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This is the welcome page to the EPA Alumni Association. The public can see a restricted welcome page that provides them a way to join. They cannot see posts, member profiles or lists of members.
The Member Directory contains contact information for every member plus profile information on past employment in EPA and post-EPA activities to help you identify and find colleagues. The Directory is highly searchable. From the search results you can open the detailed member profiles.
The "Member Directory - Search Members" page is divided into three types of searches: "Browse", "Name Search" and "Advanced Search." You can browse through the entire membership list by last name, primary program area, service years or current home city or state. You can limit your search of these categories to a specific letter of the alphabet. Using the "Name search", you can find a particular member using one of their names, or you can search for several members at once by using the "Advanced Search."
The member search only looks in member profiles and not in any posting area ("Opinions", "Newsletter", etc.).
To see a list of all the EPA Alumni members, click on Browse entire directory - GO.
Any misspelled names or words will make you miss your desired results. Goggle and Yahoo are forgiving, this search is not.
You may enter either capital or lower case letters. All are treated the same.
You would most likely use this search when looking for one member.
Name field - when looking for a name, you may enter only part of a name to get a member or a list of members. The search program looks in every member's "first name", "last name" and "Name by which you were known at EPA." If it finds the characters you entered in the Search "Name" field, it will give you those members with that set of characters somewhere in their name.
It may be helpful to give examples: Let's say you want to search for George Washington and he had entered his "First Name" in the profile as George and the "Last Name" as Washington.
If you search for any of the following, you will get George Washington: george, geo, orge, washington, wash, ingt, or ton
The more specific you search for a name, say "washington" instead of "wash", the more likely you are to get only George Washington. However, you may misspell the name and get nothing. When you search for "wash," you will get Washington, but you will also get Washburn, if he is a member.
You may also search for first and last name at the same time. The search program looks at each word and tries to find BOTH words. The search gives you only results that include both names. Either word or both words may be in "first name", "last name" or "Name by which you were known at EPA."
If you search for any of the following, you will get George Washington: george washington, geo wash, org ingt, or orge ton
If you misspell either George or Washington, you will get nothing. When you search for "geo" "wash" will get George Washington, but you will also get George Washburn if he is a member.
A suggestion is to enter only the part of the name you know how to spell and see if your friend comes up in the search results. Try not to enter too many letters unless their name is easy to spell.
Remember also that members may use a shortened version of their first name ("Bill" for "William", "Dick" for "Richard", "Chuck" or "Charlie" for "Charles"). If you are too specific in your search for the first name, you may miss the member you are looking for. If you know the spelling or partial spelling of the last name, this is a more assured way of finding a member.
You would most likely use this search when looking for several members who share a specific characteristic (e.g. program area) or for a member whose name you cannot remember.
Word(s): This field searches all the members' profile pages for the characters you entered. For example, if the word "toxic" is anywhere in anyone's profile, it will list all members with that word somewhere in their profile.
Name: see the help discussion under "Name Search"
Position Title: This field searches only the "Position Title" field for all members for the characters you entered. It looks through all of the members entire "EPA Employment History."
Reported To: This field searches only the "Reported To" field for all members for the characters you entered. It looks through every member's entire "EPA Employment History."
Program Area: This is a drop down menu of the "Program Area" to choose from. You may choose more than one program area. The search is then limited to those persons who entered that program area for one or more of their jobs at EPA.
Employment Status: This is a drop down menu of the "Employment Status" to choose from. This limits the search to members with that entry.
EPA Location: This is a drop down menu of the "Locations" where members worked. It looks through every member's entire "EPA Employment History" and brings up all members who worked at that location at any point in their careers.
Country: This field searches only the "Country" field for all members for the characters you entered.
Home City: This field searches only the "City" field for all members for the characters you entered. The city is where they currently live, not where they worked in the past. "EPA Location" is the field to use to find someone using the place they worked in EPA.
Home State: This is a drop down menu of the "State" to choose from. The State is where they currently live, not where they worked in the past.
Zip/Postal Code: This field searches only the "Zip code" field for all members for the characters you entered.
Groups This is a drop down menu of a list of "Groups" to choose from. It limits the search to members with that single group.
Years of Service: This is a drop down menu of a list of "Years of Service" to choose from. It limits the search to members within the time frame you specify.
