Are you a member of the Condolences Listserv? In September 2010, OED responded to several faculty and staff requests encouraging greater campus communication regarding the loss of a team member and the sharing of a team member’s personal loss for support.
As a result the Condolences Listserv was created and launched on September 15, 2010 for each UTHSC employee to join through a voluntary subscription process. The purpose of the Condolences Listserv is to provide UTHSC faculty and staff employees a voluntary option to subscribe to a campus-based listserv to announce the loss of a team member and/or communicate when loss occurs in a team member’s immediate and extended families to include funeral arrangements/services.
There are some guidelines with the subscribed list that is moderated by the Office of Equity and Diversity staff. Specifically, the death of a team member, faculty or staff employee’s parent or foster parent, sister, brother, spouse, child, step-child, father-in-law, mother-in-law, step-parent, grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, partner warrants communication through the Condolences Listserv by subscribers.
In conclusion, diversity is often described as being similarities and differences, but for each of us grief is a normal part of life that inevitably touches all of us. When a member of the UTHSC community is grieving the loss of a loved one, colleague or co-worker, the entire workplace feels the effect. To subscribe to the list, interested parties should go to https://listserv.uthsc.edu/mailman/listinfo/condolences.
If you have additional questions call 448-2112.