Past Winners

Fall 2015 Grand Idea Winner
Jill Tyus-Coates
Student Financial Services

Grand Idea: Grizz Points

Description:
Every month, all employees get an email encouraging them to award three points to an employee or employees who have shown Grizzly Pride throughout the month (i.e. been helpful to resolve a problem, shown Grizz spirit, went above and beyond, etc). You can give 1-3 points to an employee or employees and write a little note (if you choose). Recipients of points get a message with their total points earned and encouraging comments people made about them. Once a year there is an online auction for employees to spend their points to buy Grizz Gear (i.e. mugs, blankets, sweat shirts, etc.).

Winter 2016 Grand Idea Winner
Marie VanBuskirk
Department of Campus Recreation

Grand Idea: New Professionals Institute

Description:
The "Grand Idea" of a “New Professionals Institute” at Oakland University was proposed. The purpose of this institute would be to assist the University with better connecting people, resources, and focusing on overall university goals and strategic plans. This proposed institute would provide one level of training for all new hires below the "director" level and another program for Directors level and above. No matter what Division employees serve, the goals of retention, graduation, and community involvement should emerge.

Often, new hires may never get the time to review Oakland University’s strategic plan. Understanding the university budget and resources for funding would help all employees within departments be more efficient. Reviewing employee goal setting and the merit review process would better help new hires connect their jobs to the big picture. This plan suggests that all new hires get immersed in the OU culture by learning about our various offices and their resources.

Quite often new hires do not know about the crisis response team, active shooter training, or learn about valuable resources such as the Center for Multicultural Initiatives, the Gender and Sexuality Center, or University Recreation and Well-Being programs. The campus climate survey reported that we could do better in the area of diversity, and we need to better prepare all employees in the event of a campus crisis.

Lastly, this institute would allow time for all employees to focus on who we are here to serve - our enrolled students. Time would be dedicated to help all hew hires better understand this next Generation Z, and how to best communicate, and transform our academic courses and services. Creating an institute for newly hired professionals at Oakland University would create a sense of larger community, open the lines of communication from administration to all new hires, and aid in the transfer of knowledge. This time would also allow all new hires to connect across campus as new employees, and aid administration and UHR in getting them clear information on goal setting and workshops for the future development. It is the goal of this institute to steer our employees down a path for their own success, and in turn assure student success.