Suggestions for Advanced Search
The more fields in which you enter selection criteria, the fewer members will meet your search criteria.
You are more likely to find friends using the LOCATION and PROGRAM AREA search fields, since they are required fields in the profile and the selection is fixed (using specific categories, not words composed by the members that may vary from member to member.)
A search will return the following fields: NAME PRIMARY PROGRAM AREA SERVICE YEARS HOME CITY HOME STATE
Narrow your search by clicking on a letter the top of the page. If you click on "K", all the last names beginning with "K" will be listed.
Sort the list of members by clicking on the up and down arrows in the column heading.
Click on the box before the member's name to:
Filter the list of members: After you make your selections, then click on "Refresh" to filter the list of members. As you are going through the list of members, you can select members from a large list for further review.
Add colleagues or send email: Make your selections, then click on the button to add as colleagues or send email.
Click on a member name and it will take you to that member's profile page.
News and Views is divided into Newsletter, Opinions, News of Collegues and Our Favorite Stories. Review each of these categories and decide where best to find or add a post.
News of retirements, new grandchildren, recent trips, obituaries of old friends, or whatever is of interest of our members.
Opinions and views—and-counterviews of our members-on any topic with an emphasis, not surprisingly, on environmental issues.
A place to tell of our post-EPA experiences and to report on what we have heard about others of our colleagues who are not yet members of the EPA Alumni Association.
Stories we have told our friends and families about life in EPA—the good, the bad, the embarrassing, the amazing, the unbelievable, and the funny things that happened inside EPA.
Volunteer Opportunities - Members have the opportunity to identify or participate in volunteer opportunities that allow alumni to “give back” to the larger community.
Links - Links that members may find helpful. If you know of webpages that might be of interest to Association Members, please send email and include a link to the webpage.
When a member reads a post, they may rate it if they wish as a way of calling it to the attention of other members. The highest rated posts appear here.
These are the most recent posts in each type of posting (e.g. Opinions)
Members who post are encouraged to select a category for the post. These categories are listed under category search.
The "News and Views" section of the website is divided into "Newsletter", "Opinions", "News of Colleagues" and "Our Favorite Stories." There are numerous posts in each of these areas.
In each section, there is a "Word Search" blue box. Enter a word or part of a word in the search box and you will receive a list of posts that have your word somewhere in that post. For example, if you are in the "Opinions" area, the search is limited to all posts in the "Opinions" and ignores the "Newsletter" area, and the other sections and the member profiles.
At the top right of each page there is a SEARCH field. This search looks across the various postings in Newsletter, Opinions, News of Colleagues, Our Favorite Stories, Volunteer Opportunities, and all the Groups, searching for the words or part of a word you have entered.
Please share your own opinions and concerns. This is the only way to get the conversation going. The Association has no staff.
Members cannot edit their own posts and comments at this time but will be able to do so in a future version of the software. If you want your post removed, flag your post and enter an explanation in the space provided. A notification will be sent to the web master.
See if someone else already has a post that deals with your topic. If so, you may want to comment on their post rather than writing a separate posting.
There are three sections that should be completed when doing a post.
Title: (required) The title is used on the "Newsletter", "Opinions", "News of Colleagues" and "Our Favorite Stories" pages. It appears in the "Highest Rated Posts", "Most Recent Posts" and the list of all the posts. The title is like the heading of an article in the newspaper.
Post: (required) This is where you share your news, opinions, information, favorite stories, etc. with the members. The first approximately 190 characters in your post are shown on the summary page (e.g., Opinions) below the title and your name. This is where you want to catch the attention of the reader just like newspapers do in their first paragraph. Before writing your post, go to a summary page and see how other posts appear in the list.
Categories: Choose a category (e.g., air pollution, legislation, global warming, pesticides) that best applies to your post. With numerous posts available for members to read, it will help members find posts that interest them.
Additional Categories: If the category you need is not in the above list, enter it in the "Additional Categories" box. This puts your post in the "Other" category with your new category as a sub item. Periodically, the webmaster will review new categories so entered and add those that have multiple items to the "official" list of categories.
