May 10, 2024

With Radford University’s Spring Commencement ceremonies complete and summer break beginning, it’s a great time to reflect on our recent celebrations. Click on the links below to read stories and watch videos about the ceremonies and our amazing graduates.

Julia Buccola
Artis College of Science
and Technology

Rachel Garrison and
Patrick Keplinger
Davis College of Business and Economics

I’yonah Cartwright
College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences

Noah Haddad
College of Nursing

Brittiany Rorrer
College of Visual and Performing Arts

Troy Stallard
Waldron College of Health and Human Services

After this edition of Radford University CONNECTED, the
e-newsletter will go to a bi-weekly schedule for the summer. Editions this summer will be published on the following Fridays:

Weekly editions will resume following the Aug. 16 edition. If you have time-sensitive information to share with faculty and staff this summer, please plan ahead to submit your content for one of the dates listed above. All content will be due by the end of the day on the Wednesday before the publication date.

We have some breaking news for this edition of Radford University CONNECTED: the Highlander community welcomed a new member on the morning of Friday, May 10 with the hatching of the first osprey egg.

The ospreys returned to their nest in March, perched atop a light pole on campus.

A live video feed of the nest has been available since, helping the campus community keep tabs on the birds. More information about their arrival, the nest and ospreys themselves can be found in a story shared on the Radford website.

In late April, the first eggs appeared, each laid about a half week apart. While we waited for the first egg to hatch, a contest was held to name the expectant parents. The winning names were submitted by Samantha Blevins, an employee in Radford's Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, and are Talon (female) and Tartan (male).

The new parents have been very attentive to the hatchling. In the screen capture from the live feed above, the father is feeding the chick. The other two eggs are expected to hatch, if all goes well, in the next two weeks. 

The Department of Human Resources reminds supervisors that they are required to complete certain processes in a timely and effective manner prior to an employee’s separation date in order to ease the transition and safeguard the university.

Depending on the type of employee, a personnel action may be required to complete the separation. For all full-time employee and 1500-hour wage employee separations, supervisors must complete a separation EPAF as soon as possible after notice of the employee’s separation is received and no later than the separation date. More information on employee separations is available via Human Resources’ EPAF Frequently Asked Questions.

The completion and certification of a separation checklist are required for all employee separations to ensure all final processes are completed by the employee for payroll purposes, collect university-owned property and ensure that system access is updated. Supervisors must complete a separation checklist prior to the employee’s departure. Please see the separation checklist for student employees and all other employees, in addition to employee separation procedures.

Mark your calendar for Radford University Night at the Party in Elmwood, coming up on Thursday, July 11, from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at Elmwood Park in downtown Roanoke.

All Radford University faculty, staff, students and alumni are invited to join in the music, food and fun with the band Gary Lowder & Smokin’ Hot. The food vendor will be Mountain Grille.

Wear your Radford University apparel or bring your Radford ID for FREE entry.

Please note: food and beverages are served on-site. No outside food, drinks or coolers are allowed. Lawn chairs are welcome. Updates due to weather will be available on the Party in Elmwood Facebook page.

The Radford University Center for Career & Talent Development is hosting a number of training sessions for supervisors who will utilize Handshake to post jobs on campus for student employment.

CCTD staff will share information on how to create user accounts, write effective job descriptions, recruit students with specific skill sets and deploy strategies for effective supervision and mentoring, etc. All training sessions will be held in the Career Lab on the third floor of Russell Hall on the following dates:

For more information, contact Debbie Fenderson, Center for Career & Talent Development, at dfenderson@radford.edu.

The campus Starbucks inside the College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences (CHBS) building will be undergoing a much-needed refresh.

Dining Services by Chartwells and University Services are planning to open Honeycomb Commons in the Bonnie Hurlburt Student Center for the Highlander community while this project is being completed. While the specific dates for the Starbucks closure have yet to be determined, it will most likely be mid-June to early August.

Updates about this project will be shared at https://dineoncampus.com/radford or via Dining Services’ social media channels.

In the coming days, Radford University will implement a new design for the digital signs across our campuses in Radford and Roanoke. The new design will feature the university's updated logo and a larger space for the slides being presented, as well as the date and time and a seven-day weather forecast customized to Radford or Roanoke.

The new slide template will not change the way slides should be designed and submitted for display.

 As a reminder, if you would like to submit a slide to run on the digital signs, please be sure to design it in a landscape/horizontal 16 x 9 format. 

If you have questions, please contact Ashlee Claud at aclaud@radford.edu.

Just because it’s summer doesn’t mean nothing is going on in the New River Valley and the Roanoke Valley. In fact, this summer will be hopping on both main campus and Radford University at Carilion (RUC) in Roanoke. Below are some of the events happening in this month.

Radford University Conference Services would like to remind everyone that somey of these groups comprise high school students and are sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education and Radford University. To identify these guests, they will be wearing red Conference Services name tags/lanyards around campus.

In addition to these activities, there will be construction this summer at the following locations on the Radford University main campus: Peters Hall, Martin Hall, the Artis Center for Adaptive Innovation and Creativity and various parking areas where sealing will be taking place.

Watch for more information on these events and activities, and help us welcome everyone to our Highlander communities.