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On December 7th, 2006 Olin College received official notification from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges that it is now accredited. NEASC accreditation is a major milestone in the establishment of the College. There are many implications that flow from this recognition such as acknowledgement by our peer institutions that our academic institution is sound and in good standing. Some of these consequences may include new eligibility of members of our community -- and the College itself -- for certain awards and external funding. Congratulations to all who had a hand in making this possible! It is that time of year when Olin solicits gifts to its annual fund. Last year the faculty and staff participation increased substantially over 2005. This year our colleagues in the development office are asking us to
join them in reaching the goal of 100% participation on the part of the faculty and the staff. Gifts can be made by cash or check to the Development Office. Credit card payments can be made online. If you wish to make another type of donation please contact Joanne Kossuth. In order to deduct this charitable gift from your 2006 federal taxes, gifts must be made or postmarked prior to December 31st, 2006. To read Joanne's annual fund letter, please click here.
Tuesday, December 19th
8:45 am: Welcome/Orientation for External Guests (AC417)
9:00-10:30 am: Poster Session 1 (AC floors 3, 4)
10:30-10:45 am: Morning break and musical performance
10:45-12:00 pm: Presentation Session 1 (AC floors 3, 4)
12:00-2:00 pm: Lunch, Informal Presentations (Dining Hall)
1:45 pm: Welcome/Orientation for External Guests (AC417)
2:00-3:30 pm: Poster Session 2 (AC floors 3, 4)
3:30-3:45 pm: Afternoon break and musical performance
3:45-5:00 pm: Presentation Session 2 (AC floors 3, 4)
5:00 pm: Musical Performance, Olin Conductorless Orchestra (OC Mezz) Wednesday, December 20th
8:45 am: Welcome/Orientation for External Guests (AC417)
9:00-10:30 am: Poster Session 3 (AC floors 3, 4)
10:30-10:45 am: Morning break
10:45-12:15 pm: Poster Session 4 (AC floors 3, 4)
12:00 pm: Lunch (Dining Hall)
For additional details and to view the full Fall 2006 schedule, please click here.
Beginning Monday, November 27th, thru Saturday, December 16th, Public Safety will be sponsoring the annual Toys for Tots program at Babson and Olin Colleges to provide toys to underprivileged children. The response to this program has grown dramatically over the past few years and last year's response was remarkable! We invite you to join us again this year to make the holidays very special for a child who would normally not have the joys of receiving holiday presents.
Toys are needed for children of all ages, however please do not donate stuffed animals as they are not accepted by the U.S. Marines. Toys must be new and in the original packaging.
Once again, Chief John Jackson invites you to trade a parking ticket for a toy. If you have received a parking ticket for a violation, other than parking in a Handicap Space or a Fire Lane, between the dates of November 13th and December 16th, 2006, the ticket will be voided when you present a new, unwrapped toy with a value of at least half of the parking fine. Please note that during this period only one ticket, per person will be invalidated upon the donation of a toy.
Many people do not realize that the United Parcel Service (UPS) donates their trucks to pick up the toys from drop off locations. Last year UPS sent two trucks to Babson to transport toys to the U.S. Marine Reserves for distribution. Please help us in our efforts to make this a great holiday season for children in need. Please go to our website and click the link for information on our drop off locations. We will be posting pictures of the collection from time to time. Thank you again from all of us at Public Safety.
On Tuesday, December 19th @ 1:00 pm Nicole Snyder of Wellesley College will visit Olin to present for the position of Assistant Professor of Chemistry. All are encouraged to attend and provide feedback, the seminar
will take place in AC113.
Due to the college being closed Monday, December 25th through Monday, January 1st, 2007, there will be no internal mail service or package delivery on those days. Regular service will be provided through the end of the day on Friday, December 22nd, and resume on Tuesday, January 2nd. Mail will be picked up from the Needham post office on the mornings of December 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th. If you need access to the mail on those days, please contact Scott Slaboden, prior to Wednesday, December 20th. There will be no UPS/FedEx/DHL-Airborne deliveries to the college during this time. Students studying away for the spring semester, that want their mail forwarded, need to provide Ed Crawford with preprinted address labels. Mail forwarding will begin January 2nd and follow USPS standard rules. Since Babson College is closing at the end of day on Friday, December 22nd, the last mail run to Babson will be the morning of Friday, December 22nd. All Babson mail gathered after this time, will be held until January 2nd. Should you have any questions, please let us know. Happy Holidays from all of us at Campus Services!!