How to Make Your Post Look Better Using the Text Editor
Copyright
Obtain Permission to Quote Articles or Use Photographs or otherwise summarize the article and include a link to the article itself.Newspapers, etc. require that you obtain permission to quote articles or use photographs. For example, the following is a portion of the NY Times website concerning copyright. "All use of New York Times content (text, photographs, graphics, etc.) requires the permission of The New York Times. Please be advised that when articles or photographs are credited to a source other than The New York Times (such as the Associated Press, Reuters or AFP), it is most likely that the credited source holds rights to the material. Please contact that party directly... It is permissible to feature an excerpt of up to 25 words of directly quoted text from any one article in a blog or newsgroup environment for discussion purposes, linking back to the full article text at nytimes.com."
If you want to provide a link to an article, here is how you do it: When you add a post, there is a large box where you enter what you want to say. At the point in the post where you want to add the link, click on the Insert/Edit Link. Simply type or paste a link in the box under the word "URL", e.g., http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/obamas-science-team-is-official/
Attach a Document to a Post (e.g., Newsletter).
For General UsersAttach a Photo to a Post (e.g., Newsletter).
• A document must be added to the Document Library before it can be attached to a post.
• If you attach a document to a Post (e.g., Newsletter), it helps to remember the “Document ID." Near the bottom of an “Add a Post” page, there is a section “Related Files” – “Documents.” Enter the “Document ID” to relate this document to the Post.
• You can also select the document from the library by clicking SELECT. This will take you to the "Document Linker: Add Document"
Document Linker: Add Document - This page allows you to choose a document from the directory. Click on the button in the Add column in front of the document you want to add (attach) to your post. This will place a dot within the circle. Then click on the ADD button at the bottom of the page. You will be taken back to your "Add Post" page where you can select another document.
For More Technical Users How to Include this Document in a Post:
There are four ways to associate a document with a post. When creating a post, you may (1) attach the document to the post, (2) link to the document within the description portion of the post, (3) type the URL of the document without it being a link or (4) simply tell the reader to look up the “Document ID” in the document library.(1) Attach the document to the post on the Add post page. This is somewhat like adding an attachment to an email. A link to the document will be listed below the Post. (See General Users above)
(2) To link to the document within the text description portion of the post, use the “Insert/Edit Link” button and paste or type the URL into the URL box.
(3) To put the URL of the document in a Post without it being a link, simply type or paste the URL in the text description portion of the post where you want it to appear.
(4) Tell the reader in text description portion of the post to find the document by looking up the “Document ID:” or the “Document Title” in the Document library.
For General Users
• A photo must be added to the Photo Gallery before it can be related (attached) to a post.
• If you attach a photo to a Post (e.g., Newsletter), it helps to remember the “Photo ID.” Near the bottom of an “Add a Post” page, there is a section “Related Files” – “Photos.” Enter the “Photo ID” to attach a photo to the Post.
• You can also select the document from the gallery by clicking SELECT. This will take you to the " Photo Linker: Add Photo."
Photo Linker: Add Photo - This page allows you to choose a photo from the directory. Click on the button in the Add column in front of the photo you want to add (attach) to your post. This will place a dot within the circle. Then click on the ADD button at the bottom of the page. You will be taken back to your "Add Post" page where you can select another photo.
For More Technical Users
There are four ways to associate a photo with a post. When creating a post, you may (1) attach the photo to the post, (2) place the photo within the description portion of the post, (3) type the URL of the photo without it being a link or (4) simply tell the reader to look up the “Photo ID” in the Photo Gallery.
(1) Attach the photo to the post on the Add post page. This is somewhat like adding an attachment to an email. The photo will be shown as a thumb nail photo below the Post.
(2) To insert the photo within the description portion of the post, use the “Insert/Edit Image” button and paste or type the photo’s URL into the URL box.
(3) To put the URL of the photo in a Post without it being an image, simply type or paste the URL in the Post (description) box where you want the URL to appear.
(4) Tell the reader to find the photo by looking up the “Photo ID” or the “Photo Title” in the Photo Gallery.
Members are encouraged to add a comment to a post. Member comments will be listed in reverse chronological order to the post.
If a member feels a post is inappropriate or contains remarks that are not appropriate for an alumni association, flag the post. A notification will be sent to the web master. He may, in his discretion, remove the post.
