September 2023 USM ASSOCIATION OF OFFICE PROFESSIONALS
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Welcome to the 2023-2024 academic year! If you are like me, the past few weeks have been a whirlwind as we welcome new and returning students back on campus, and the faculty offices start to fill up again. I am always excited for a new academic year, as it marks another year that we have the honor to help our students reach academic milestones and pursue life-changing opportunities!
I am also excited for the upcoming year and what it holds for the USM Association of Office Professionals. I want to say thank you again for allowing me the honor of serving as President this year. I feel truly blessed to be a part of an organization that has given me the opportunity to meet and work with you all who I probably would never have had the chance to meet otherwise.
[RE]INVIGORATE
The theme I selected for our organization for the 2023-2024 year is [Re]Invigorate, which means to give new energy or strength to. I chose this theme because I feel like last year was our first full academic year post-COVID, where things were operating “normally.” While that is a very positive thing – I don’t know about you all, but it was also a bit exhausting. I feel like we were in overdrive trying to get students, faculty, and staff re-engaged back on campus, while still maintaining a sense of engagement and quality interactions with those still learning primarily online. So, as we move forward into this academic year, I want you to reflect on this theme, [Re]Invigorate, and think about the ways you might be able to reinvigorate yourselves, most importantly, and also our beloved AOP.
Sincerely,
Dr. Joyce Powell, CEOE
The 2023-2024 AOP board members recently met on August 11th for a planning and goal-setting meeting for the upcoming year. During this meeting, we discussed focusing our efforts to reflect on what the USM AOP of today should look like and we will need your help with this throughout the year! Part of this effort is creating a clear mission, vision, and set of values that define who we are. In addition, we wanted a way to quickly and clearly communicate what we do as an organization. We decided to adopt CPR as our AOP tagline. As an organization, we facilitate Community Service, Professional Development, and Relationship Building among the staff members at The University of Southern Mississippi.
I hope you will join us for our next AOP general meeting on Wednesday, September 13th at 11:30 a.m. We will discuss our goals for the upcoming year, talk about what you want to see happen in AOP and learn about ways you can be involved. I will send an Outlook invitation with the Microsoft Teams link. Be sure to invite your coworkers who also might be interested in joining AOP!
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.
Did you know that there are over 1,400 staff members at The University of Southern Mississippi? I know that I have benefited immensely as a member of AOP, and I would love to share these benefits with more of our staff members at the university.