October 2023 USM ASSOCIATION OF OFFICE PROFESSIONALS
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Happy Fall, y'all! Even though it is still shorts-wearing weather, I am thankful to experience days in the 70s-80s compared to the 90s-100s. I hope everyone is having a great semester so far! I have loved seeing AOP hit the ground running so far this year. Thank you to all who attended our first general meeting. I wanted to provide a reminder of the inspiration we talked about.
For our inspiration during this year’s four general meetings, I wanted to make it into a mini book study throughout the year on the book The Four Agreements. I will use one of the agreements for our inspiration for each of the four general meetings. If you have never heard of this book before, "The Four Agreements" is a transformative self-help book written by Don Miguel Ruiz. He draws on ancient Toltec wisdom and spiritual principles and offers a guide to achieving personal freedom, increased joy, and fulfillment. The first agreement that we discussed in our last general meeting is to "Be Impeccable With Your Word."
Be Impeccable With Your Word
- Speak with integrity.
- Say only what you mean.
- Avoid using words to speak against yourself or to gossip about others.
- Use the power of your word to offer love and never use it to cause fear or pain in another (or yourself).
I feel like this is a great reminder that our words have immense power. What stood out to me about this agreement is "avoid using words to speak against yourself." I think that a lot of the time, we can be harder on ourselves than others, and it can be hard to stop that little voice within that might be saying something like, "I am not good enough," "I can't do this," or some other limiting statement. I don't think any of us would ever tell a friend, "You are not good enough," "You can't achieve that goal," or "You look terrible today," so why do we find ourselves telling ourselves these things? This month, I want to challenge you to be impeccable with your word, especially with the things you tell yourself!
Fall Professional Development Series Kickoff
Check out the pictures below from our first workshop of the semester, Building Trust in the Workplace, presented by Dr. Heather Annulis. We had great attendance, with 25 in-person attendees and around 23 online attendees. Thank you to all who attended!
2023 Homecoming Door Decorating Contest
Thank you to Dr. Mary Maner for spearheading the AOP 2023 Homecoming Door Decorating Contest! There is still time to sign up if you or your department would like to participate. In keeping with our USM theme: “Southern Miss GRIT: Growth, Resilience, Inclusion, Transformation,” AOP would like to continue the momentum of connecting colleagues, students, and institutional units as we all work together to support student success at Southern Miss. So far, we have 11 groups signed up to participate!
Groups of 10 people or less are invited to decorate their unit/building/office door according to the theme and scoring criteria below. To register your door, email mary.maner@usm.edu before October 4. Judging will take place on October 6. Each door will be scored based on the following criteria: (1) Theme Execution – “Southern Miss GRIT: Growth, Resilience, Inclusion, Transformation,” (2) Creativity/Originality, (3) Southern Miss Pride, and (4) Overall Appearance. Two winners will be selected (one from Hattiesburg and one from the Gulf Coast). Winners will be provided with a pizza party (for up to 10 people) sponsored by AOP.
Southern Miss Student Affairs Golf Classic
Thank you to Cindy Walker, CEOE, for organizing us to volunteer for the 20th Annual Southern Miss Student Affairs Golf Classic. This is one of our main fundraising opportunities for AOP. We are still in need of company sponsorships for the tournament, so if you know of any departments, businesses, or other organizations that may be interested in sponsoring the tournament please contact Cindy at Cynthia.Walker@usm.edu. Thank you to those who have already volunteered to contact sponsors and volunteer at the golf tournament on October 28th.
Upcoming Meetings and Events
Our next AOP general meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 8th at 11:30 a.m. Please make sure to meet with your committees between now and the next general meeting if you have not done so already. We will discuss our committees' progress and other ongoing projects during our general meeting in November. I will send an Outlook invitation with the Microsoft Teams link closer to the date. Be sure to invite your coworkers who also might be interested in joining AOP!
Stay tuned for more community service, professional development, and relationship-building opportunities to come!
If you know anyone interested in joining AOP, please feel free to share this newsletter with them, invite them to our next meeting, or connect them with one of our board members to discuss what opportunities may be available to them through AOP.