Chief Human Resources Officer
In this issue, we are excited to highlight the new UT Tower. We are so excited to be in the UT Tower and particularly the UT System Administration Human Resources space on the 11th (HR and Employee and Organizational Development) and ninth floors (Payroll, Benefits and Retirement). We are also pleased to finally have a true system office where all UT System Administration employees can interact and reestablish a common culture. This move will afford us the opportunity for greater collaborations and team dynamics between and amongst the various departments within our offices. The “new digs” are quite impressive. They represent a welcome change and an improved workspace for what we hope will yield greater employee engagement and opportunities for creativity, innovation and the opportunity to demonstrate our Be One UT values in action.
The new UT Tower will certainly give rise to a new “people first” culture and create opportunities for improved collaboration and connectedness for system employees. While we are excited to be in our new spaces and have a responsibility to be good stewards of the space, we know that workplace etiquette is an essential component of any relocation effort. Office etiquette is arguably one of the least attended to topics. During a move like ours, we need to be vigilant about modeling exemplary UT System Administration citizenship with each other. This is an exciting era for system administration and we look forward to establishing new norms and traditions together.
In this issue, we will also highlight the results of the full engagement survey that we conducted in the fall of 2021. The survey helped us establish an engagement baseline. We are eager to share our findings with our staff as it will be continuously useful as UT strives to reach its greatest decade in history.
As we continue with our “Everywhere You Look, UT” mural campaign, we show the presence and community engagement of UT across the state. We intend to remain a beacon of light to our constituents and these murals are a fine representation of how we intend to continue to expand our UT brand ambassadorship.
In keeping with the idea of “towering” in this issue, we will explore the various ways in which UT and its campuses have been reaching new heights in innovation and creativity across the system. We will identify a few noteworthy items where our colleagues across the system have reached new heights in innovative approaches to the creation of exciting programs, services and other deliverables serving Tennesseans across our great state. We hope you will enjoy this issue as we share a little taste of all things new at UT.
Brian K. Dickens
Tags: Spring 2022, UT System Human Resources
