April 29, 2020

t-notes archive

Next Issue: May 6, 2020

Thiel Happenings

Thiel College marks Arbor Day as one of just 18 Tree Campus USA schools in Pennsylvania

Thiel College celebrates Arbor Day as one of just 18 institutions of higher learning in Pennsylvania to be recognized by the prestigious Arbor Day Foundation Tree Campus USA program.

+ Read the full story in the newsroom

Catherine Mott returns to Thiel College’s Board of Trustees

Catherine Mott, chief executive officer of a multi-million dollar investment firm, has rejoined the Thiel College Board of Trustees.

+ Read the full story in the newsroom

Thiel students from around the country send encouragement to senior center residents

Members of the Thiel College student community from as far away as Nevada and as near as neighboring towns joined together and sent letters, photos and notes of encouragement to the residents of St. Paul’s Senior Living Community in Greenville, Pa.

+ Read the full story in the newsroom

Huether is final presenter at Miller Seminar

Rick Huether ’74 has been a member of the Board of Trustees. Huether has been involved with his family business for 44 years and is now the President and CEO of Independent Can Company, which is headquartered in Baltimore. Huether was the speaker for the final installment of the Ruth A. Miller Senior Seminar on April 23, 2020, which was the final class taught by Professor David Miller ’61, H’20, who is retiring at the end of the semester and completing a career that began at Thiel in 1963.

“Mr. Huether also stressed how fast change occurs in the world today. This change provides opportunities for those who are prepared and are able to adapt to change. For example, his company heard about the pandemic in January before it hit the United States, and they began to buy laptops allowing their employees to be able to work remotely. In addition to that, one of their clients established a strong web presence and their sales doubled during the pandemic.”—Andrew Giesey ’20

 “This evening was sadly our last class together. Even with the unfortunate circumstances that forced us all to move to online, I believe the classes went well and allowed us to experience new learning methods. Even though things went well these online classes are no substitutes for the real thing. Meeting with everyone, catching up, and hearing about everyone’s new endeavors was a bright light during a busy week was very enjoyable, and I have missed it. I want to give a big congratulations to all the seniors who will be graduating alongside me! Even though we will not get to meet together to celebrate our great achievements, you have all worked so hard to get to this point and that should be celebrated. I will miss you all and hope we will all be able to meet again for a proper ceremony.”—Annmarie Moore ’20

“For our final senior seminar class and Dr. Miller’s final class, we had the pleasure of listening to Rick Huether speak. Mr. Huether is the President of Independent Can Company, which I had heard about before from my friend Quinn Ursprung, who had done an internship with them. It is a business that has been in Mr. Huether’s family for four generations now, him being the third generation. They are considered an essential business and have been operating through the pandemic in a successful way. This is thanks to some good preparation that they took, including implementing an ERP, a software management system, back in 2017, which is very helpful to them now. In January, they also started to prepare for the possibility of this pandemic, though he said that no one could have expected this. They bought some laptops and other necessary supplies to help them in this time, and they have been very successful.”—Brenna Parsley ’20

“This was one of the most interesting speakers we have had thus far, and I think that it was a great way to end the senior seminar course. I am so thankful to have had a chance to be in this course. I would like to extend a huge thank you to Dr. Miller, Ruth Miller, Roberta Leonard, all our speakers, and the rest of the class, because it all added up to be a fantastic experience.”—Nick Mott ’20

“Mr. Huether also expressed the importance of networking in a successful career. Great ideas come from sharing knowledge. Think tanks are powerful, so you should align yourself with other knowledgeable people. This type of interaction is an investment with strong dividends. If you share your knowledge with others, they will reciprocate. Mr. Huether credits a great deal of his knowledge to networking. He believes that he learns far more from interacting with others and sharing ideas than from solely reading out of books. I believe this is a great piece of advice, and I plan to increase my networking skills in the future. Mr. Huether is a great example of what success looks like, and I believe we can all learn a great deal from him.”—Mariel Hanely ’20

“This was the final Senior Seminar of the semester and the final class taught by Professor Miller. I am forever grateful to participate in this class and to have been taught by Dr. Miller. This was the first course that I was able to take with Dr. Miller, being that this was my first year at Thiel. Being a transfer student, I have experienced all different types of professors and teaching methods but Dr. Miller and this seminar has, by far, had the greatest impact. He will be greatly missed at Thiel College.”—Nathan Catalano ’20

“He believes that a positive outlook is key to a business’s success. If you are negative about your company or goal, (it) will never succeed due to the fact that you don't believe that it will succeed; basically a self-fulfilling prophecy. He also believes that you should hire people smarter than you and stay out of their way. Micromanagement can harm your business, limiting their autonomy as well as aggravating them, possibly enough to leave.”—Michael Damico ’20

“In summary, I want to thank Rick and all the speakers who visited campus this semester. It was a pleasure and special honor to learn from them and the experiences that they shared with us about life and business.”—Charlie Lichtenwalter ’22

TLC’s Sampson retiring after more than 30 years at Thiel College

Barbara Sampson is retiring after 31 years as the administrative assistant in The Learning Commons.