Members cannot edit their own posts and comments at this time but will be able to do so in a future version of the software. If you want your post removed, flag your post and enter an explanation in the space provided. A notification will be sent to the web master.
Share documents with other members that you believe they will find interesting or that you want them to comment on.
Documents in the Document Library are files that you create using programs like MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Notepad, Adobe PDF. A document can be attached to a Posts or a link to the document can be placed in the description portion of a post. Members can download a document to read on their own computer.
The purpose of placing a document in the Document Library is to allow members to provide documents that might not be suitable for direct inclusion in a post. For example, EPA might have a new policy paper that is too lengthy to quote in a post. Within a post, a member might summarize the policy or comment on a portion of the policy, and relate the document to the post so members can read the entire policy for themselves. Other members might want to comment on the original post in the comment section.
Add a Document to the Document Library
A document must be added to the Document Library before it can be related (attached) to a post. Adding a document to the Library is similar to creating a post in News and Views. There are four sections to be completed.
Title: (required) The title is used as a one line summary of the document. The title is like the heading of an article in the newspaper or the subject of a memo.After you SUBMIT a document the Document Library, you will be taken to a (Read) page that all members see when they want to read about or download your document.
Author: Enter the first and last name of the author of the document. If the name is an organization (e.g., EPA), enter it in the Last Name field. (The Last Name is a field you can sort on in the Document Library.)
Document: Select the document from your hard drive to put in the Document Library. Use the browse button to find the document on your hard drive. (If the browse button does not work, your firewall may be preventing access to you drive.)
Run your Virus checking program on any document before you upload it to the website. With many antivirus programs, if you are in Windows Explorer and right click on a file, there will be an option to run your antivirus program on the file.
Description: (required) Describe the document in detail. Also, explain why members may want to read it and if you want the members to review and comment on it.
Things to consider when adding a document to the library
• Your file name will be changed to a Document ID plus the first 25 characters of the Title, e.g., 435_Air_Pollution_in_Donora_P.DOC, but the extension (e.g., DOC) will be kept.Suggested file type to add to the library:
• Please DO NOT place photos in the document library. Photos should be placed in the Photo Gallery.
• Do not add any computer programs (.exe or .com).
• Normally documents uploaded to this website are not private. Documents are available to all members, and a member may choose to distribute a document to a non-member, although we do not encourage this. In addition, if in some way a non-member learns or guesses the web address (URL) of a document, they can gain access to the document without needing to enter a password. This is different from postings under News and Views on this site which are generally protected from non-members by the website password system. If you wish to keep a document private for selected members, you should password protect the file. MS Word and Excel have password protection.
• It is best to add documents in a file format that everyone can read.Read About and Download a Document from the Document Library
• Save MS Word files as "Word 97-2003 Document" and MS Excel files as "Excel 97-2003 Workbook" so more people can read the files.
• Text files (txt) can be read in MS Word or any word processor and in Notepad or any text editor.
• A Comma Separated Values (CSV) file is a computer data file used to store tabular data. It will import into spreadsheets, data bases, mailing lists, etc.
• Portable Document Format (PDF) is the de facto standard for printable documents on the web. It is the best way to share documents that are not to be edited.
Each document has information about it in a format similar to all posts: title, member who placed the document in the library, document's author, description of the document, date and time uploaded, document size, Document ID, document file or URL, e.g., http://epaalumni.org/userdata/files/library/435_Air_Pollution_in_Donora_P.DOC, and comments from other members.If you cannot read a document with software on your PC, try the following free software:
If you attach a document to a Post (e.g., Newsletter), it helps to remember it's “Document ID."
Click on the Download button or the document URL to download the document to your PC. Be sure to remember the folder on your PC where you downloaded the file.
Run your Virus checking program on any document before you upload it to the website. With many antivirus programs, if you are in Windows Explorer and right click on a file, there will be an option to run your antivirus program on the file.
The member who added (uploaded) the document into the Document Library can edit the post. Other members can comment on the post or flag the post to the Web Administrator if they feel it contains inappropriate material.
Word Viewer - View, print and copy MS Office Word documents, even if you don't have Word installed.Document Library
PowerPoint Viewer 2007 - lets you view full-featured presentations created in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 97 and later versions.
Microsoft's Compatibility Pack Older Word, Excel and Power Point can open Word etc 2007 documents with Microsoft's Compatibility Pack
IBM Symphony - Free word processor, spreadsheet, presentation (can read Microsoft documents)
Zoho - Online Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Presentation (Free) - accepts doc, xls etc
Google Docs accepts most popular file formats, including DOC, XLS, ODT, ODS, RTF, CSV, PPT, etc.
The Document library contains all the member documents.How to Attach a Document to a Post (e.g., Newsletter)
How to find a document in the Document Library.
• Word Search: enter a word and the computer will search the title, and description of all the posts of each document. It does not search the document itself.
• If you know the Document ID, enter it in the box provided.
• Look through the list of documents. You can sort each column shown in the directory: EPA Document ID, Member Name, type of file, Title, Author, Date Uploaded, or Size of file. Sort by the up and down arrows. The member name links to the member's profile. The title links to the document's URL and its description (where you can download the file).
Share photographs, images, maps. Share your photos with other members: your latest trip to Alaska, your newest grandchild, or a photo from the “old” days at EPA. Photos can be attached to Posts or the photo can be included with the text of a post.
Add a Photo to the Photo GalleryA photo must be added to the Photo Gallery before it can be attached to a post. Adding a photo to the Photo Gallery is similar to creating a post. There are three sections to be completed.Read About a PhotoTitle: (required) The title is used as a one line summary or subject of the document. The title is like the heading of an article in the newspaper.After you SUBMIT a photo the Photo Gallery, you will be taken to a (Read) page that all members see when they want to read about your photo.
Photo: Select the photo from your hard drive to put in the Photo Gallery. Use the browse button to find the document on your hard drive. (If the browse button does not work, your firewall may be preventing access to you drive.)
Description: (required) Describe the photo in sufficient detail so members will know where and when it was taken, the people in the photo, what action is taking place, names of monuments, buildings, mountains, etc.
Things to consider when adding a photo to the Photo Gallery.
• Your file name will be changed to a Photo ID plus the first 25 characters of the Title,, e.g., 435_Air_Pollution_in_Donora_P.JPG, but the extension (e.g., JPG) will be kept.
• Due to the need to conserve space on the server, large files will be adjusted to fit in the space allowed on the page.
• Please DO NOT place documents in the photo gallery. Documents should be placed in the Document Library.
• Please do not add any copyrighted photos.
• Normally photos uploaded to this website are not private. Photos are available to all members, and a member may choose to distribute a photo to a non-member, although we do not encourage this. In addition, if in some way a non-member learns or guesses the web address (URL) of a photo, they can gain access to the photo without needing to enter a password. This is different from postings under News and Views on this site which are generally protected from non-members by the website password system.
• Please add only the following file formats: The following types of photos can be saved in the Photo Gallery: GIF, JPG, and PNG.
• For more information about image file formats, click on this link to Wikipedia
• Each photo has information about it in a format similar to all posts: Title, member who placed the photo in the library, the photo it's self, description of the photo, date and time uploaded, photo size, Photo ID, photo file or URL, e.g., http://epaalumni.org/userdata/files/gallery/435_Air_Pollution_in_Donora_P.JPG, and comments from other members.Photo Gallery
• If you attach a photo to a Post (e.g., Newsletter), it helps to remember it's “Photo ID."
• To enlarge the photo, click the photo URL or "click to enlarge."
• The member who uploaded the photo into the library can edit the post. Other members can comment on the post or flag the post to the Web Administrator if they feel it is inappropriate.
The gallery contains all the member photos.How to Attach a Photo to a Post (e.g., Newsletter)
How to find a photo in the Gallery:
• Word Search: enter a word and the computer will search the title, and description of all the posts of each photo. It does not search text in a photo.
• If you know the Photo ID, enter it in the box provided.
• Look through the list of photos. You can sort each field shown in the directory: Photo ID, Member Name, type of file, Title, Date Uploaded, or Size of File. Sort by the up and down arrows.
• The member name links to the member's profile. The title links to the photo's URL and its description. Click on the photo to enlarge it.
