MSU All Staff Council Newsletter

Featured Staff Member

Nicholas

Nick Ross-Dick

Assistant Director of American Indian/Alaska Native Student Success

Native American Studies

I have the privilege of working in the Office of American Indian / Alaska Native Student Success. Alongside amazing colleagues in the office and being housed under the Department of Native American Studies, we serve close to 800 students. I am a proud alum of MSU, navigating my experience as a first generation and foster child. Community, connection, and healing have been pillars of my time here. Whether it’s partnering with Bobcat Athletics, the many offices across campus to bring awareness to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples, Every Child Matters, American Indian Heritage Day – students, staff, staff, faculty, community members feeling proud, empowered, seen and heard means a lot. I also serve as a faculty fellow in the Honors College and as Co Adviser to the American Indian Council. We hope you can join us at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse for the 47^th annual Powwow in March 31^st and April 1^st!

American Heart Month

Traditionally, the month for lovers and all things heart related. February also reminds us to take care of our heart. It is American Heart Month. The annual celebration began in 1963 to encourage Americans to join the battle against heart disease. While eating chocolates and wooing loved ones, it's also a great time for all people tofocus on their cardiovascular health. The Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention is shining a light on hypertension (high blood pressure), a leading risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

A Healthy Heart in 10 Steps

by Susan K. White, RDN

1. Eat nuts

The risk of heart disease decreases with nut consumption. Try eating a small handful of almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts or pistachios daily.

2. Get enough sleep

Lack of sleep could result in high blood pressure or worsen existing high blood pressure. Aim for seven hours of shut eye every night.

3. Cut your gut

A waist greater than 40 inches for men and more than 35 inches for women is associated with a higher risk for heart disease and diabetes. Watch your waistline.

4. Sweeten the day with chocolate

A daily dose of dark chocolate may benefit heart disease due to its high content of the antioxidants called flavanols. Keep the treat to the size of three candy kisses.

5. Know your numbers

Your prescription for better health is total cholesterol less than 200 mg, glucose less than 100, blood pressure less than 120/80, LDL less than 100 and HDL greater than 40 for a man and 50 for a woman.

6. Decrease your screen time

Two or more hours per day of leisure time spent at the computer or in front of a television could increase the risk of a heart attack, even for those who exercise. Rethink those hours of surfing the web or binging your favorite show.

7. Laugh a little

People feel happier when they are with happy people and happy people have lower risks of heart disease. Spend your free time with people who make you laugh and smile.

8. Be a quitter

Each cigarette you smoke is estimated to rob you of 11 minutes of your life. Smoking also damages the heart, lungs and skin. Take action and quit smoking.

9. Know the signs of a heart attack

Some heart attacks are sudden and cause intense pain but most start slowly with mild discomfort in the back, neck, jaw or stomach. Other signs can be a cold sweat, nausea or light-headedness. Do not second-guess, call 911 and chew an aspirin.

10. Eat in color

Eating fruits and vegetables of different colors gives your body heart healthy nutrients like fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Eating a generous amount can reduce the risk of stroke, cardiovascular disease and certain cancers.

Celia Payne portrait

Who is Cecilia Payne and why don't we know?

Harvard Magazine
May - June 2020

Since her death in 1979, the woman who discovered what the universe is made of has not so much as received a memorial plaque. Her newspaper obituaries did not mention her greatest discovery. Every high school student knows that Isaac Newton discovered gravity, that Charles Darwin discovered evolution, and that Albert Einstein discovered the relativity of time. But when it comes to the composition of our universe, the textbooks simply say that the most abundant atom in the universe is hydrogen. And no one ever wonders how we know.

INTRODUCING CECILIA PAYNE:

Cecilia Payne’s mother refused to spend money on her college education, so she won a scholarship to Cambridge.

Cecilia Payne completed her studies, but Cambridge wouldn’t give her a degree because she was a woman, so she said to heck with that and moved to the United States to work at Harvard.

Cecilia Payne was the first person ever to earn a Ph.D. in astronomy from Radcliffe College, with what Otto Strauve called “the most brilliant Ph.D. thesis ever written in astronomy.”

Not only did Cecilia Payne discover what the universe is made of, she also discovered what the sun is made of (Henry Norris Russell, a fellow astronomer, is usually given credit for discovering that the sun’s composition is different from the Earth’s, but he came to his conclusions four years later than Payne—after telling her not to publish).

Cecilia Payne is the reason we know basically anything about variable stars (stars whose brightness as seen from earth fluctuates). Literally every other study on variable stars is based on her work.

Cecilia Payne was the first woman to be promoted to full professor from within Harvard, and is often credited with breaking the glass ceiling for women in the Harvard science department and in astronomy, as well as inspiring entire generations of women to take up science.

Cecilia Payne is awe inspiring and everyone should know her.

Announcements

MSU Giving Day 2023

MSU Giving Day is a 29-hour onling crowdfunding event for the entire Bobcat community. There will be matches and challenges throughout the event. We encourage everyone to come out and support your favorite Bobcat department, organization, or individual scholarship. Let's make this year's Giving Day the best one yet!

MSU Staff Scholarship

The MSUASC All Staff Scholarship Applications opens February 1, 2023 and closes March 15, 2023. It is open to Montana State University staff members and their dependent relatives. For more information, please visit the MSUASC website!

Calling all new staff - lunch is on us!

All Staff Council would like to welcome you to MSU with a meal voucher for lunch and small gift. Please email [email protected] with the following information to help us coordinate delivery:

hire date
department and location on campus (i.e building and office/rm number)
phone number and email address (to arrange delivery)
shipping address (if you are a remote employee)

*Must have been hired after 07/01/2022 to be considered a NEW MSU employee.

Save the Date - The Bobcat Culture of Mentoring Symposium

The Bobcat Culture of Mentoring Symposium will be Tuesday, March 18, 2023, in SUB Ballrooms ABCD from 1-4PM. Mark your calendars for this incredible afternoon about bringing a culture of mentoring to campus. For more information, go to the MSUASC website.

Get To Know Your Council Members

Evan Greenwood - EHHD - Budget and Fiscal Manager

I started out at Montana State University in 2020. My first job was as a Financial Analyst in Fiscal Shared Services, having served both Gallatin College and the College of Education, Health and Human Development during my time there. More recently though, I’ve moved into a role with the University Budget Office where I work in EHHD as their Budget and Fiscal Manager.

Other jobs I’ve had throughout my life include working at REI and as a staffing consultant for a temp agency. I split time growing up in both Michigan and Pennsylvania, and just before coming to MSU I graduated college from Eastern University. In my spare time, you can usually find me on one of the local rivers fishing during the summer, and out skiing during the winter.

Holly Hillis - The Graduate School - Student Services and Formatting Advisor

I have worked at MSU for almost four years now and am excited to be a new member on All Staff Council. I currently work in the Graduate School as part of the Student Success unit helping graduate students complete their degrees. Outside of campus life, I enjoy seeing live music, spending time with my pet bearded dragon, Wappy Dragonberry, and participating in all kinds of mountain and water sports (even if I'm not that good)!