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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2002)
12 DECEMBER 1, 2002 Smoke Signals Sarah Harvey Benefits from Tribal Program Portland State University Graduate looks forward to more education. By Ron Karten Tribal member Sarah Harvey dropped out of college the first time through. That was at Oregon State University (OSU). She thought maybe she wanted to work. This time through, at Portland State University (PSU), she took classes after work not just to finish up but because she found classes that would definitely help her on the job. This successful foray into education is not something she could quite put her finger on. She tried. She sug gested that PSU provided a lot more "hands on" experience than Oregon State. She said that Grand Ronde Tribal Elder Claudette Parazoo, who works for Grand Ronde's Tribal Coun cil and also just graduated from PSU was "such an inspiration." She re called that while working at Spirit Mountain, she used to "watch other people with degrees and experience and wanted that for myself." A lot of reasons explained her re turn to education and a bunch more explained reasons for her success this time. "I had incredible family support," she said. She counts among her sup porters husband, Michael ("I share the degree with him"); her sons Jordan, 4, and Evan, 2; her brother, Tribal member Adam Henny, an OSU gradu ate who heads the Spirit Mountain Marketing department and also her mom, Sanda (Sam) Henny, who helped out with the kids while she was at school and who went through a battle against cancer during this time. "I want to thank the Tribal Council and the Education department," she said, "for all they've done for me." It probably also helped that by the time she decided to return to school, she was certain that as the Casino's Benefits Manager, she had found the kind of work she could pursue for a lifetime. "I love the interaction of dealing with employees," she said. "I can't imagine doing anything else at this point in my life." And her schooling in the Social Sci ences was perfect for this occupation. She comes out of it with a certificate in Human Resources Management. She studied diverse populations, social service programs and abusive situa tions. "I'm learning more about people and how different we are, said Harvey. "It has increased my awareness. I'm a better trainer, a better organizer and a better communicator now." She said that it is important for her to work for the Tribe, "for the connec tion back to the Tribe." This summer, she hopes to add to her degree a Cer tificate for Chicano and Hispanic Com munities. "I see a lot of correlations with what they've gone through and what the Tribe has gone through," she said. Graduate school is next for Harvey, possibly in Public Administration. "I can't say I'm doing it for career or monetary reasons," she said. "I sup- l-SrN J P Sarah Harvey port education and I want more." And in the end, maybe one thing has made the biggest difference "I'm so much of a better learner now," she said. Deborah Larsen Takes New Title Financial Risk Manager Finance department post is new, needed. ........ -riu TwX7 & - 1 1 ) " i 1 f " ' ? ' " ' it o ...... If v t -c Deborah Larsen By Ron Karten Tribal member Deborah Larsen pre pared for this new post with the Tribe as the Safety Specialist at the casino. This new position represents growth in her career and with Tribal community's responsibilities growing, her efforts to save the Tribe money on its many insurance needs and to make sure that there are no gaps in the Tribe's insurance policies will help the community grow wisely. As the Casino's Safety Specialist, she handled insurance claims, made sure that the Tribe was in compliance with government regulations, like health and safety regulations, for example and she helped develop safety and training manuals. The priorities of her current job in clude evaluating insurance coverage for Tribal members and employees. Health care "is the Tribe's biggest pre mium item," she said. An effort to consolidate the many insurance lines covering Tribal and Casino employees could be completed by the beginning of 2003, Larsen said. Health, property, liability and work ers compensation policies are being evaluated not only for cost and the completeness of coverage, but also for such issues as service, said Larsen. In some cases, changes will not mean dollar savings, but hopefully will result in employees enjoying "a better run pro gram," Larsen said. That would be the case in the Workers' Compensation area. "The new company is local and pro-active in handling claims," she said. With four children Eddie, 8 months, Raymond, 2, Jeromey, 13, and Andrea, 17, Larsen does not have much free time on her hands, but the day oi this interview she was about to play her first game of golf. "I took some lessons," she said, a little bit uncertain about how much they would help. She also enjoys arts and crafts, and home improvement projects. Larsen started working at the Tribe 10 years ago as an Administrative As sistant in the Small Business Division. In 1995, she moved over to the casino, where she learned the ins and outs of insuring such a large entity. And as of May, she is back with the Tribe. B Bryan Langley Moves to Finance Department Procurement Manager is detail oriented. By Ron Karten Tribal member Bryan Langley has been working for the Tribe since 1991. He started in the Social Services and moved from there to the Education Division, where he was a Short Term Training Coordinator. As Procurement Manager for the Finance department since May, Lan gley is responsible for shipping and receiving, purchasing, mail and records retention. Those of us who work for the Tribe here in Grand Ronde have probably noticed the explosion of bar code tags on everything from doors to comput ers. That's Langley's doing. It is part of the work that Shipping and Receiv ing is doing to build inventory con trol. "We have literally millions of as sets," he said. "We're going building by building" in the effort to tag every one and keep a record of it in a Tribal database. The Tribe contracts with various government agencies to purchase ev erything from health care materials to automobiles and as might be ex pected; each agency assigns rules for spending and reporting those expendi tures. The Purchasing Division aims to keep the Tribe in compliance with all those rules. The Records Retention division re tains important records for the vari ous departments and divisions on re quest. The mail division, Langley said, "is pretty straightforward." The mail gets picked up and delivered. All this takes what they call a "de tail oriented" kind of person, and Lan gley fits the bill. Even in his off hours, Langley takes a lot of pleasure in plan ning. For example, he's a long-time bow hunter and one of the great joys for him even in this endeavor is "planning the hunt." He takes out the maps and pulls from his memory the spots that have intrigued him or drawn him during previous hunts and lays out a plan. "Of course," he said, "the plans may change based on wind direction" or other variables, but rather than take away from his instinct for planning, this flexibility demonstrates why he is not only a good and effective hunter, but a good and effective man ager as well. Which all leads to the area where Langley puts in his greatest efforts the family. With Rhonda, his wife, Bryan Langley whom he calls a "domestic engineer," the Langleys are raising three children Brayden, 4, Kara, 6, and Bryanna, 7. Rhonda, with dual degrees in Art and Early Childhood Education, takes the lead in home schooling the kids and with great results. Though the family now lives in Lin coln City, they are building a new home in McMinnville. Hoping for a Janu ary finish, Langley will be pitching in on the roof, the floors and the paint
