President’s Pen
by Betty Lonis, SPHR

Andrea Davis, Kim Vosburg and I recently attended the SHRM Leadership Conference for volunteer leaders. The conference provided us with an opportunity to reflect on our accomplishments, and more importantly, gather new ideas for how to move the chapter forward. I certainly came away from the conference feeling energized and with a rekindled passion to leave a legacy of continuous improvement to this chapter and for our members. It will be with this passion and increased knowledge that we will go into our 2004 planning session in early January with the Board.

This past year has seen a lot of changes in our chapter. We should be very proud of our accomplishments. The Board of Directors has worked extremely hard this year, as well as our many committee volunteers. I will provide you with a recap of our accomplishments in the January newsletter. After all, the year isn’t quite over!

With the new year, there will be some changes to our Board. We welcome the following new Board members:

• Cherilyn Stephens, PHR as Director of Membership,
• Helena Masters, PHR as Director of Finance,
• Bill Kenealy, PHR as Director of Certification and
• Brian Cox as Director of EMA Indiana Special Interest Group.

And we have several returning board members:

• Roger Greenawalt, Vice President – Membership,
• Terri Ryckaert, PHR Director of Public Relations,
• Kellie Miller Director of Marketing,
• Andrea Davis, SPHR Vice President-Programs, President Elect,
• Jeff McKinney, SPHR Director of Programs,
• Linda Phipps, PHR Secretary,
• Debbie Williams, SPHR as Treasurer,
• Patty Edwards as Director of Legislative Affairs,
• Cindy Wenz, SPHR as Director of Education,
• Rob Aspy, SPHR as Director of Diversity and
• Kim Vosburg, SPHR as Past President.

I believe that this provides us with a great mix of fresh ideas from those just joining as well as the opportunity to continue to build on the strength of the current Board from those who will remain.

I would again like to recognize three Board members who are leaving their positions at the end of this year. Stan Phariss, SPHR Treasurer, Patty Rowe Director of Membership, and Kelly Gangl, SPHR Director of Certification will all be stepping down from the Board at the end of this year. Each of them has contributed significantly to the Board and we thank them for their efforts and commitment to this chapter.

Karen Burch, Ed.D., Chapter Management Professional will be leaving the Board. Karen has been a valued member of our Board and has served our chapter over the past several years, and we thank her for her many contributions. Mark Records, President of MP Records Communications, Inc., will become our new Chapter Management Professional effective December 1. MP Records currently serves as our newsletter and online service provider. Karen and Mark will work in parallel during the month of December to ensure a smooth transition of our chapter management operations. Look for more information to come regarding this change!

I want to take this opportunity to announce that the proposed By-Law amendments that were announced in our November newsletter were approved by the membership at our November meeting. You may view a full copy of our Chapter’s By-Laws by clicking here.

And finally, the Board joins me in wishing you and your families a wonderful holiday season! We hope to see you at our December meeting!

Please feel free to contact me at 317-277-5345 or through e-mail at president@hraci.org.

Happy Holidays!

HRACI Presents Holiday Celebration

Join your friends and colleagues for a spectacular Holiday Celebration!
We hope you'll take some time out of your busy holiday schedule to celebrate the season with your friends and colleagues at HRACI. No formal sit-down lunch this month, instead join us for festive food, fun, and lots of great door prizes!

Special thanks to our door prize sponsors:
Avisent
Equity Corporate Housing
F.C. Tucker
FlashPoint
Hylant Group
Marsh McLennan
Somerset Accountants & Advisors
Wholesale Ticket Service
Locke Reynolds
Century 21 Scheetz Relocation Services
Barnes & Thornburg
Manpower
Indiana Wesleyan University
Oakwood Corporate Housing
Bill Campbell, HR Business Consultant
Zee Medical
B&D Navigator
Landmark Clearing, Inc.
Milestone Contractors
Stewart & Irwin, P.C.
Eli Lillly
Shumsky Promotions
HR Dimensions
Alexandria's
Indianapolis Colts
MP Records Communications, Inc.
Galyans
Rolls Royce
Spherion Human Capital Consulting & Spherion Professional Recruiting Group

Please contact Andrea Davis, andrea@FlashPointHR.com, if your organization would like to donate a door prize.

Thank you! (Workplace Experience in the Classroom)
by Wanda L. Worley

Thanks to Brenda Moore, Director of Human Resources for Oxford Financial Group, LTD; Wendy Colburn, Human Resources Manager for Indianapolis Motor Speedway; and Cathi M. Taylor, Human Resources Benefits Specialist for Rehabilitation Hospital of IN, what could have been a simple classroom assignment took on real world significance for my students. Let me explain.

I teach technical communications in the School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI. The particular experience I’m writing about occurred in TCM 360, Communication in Engineering Practice. Many of the students attending this class are ready to graduate; so having the students write a cover letter and resume is appropriate and timely. The assignment is the first one of the semester.

Wanting the assignment to go beyond an academic exercise for the students, I told them experts in the workplace would be critiquing their resumes. The critique was already on the students’ assignment schedule, so I began looking for people in the workplace who had experience hiring and who would be willing to visit my class on the specific date.

The friends I enlisted were either tied up or out of town with other commitments; I was definitely not having any luck when someone suggested I ask Terri Ryckaert, our own Student Placement Specialist, if she knew anyone who could help me.

Within days, Terri had recruited the three wonderful, generous, and talented people mentioned above. AND they all could be in my class on the required date.

My class is small with 17 students, so I divided them in three groups; Brenda worked with one group, Wendy with the second group, and Cathi with the third group. Brenda, Wendy, and Cathi then read and critiqued the students’ resume in their group, meeting with each student one-on-one.

My students found the experience invaluable. Having a professor tell them how to write a resume is one thing, but having experts in the field talk with them specifically about their resumes was something quite different. Possibly the most value lesson they learned is that there is no ONE right way to write a resume and that what’s right for one situation and person may not be right for another.

We’re nearing the end of the semester and I recently met with each student to discuss their final projects. I took the opportunity to ask them what had worked well in the class and what changes they would suggest to make the class better for future students. Without prompting from me, at least eight of the 17 mentioned the resume assignment and having "real" people critique it as one of the most valuable parts of the class.

So thanks, Brenda, Wendy, and Cathi, for sharing your time and expertise with my students and for making the assignment so worthwhile for them!

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