Coffee with Compliance Is Back!

After a two-year hiatus, University Ethics and Compliance (UEC) is resuming Coffee with Compliance. The event series, open to all faculty and staff, offers members of every department across the university the opportunity to learn more about investigative practices in a casual, education-centric setting. In the first of three Coffee with Compliance events in 2022, scheduled for 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 12 via Zoom, a panel will provide insight on UEC’s and the Office of Employment Equity’s (OEE’s) investigative processes.

Panelists include Eugene Simon, associate vice president and deputy chief, Enterprise Risk Management, Ethics, and Compliance officer; Casey Woods, director of ethics, Training, Investigations and Public Records;Carolyn Delatore, assistant vice president of Workplace Culture; and Lisa Grosskreutz, director, Office of Employment Equity, and Title IX coordinator. Together, they will detail different types of workplace investigations, how and why investigations are conducted, and other relevant aspects of the investigative process, to provide the university community with a broad perspective of both UEC and OEE’s investigative groups. During the one-hour session, they also will answer faculty- and staff-submitted questions.

“UEC is always looking for new ways to communicate with our university colleagues in non-crisis situations. Often, we’re reacting to issues or problems as they arise, and we’re trying to be more proactive in addressing compliance concerns. During the initial rollout of Coffee with Compliance, we were fortunate to have a significant number of faculty and staff engage with us on compliance issues. We want to encourage faculty and staff to reach out to us with questions and concerns. We are hoping that participation will grow even more as we partner with University Finance and Administration to broaden the reach of these sessions and with the Office of Employment Equity to support the Rutgers community,” Simon said.

UEC, OEE, the Office of Research, and Audit and Advisory Services’ recent joint decision to review investigative practices, with the aim of “creating a more equitable and consistent experience,” guided UEC’s decision to restart the Coffee with Compliance series with a session dedicated to investigations, according to Simon.

UEC will host two more Coffee with Compliance sessions later in the year; August’s and November’s coffee chats will focus on Privacy-FERPA and Ethics, respectively.

“August is traditionally when faculty and students are returning to campus, so we thought it would be timely to focus on student privacy at that time,” said Woods. “We also get a lot of ethics questions around the holidays, so November seemed like a good opportunity to host a session. People have questions about attending holiday parties, or what to do when someone sends them a gift, and we want to be available to answer those questions and provide guidance on what to do in those situations.”

Those interested in attending Coffee with Compliance’s May 12 event can register here. Zoom information for the event is accessible through the Qualtrics registration form.

2022 Coffee with Compliance Schedule: