Best Practices Communications Team

The Best Practices Communications Team identifies and observes cooperative workplace initiatives throughout the campus and facilitates communication, education and understanding between the Initiative Steering Committee and the committees involved in these initiatives, as well as the wider campus community.

Team Members

Evan Cobb (evan@yaleunnions.org), 624-5161 ext.284: Evan Cobb is the Communications Director for the Federation of University Employees(Locals 34 and 35). He is completing a doctoral thesis in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Yale, and has taught German courses in Yale College and the Yale Summer Language Institute. Prior to joining the union staff, he served as chairman of the Outreach Committee of the Graduate Employees and Students Organization (GESO).


Duane Mellor (duane@yaleunions.org), 624-5161, ext. 221: Duane Mellor is a member of the joint union-management Job Search Team and is currently serving as the Secretary-Treasurer of Local 34. He began his Yale career in 1973 as a Geology & Geophysics graduate student, and he worked in the Geology Library from 1977 to 2004.

Kate Reynolds (katherine.reynolds@yale.edu), 432-9874: Kate Reynolds is the Assistant Director of Communications and Human Resources. For nine years she was the Staff Training & Organizational Development Officer for the Library. Kate served as a member of the Training and Education Committee before transferring to the Communications Team. Before Coming to Yale, she acted as the Town Employability Plan Coordinator for the City of New Haven. She holds a Masters Degree in Special Education and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in Communications from Fairfield University.

How we can help

The Best Practices Communications Team is committed to assisting Joint Departmental Committees in a variety of ways beginning with:

Maintaining an inventory of Joint Departmental Committees, including their membership and projects
Identifying factors that contribute to successful Joint Departmental Committees
Identify common impediments Joint Departmental Committees might encounter and finding solutions
Communicating with the Yale Community about how to run successful Joint Departmental Committees and about the accomplishments of Joint Departmental Committees
Assembling a toolkit for Joint Departmental Committees to optimize their success
Answering individual questions about Joint Departmental Committees
Advising the Best Practices Training and Education committee on curricula