January 10, 2025

Hannah Odum, “Winter Bridge”
Hannah Odum is an M.F.A. candidate in painting who works in landscape scenes primarily based in the Blue Ridge mountains. Born and raised in Fort Chiswell, Virginia, Hannah‘s work focuses on atmospheric conditions like weather and light and how they can be used to obscure and reveal aspects within a landscape. Hannah also owns a photography business that can be found at www.hannahbethphotos.com, and she displays images of other paintings on her artist website at hannahbeth.art.

Radford University’s Division of Student Affairs saw these record-breaking moments in 2024:

The Office of Marketing and Communication will make some updates to Lytho request forms and processes as well as enhance our offerings this year in an effort to improve the quality of deliverables and service we provide to our clients.

As part of this effort, we will eliminate the Rush Request option in Lytho on Monday, Jan. 13, and will ask clients to submit their requests with longer lead times in advance of their final deadline. This change will give us more time to fulfill all requests with high-quality deliverables.

In 2024, 22% of the nearly 700 Lytho requests we received were Rush Requests; one in five requests asked for deliverables to be turned around in less than three weeks. (Three weeks is our standard turnaround time due to the high volume of requests received.) Many of these Rush Requests asked for a one-week turnaround or less. These Rush Requests require us to divert attention and resources away from other requests already in our work queue.

Following is a good rule of thumb to apply: When a project or event requiring marketing and/or communication support hits your calendar, please be sure it “hits our calendar.” At a minimum, please submit requests for support at least three weeks before the final deadline. Large, complex project or event requests requiring planning meetings and multiple deliverables should be submitted with even more lead time.

If you have an unexpected urgent need for marketing and communication support, please contact our office at univrel@radford.edu or call 540-831-5182.

Thank you for your partnership in these efforts to improve our work for you. 

The Czech National Philharmonic Orchestra was scheduled to take the stage in the Artis Center at Radford University on Jan. 30. Unfortunately, the orchestra has had to cancel its U.S. tour due to issues securing all necessary work visas.

There will still be two University Performance Series events this semester. Please join us for these events:

The Office of Marketing and Communication will take headshot photos for any new employees on main campus who need one for the website directory, as well as for returning employees who would like a more current photo for the directory. If you are interested in having your photo taken, please come to the Photo Studio (adjacent to the Marketing and Communication suite 115 on the first floor of Martin Hall) during one of the following times:

An announcement for dates and times for Roanoke headshots is forthcoming.

The Radford University Department of Facilities Maintenance and Operations is announcing an improved process for space requests to enhance the quality of service it provides to customers.

As part of this initiative, the current paper process on the Facilities Maintenance and Operations forms webpage will be replaced with a revised, Kuali-based submission process on Monday, Jan. 13. Customers will be asked to submit their requests via this updated link moving forward.

The new Kuali workflow introduces enhanced options that will automatically route requests to the appropriate stakeholders, streamlining the approval process and reducing delays.

To support this transition, a brief training session will be held during the Jan. 16 Staff Senate meeting.

Facilities Maintenance and Operations appreciates your patience as it implements and refines this new process to better meet the campus needs.

The Office of Career and Talent Development will host the following events in February. Please let your students know about these opportunities.

Radford University’s Office of Human Resources will host the following training opportunities for employees in January and February. All sessions will be provided via Zoom. Use the links provided for each session to view course descriptions and objectives. To register, complete the form for the session you would like to attend.

Also, don’t forget about Radford University’s new learning platform, Udemy Business. Full-time employees can access the platform through their OneCampus account. Search for Udemy and select the tile to log in.

Udemy Business fun fact: 26.6% of employees who have used the platform have spent time learning business skills, with Microsoft Excel, Microsoft SharePoint and Adobe Acrobat being the top courses taken.

The College of Visual and Performing Arts would like to recognize Radford University Interior Design Professor Laura Kimball, who was interviewed by Sarah McConnell of the “With Good Reason” public radio broadcast for the Dec. 20, 2024 episode, “Christmas Stories.” Kimball’s segment is entitled “How the Grinch Taught Us To Decorate.”

“With Good Reason” airs weekly on 135 public radio stations.

Join Academic Technologies on Wednesday, Jan. 15, at 10 a.m. via Zoom during the January Our Turn session for a chat with Sam Chandrashekar, D2L’s global accessibility lead; Carin Headrick, senior accessibility strategist; and Bryn Livingstone, a high school co-op student working with the D2L accessibility team this semester.

This discussion will include firsthand experiences of learning with vision impairments; a demonstration of the features in D2L to design content and delivery for students who are blind or have low vision; and information on locating D2L’s Accessibility Academy and other resources for instructors to support students using screen readers and screen magnifiers in the classroom.