6/27/2019 ReOrg Update

Email to faculty & staff

From Judith Burstyn, Chair <chair@chem.wisc.edu>
Subject: ReOrg Update: Design and Implementation, First Phase

In mid-June, a group of 20 faculty and staff, including the ReOrg Leadership Team, began working to design and implement new structures for the administrative enterprise and the graduate program administration.

To support this process, this 20-person team is participating in an online program Leading Change, custom designed for our department by our consultants (see details below.) Leading Change includes information on health-promoting work so that we can design our new structure and examine our current jobs through the lens of employee health and sustainable productivity. Leading Change also features leadership development research and activities to support our faculty and staff in increasing their own leadership capacities and self-awareness.

This team is comprised of faculty and staff involved in the first phase of the reorganization efforts. The team is organized into peer partnerships for their work on this project, as listed below:

  • Judith Burstyn & Clark Landis
  • Pat Egan & Char Horsfall
  • Arrietta Clauss & Cheri Barta
  • Hailey Johnson & Cecilia Stodd
  • Matt Sanders & Alan Silver
  • Thomas Brunold & Jeanne Hamers
  • Jim Weisshaar & Steve Burke
  • Kayla Driscoll & Tatum Lyles
  • Tim Kachel & Marc Willadsen
  • Jeff Nielsen & Chad Skemp

About the Consultants

As you know from my previous updates, I have hired consultants to assist in our department’s reorganization. In addition to supporting our Reorganization Leadership Team as we create and lead an implementation process, they also will help us ensure we design realistic and health promoting positions, and ensure that our directors and other personnel feel prepared and supported as they assume new and/or changing roles. Here is more information on their expertise and their role in our reorganization efforts. Some of you may have previously participated in Kathy’s online leadership programs BeAware, BeHealthy and/or BeChange.

Katherine Sanders, PhD earned her doctorate from UW–Madison in industrial and systems engineering and specializes in the research about the ways work systems impact employee health and productivity. I brought Kathy on to help us design a plan that helps us focus on sustainable, fulfilling and healthy working lives. Kathy supports me and the ReOrg Leadership Team, and co-teaches the custom, six-month online program, Leading Change.

Karen Konrath, ACC is a leadership coach and former HR executive who specializes in supporting executives as they lead organizations through changes. She supports me and is co-teaching our custom leadership program, Leading Change.