Monday Update

Last week’s updates from UBC

May 17: UBC Broadcast: Update — planning our return to campus
May 14: President’s Weekly Update: Join the Vaccine-Nation
May 12: UBC Broadcast: Participate in the new Canadian Campus Wellbeing Survey

Updates on UBC’s response to COVID-19 are at covid19.ubc.ca.

Managing your mental health

HR has collected mental health resources to help you manage your ups and downs. Our VPFO HR staff is always available for a confidential conversation.

May 28: QPR Suicide Intervention Training: QPR Suicide Intervention Training is an internationally recognized suicide intervention program designed to help you question, persuade, and refer.
Self-guided: Self and Community Care: Building skills to manage stress: Learn to integrate relaxation and your personal needs into your daily life in this self-paced webinar.
Self-guided: Wellbeing in the Workplace: Learn tools and skills to support wellbeing while working within changing environments in this self-paced webinar.
June 1, 2, 3, 4 & 7: 5 days of Mindfulness: Join your community for 5 days of mindfulness to feel more connected while working from home and improve your ability to manage stress.
June 3, 10, 17, 24: 4-week Self-Compassion Series: Explore different practices, teachings, discussion or writing exercises all designed to help you build a foundation of mindful self-compassion.
June 8 & 16: Positive Coping Strategies: Join this two-part webinar to explore a variety of positive coping strategies you can apply to improve your overall mental health and wellbeing.
June 10 & 17: The Working Mind: Virtual Mental Health Training for Managers: Join our evidence-based training program designed to address and promote mental health and reduce stigma in a workplace setting.
July 10: Self and Community Care Facilitated Webinar: This 2-part facilitated webinar focuses on increasing mental health literacy for individuals.

Operations updates

Facilities

Building Operations, Energy & Water Services and Infrastructure Development

Flags at Half-mast for Alexandra Psiharis: The BC, Musqueam, and UBC flags at the North Plaza of the Life Building will be lowered Wednesday, May 19, 2021 in remembrance of Alexandra Psiharis, who passed away on May 1, 2021. Ms. Psiharis was a Service Center Coordinator in Building Operations within the Facilities Group.
Basketball court relocation: The new basketball court is proposed for the northwest of the parking lot (C-2) at Thunderbird Boulevard and Health Sciences Mall. A virtual public open house will be held on June 1, 2021 from 12:30 – 1:30 pm, and open to commenting until June 8. For more information, visit the Campus & Community Planning website.

Finance

Comptroller, Finance & Operational Excellence and Treasury

Month end dates for May: The month end dates for May have been added as a PDF, and to the Important Dates feed, on the UBC Finance website.
Claiming unidentified payments: Please check through the list of unidentified wire transfers and direct deposits (updated as of May 7) to see if any payments belong to your department.
Reminder about UBC’s invoicing standards: Please remember that invoices to the university must include a “Bill to” line of either University of British Columbia (or UBC) or University of British Columbia Okanagan (or UBCO) in order to be processed.
A guide on reconciling UBC VISA transactions: Please note that transactions on corporate UBC credit cards should be reconciled within 30 days of being posted. For more information, please refer to the Reconciliation Guide available through the UBC Self-Service Portal.

Operations & Advising

Communications & Engagement, Human Resources, and Safety & Risk Services

UBC Alert test notification a success: The test was sent out to students, faculty, staff, and UNA to UBC Vancouver and Okanagan last week. This was the first test of UBC Alert post Workday data migration and with our new vendor. To make sure you don’t miss future alerts, please save the UBC Alert phone numbers to your contact list: Voice calls (1-888-671-0035) and Text message (723-389).
Compliance support program approved: Endorsed by the UBC IT Capital Planning Committee, this program is a two-year pilot to improve compliance with UBC’s Information Security Standards, as well as identify and advise on systemic gaps and initiatives to remediate.
Communications tips & tricks: While video platforms like Zoom have made virtual meetings easy, it’s important to keep these meetings productive, structured, and part of your bigger story. For resources, including session slides & recording on tips to engage your team on Zoom, visit the VPFO Comms website.
VPFO HR on-site support schedule: Due to increased safety measures, the VPFO HR team will be working from home on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday for the month of April. For any questions, please contact Senior HR Manager, Arvind Kang (arvind.s.kang@ubc.ca).
- May 17: Matt Furgal, Kasia Burza
- May 18: WFH
- May 19: Arvind Kang, Rachel Lau
- May 20: WFH
- May 21: WFH

Other notable updates

Save the Date: UBC’s National Forum on Anti-Asian Racism

On June 10-11 join experts, leaders, and community organizers across different sectors for the National Forum on Anti-Asian Racism. Read more on the UBC Events page.

Recording available from UBC Inclusion Action Plan Virtual Forum

On May 7, student, faculty and staff gathered at the virtual forum on UBC’s Inclusion Action Plan to hear about ways that UBC is activating inclusion across the university.

This session was an opportunity to learn about UBC’s Inclusion Action Plan, hear leadership perspectives, priorities and efforts, and to participate in a live Q&A with our panelists.

A recording of the session and the session slides are now available for reference.

Helpful news

Some interesting news articles people have found informative, helpful, or fun! These are provided for information and entertainment only. Unless noted, UBC doesn’t specifically endorse or supply this content.

When’s the last time you took time off work? After a year of disruption and anxiety, taking time away from work is especially important. This Fast Company article explains why it is important and how you can make the most of it.
Giuseppe Paternò has become Italy’s oldest graduate at the age of 96 after being awarded first-class honours in philosophy from the University of Palermo in Sicily. Congratulations, Giuseppe!

Have an article for your peers? Email communications@vpfo.ubc.ca.