Page 9 - UMN Chemnews December 2020

“She is invested in our mission, hard-working, and committed. We owe her our gratitude for the transformational work she’s accomplished.”
—Chuck Tomlinson, director of Operations
Eileen Harvala: Chemistry communications coordinator
Even working offsite due to COVID, Eileen Harvala uses a variety of tools to continue communications initiatives in the Department of Chemistry.
Eileen Harvala
EILEEN HARVALA
is retiring after
more than 10
years of service as the Department
of Chemistry’s communications co- ordinator. She is the department’s first communications
student/postdoc intranets, and training for using and creating Google sites.
Eileen initiated the use of videos in the de- partment for promotion and recruitment. The department received a “Maroon” award from the University’s Communicators Forum for
its first professional-quality video highlighting the department. Recent videos have featured students talking about their research and what makes the department a good place to study and do research, using phone-based equip- ment and simple editing tools.
Since 2010, she has created and grown
the department’s social media presence on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. The new website enables Eileen to post to some of those automatically whenever a news story or event is published, dramatically increasing the department’s social media presence.
In addition to communications, Eileen visually improved the lobby and walls of Smith Hall with posters, images, graphics, personnel walls, and dynamic large-monitor lobby display. Working with Tanya Becker in the administrative offices, they made keeping the department’s website directory updated a priority, and Eileen has worked hard to take or obtain photos of all faculty, staff, students, and post-docs for the website and personnel wall.
Throughout the years, Eileen has continued with publicity for seminars, including up- to-date event calendars and website, and has worked closely with Chris Lundby and now Mollie Dunlap, administrative assistants to the Department Head, on ensuring that faculty searches are well planned and seamless in execution.
“This position was new and not fully-defined in 2010, and Eileen has created the role that we now see as integral to our department, especially given the varied mix of tasks and skills asked of her,” said Chuck Tomlinson, director of Operations. “She is invested in our mission, hard-working, and committed. We owe her our gratitude for the transformational work she’s accomplished.”
One of Eileen’s greatest passions is coordi- nating the behind-the-scenes logistics for the Energy and U shows, which has included con- tacting all schools in the seven-county metro area, scheduling schools to safely maximize the space in the theatre, and ensuring that a high percentage of the students attending are from underrepresented groups in the sciences.
“We’ve engaged students from throughout the area—thousands of them,” Eileen said. “They love the show, are fascinated by the theatre, and are so grateful for the experience, high-fiv-
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coordinator, initially tasked with branding and systematizing the department’s robust seminar program. She also worked on branding the department’s communications such as printed and online newsletters, information flyers, and ongoing news stories about student, faculty, and staff accomplishments and research. Her position has evolved greatly over the years, en- abling her to learn new skills and implement new communications tools designed to boost the profile of the department.
A major undertaking was leading two major redesigns of the department’s website. The website work was done with the members
of the department’s Web Committee: chairs Professor Aaron Massari and Professor Courtney Roberts, technology managers Bruce Moe and Dan MacEwan, and technology staff Daryl Bacchus, Mike Casey, and Eric Schulz. Eileen also created dynamic faculty/staff and
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