Five questions for Nancy Moore
Helping others achieve their best is what Nancy Moore enjoys. That philosophy fits well with her new role as chair of the University of Colorado Staff Council, which, in part, serves as an advocate for classified and university staff by communicating matters of interest to university administration and the CU Board of Regents.
Moore, who is a communication coordinator in the office of admissions at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, began her two-year term heading the Staff Council July 1.
“I feel that we are all leaders, no matter what seat we sit in, and the best leader is the service leader,” said Moore, who has been a volunteer for many years in many capacities, both at the university and in the community. “We have some amazing people on Staff Council and it’s exciting to see how, given the chance, people will work together to come up with the best ideas.”
1. How long have you been with CU and what are your duties as a communication coordinator?
I earned both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communications from UCCS and I’ve been employed here since April of 2012.
My background is in the areas of public relations, journalism and graphic arts. I’m working on programs to communicate with prospective students. I work with our admission counselors to make sure they have the materials and information they need when they go out and do high school and community college visits and college fairs. I create and/or work on things like the viewbook and the travel pieces that they give to students.
I’m part of the marketing integration team at UCCS. It’s a really neat group that is involved in promoting UCCS. When you have a group of people who are excited about what they do and want to tell our prospective students about the university, it is exciting and it is fun – and sometimes challenging.
2. What do you and your Staff Council team hope to achieve this year?
I love this team because we work well together, utilizing all the talents that come from all of the campuses and system administration. We are the voice for staff members, and so we want to really listen to what staff feels is important and bring those issues to the leadership team.
Just in the past couple of years, doing this work has helped shift things, including the tuition benefit. We will continue to work on parental leave and other policies that are up for review. There will be more shifts that will benefit staff.
3. Are there specific agenda items or issues that you will pursue in the next year?
First, we’ll present the working climate survey to the leadership team. That was completed last year and is now being formatted for presentation. We are currently determining which groups to present it to and when. We will communicate that information to the staff as well.
We also formed a Communications Committee to better facilitate getting information from the council out to the CU community. And we will continue to review policies that are being looked at by the Office of Policy and Efficiency (OPE).
We will once again present Service Excellence Awards to outstanding staff members who have provided volunteer service to their campus, community, professional organization and the university. At last year’s ceremony, we also recognized former and current Staff Council members who have completed an initial term, and we will expand upon that recognition in the coming year.
Of course, as I mentioned previously, the tuition benefit and parental leave issues are of tremendous interest to us, and we have working groups that will continue to follow those issues.
We also want to share what is going on at each campus and the system office with staff, because that enriches us all by enabling individual campuses to discover what more can be done to improve the campus and make it a better place to work.
4. Outside of work, what hobbies or activities do you pursue?
I am a photographer, so any time there is an opportunity to do a photo field trip, I go. And I guess you would call me an avid bicyclist; that’s my main form of exercise. I ride a mountain bike, but I don’t do the downhill, gonzo, maybe-kill-yourself trails.
I’m blessed to have three kids and eight grandkids. What I bring to my granddaughters especially is that I take them to formal teas where they have to sit politely and use manners.
And bookstores. I love to haunt bookstores.
5. As a photographer, do you use a certain technique or favor a certain theme?
I like to shoot in black and white. When I was earning my degrees at UCCS, I was fortunate enough to work in a wet darkroom or what you might call a traditional chemical darkroom. I was able to develop that skill and I have translated those skills into Photoshop. And I learn from other photographers, including some of the students in my office who love photography.
I’ve had several photography art shows at restaurants and coffee shops in Colorado Springs and at galleries in Colorado Springs and Denver. I love doing the shows because you can talk to people about art and how you took the shot. My favorite place to shoot in black and white is in the alleys in Denver. I’ve also photographed alleys during my travels around the world in places like Florence, Italy; Paris; and Taiwan. I have brought back some beautiful images from my travels.
