Staff Association Council gets down with exciting fair

In what looked like a mini version of the annual student activities fair, Pitt staff members… In what looked like a mini version of the annual student activities fair, Pitt staff members weaved through tables, picking up free samples and brochures at the Staff Association Council’s fair Friday afternoon.

There were between 20 and 30 people coming and going from the fair at any one time.

They breezed by the tables, throwing assorted pens, highlighters, key chains, toothbrushes and candy into the blue bags supplied for them by the sponsor company TIAA-CREF, only stopping to chat with the people manning the booths that interested them.

The main purpose of the event was to “educate” staff members about what is available to them both on and off campus, said Gwen Watkins, chair of the SAC Program and Planning Committee.

About 20 booths, set up in the William Pitt Union Ballroom, provided information from a variety of different companies or Pitt programs, including Pitt’s Wellness program, PNC and National City banks, Clarity Vision and Jimmy John’s, which offered free sandwich samples.

This was the third fair SAC had organized, the last one having been in the fall of 2002.

Each semester, SAC has an assembly for staff members in order to provide information that “would be of interest” to them, Watkins said. The assemblies can take a variety of forms, including presentations by individuals or groups. This year’s spring assembly took the form of a fair.

For “logistical reasons,” SAC decided to have the fair once the spring semester was over Watkins said.

“A month ago, there were a lot of student things going on,” she explained, but during the summer sessions, the facilities are more available.

Although the main goal of the assemblies is to present information, Watkins said that they are also intended to bring the staff closer together.

Although some departments have other “tools,” such as sports teams or outings, to bring the staff members of that particular department closer, the SAC tries to bring the entire staff together, Watkins said.