Office of Ethics and Compliance announces new communications initiative

The University’s Office of Ethics and Compliance is partnering with Penn State Today to create a special quarterly issue highlighting University-wide ethics and compliance initiatives. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn StateCreative Commons

The University’s Office of Ethics and Compliance is partnering with Penn State Today to create a special quarterly issue highlighting University-wide ethics and compliance initiatives. In this issue, we will focus on the recent changes to Pennsylvania’s Child Protective Services Law and its effects on faculty, staff, volunteers and University policy.

To help you understand these changes and what you’ll need to do, we have added several new resources to the Ethics and Compliance website, including new information on reporting child abuse and instructions for background checks. You can also find information there about our confidential hotline, resources for reporting concerns and contact information for our team.

Penn State is implementing these changes in phases. Which phase you are in depends on your job and whether you work with children:

— Current employees and new hires who work in traditional youth programs that directly involve children are already being contacted to comply with the requirements.

— New full-time hires and current employees who work in health services, student recruitment, museums and libraries, instructional and recreational services and Residence Life are part of the second phase. Penn State’s Office of Human Resources is in the process of implementing this phase, including contacting employees who fall into this category.

— Business and auxiliary staff who support summer youth programs, along with hotel and restaurant employees who work with children, are part of the next phase, which will be rolled out in April 2015. These employees will be contacted by HR representatives at that time.

— Roll out of the final phase will begin in fall 2015 and will affect: faculty and teaching assistants, undergraduate academic advisers, and employees of the Office of Student Affairs and Residence Life. 

— At this time, wage payroll employees who do not work with children will continue with the current process.

We welcome your suggestions for future articles, as well as your comments and questions on any of the topics in this issue. Please send your feedback to universityethics@psu.edu.

Best Regards,Regis BeckerChief Ethics and Compliance Officer

Regis W. Becker is Penn State's chief ethics and compliance officer Credit: Photo providedAll Rights Reserved.

Last Updated March 26, 2015