My Site is divided into the following pages: My Home, My Profile, My Groups, My Colleagues and My Invitations
Your home page will keep you up to date and contains the following information:
Message Center - If a new member chooses to send you a note informing you that they, too, have joined the association, you will be notified in this area. You can then look up their profile, send them an email, etc. In addition, the web master will use this area to send all the members important messages.
New Comments on Your Posts - After you add a posting in the Newsletter, Opinions etc. a member may comment on your post. Their comments on your posts are listed here. Comments on a post, whether your post or others, can be found associated with that post, as well.
Your Colleagues' New Posts - If you designate a member as a colleague, any post they have created since the last time you signed on to the website will be listed here. This allows you to go directly to that post and read it.
Highest Rated Posts and Most Recent Posts from Newsletter, Opinions, News of Colleagues, Our Favorite Stories and Volunteer Opportunities are listed here. This service is provided so that you will be alerted to those posts that your fellow alumni thought were of particular interest.
The Press - Outside News - Headlines of articles from the Washington Post, the New York Times, and other newspapers that mention EPA are provided, as are the current headlines from Inside EPA.
Your Groups- Members are able to create groups of members, either geographically-based or subject matter-based and have a page of the web site dedicated to that group's activities and special interests. Geographically-based groups formed around member's current locations are encouraged to sponsor local events.
Colleague Match - Based on your EPA employment history, the website compiles a list of possible colleagues. You may "View Your Matches" or "Search Full Member Directory" for possible colleagues. To understand the role that choosing someone as a "colleague" has on your use of the website, please read "My Colleagues."
This is one of the most important pages on the web site. It is key to the ability of colleagues, friends and members with similar interests to find you. Please fill it out as fully as possible.
A few fields are required. This web site does not allow anonymous posting or anonymous membership. However, you can choose to block some fields containing contact information from being viewed by other members for privacy reasons. Of course, if you block all contact information, no one will be able to contact you--and that defeats one of the main purposes of forming or joining an alumni association!
The following is a discussion of some of the most important fields:
Name
First Name: (required)Email: (required)
Last Name: (required)
Name by which you were known at EPA:(if different)
You may use this name instead of your first and last name (above) on your profile and postings. If you choose this option, the name you have entered in this field will be used in the list of members.Note: Your first and last name are used in the member list and are sorted by your last name, then first name. If someone uses the "Name" search on the "Search Member Directory", the name they enter is searched for in the First, Last and "Name by which you were known at EPA" fields.
There is an option not to display email address in the public profile.EPA Employment History
Note: It is best to keep your email public if possible because this may be the only way another member may contact you. Because this profile is behind a security wall protected by member passwords, it is not available to the general public. If you don't want to reveal your email address, we suggest that you get a free email address at Yahoo, Gmail or Hotmail. If you have questions about this or need some help in establishing one of these free email addresses, send an email to emailhelp@EPAalumni.org
The employment history allows members to find you easily. Members can search for all members that worked in the same program area and geographic location.Primary Program Area (required)
This field is one of the most important for searching for members. It appears on the one line entries that are shown when one searches the member directory.Position at EPA
Across all of your career at EPA, which program area is the one that most alumni will remember you working in?
Secondary program Area - Many members served in two or more program areas, e.g., air pollution and toxics and pesticides. Both areas will be listed in your profile, but only the primary program area will appear in the one-line results when someone searches the member directory.
In addition, members are asked to designate a program area for EACH job they held in EPA. This is an additional way in which other members can find you. When they search on "program area", all of these various program areas that you have entered will be searched, not just the primary or secondary program areas that represent your main concentrations during your career. We realize for many people who served in numerous positions, choosing a single primary program area for their whole career is hard, but we wanted to list your primary area in the one-line search results to help people identify you in their searches. Not all of your jobs can be listed on the one line allowed for each name in the search results. Once a person clicks on your name and goes to your profile, they will be able to see all of your jobs at EPA and the program area designations.
You must list at least one position held at EPA.Contact Info
Position/Title: (required)
Program Area: (required)
Approximate Years in this Position: (Important to help members find you)
Location where you worked at this position: (required)
The required fields in this section are used to help search for members.
Titles of persons you reported to:
Top Level (required) This is the level of your boss who reports to the Administrator, e.g. Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation or Regional Administrator for Region 5; if you reported to the Administrator, then insert AdministratorProjects you worked on. This entry helps people find you based on some of the activities and projects that people had in common or knew about.
