We talk a lot about the importance of wellness in the Office of Advancement. We have perhaps never been more focused on this topic than during the pandemic, and the impact of the pandemic on our physical and mental health is unquestionable. Wellness is so important to us that one of the five working groups in the design phase of Building a Better Workplace was dedicated to this topic. 

While the importance of wellness is undeniable, it is also clear that we could use more assistance to support this – particularly as it pertains to our mental health. That is why managers in the Office of Advancement participated in a Workplace Mental Health Leadership^TM Certificate Program dedicated to this team on June 10. Created in collaboration between Morneau Shepell and the Faculty of Health Sciences at Queen's University, this program is the first university-certified program dedicated to developing practical, empathetic, solution-focused leadership skills for managing performance and promoting mental health. 

Between the program June 9 and opportunities for our managers to participate previous to then, 97% of managers in the Office of Advancement have now participated in the Workplace Mental Health Leadership^TM Certificate Program. I believe I speak for our managers when I say that we learned a lot through this program. And we are all committed to doing what we can to support mental health in our workplace.

June 21 is National Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Following so soon after recent discoveries of hundreds of unmarked graves at residential school sites in Canada, this year is a particularly poignant opportunity to recognize and celebrate the heritage, diverse cultures and outstanding achievements of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. It is for this reason that as we celebrate National Indigenous Peoples’ Day, many are wondering what they can do beyond today. Here is one suggestion from the Queen’s community.

In support of the Orange Shirt Day / National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30, Aboriginal Access to Engineering and Q-AISES are coordinating a fundraiser through the Woodland Cultural Centre in Six Nations. Woodland’s Save the Evidence Campaign raises funds to preserve and maintain the site of the former Mohawk Institute Residential School as an interpretive historical site in Ontario so that the stories and experiences of residential school students and survivors continue to be told.
 
Shirts and hoodies are available for $20 and $40 respectively in all sizes from youth small to adult 4XL. Pre-ordering will run until July 31 on the Engineering Store, and orders will arrive in early September. Once arrived, orders will be distributed at Beamish Munro Hall exclusively. Orders will not be mailed out - they must be picked up at campus. 
  
We are happy to share this opportunity with the Office of Advancement. Whatever you decide, I hope everyone will consider how you will mark National Indigenous Peoples’ Day today, and look ahead to the inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30.  

Hopin test survey

Kate Bearse
Executive Assistant, Office of the Vice-Principal (Advancement)

We want to thank you all for attending Advancement Enhancement Day, on June 16! While we got to be together and have fun and learn we also experienced a few new things along the way – testing the new registration system and the platform Hopin that will be used for Homecoming in the fall. Your experience with all of these features is important to us so we can make the process as effortless as possible for our alumni once registration is live and the event takes place.

Please share your honest opinions so we can make improvements where needed. If you would like to provide more in-depth feedback there will be an option to note that at the end of the survey and you will be contacted.

The 1988 Magna Charta Universitatum (MCU)

The 1988 Magna Charta Universitatum (MCU) is a declaration and affirmation of the fundamental principles upon which the mission of universities should be based. Queen’s became one of 900+ signatories to the MCU in 2019, and it was recently updated. The Magna Charta Universitatum 2020 (MCU 2020) was launched at an online conference on June 16 & 17, and Queen’s Principal Patrick Deane also assumed the role of President of the Governing Council of the Magna Charta Observatory on June 14 – the first university leader from the Americas to lead the organization.

Employee spotlight

The Employee Spotlight celebrates the arrival of our new staff by profiling responses they share through a fun and informal survey that will help us get to know them better. Be sure to review these profiles and use these fun facts and tidbits to find commonalities, embrace differences and spark a conversation.  This week we are welcoming two new members to Advancement:

Saige Clark in the position of Communications Officer, Marketing, Communications and Donor Relations. Learn more about Saige and what Gen Z blackhole she sinks into on a regular basis.

Nicole Beaulieu in the position of Associate Director of Advancement, Athletics & Recreation. Learn more about Nicole and what her biggest soft spot is.

Jobs with Advancement

We need your recruitment help. Know great talent that would be a good addition to our team? If so, please promote the vacancies below with your networks and let’s find some amazing new team members.

Applications (including a cover letter and résumé) must be submitted through CareerQ. For additional information on this posting, please reach out to either Carla or the hiring manager for the position you are interested in.

Available Position:

Fun fact

Colours of the university

Queen's official colours are gold, blue, and red - tricolour! The familiar tricolour appears on the university's flag, crest, sports jerseys, and on numerous souvenirs, clothes, publications, and promotional material.

The colours were chosen in 1884 by a committee of the president of the Alma Mater Society and the captains of the university's football and soccer teams.

Previously, the only formally designated colours at the university belonged to the soccer team, whose members wore "dark red stockings, white knickerbockers, and dark-blue jerseys." The committee picked red, blue, and gold after weeks of debate because they were the main colours of the university's coat of arms.

One American newspaper wrote of Queen's touring hockey team in 1899, "The visitors presented rather an odd appearance, because their skating costume contains such a combination of colours as to make the players look like animated sticks of candy or skating barber poles."

By early this century, the red, gold, and blue had become a Queen's trademark and its teams had come to be known as the "Tricolour," a nickname superseded only in recent decades by "Gaels."

Most of Queen's faculties and many of its schools also have adopted colours. Arts and Science, Engineering and Applied Science, and Medicine were first to choose to divide up the tricolour, picking - respectively - red, gold, and blue, colours that are most evident in the faculty jackets worn by many students.