Are you considering upgrading or applying for a higher position?

Are your computer skills up to par?

Should you take some classes to enhance your skill?

Are you aware that you can take Word, Excel and Dreamweaver classes especially designed for USA members? The work and excel classes are offered through LMWEP and the Dreamweaver class is taught by Pioneer Training. The great thing about these classes is that you are with other USA members whose job duties are similar in nature. This makes the class discussions and questions much more suited to your needs. These specialized courses can enhance your skills both professionally and personally. These training courses are supported by our Career Ladder money.

I recently had taken the advanced excel course. It ran for 6 weeks (12 hours total) on Wednesday and Friday morning from 9:30 - 11:30. This course was taught by Professor Phil Kirlin from Computer Science. Professor Kirlin was fabulous ! He did an excellent job and my classmates were equally satisfied. The classroom was comfortable, the computers are new, the course materials are very useful and the pace was perfect. I am so happy that I took the time to attend these classes. I urge everyone to take a class !

Do you want to know what I learned?

Here's brief list of what was taught: understanding toolbars, moving through a spreadsheet, formatting, formulas and formula auditing, circular reference, statistical functions, custom views, data validation, custom lists/views, pivot tables, filters, creating charts. Some of these things may sound complicated but really are tools that we all can use in our jobs and at home.

Have you taken one of the other courses? We'd like to hear from you. Please send me your comments.

Leslie Marsland

lmarsland@biochem.umass.edu

Grievance Officer

Member of the Career Ladder Committee