2nd Level Down,
3rd Level Down,
4th Level Down,
5th Level Down
The following is an example:
Top Level Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation
2nd Level Down Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards
3rd Level Down Air Quality Policy Division
4th Level Down State and Local Programs Group
5th Level Down Grants Workgroup
Please add all your positions, so your colleagues can find you.
Each of the contact info fields give you the option not to display their contents to the members. Obviously, if you provide this information to the members, they will be able to call or write you. If for privacy reasons you want to withhold some of this contact information (e.g. your street address) ,you may do so, but remember that if you restrict all of it, no one besides the Association's officers will be able to contact you, and this defeats one of the primary purposes for creating or joining the Association. If you decide to withhold your street address, for example, consider allowing members to see what city and state you live in, and please do allow them to contact you by email or telephone. .Photo: Add Photo (JPG or GIF): A photo is not required, but it will make your profile much more helpful and interesting if you add a photo. Don't be shy. Yes, we all look older!
Employment Status and Current Employer will be interesting to colleagues.
The following fields allow you to enter information about yourself that will inform members of your interests and will help members with comment interests find you.
Do you participate in volunteer activities?
Technical Skills/knowledge areas from EPA or other work that you're still proficient in. This is useful, as example, if a fellow member is looking for someone with particular skills to help him/her in a volunteer endeavor. This would allow him/her to find you and ask you whether you would be interested in helping.:
What have you been doing since leaving the EPA, hobbies, etc.?
Anything else you'd like to include in your profile?
How to Make Your Profile Page Look Better Using the Text Editor
Edit My Profile - You may edit your profile at any time.
My Profile is also available in the "Quick Links" box at the top of the page.
View Posting History
You may view all your posts in Newsletter, Opinions, News of Colleagues, Our Favorite Stories and Volunteer Opportunities. This option is also available in the "Quick Links" box at the top of the page. Members cannot edit their own posts and comments at this time. If you want your post removed, flag it and a notification will be sent to the web master.
Lists the groups in which you are a member.
The list includes the group name, number of posts, number of members, link to review members and a button to remove yourself from the group.
My Groups are also available in the "Quick Links" box at the top of the page.
How the Optional “Colleagues” Function Can Work for You
You can use the “colleagues” function on this website to ensure you will not miss items that people you have known at EPA post to our website. While you may be interested in what any alumnus posts to the site, you may be especially interested in what those with whom you worked at EPA are saying. This function is similar to the “friends” function on social networking websites with one important difference: the person who is designated as a “colleague” does not need to know you have so designed him nor does he have to approve the designation. The reason he doesn't have to approve it is that your designation of that person as a colleague has no effect on his own use of the Alumni website.
Of course, if you do wish to notify an old colleague that you have found him/her on the website, the site makes it easy to do so. It provides you a 1-time message to your colleague that you are also a member. The message shows up on his/her "My Site" page when he next signs into the website.
However, designating a person as your colleague does have positive effects on the usefulness of the website for you. In particular, you will be alerted each time you sign on whether or not one of your “colleagues” has posted anything to the site (a view, a news item, etc.) since you last visited the site. You can click on the link provided and go directly to that entry. In addition, the website keeps a list of your colleagues that you can access, making it easy to view their profiles or to email them.
There is no requirement that you make use of the colleagues function. It is simply provided for your convenience, should you find it useful. We recommend you try it. You can always remove one or more persons (even all of them) from your designated list of colleagues.
After you have selected colleagues, they are listed on your "My Colleagues" page. A link is provided to their profile, posting history and email.
Any new post by a colleague is listed on your page titled "My Home."
List of Colleagues
The "My Colleagues" page lists all your colleagues.Filter List
You may Email a colleague, View their Posting History, or Remove them as a Colleague.
Click the box to the left of a colleague's name and you can filter the list to just those you have selected.Email
Above the list of colleagues, click "Refresh" to filter the list of members.
To send an email to one colleague, click on "Email" to the right of the colleague's name.Add a Colleague
To send an email to more than one colleague, click the box to the left of each colleague's name, then click "Send Email."
