The Water Cooler, September 2020
- September 23, 2020
- Campus, Homepage News
In this issue of the Water Cooler we are pleased to highlight a number upcoming professional development and networking opportunities including a virtual leadership workshop at the Edwards Campus and webinars over personal branding and the power of storytelling to build inclusive environments.
In addition to these opportunities and other helpful articles, check out updates and announcements for KYou Networking week featuring eleven different virtual industry meet-ups during KU Homecoming, Sept. 28 – Oct. 3.
Please join us for KU Homecoming and spread the word, as we Rock Chalk Around the (Career) World.
Rock Chalk.
Howard Graham, g’08, PhD’19 Director of the Jayhawk Career Network |

A number upcoming professional development and networking opportunities including a virtual leadership workshop at the Edwards Campus and webinars over personal branding and the power of storytelling to build inclusive environments


Let’s Talk: Rock Chalk Around the World |
JAYHAWK CAREER NETWORK |
Recent grad lands job through Jayhawk Facebook connection Jessica Guardiola is the former SALB President of the Student Alumni Network. Take a sneak peek at how Guardiola, c’20, used familiar Jayhawk connections to land a job after graduating from KU.
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KU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION |
Rock Chalk Around the World at KU Homecoming Homecoming may look different this year but we’re still excited to celebrate Jayhawk pride. Events have been reimagined and new events have been added including:
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JAYHAWK CAREER NETWORK |
Create a Bridge to opportunities Bridges is KU’s marketplace for connecting students and recent grads to real-world, experiential projects that benefit your business.
The Bridges marketplace is fueled by individuals like you – fellow alumni, families, and businesses. In minutes, you can create short-term, virtual projects for students and alumni to help them launch their careers.
Need a logo created? Bridges can help. Need a social media campaign created? Bridges can help. Need data analyzed? Bridges can help.
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HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW |
How to get people to actually participate in virtual meetings These days it’s hard to get people to pay attention in any meeting, but when people aren’t in the same room, it can be especially difficult. And it’s particularly annoying when you make a nine-minute argument, pause for an expected reaction, and get: “I’m not sure I followed you” which might as well mean: “I was shampooing my cat and didn’t realize I would be called on.”
In situations where you can’t demand attention with ocular oppression, you have to learn to do what we should’ve mastered long ago: create voluntary engagement. In other words, you have to create structured opportunities for attendees to engage fully.
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CAREER CONTESSA |
The 5 best tools to calculate your salary + know your worth Salary transparency has found itself in the hot seat lately, especially as countless articles and studies shed light on the wage gap.
Well, it’s time to put an end to that and start asking for what you’re worth. Which isn’t to say that your net worth ever represents your self-worth. We’ll say it louder for the people in the back: your self-worth is not your net worth.
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Compassionate Conversations |
ED SURGE |
DEI work is more important than ever. But how do we do it remotely? Many companies have shown their support through blast emails and social media posts. But how can they go from words to actions and meaningfully foster diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) after many rapidly converted to operating remotely due to COVID-19?
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CAREER CONTESSA |
The importance of psychologic safety at work for women of color It should not come as a surprise that many of the events and actions that threaten the physical and psychological safety of women of color in the world also play out in the workplace.
Women of color often experience stigmatization when they assert themselves or express dissenting views in the workplace.
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CAREER CONTESSA |
19th Amendment Centennial Series: Women Voted Here Before Columbus To explore the historical legacies of the passage of the 19th Amendment one hundred years ago, please join the virtual event on Sept. 24 for “Women Voted Here Before Columbus: The Haudenosaunee Influence on the Women’s Suffrage Movement.”
During this virtual event, Louise Herne, a Bear Clan Matron of the Mohawk Nation and Haudenosaunee Knowledge Guardian, and Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner, author of the intersectional anthology The Women’s Suffrage Movement (2019), will discuss the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) influence on early U.S. feminists.
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Campus Connections |
KU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION |
Find your flock during Kyou Networking Week Powered by the Jayhawk Career Network and coupled with KU Homecoming, this is your opportunity to connect with Jayhawks around the globe in your specific career industry.
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KU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION |
Personal Branding: Embrace Your Authentic Self to Stand Out and Thrive Personal Branding is becoming an essential part of professional success. This is not only true if you are looking for a new job, or looking to switch careers, it is also important within the workplace to make sure you get the promotion you want, achieve greater visibility for increased responsibilities, or to make sure your daily efforts and accomplishments are noticed.
By having a strong personal brand, you enhance your visibility, build your credibility, gain recognition, and stand out from the crowd to move your career forward.
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KU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION |
The Jayhawk Business Directory is the newest way to increase exposure to your business through our directory of alumni-owned and operated businesses.
List your business on the Jayhawk Business Directory so that ‘Hawks everywhere can support you and your company.
Adding your business to the directory is exclusive to KU Alumni members and current corporate partners*.
List your business |
KU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION |
Making it Personal: The Power of Storytelling for Building Inclusive Environments What is the secret ingredient to effective diversity, equity, and inclusion learning? Initiatives that lead to sustainable change focus on empathy skills/perspective taking of the “other” and goal setting to encourage behavior change.
Storytelling can help us accomplish both perspective taking and goal setting. We’re all more than just one dimension or one story.
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KU LIFELONG & PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION |
Leadership Live One-Day Workshop: Building a Winning Culture A healthy organizational culture contributes to positive business performance and to employee satisfaction. Its importance has been proven by research studies and by best-practice companies. But a great culture is elusive.
In this program, we explore the three essential levels of organizational culture: artifacts, espoused values, and underlying assumptions. A deep understanding of these levels is necessary before lasting cultural changes can occur.
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Featured Job |
KU ALUMNI JOB BOARD |
The University of Kansas Cancer Center is hiring! The Clinical Trial Fiscal Analyst will work with our PostAward Finance team to ensure billing is in compliance with pharmaceutical industry sponsor contracts.
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Featured Jayhawk Business |
JAYHAWK BUSINESS DIRECTORY |
Jayhawk: Alaina Van Blaricum, ’20 Location: Olathe, KS
Collegiate Canines is a proud partner of the KU Alumni Association. Offering 100% genuine, double-layered leather dog collars for your favorite universities in vibrant, waterproof designs that are built to last!
Support Collegiate Canines and more KU businesses on the Jayhawk Business Directory. |

Events |
Humanities in the Wild – New Farmers What compels today’s farmers? New Farmers highlights the hope, creativity, endurance, and possibility that motivates new and emerging farmers and inspires the various futures they work toward. 7 p.m. CT |
Find your flock with fellow Jayhawks working in your career field. With careers ranging from Performing & Fine Arts to Jayhawks in Tech, there’s sure to be an event that suits your interests. Plus, we’d love to feature Jayhawks who excel in their field. Sept. 28-Oct. 1 |
Free History: Flour Power! Kansas Mexican-Americans & Food Free History is a series of video interviews with historians and activists, touching on connections between historical events and human rights today. From the Civil War to current civil rights movements, these speakers will connect past with present! Monday, Oct. 5 |
San Antonio Jayhawk Network | An Evening with Author Alan Craven Join the San Antonio Jayhawk Network for a book reading/discussion of “Till We have Built Jerusalem”, a novel about the American Civil War in Kansas and Missouri written by Alan Craven (c’58, g’63, Phd’65). 7 p.m. CT |
Join the Kansas City Jayhawk Alumni Network for a virtual happy hour! 5 p.m. CT |

