12/17/2018

Greetings MTASers,

Welcome to another MTAS Mustard. This is the penultimate newsletter for the year. As I begin to wrap a few things up (literally and figuratively), I want to remind you of why I call this communication the Mustard. There are two reasons; the first being that I believe MTAS “cuts the mustard.” I interpret this saying to mean that those who cut the mustard are a step ahead/above and meet (if not exceed) standards. The second reason is purely a play on words since IPS has the weekly Catchup. A little alliteration doesn’t hurt either.

Last week the MTAS Advisory Board met in Nashville for two half days. On the agenda were discussions about the MTAS mission, vision and values statements, along with bylaws updates to add some clarifications, voting for chair and vice chair leadership positions, and a brief update on the status of hires at MTAS. We spent most of our time working through some quality improvement questions and answers. The board gave me some great feedback (truly a gift), and I look forward to incorporating their inputs as we move forward. Also, I welled up with pride during the meeting each time an advisory board member gave a “shout out” to a team member who had delivered excellence. These were completely unprompted and there were several rounds. You do great work and I want you to know that I hear about it. I imagine this is sort of like the feeling a parent gets when his or her child brings home a strong report card.

Also last week was the IPS Leadership Academy graduation ceremony. Congratulations to Elisha, Gary and Abb on completing an accelerated program. Elisha was elected from her cohort to speak on behalf of the graduating class. I got prideful again – yep, couldn’t help myself.

The IPS Leadership Team met last week also. We talked about the upcoming Annual Performance Review (APR) process. Please refer to Tomi’s email dated last Friday, December 14^th for specifics on what the university requires.

I can’t let a Mustard end without happy birthday wishes going to Ronnie (December 12) and Justin (December 14) and a happy work anniversary to Cyndy (December 9). Can you believe it’s already been five years since Cyndy joined the MTAS family? Congratulations on the milestone Cyndy!

If Friday is your last work day for the rest of the calendar year, then happy new year! I hope you all have a fabulous week off next week and come back refreshed and rejuvenated to accomplish terrific things in 2019. As Tess Davis (former MTASer) used to say: “See ya on the flip side!”

Sincerely,
Margaret