoy combining and learning new cooking techniques that bridge cultural flavors together. I love to eat weird and foreign foods that have textures and taste that are out of this world!

Tell us something that might surprise us about you?  
I love music and anything that is related to it. I can play any woodwind instrument (flute, single reed, double reed). My first instrument was the flute, thanks Mom, and once I got older, learned how to play all the various types of saxophones. Alto is my favorite. I currently enjoy DJing and producing music, however, this hobby of mine has taken a back seat as I have gotten older.  

What do you love about CU Boulder?  
I truly enjoy being close to the cutting edge of knowledge and technology. My job allows me to interact with all the labs on campus and learn what their research purpose is. Hearing about all the fascinating things that labs are doing across campus excites me about the future. 

What has been the most important innovation you have witnessed in your lifetime? 
I have witnessed the internet come into existence. I truly believe that this innovation will continue to be one of the most important milestones that my generation will witness. I continuously see the impacts and changes that this technology has created and am sometimes shocked at how it evolves with humans as it becomes more and more integrated in our day to day lives. I often laugh and have a fond moment of reminiscence every time I hear a 56K modem boot sound. 

***Know someone doing great work? Nominate them for the next VCIS newsletter employee spotlight.***

Bonus holiday time means bonus time for shopping, cooking, skiing or just plain joy. You name it. The Chancellor announced last week that CU Boulder campus employees will receive an additional 16 hours of leave (prorated for part time) to be used between Nov. 25, 2019 and Jan. 3, 2020. The Chancellor also announced that campus will be closing early at 2 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31 This is all in addition to the already scheduled holiday days on Nov. 28, Nov. 29, Dec. 24, Dec. 25 and Jan. 1. Be sure to work with supervisors on scheduling your time off. For more information, including how to enter this time into the FAMIS leave request system, visit the I&S employees website. Tanya Patzer in I&S Human Resources can also help answer questions. You can reach Tanya at 303-735-0347 or Tanya.Patzer@colorado.edu.