11/05/2018

Happy November MTAS,

Gee, can you believe that it is already November? The year seems to have flown by for me. I just can’t seem to understand how Thanksgiving has come so closely to Valentine’s Day (wasn’t that just a short time ago?). I hope that you had more treats than tricks last week with all the ghosts and goblins. If you’d like to see photos of your costumed co-workers, please check out our social media sites.

The holidays are just around the corner now and the Work Healthy Initiative has got a fun challenge to help you get through without going overboard (it’s called Maintain, Don’t Gain). I’m attaching the two flyers that will give you all the details. I will be enrolling in the challenge and I hope you’ll join me! If you are in Knoxville and don’t have access to a scale, I understand that Jiah has one in her cubicle upstairs. The challenge begins next week…

Last week I attended the TCMA conference in Chattanooga. Ron Harris was a presenter and he was just as engaging as he was at the IPS conference this year. I wrote down a quote from him that struck a chord with me. It was: “If you have two people together, you have diversity. The question is: Do you have inclusion?” This made me think – do we have inclusion at MTAS? If you think the answer is no, please get in touch with me. I’d like to know your thoughts and any ideas you might have for improvement.

Continuing on about the TCMA conference, I want to share with you that several attendees came up to me and bragged on the excellent job you are doing. I think my cheeks hurt after a while from all the smiling. The kudos were directed at the field staff, but we all know that they can’t shine without the support back at the office. Thanks to all of you for allowing me the chance to say “You’re welcome. You are why we’re here and we’re glad to help.”

I’m not done with the week in review just yet. Last week, we had a couple of employees who had milestones. Emily celebrated her birthday on the 28 ^th . Happy Birthday Emily! Also, Michelle Buckner celebrated her work anniversary last week on the 29 ^th . Congratulations Michelle!

Here are a few other things to know:
· Reminder – November 15 at 11:00 in Knoxville, we’ll be honoring Dr. DiPietro as he’ll be retiring later this month. All employees from all offices are welcome to attend the reception. If you plan on going, please RSVP to Melissa Smith with the UT Foundation:
msmith@utfi.org
· The IPS conference will be in Memphis next year from August 13-15. The 12 ^th (a Monday) is scheduled for a travel day. A couple of you have asked if we’ll be having a MTAS retreat attached to the IPS conference. The answer is no. We’ll be having our own event separately at a time to be determined later.
· The Campus Chest Campaign was slated to end November 2. I just checked the website, and it said that Volunteers have pledged 92% of the goal. It reported that IPS was one of the few agencies to exceed its dollar goal. I haven’t gotten our individual results yet, but thanks to all who pledged, and a big thanks to Armintha for once again coordinating our efforts and keeping us on track.
· Sad news: I learned today that Jere Hadley passed away yesterday. He was heavily involved with the city of Covington for many years. He was also a past president of TAMCAR.
· Happy news: the MTAS family has grown (kind of indirectly…). Honna and her husband added a new member to their family – her photo is below. Congratulations!



I hope your November is off to a great start. Please let me know if you have any questions, or if I may be of assistance.

Sincerely,
Margaret