26 employees graduate second-year Business Manager Certification program

The second class of participants in the University Business Manager Certification program recently graduated and were recognized for their accomplishments.

The program, offered through the Department of Financial Services, provide professional development for teams managing department financial resources using accounting, budgeting, and financial analysis methods and a range of personnel processes.

“Similar to its inaugural year, the program began with a short orientation session in November 2014, followed by four core workshops in the spring semester of this year, the first two focusing on human resources topics, such as teamwork, workplace communication, change management and meeting effectiveness,” said Alicia Bartosch, one of the program organizers. “The last two workshops focused on finance and business services topics, such as disbursement methods, cash management over receipts, financial reporting best practices, alignment with strategic goals, business processes and process documentation, internal controls, and business continuity. Our first-year program graduates were assigned as mentors to each participant to provide guidance on professional and personal development goals.”

This year’s participants’ capstone presentations included the following themes and/or takeaways:

• The value of networking, building relationships and transferring knowledge
• The significance of knowing and using available resources to conduct University business
• The importance of approaching change in a positive manner
• Resolving conflict by centering on items everyone agrees upon
• Creating focused, pre-planned, realistic agendas to lead successful meetings
• The results created when mixing five generations; understanding and embracing differences
• The necessity of aligning department goals and tasks with University and divisional strategic plans
• The importance of process documentation and regularly evaluating processes for improvement

Capstone sessions were attended by supervisors, mentors and other University personnel, including Associate Vice Chancellor of Finance Paul Forte and University Controller Laura Williams, who congratulated each graduate.

Program graduates for 2015 were: Cheryl Almond, political Science and public administration; Patricia Artis and Kim Davis, bioinformatics and genomics; Jessica Barton and Sandra Soriano, Belk College of Business; Patricia Bridges and Lydia Lawson, College of Computing & Informatics; Juandra Burris, academic services; Theresa Butler and Carolyn Irving, research and economic development; Laura Craig and Denise Fluellen, grants and contracts administration; Cynthia Gray, Multicultural Academic Services Office; Cyndi Hovis, psychology; Tracee Jackson, Center for Optoelectronics and Optical Communications; Shawnie Kent, recreational services; David Landrum, communication studies; Samantha Mello, Student Union; Laini Pound, mechanical engineering; Sheri Rice, Beth Rucker, April Spruill and Mary Welsh, College of Arts + Architecture; Karyn Romary and Judy Vitallo, ITS; and Margaret Williams, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.