Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Feature by: Staff Advisory Council

Staff Advisory Council (from left): Sarah Bell, Veronica Ortiz, Tebraie Banda-Johns, Kat Jimenez, Mónica Hernández Williams (Chair), Victoria Wolff ’12, Peter Shultz, Alison Wallisch ’05 and Everardo Carranza. Not pictured: Nadir Ovcina ’17.

As the academic year comes to a close, we’d like to take a moment to reflect and share a few highlights from the work of the Staff Advisory Council (SAC). This is a sampling of the initiatives, conversations and collaborations we’re proud to have been part of this year.

One of our goals was to increase SAC’s visibility on campus. We’ve hosted regular open office hours—both in person and remotely—and worked to hear from staff in all corners of our campus. Our Sweets with SAC event was a sweet success, and the stress balls were a popular bonus. We’re excited to host more events like this in the future.

We’ve also been building stronger connections with faculty. In the fall, we met with the Chair of the Faculty and later gathered with the Division Chairs over coffee to learn more about each other’s work and explore ways to support one another.

The most impactful accomplishment this year was advancing staff representation in college decision-making. We meet regularly with campus leadership. Our efforts have led to gaining staff representation at the Board of Trustees meetings. SAC also advocated for staff inclusion on leadership hiring committees, starting with the Associate Vice President for Human Resources search. We’re excited to share that SAC will also have a seat on the upcoming search committee for the Vice President for Inclusive Excellence.

We hope this update gives you a glimpse into how we’re working to elevate staff voices and strengthen our campus community. Many efforts are still in progress and not listed here, so if you have questions or a topic you'd like to share, please reach out to a SAC representative, email us at sac@whitman.edu or use our anonymous form.

In the spirit of collectively celebrating successes in our Whitman community, we invite you to brag a little about the personal and collective accomplishments in your professional and personal lives. Were you recently published? Did you win an award or secure a competitive research grant? Did your office, department or student organization accomplish a long-term goal or finish a time-intensive project? We would love to celebrate your good news with you!

Sherwood Athletic Center:

Baker Ferguson Fitness Center:

Cleveland Commons will operate on normal hours through Thursday, May 22.

Cleveland Espresso will operate on normal hours through Thursday, May 22.

Reid Market will operate on normal hours through Tuesday, May 20.

Jewett Café will be closed from Wednesday, May 21, to Sunday, May 25. Extended summer hours—Monday–Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. (weekend hours to be announced)—will begin Monday, May 26.

All seniors are urged to take the Senior Survey before leaving Whitman College. Enter your Whitman ID number to access the survey. Responses are due by Monday, May 26. Participants are not required to answer every question. This survey is an important way the Whitman administration assesses the overall educational program of the college, and results of this survey will help develop more effective programs and policies to meet the ever-changing needs of Whitman students.

Summer Reading Bingo is back at Penrose Library! Pick up a bingo card and use it to guide your summer reading, then bring it back in September for a chance to win a prize. Follow @penroselibrary on Instagram for book recommendations throughout the summer. 

9–11 a.m.

Final Exams

Various Locations

12:10–12:50 p.m.

Grieving@Whitman

Reid Campus Center, All Faiths Room

12:10–12:50 p.m.

Movement That Matters: Strength & Stretch

Sherwood Athletic Center, Room 114

2–4 p.m.

Final Exams

Various Locations

Would you like to share an event with campus? Submit the information to the Events Calendar.

Whitman Today is emailed to Whitman College staff, faculty and students each weekday during the academic year and twice a week during breaks. An archive of previous issues is available online.

All submissions are welcome! If you have accomplishments to celebrate, an event to publicize or other Whitman content to share, email whitmantoday@whitman.edu. Submissions of 125 words or less are due by noon on the business day prior to publication. Submissions may be edited and/or held for a later date according to space and editorial needs. Your submission also authorizes use on Whitman's social media unless otherwise specified.

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