There are three ways to add colleagues:
In the box "Colleagues are still important!" click on:
View Your Matches - Under the column "Add as Colleague" check the box next to the member's name.
Search Full Member Directory - Search for a member(s), check the box in front of the member's name, then go to the top of the page and click "Add as Colleague"
When on a member's profile page, click on "Add as Colleague."
You may "Send Invitations" to people who are eligible for membership in the Association (e.g. EPA alumni) and encourage them to become members of the Association. We ask that you list not just their email address, but also their full name. Then, if they do join, the software on the website will identify them as someone you invited and you will be notified on your "My Site". You may then choose to send them an email welcoming them to the Association. The invitations page also lists all the members to whom you have sent invitations and whether or not they have joined the Association.
My Invitations are also available in the "Quick Links" box at the top of the page.
Groups are formed around specific geographical locations where alumni now live and around specific subject areas (e.g. Air, Water, etc.).Nominate a New Group? / New Group Application
Each group has its own home page on this website where news and upcoming events are posted. If you join a group, you may receive periodic emails from the "Coordinator" of the group. In addition, when you sign in to this Association site, you will be notified if there are new postings on the home pages of the groups you have joined.
You are welcome to join as many of these groups as you wish. If you don't see the group you want, form a group of your own.
Groups are listed by category and subcategory. Each group is listed along with the number of members and a short description of the group's purpose. To go to a group's home page, click on the group's name.
If you think it would be helpful to have a new group within the EPA Alumni Association with its own separate page for news and event announcements and discussions, please send an application email to the webmaster with information that addresses the following questions:Individual Group Home Page (e.g., Pesticides)
Describe the group you want to form and its purpose.
Who do you think would be interested in joining the group
Who would be the "coordinator" of the group page, making sure that it is kept up to date?
Indicate the names of other members who have indicated that they would join.
For "coordinators"only: if you want to edit the text on a "Topic" page,login then go to http://www.epaalumni.org/members/myeditors.cfm
Short Description of the Purpose of the Group - This also appears on the "Group" Page (list of all groups).Join a Group:
Long Description - Explains in more detail what the group is about and some guidelines.
Coordinator: There may be two coordinators. Questions or suggestions concerning the group should be directed to a coordinator and not the webmaster.
By joining a group, your home page, "My Home" will have a link to the group and you will be notified if there are new postings on the group's "home" page.Members
To join the group, click on the "Join Group" button on the group's horizontal menu bar.
To see the members of a group, click on (# Members)Posts (#): List of all posts in the group.
Newest Posts are listed first.
Highest Rated Posts are listed by rating.
Most Recent Posts
Word Search - Enter a word or part of a word in the search box and you will receive a list of posts that have your word somewhere in that post. The search is only for the group. It does not search across all groups.
At the top right of each page there is a SEARCH field. This search looks across the various postings in Newsletter, Opinions, News of Colleagues, Our Favorite Stories, Volunteer Opportunities, and all the Groups, searching for the words or part of a word you have entered.
Write Your Own Post - Please share your own opinions and concerns. This is the only way to get the conversation going.
Overview: Who We Are and History (June 10th meeting report, Incorporation Papers, By-Laws and Initial Board of Directors)
Policies: Privacy Policy and Terms of Service
How to Donate to the Association
Donations are the life blood of this Association. We have been very fortunate to have many startup contributions. Now, in order to continue the work of the Association and provide everyone a free membership, we need your continued contributions. Having a dues-free membership is very important to this young organization because it eliminates a possible barrier to recruiting as many former EPA employees as possible. This in turn expands our useful directory of alumni and increases participation in the dialogues on this web site.Contact Us
A list of Founding, Charter, Supporting and Contributing Members
At the top right of each page there is a SEARCH field. This search looks across the various postings in Newsletter, Opinions, News of Colleagues, Our Favorite Stories, Volunteer Opportunities, and all the Groups, searching for the words or part of a word you have entered. If you enter two words, both words must be present in the post to be selected. It does not search exact wording or a phrase like Google's advanced search.
Most of the time it is best not to use this search unless you want to search across all posts. If you are looking for a post in "Opinions", use the Word Search function on the "Opinions" home page
If you are looking for a member or several members, you must use Member Directory - Search Members.
Currently there is no search for text outside the member profiles and the posts.