07/11/2005

IPS Awards - This is it! The deadline for IPS award nominations is next week - Thursday, July 21. So you have a little more than a week to nominate someone. Awards will be presented at the IPS annual conference in Chattanooga in September. So far, only one nomination has been submitted from MTAS. (I can't access the database, but I called IPS to find out how many were in the hopper.)

The only way we'll have someone from MTAS on stage at the IPS conference is if someone from MTAS nominates them. This year's selection committee will include our new Vice President Hank Dye, Kim Arms, Mary Taylor, and two previous winners from different agencies. Here's a link to the database.

The awards are: the Horizon award for nonexempt employees with less than three years service; the Tom and Diane Ballard excellence in public service for nonexempt staff members; the Public Service achievement award for exempt staff members with less than three years service; the Hutchison public service award for exempt staff members; the IPS faculty excellence award for faculty members we've worked with; and the project of the year award for a team working on a project that supports the IPS five-year plan.

MTAS Retreat - Mark your calendar. The MTAS retreat is going to be October 13 and 14. It will start at 2 PM on Thursday and finish about 2 PM on Friday. It will be in middle Tennessee and the exact location will be determined when we bid the hotel rooms. More details later.

TML Meetings - The TML policy committee meetings are going to be on October 13 in Nashville. The legislative conference is going to be March 6 and 7 in Nashville at the Doubletree instead of the Sheraton.

Vacation - I'll be on vacation from July 18 through August 2. Call Mike while I'm gone. Thanks.