The UA Division of Human Resources will be holding the first ever Campus Resources Expo for university employees Wednesday. According to Dave Magoon, organizational consultant of human resources, the expo will feature different organizations as well as several presentations in breakout rooms.
This is the first year the university will put on the expo. According to Magoon, the idea partly came from the process of revising the orientation for new university employees.
“Originally, we thought this would be a good thing for new employees because they can have a place where they can go and see about a lot of different kinds of resources,” Magoon said. “Then we thought, since we’re putting this in place, it would probably have a lot of relevance for the entire campus community.”
Magoon said the planning for the expo has been ongoing for around six months.
The event planners first focused on making sure the organizations which people were most curious about were at the event. They were also focused on increasing attendance to the expo, according to Magoon.
“We’re very excited to put it out there. I think we’re going to see what happens and what works,” Magoon said. “My hope is that it would at least be annual or possibly even twice a year. But we’re going to see it, look at our numbers and see what makes sense.”
In order to raise the expo’s attendance, there has been a marketing campaign for the event geared towards faculty, classified staff and appointed professionals. Magoon said even though students weren’t directly asked to attend, it doesn’t mean they can’t.
“It might be interesting to them to just find out about some of the resources that are available to employees as well,” Magoon said. “They are certainly welcome to come by.”
In order to show what resources are available to employees, Magoon said the expo set up will allow them to visit different organizations within one setting, which he calls “one-stop-shopping.”
“I think what it will allow [employees] to do is to have a more in-depth conversation with representatives from these various organizations,” Magoon said. “So they may have questions specific to their situations, say it had to do with benefits or if it had to do with professional development, so they may be able to ask more elaborate questions and have a chance to talk in greater detail.”
Along with helping employees understand their resources more, the expo offers the participating organizations an opportunity to share their experiences and goals. One of the organizations that will be at the expo is Campus Recreation, which will host giveaways, free massages and other activities at the event.
According to Heather Kleeman, outreach coordinator of Campus Recreation, the organization is looking forward to explaining its membership options to faculty.
“A lot of times when we just interact with faculty and staff they’re not aware of all the opportunities we have available for them,” Kleeman said. “We’re definitely going to be taking advantage of the expo fair and the marketing that human resources is doing, so we’re hoping that a lot of people will show up and be interested in everything that we have to offer. It’s a fabulous opportunity for us to showcase all of the benefits and amenities that we have for staff and faculty.”
According to the Division of Human Resource’s website, there will be around 30 organizations, ranging from the UA Poetry Center to the Faculty Senate, participating in the expo.
All of the participating organizations will have the opportunity to explain their resources to employees and will provide them a chance to ask questions. Magoon said this information exchange is an important outcome from the expo.
“I know that even in putting this together, I’ve already learned about parts of the organization I wasn’t aware of or things that are available to employees that I wasn’t aware of,” Magoon said. “I think this will give [employees] a broader understanding and appreciation for what’s available out there and the richness of the campus.”
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