MSU All Staff Council Newsletter
Featured Staff Member
Nancy Hystad - Student Accounts
I was born up on the Iron Range in Minnesota but my family moved to Butte when I was 3 years old. I moved to Bozeman in 1991 when Durston and 19th was truly the end of the road. š From Durston north was all farm fields! I have witnessed lots of growth in the Gallatin Valley.
I have worked at MSU since 2006, first at Montana Water Center, Center for Bilingual and Multicultural Education and now at Student Accounts. Lots of changes here too.
My husband and I are on a trek to do all the National Parks and National Historic sites. We took a trip to the East Coast in October of last year and we just returned from a trip to the West Coast where we marked off several National Parks or National Historic Sites! We love to travel and we intend to get all 50 states visited within a short time. I also enjoy singing and playing with 6 grandchildren, 5 boys and now one granddaughter!
Anything else interesting: My biological children were grown when I took custody of 3 younger children fully expecting the parents to get them back. Things didnāt work out on that end so I adopted them. At the time they were 8, 6 and 2 so I really raised two different families but we are now empty nesters and loving it!
A Letter from the Chair
It has been my pleasure to serve as your All Staff Council Chair this past year. Despite the challenges that we have faced, All Staff Council (ASC) has had a fruitful year! ASC started a monthly newsletter, provided three wonderful prizes for the Presidentās Welcome Back Lunch, and coordinated the tree and tunnel tours.
ASC provided an opportunity for staff to ask questions and become more informed about a variety of concerns through our second annual Q&A with two of MSUās top administrators, the Chief Human Resources Officer Jeannette Grey Gilbert and the Vice President for Administration & Finance Terry Leist. In addition, we hosted a Homecoming Decorating Contest with Homecoming Football tickets, held an All Staff Council "Can the Griz" challenge, our first March Madness Bracket Challenge, and promoted discount basketball tickets. We also presented at the New Employee Orientation (NEO) presentations. Due to the feedback we received about increased stress and fatigue, ASC provided the training workshop, āNavigating Burnout ā Resilience Through Community, Connection, and Careā with guest speaker Whitney Hinshaw Sullivan.
ASC wanted staff to feel appreciated and created the Staff Appreciation Project to individually impact each staff member on the Bozeman campus and all our remote Bozeman staff. In November, each staff was mailed a postcard giving thanks for being a part of the Bobcat Community. On March 4, National Employee Appreciation Day, ASC delivered a special card and a decorated box of seeds to each staff member. We had as much fun giving as staff did receiving!
Lastly, ASC had another fantastic scholarship drive and was able to award nine (9) scholarships to MSU staff and their dependents. If you want to know more about our scholarship, the council or how to get involved, please go to: https://www.montana.edu/msuasc/. You can also email [email protected] and a member of our Executive Board can visit with you.
This year, we pushed to provide unique opportunities for staff during challenging times. We hoped that by providing education, information, and entertainment, staff would take advantage of whatever was the best fit for them. And that is exactly what we observed.
I want to thank everyone for the support this past year, both personnally and professionally. I have grown so much as a person and a leader. I am so proud to be a part of the ASC and Bobcat Communities.
Sincerely,
Julie Clay
MSUASC Chair
You Matter MUS - MUS Mental Health And Wellness
May is mental illness awareness month and the Montana University System (MUS) has put together the You Matter MUS campaign and initiative to raise awareness about student mental health and to promote resources available to all MUS students and employees to address mental health and wellness needs.
You Matter MUS plays an important role in building cultures of care to support positive mental health and wellbeing across our university system. You Matter MUS resources are intended to provide common supports and tools to all every campus community member in the MUS. The three tools that are part of this initiative are a set of curated resources meant to address three central areas of need for college student mental health: education, access to clinical services, and suicide prevention. These supports include You@College--a mental health and wellness app, Thriving Campus--an online referral platform, and Kognito--a virtual mental health literacy and suicide prevention training.
You Matter MUS was born out of work from the MUS Suicide Prevention & Mental Health Task Force aimed at addressing and responding to increased mental health needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, MUS institutions saw that students with mental health needs were both more challenging to identify and were also more difficult to reach due to the remote and altered environments necessitated by the pandemic. In response to these challenges, the Office of the Commissioner collaborated with the MUS Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Task Force to provide supports to students and employees that are available remotely. Though this campaign originated as a response to support campuses and students during a time of acute mental health need, these services continue to be available to support the mental health needs of every single student and employee in the Montana University System.
To get involved and help raise awareness, follow this effort with #YouMatterMUS
You Matter MUS plays an important role in building cultures of care to support positive mental health and wellbeing across our university system. You Matter MUS resources are intended to provide common supports and tools to all every campus community member in the MUS. The three tools that are part of this initiative are a set of curated resources meant to address three central areas of need for college student mental health: education, access to clinical services, and suicide prevention. These supports include You@College--a mental health and wellness app, Thriving Campus--an online referral platform, and Kognito--a virtual mental health literacy and suicide prevention training.