The Benefits Open Enrollment period ended November 27th. If you did not make any selections, your current benefits/benefit levels will continue in 2007, (see next paragraph for exceptions), with all changes effective January 1st, 2007.
The only exceptions are flexible spending accounts. If you currently participate in a Reimbursement Account (health and dependent care accounts), and/or Vacation Purchase and wish to continue - you must select an annual amount for the reimbursement account and check off “yes” for Vacation Purchase on the Benefits Enrollment Form.
Last minute changes must be made by Monday, December 18th or they will not be considered.
Developmental Reviews -- Thank you to those managers and employees who have completed their Self and Supervisor Developmental Reviews. For all others please plan on completing them as soon as possible. Supervisors please return both forms to Pat Berardi.
The Portal Working Group held its kick-off meeting on December 8th. The primary focus of the group is to develop compelling and useful content for PhoenixNet, increasing its effectiveness as a communication tool for the campus. Discussion points around general access, content, usability, and policies will be first on the agenda. Later, the group will break out into focus groups for various constituencies (ie. Faculty, Students, Prospective Students, Alumni, Parents, and Staff).
Members of the group currently include Suzanne Alcott, Allison Bahme, Holly Bennett, Pat Berardi, Patricia Blanchette, Linda Canavan, Loretta Dinon, Terri Dunphy, Mary Fitzpatrick, Alyson Goodrow, Lannie He, Rita McNulty, Thomas Michon, Krissy Raposa, Kim Round, Courtney Sampson, David Soo, Dave Ware, and Javier Zapanta.
If you have any feedback that you'd like the Portal Working Group to consider, please feel free to email myolin@olin.edu.
The IRS has changed the mileage reimbursement rate for personal vehicles used for business to 48.5 cents per mile. Since Olin's rate is tied to the IRS rate, please request 48.5 cents per mile for travel on or after January 1st, 2007. Please contact Jack Mui (ext. 2421) with questions.
BID is looking for volunteers to help staff the gift shop after a renovation is completed in January. Gift Shop volunteers help raise funds for the hospital and provide an important service to patients, families, hospital employees, physicians and other members of the hospital community. Typically, they work one or two three-hour shifts per week, helping customers select purchases and ringing up sales. They may also open or close the shop depending on the shift. In addition, volunteers are also needed to help with enjoyable ongoing activities such as buying merchandise, promotion, inventory, merchandising and other functions. If you are interested in volunteering at the Gift Shop, please call Jane East at 781-453-5499. Volunteers of all ages are welcome. Volunteers receive free lunch in the employee cafeteria and may park for free in the hospital's employee parking lot. They are trained by other volunteers and staff.
In January 2006, Ben Bloom accepted a position at RadiSys Corporation in Hillsboro, OR, the company he interned at last summer. It was his top choice mostly because he thought it would give him good exposure to engineering in a corporate environment without facing the restrictions of a large, impersonal conglomerate. At RadiSys, he's part of the platform management firmware team developing software for the next generation of RadiSys telecom computers.
All of the software he works with is developed in C and involves state-of-the-art computer and network components. Although the Do-Learn environment is nothing new to Ben, he was still a little nervous throwing himself into a technical job related to a field he did not study extensively in school. With the encouragement of his manager, Ben now sees his work at RadiSys as an opportunity to learn as much as he can about software development and how technology companies work.
Admittedly he's still on the fence about whether he wants to be a career engineer, but in the meantime he's greatly enjoying the opportunity to work with a talented team on cutting edge products. It's given him the chance to grow intellectually and pursue a private pilot's license in his free time.
In the last issue we asked
What contribution Franklin Olin's companies made to the war effort during World War I and World War II. Bryn Hollen was the first to answer correctly with ammunition.
Trivia buffs, do you know.....
Q:
Which Olin Alum is working for Automated Sciences on an Air Force Base in Dhaka, Bangladesh?
A: First person to correctly respond to Alyson Goodrow receives a prize.
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