The NIU personnel office will be sponsoring a variety of workshops on Unity through Diversity, supervisory skills, personnel operations and personal development.

Dates and locations of the workshops can be obtained from the personnel office.

Personnel Officer Rosemarie Ostberg said the program is “voluntary training for people interested in improving all their skills.”

Workshops on prejudice, discrimination, equal opportunity and affirmative action, make up a three-part series contributing to diversity.

These workshops will consist of movies and roundtable discussions during which people will address the issues of racism.

“Stepping up to Supervisor” is a management-training workshop to polish and highlight skills, Ostberg said.

She said, “It (the workshop) will teach them how to improve supervisory skills and better understand their responsibilities. My job is to help people do their jobs better.”

Three workshops will be given to inform people of various personnel operations.

“For example, ‘Travel Regulations’ is an informative workshop on the regulations of a business trip,” Ostberg said.

Personal development will be covered through an assertiveness workshop conducted by Al Ottens of the Counseling and Student Development Center.

e said defining assertiveness is the main purpose of the workshop.

“Assertiveness deals with expressing feelings, refusing requests, receiving compliments and expressing appreciation. Most people think it is just telling people no,” Ottens said.

“We may try and practice assertiveness in a more advanced workshop,” he said.

The presentation of a Bill of Assertive Rights and a discussion of assertive responses to hypothetical situations also will be parts of the workshop.

“These workshops are for anyone who wants to learn about procedures in different offices,” Ostberg said.

She said the workshops, which are free of charge, “are mainly for civil service workers, but faculty members are welcome.”

She said about 25 workshops are conducted throughout the year, and many are requested by specific departments.