She made the announcement in a Facebook post and in the post thanked her Thiel College colleagues.

“My heartfelt thanks and love to the staff, faculty, administration and most of all the students—past and present—who I have had the honor and pleasure to meet and serve, especially my co-workers in The Learning Commons; Diane Donnelly Eakin, Nancy Katz, Noel Stanger ’07 and Alayna Sharp ’18. I could not be more proud to have been a part of this amazing team so committed to the success of Thiel's students; to Clarissa Arbuckle ’11, Liza Schaef, Tressa Snyder, Allen Morrill, Barbara Long-Cooper ’98, Dr. Greg Butcher, Dr. Liz Frombgen, Debbie Schreiber, Denise Urey ’00, Jennifer Clark, Kim Braden ’01, Dr. George Branch-Trevathan, Charlotte Montozzi, and Angie Wark; and to some amazing men and women I had the pleasure of working with in the past; Deb Mariacher, Dr. Kathleen Ward, Donna Barton, Amy Petruci-Effinite, Carol Jones ’75, Dr. Tami Micsky, Dr. John Rindy, Heather Balas ’01, Martin Black, Dr. Jennifer Griffin, and Jeff ’02 and Kateri Linn.
Most importantly I want to thank my family for their patience and willingness to listen as I made this decision.”

Student News

Office of Admission salutes seniors as its Thiel Team members of the month

The Thiel College Office of Admission recognized the graduating members of The Thiel Team as its team members of the month for May.

Pictured front row (L-R):

Second row:

Not pictured: 

“All of these students have been a huge asset to the Admissions Team. It has been a pleasure to work with them! We cannot wait to see where they go and how they impact the world,” said  Assistant Director of Admission Morgan Steiner ’16.

The Thiel Team comprises students employed by the Office of Admission. The students primarily serve as ambassadors for prospective students and their families, but they are also responsible for a variety of other jobs and including work on mailings, market research, telemarketing, event support and other administrative, professional and office duties.

Special Notes

Inventory is available to browse, but the vendor providing services for the online store has limited customer service availability during this work-from-home period.

 

HR Notes

CARES Act information

The recently passed CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act) provides increased protections and benefits to health plans. These include enhancements to Health Savings Accounts and Flexible Spending Accounts that now cover over-the-counter products and telehealth appointments.

For more detailed information and updates regarding this plan and others, log on to your Employee Navigator. Benefit and relief information will be posted there for your convenience.

If you have any questions, email a member of the Human Resources department Jennifer Clark, Kim Braden ’01 or Kris Whaling.

COVID-19 Employee Assistance Plan

The Human Resources department also has information on the COVID-19 Employee Assistance Plan. Thiel College and Guardian are now providing the WorkLifeMatters Employee Assistance Program through Integrated Behavioral Health to support you and your family. These services are provided at no cost and are available through July 31, 2020

I.T. Phishing Update

On Wednesday, there was a message sent that looked like it was from Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Mike McKinney ’02. It was not. It was an attempt to gather information from our users.

This is the address the Phishing message came from

An examination of the email address shows the spoofed message came from Gmail.com. Any employee who receives a message asking for information of any kind should verify who it is from before replying. Employees must look at the name and the sender’s email address. Hovering the mouse cursor over the name and will also display the address.

If they have not already completed their KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training, they should do it now and follow the safety protocols in that program. Always look twice before replying.

For more information, contact the Solution Center at 724-589-4000.

Facilities Note

To minimize exposure for the Housekeeping staff while maintaining a clean and safe campus, the following adjustments will take place:

If you witness something that requires immediate or emergency attention, please contact Public Safety at 724-589-2222.

Check in for latest Coronavirus updates

Coronavirus updates will be emailed and posted on the website.

Employees who are having difficulties with technology can contact the Solution Center at 724-589-4000 or by email.

Communications collateral

Employees should update the logos used on institutional materials, including email signatures, letterhead, PowerPoint slides, etc. 

Thiel College has used the shield and wordmark combination as the official institutional logo for more than a year. They are the only approved logo for academic co-curricular and institutional use. Additional athletic logo packages are also available.

Email signatures, brand resources, and a job request form are all available online. A Dropbox folder has been set up with instructions and the materials necessary to create new email signatures. Employees can find other Thiel College-branded resources including letterhead, logos and PowerPoint slides in the same folder.

Thiel College community members who need help with communications and marketing initiatives and collateral can now request those services with a job form. The request form is available on the communications and marketing webpage or linked directly below.

For more information, email the office.

Etc.

Tomcat Tributes

Tomcat Tributes recognize the teamwork Thiel College employees exhibit each day. Employees can nominate co-workers for recognition in four categories (Random Act of Kindness, Going the Extra Mile, Had a Great Idea, Just Because).

Connect with Thiel College

    

Publishing Schedule

T-Notes is published weekly during the academic year. It arrives Wednesday afternoons. The next edition will be out May 6, 2020. Send your event or news to tnotes@thiel.edu by noon Monday, May 4 to be published in that week’s edition.

Events

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Thiel College
75 College Ave
Greenville, PA 16125
1-800-248-4435