You Matter MUS was born out of work from the MUS Suicide Prevention & Mental Health Task Force aimed at addressing and responding to increased mental health needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, MUS institutions saw that students with mental health needs were both more challenging to identify and were also more difficult to reach due to the remote and altered environments necessitated by the pandemic. In response to these challenges, the Office of the Commissioner collaborated with the MUS Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Task Force to provide supports to students and employees that are available remotely. Though this campaign originated as a response to support campuses and students during a time of acute mental health need, these services continue to be available to support the mental health needs of every single student and employee in the Montana University System.
To get involved and help raise awareness, follow this effort with #YouMatterMUS.
You Matter MUS plays an important role in building cultures of care to support positive mental health and wellbeing across our university system. You Matter MUS resources are intended to provide common supports and tools to all every campus community member in the MUS. The three tools that are part of this initiative are a set of curated resources meant to address three central areas of need for college student mental health: education, access to clinical services, and suicide prevention. These supports include You@College--a mental health and wellness app, Thriving Campus--an online referral platform, and Kognito--a virtual mental health literacy and suicide prevention training.
You Matter MUS was born out of work from the MUS Suicide Prevention & Mental Health Task Force aimed at addressing and responding to increased mental health needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, MUS institutions saw that students with mental health needs were both more challenging to identify and were also more difficult to reach due to the remote and altered environments necessitated by the pandemic. In response to these challenges, the Office of the Commissioner collaborated with the MUS Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Task Force to provide supports to students and employees that are available remotely. Though this campaign originated as a response to support campuses and students during a time of acute mental health need, these services continue to be available to support the mental health needs of every single student and employee in the Montana University System.
To get involved and help raise awareness, follow this effort with #YouMatterMUS
You Matter Resources
Kognito
Kognito is an online, interactive training geared at supporting student mental health and suicide prevention. The trainings include education on positive coping strategies, tools for recognizing students in distress, strategies for communicating concerns, and how to take action to find more support.
To take the training, visit https://mus.kognito.com/ and use bozemanemployee as your enrollment key.
You at College
This web-based platform, available to all MUS students and employees, includes evidence-based content, interactive tools, resources, and personalized content to help students and employees address their mental wellness needs and more. Each institution in the MUS has a campus-specific version of the app that includes resources and tools specific to that campus and community.
To learn more about You at College, visit https://youatcollege.com/you.montana.edu
Thriving Campus
Thriving campus is an online referral platform to help connect students to mental health care providers and specialists in their campus and home communities. Campus providers can also use the platform to refer students to specific providers and close the referral loop by tracking whether students used the referral. Users can search for providers by a variety of filters, including telehealth delivery, location, accepting patients, accepted insurance, and more.
To learn more about Thriving Campus, visit https://www.thrivingcampus.com/
Get To Know Your Council Members
Tara Sadera - Office of Sponsored Programs and Office of Research Development
Tara is currently a Pre-award Specialist in the Office of Research Development and a Fiscal Manager for the Office of Sponsored Programs. Her role provides a comprehensive managerial approach to the award life cycle from the time a funding source is identified to the close out of a grant. She earned her B.A. in Philosophy from Boston College. Tara is new to Montana, moving to Bozeman from Winnetka, IL in May of 2021. Before joining MSU, Tara held varying roles at Northwestern University; Program Administrator for NUANCE (Northwestern University Atomic and Nanoscale Characterization Experimental Center), the Director of The Center for Centers within the McCormick School of Engineering and was the Program Administrator for the Department of Comparative Literature and Critical Theory. Prior to her career in higher education, she worked in the advertising/marketing industry for 8 years and spent 10 years at home raising her 3 children. When not working, Tara enjoys doing all things outdoors, reading, and spending time with her family.
Mariah Stopplecamp - Jake Jabs College of Buiness & Entrepreneurship, Bracken Center
Mariah has been a part of the MSU community for the past 7 years. She graduated with a B.S in Agricultural Business in 2019 and earned her MBA from the University of Montana in 2021. She is currently the Director of the Bracken Center for the Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship. Mariah's main goal is to facilitate strong relationships between our community employers and our incredible students. After 5pm you can find Mariah out on the river fly fishing, enjoying one of the many local Bozeman hikes, or at the dog park with her dog, Coco.
Melissa (Mel) Turney - Military Air and Space Studies (AFROTC)
Iāve been a part of the Montana State University family for the past six years as the program coordinator for Military Air and Space Studies (Air Force ROTC). As a veteran of the Air Force, I take great pride in developing and mentoring our future military leaders. Outside of the office I enjoy paddleboarding, riding my bike around town, singing along with Taylor Swift, and spending quality time with my pre-teen daughter and our three cats.
Danica Weitz - The Graduate School - Admissions
I have been an Admissions Coordinator at the Graduate School for the past 4 years. I recently graduated with my MBA and am getting married this summer. I have two lovely fur children that I adore. My hobbies include working extra jobs to expand my knowledge and experience, planning an entrepreneurial career, and traveling. I love what I do at MSU and hope to continue the success in the future to help students find their passion in higher education.