Please bookmark this page as a resource to view upcoming happenings and to access materials from past Berkeley IT events. This page also features different programs we have implemented in the organization towards continuous improvement.
Do you have ideas for social gatherings and want to get involved with event planning? Please email ist-social@berkeley.edu with your suggestions.
Note: Many Berkeley IT events are also included on the One IT calendar.
Upcoming Events |
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All Staff Update Our monthly all-staff is an informal way for us to share information monthly and engage in dialog around the specific issues facing the Berkeley IT organization (e.g. budget, organizational policies, Action Team progress, etc.). |
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Gabriel's Morning Brew 2024 Join our Interim CIO Gabriel Gonzalez for a cuppa jo, tea, or other morning beverage.
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Connect with colleagues anytime for FUN on Slack:
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Past Events |
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2023 |
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Gabriel's Morning Brew |
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Gabriel's Morning Brew |
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One IT Spooktacular A big thank you to Casey Hennig, One IT Program Manager, and co-host Nili Ovaici for putting together a fun Spooktacular! Participants learned about the history of the Jack-o-Lantern, had to make decisions around sleeping with a bunch of snakes vs spiders, played trivia, Pictionary, and more! Summer Scanlon won the Halloween Decoration Contest. The costumes were really awesome for both pets and people! Taneya Neal was the pet costume winner of “Savage Roe the Chucky Doll”. Choosing the staff costume winner was tough but we landed with David Turner as “Zombie Executive Director” in 1st place and Janhavi Deshpande as “Frida Kahlo” in close second. |
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All Staff Update During our October All-Staff, we heard from Wes Johnson and Chara Bui about the Student Tech Experience Wrap-Up and shared the experiences of Luz Contreras, Jenny Bombasaro Brady, Yoshita Mukherjee, and David Turner from their time at the 2023 Educause conference. |
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Gabriel's Morning Brew |
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Gabriel's Morning Brew |
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bIT DEIB Speaker Series: "An Open Conversation about Neurodiversity in the Workplace"
Thursday, Sept. 28 | 3:00 pm | Watch Video Neurodiversity is often misunderstood, poorly defined, or even ignored in the workplace. The umbrella term represents the range of differences in individual brain function and behavioral traits, regarded as part of normal variation in the human population. This panel will share their personal experiences about navigating neurodiversity in the workplace. We will engage in open discussion about the definition of neurodiversity, benefits of neurodiversity in the workplace, and accommodations employers can provide to neurodivergent employees. We welcome questions from the audience and look forward to our conversations. Moderator: Alyssa Kavner (she/they), Vice President of Clinical Training at Easter Seals Panel Members: Ellen McNicoll (she/her), Stephanie Sinn (she/her), Nicole Meyer (she/her). |
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Gabriel's Morning Brew |
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Gabriel's Morning Brew |
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All Staff Update During our August All-Staff, we heard from the Communications and Marketing team. Rita Rosenthal, Jeané Blunt, and Max DiBlasi walked through their request form process and talked about the impact communications have on day-to-day operations, |
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Gabriel's Morning Brew |
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Gabriel's Morning Brew |
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All Staff Update At the All Staff meeting, Gabriel Gonzalez, Interim AVC for IT and Chief Information Officer, started the meeting with a poll about the best summer treats...ice cream and fro-yo topped the list! We heard from Faye Snowden, Director of Technology Program Office & PM for UC Tech, about the highlights from the UC Tech conference. |
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Gabriel's Morning Brew |
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Gabriel's Morning Brew |
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itty bITty desk: A Concert with Wes Johnson Executive Director of Campus IT Experience, Wes Johnson, gave the IT community a glimpse into his world as WesDaRuler. Hailing from Athens, GA, WesdaRuler is an award winning songwriter, rapper, and producer. He performed songs from his music catalogue and answered questions about his inspiration and creative process. Check out his music pages on Spotify and Apple Music. |
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One IT Picnic on the Glade Thank you to everyone who could attend yesterday’s One IT Celebration Picnic, and a big shout out to all the folks who volunteered! We had around 275 folks come out to celebrate across the One IT community from students interning with our Achieve Scholars Program to staff from the Vice Chancellor of Research Office. It was wonderful to reconnect, honor our retirees, and enjoy the sun (once the clouds parted.) If you missed yesterday’s event or wish to revisit the gathering: This picnic was our way of thanking you for your hard work and dedication to UC Berkeley. We hope our pictures convey the fun and camaraderie shared during the day. |
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Gender Diversity and The Language We Use with Wes Chernin Kinrose Speech-language pathologist and transgender educator, Wes Chernin Kinrose (he/him), joins the bIT DEIB Speaker Series to engage in a thoughtful and heartfelt conversation about the queer and trans experience. Wes will explore gender euphoria and gender congruence, and then look at how language and communication within the university setting impacts student success and quality of life. |
