By Stephen M. Gavazzi, Ph.D.

The Latest News, Views, and Announcements

What’s New at CHRR

We are pleased to be partnering with the College of Medicine’s Research Information Technology (RIT) unit in an effort to become more familiar with the REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) survey tool. After a series of informal meetings with RIT staffers that involved close collaboration with Associate Director of Enterprise Applications Management’s Heather Lansky, CHRR’s Special Projects Team members participated in their first formal consultation with REDCap advisors last Monday (August 12^th). Next up will be a series of exercises designed to increase team member understanding of the nuances involved in building surveys within a REDCap environment. Additionally, CHRR IT personnel will be learning more about REDCap’s development environment in the coming months, with strong attention paid to building extensions, data pipelines, APIs, etc. Exciting times ahead! 

CHRR's Leadership Team

Most members of the CHRR Leadership Team and several other CHRR supervisors attended a Mental Health Awareness for Managers workshop on August 7^th that was offered through Ohio State’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Remaining supervisors will attend a similar workshop in the next couple of months, after which we will begin to discuss our next steps in terms of expanding CHRR employee sensitivity to this important team member wellness issue.

In the meantime, please know that Ohio State’s EAP team members offer a variety of mental health services – including short-term counseling, self-help programming, and partnering with life coaches.

CHRR Team Member Celebrations

“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” -Albert Einstein

I was surprised to discover that not even one of our current CHRR employees has a start date work anniversary in August. That said, through casual discussions I have found out that there are several CHRR team members who have “unofficial” start dates that are longer than what our official university records indicate. The reasons are unique and varied. I asked Craig Lee to provide his own background story as an example. According to Craig:

As an OSU undergrad, with previous on-site system support qualifications, I took on a part-time system support role at CHRR (Sep 1996). Over the following academic year, I continued classes but with CHRR continued IT-demand growth, required additional support. A full-time position was created which I applied for; was offered and I accepted to begin my full-time endeavors at CHRR (Sep 1997). With classwork culminated with graduation (Dec 1998) my career path shifted entirely towards CHRR, from there, history. As workload demands continued to grow, CHRR continued student/part-time roles to introduce more students to IT and other roles throughout CHRR.

Next month you will see Craig’s official service reported as 27 years, due to the university records indicating his employment began in September 1997. Now, however, you all know the true story is that Craig has been with us for 28 years in full! I am interested in reporting on other unique situations, so please write to me with your own story if you are willing to have it shared in future newsletters. Meantime, thanks to everyone for their ongoing hard work and perseverance!

Things You Might Want to Know

Gavazzi Inducted into Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship

I am proud to note that I was inducted into the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship (ACES) this past week. From the ACES website: “The mission of ACES is to provide expertise to policymakers, higher education institutions and organizations, community leaders, and national and international entities interested in addressing complex societal issues through the effective engagement of higher education with community members and organizations… This work is accomplished by recognizing individuals who have worked collaboratively with others to make significant contributions to advancing collaboration between educational institutions and communities and engaging these individuals in high priority activities and projects that further community engagement theory, policy, and practice.” While my job description does not include any direct involvement in scholarship, I have managed to remain actively involved in writing efforts that surround community engagement issues. As a labor of love, I hope to continue this sort of work throughout my remaining years at CHRR and Ohio State.