HR Quarterly - Fall 2024
Message from the Associate Vice President
Greetings, Western Staff, Students and Faculty,
Welcome to the new academic year! The past year has been full of significant change for our community. We have faced budgetary challenges, a very divisive political landscape as we approach the 2024 election, and deeply impactful social justice movements. Through it all, we have grown together as a community, and I have witnessed remarkable strength and grace as we navigate our path forward.
As we enter the new academic year, I am incredibly optimistic about what lies ahead. We can achieve anything when we work together towards shared goals and a unified purpose. I encourage you all to support one another, express appreciation for each other, and continue fostering the collaborative spirit of WWU.
Human Resources is here to support and find collaborative solutions for all your needs. Whether you are staff, faculty or a student, we are all in this together, and I am pleased to welcome you on this adventure.
Best wishes for your successful year ahead!
Liz Parkes
Associate Vice President – Human Resources
HR Updates
Visit the newly created student jobs page for student employment information and supervisor resources.
Featured Stories
Shoutouts
Kennedy is great!
Shout-out to Katie, HR Reception for providing excellent customer service to all staff and faculty who come to HR. She’s a patient listener and quick to get employee’s in front of the right HR member to help answer their questions.
Buffi is always friendly, upbeat, and approachable. You can ask her anything and she replies with a smile!
Liz's leadership of HR has brought together a strong and committed team of HR folks. It's a pleasure to work with her.
Shout-out to Payroll for keeping the paychecks coming despite system hiccups and shutdowns!
A shoutout to Katie for being proactive with communications to new employees regarding completing their new hire paperwork. For the first time in several years, we have all of our new faculty setup with their new accounts PRIOR to their Sept. 16th start date!
Shout-out to Ryan for taking on the big job of student employee contract negotiations after just a few weeks on the job…and then training us all on the changes!
Multiple shoutouts for Janelle from Open House, "I wanted to thank Janelle in person for all of her help and hard work", "Janelle was so helpful and our consultation was very informative"!
Shout out to Toni, Kaylan and Tara for their willingness to jump right in and help when needed!
Shout out to David Weiss and Benny Musonda! 🎉 Your support for the Human Resources department has been absolutely stellar. Whether it's a sudden tech hiccup or an unexpected issue, you guys are always on it—quick to respond and incredibly helpful. Your dedication makes a huge difference, and I truly appreciate your hard work and expertise. Thank you for keeping everything running smoothly and for being such an awesome team to work with!
Meet HR's Leadership Team
Liz Parkes
Associate Vice-President of Human Resources
Oversees HR Units
- Employee Benefits, Leaves of Absence & Medical Accommodations
- Employee & Labor Relations
- Payroll/HRIS Services
HR Operations - Compensation, Onboarding, Recruiting, Hiring
Fun facts: When not at work, Liz loves growing her own veggies, hanging out in her new "she-shed" and spending time with her husband, Aaron, and their bullmastiff mix dog, Chloe.
Stephanie Norsby
Associate Director HR Operations
Oversees Employment, Classification/Compensation, Immigration, HRIS, Onboarding/Reception and overall HR Operations.
Fun facts: Stephanie enjoys hanging out with her family, doing crossword puzzles, collecting witchy things - and her favorite color is orange. She has a dog named Kilo and a cat named Kitten
Marcy Hammer
HR Director
- Employee, supervisor and administrator labor relations questions
- Contract/policy and procedure consultation, interpretation and administration
- Collective bargaining
- Grievance administration, investigation, mediation and arbitration
- Labor/Management relations and meetings
- Employee/Supervisor conflict resolution
- Leave/Accommodation Administration and management training
- Union requests for information
- Oversee Payroll and Benefit Programs
Fun Facts: The Hammer family began at WWU! Marcy was in Ridge Beta and her husband was in a house off of Alabama. She is a mama of three girlies, a cat, and a dog