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bIT TownHall: Employee Voice Survey Results! Earlier this week, Michelle Davis, Executive Director of bIT People, Performance & Culture presented the results of the recent Listening to Our Community staff engagement survey at Wednesday’s bIT Town Hall. Thank you to everyone who participated in this process. It’s important that we all give attention to how we can best use these community insights to strengthen connections with our work and with each other. |
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All Staff Update At the All Staff meeting, we had two great presentations. One from Michelle Davis and Britt McClintock on an exciting new initiative they are launching: Berkeley IT Culture Champions or bIT_CC. This is a fantastic plan to help build on our DEIBJA/culture work by recruiting members of our bIT to join forces. This will be a 12-month paid internship program for individual contributors. This is an opportunity to create a team of advocates, co-conspirators, and interns to move this work forward. More information and invitation to apply coming soon! |
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Coffee with the CIO (aka Java with Jenn) Thursday, May 25, 2023 | 9-10 a.m. | In-Person |
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The Non-Native Speakers Paradox: Speak English, Can with Padma Vemula In this conversation, Padma Vemula shared her lived experiences and thoughts on creating an inclusive workplace for Non-Native English speakers as they often face linguistic and cultural barriers that can hinder their ability to effectively communicate and collaborate with colleagues. By promoting inclusivity and diversity, as a higher education institution we can not only enhance the overall work environment but can also leverage the unique perspectives and talents of all employees. |
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All Staff Update We had a great time at the bIT All Staff! Liz Marsh updated us on the CIO Search, they are hoping to name an Interim CIO next week! Be sure to include your voice in helping to identify the important qualities and competencies of your next CIO; provide your feedback here by May 5. Michelle Davis gently nudged us to complete all our Foundational Skills Required Trainings along with ACHIEVE conversations, and Terence Phuong provided a budget update. If you missed the All Staff, don’t fret. Watch the Zoom recording | view the slide deck. |
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Coffee with the CIO (aka Java with Jenn) Thursday, April 20, 2023 | 9-10 a.m. | In-Person |
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Berkeley Art Museum Tours Thursday, April 20, 2023 | Tours: 1-2 p.m. & 2-3 p.m. A guided tour of the Berkeley Art Museum on April 20th., located at 2155 Center Street in downtown Berkeley. |
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Coffee with the CIO (aka Java with Jenn) Thursday, April 5, 2023 | 9-10 a.m. | Virtual |
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All Staff Update Thursday, March 23, 2023 | 2-2:50 p.m. We had some great conversations at the bIT All Staff where ~250 colleagues joined to hear some updates on the budget from Terence Phuong and to meet Michelle Davis’s awesome People, Performance and Culture team. The meeting kicked off with the usual section where we provide campus updates and open it up to the room for questions. This week several questions had come in via our submission form so Jenn spent some time answering a few of those, many of which were related to her transition over the next few months. If you weren’t able to attend, the materials are here: slide deck | Zoom recording |
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Coffee with the CIO (aka Java with Jenn) Thursday, March 16, 2023 | 9-10 a.m.| In-person |
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bIT Social Lounge Thursday, March 2, 2023 | 3-4 p.m. Thanks to out bIT Fun Committee! This Zoom-based social event was a good time! We were able to laugh and chat with our friends and colleagues on topics of shared interest. |
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All Staff Update Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023 | 2-2:50 p.m. This week’s bIT All Staff was jam-packed with updates, introductions, and fun!! Michelle Davis urged everyone to take the bIT Employee Voice Survey (more on that below), Terence Phuong provided a 2850 Telegraph move update along with the latest news on the campus budget, and we met the bIT Strategy and Partnerships Team, led by Liz Marsh. |
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Coffee with the CIO (aka Java with Jenn) Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023 | 9-10 a.m.| In-person |
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Coffee with the CIO (aka Java with Jenn) Thursday, Feb. 7, 2023 | 9-10 a.m.| Virtual via Zoom |
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bIT New Year's Virtual Happy Hour Friday, Feb. 3, 2023 We enjoyed conversation and community online as we shared recipes of our favorite happy hour apps (no, not the digital kind), we talked about food (appetizers) and beverages. We did a virtual toast to the new year and held a raffle which meant chances to win fun prizes. |
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bIT New Year’s party Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023 After a quiet, rainy, and restful winter break it felt fantastic to reconnect with so many of you yesterday at our bIT New Year’s party. We had some laughs, a photo booth, delicious food, some great raffle prizes, and my homemade plum jam! Shoutout to Margarita Zeglin, Stephanie Dunn, Simone Burns, Summer Scanlan, and Chris Bartlett for helping to create a fantastic event. Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate. Stay tuned for info in the coming weeks for a virtual celebration we will host to be sure all of our fully remote bIT members have a chance to celebrate too. Did you snap some fun photos yesterday? Upload them & view more event pics here |
