text:
What does your work team do to promote wellbeing? Share your tips with Stacey Tidball to have them featured in future News & Notes articles!]]>
Volunteers should sign up to participate on this spreadsheet by the end of the day Friday, December 5. If you have questions about UAT for student records or student finances staff, please contact Ingrid Nuttall or Kris Wright.]]>
Breathing techniques for stress relief]]>
A baby gorilla!]]>
To learn more about benefits options, you can attend an Employee Benefits Fair event. Minneapolis: November 11, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m., Great Hall, Coffman Memorial Union. St. Paul: November 12, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m., North Star Ballroom, Student Center.
Benefits-eligible faculty and staff will receive an email on October 13 from the Hay Group, an external vendor that is administering the survey. Take 10 minutes to share your thoughts about your work and your workplace. All answers are confidential. Your answers will help the University fulfill its teaching and research mission.
If you have any issues with the survey link you receive, contact the Hay Group directly to request a new link at email@example.com. Each survey link is customized and can only be used one time.
More information on engagement is available from the Office of Human Resources.]]>
Asking questions about existing processes or services using specific prompts will help you come up with creative ideas for developing new processes and for improving current ones.
First, take an existing opportunity that you want to improve, one that you're currently having problems with, or one that you think could be a good starting point for future development. Then, ask questions using the SCAMPER mnemonic to brainstorm as many questions and answers as you can.
Finally, look at the answers that you came up with. Do any stand out as viable solutions?
Sound interesting? Find more here.]]>
To correspond with the increased UPlan rate savings, the program has increased the points employees can earn with many of the wellness programs. UPlan-covered spouses can now earn up to 200 points for their joint balance, but they are not required to.]]>
Sue Van Voorhis will go over the process and answer questions. Sessions are scheduled for:
Bring your lunch and come hear about the new process!]]>
One respondent said that "We (ASR) are the spine," of the University, while another said that "If I didn't think that the work I do on a daily basis in ASR makes a positive difference in the lives of students, I would not be working here! It is very important to me to be able to make that connection in my work."
Just as a reminder: ASR's mission, vision and Values are posted on the ASR website. The University's history and mission and the University's current vision and goals are also available.
Disruptions will result in wasted time and effort, so please be sure to avoid interruptions to system testing.]]>
The upgrade activities will require down time for the tool. To minimize disruption to University business, the majority of the work will occur over the weekend of Nov 7-9:
Status updates will be provided during the upgrade via IT Service Status. Additional details about the upgrade will be sent to ImageNow users in the near future.
If you have questions about the upgrade or ImageNow, send a message to firstname.lastname@example.com.
If you are are a full-time civil service or labor-represented employee who earns approved overtime or shift differential, please also watch the sneak peek on electronic time reporting (for overtime and shift differential).
Both electronic processes will offer easy, streamlined, and ink-free ways to report absences and overtime.]]>
Visit the University's Community Fund Drive donation page. Click the "Donate Now!" link in the upper right to make a donation. If you are not able to donate this year, or if you donate in some other way, you can still be be entered in the prize drawings by clicking the "Donate Now!" button < "donate on line" < scroll to the bottom of the page and click the box next to "Can't pledge this year, but want to be included in the prize drawings?"
You can also participate in the ASR Penny War. The ASR penny war will run October 6-24. Building winners will be revealed at the October 29 ASR Staff Event. Collection jars will be available in these buildings:
Please remember: the value of pennies collected by a building count positively toward that building's point total, while the value of other coins or dollar bills are subtracted from that building's point total. So, putting pennies in your building's jar while putting other coins and dollar bills in other building's collection jars would be a winning strategy.]]>
Effective September 8, GSSP began their new phone answering system, utilizing Auto Call Distribution (ACD) functionality. This allows up to five people to call the main number (612-625-3490) at the same time. If that line is busy, they will will be able to hold to speak to someone on that same line (it won't go to voicemail). Calls will be answered in the order they are received.
Additionally, GSSP will be transitioning out of ServiceNow and into Salesforce. With the transition to Salesforce, there will no longer be "tickets" (incidents) when sending an email to email@example.com. Also, all interactions will now be logged on the student or staff members record for historical reference. Inquiries for GSSP should still be sent to firstname.lastname@example.com.]]>
Thanks to everyone that participated in the last News & Notes poll. Several thoughtful ideas for improving teamwork were submitted. A few of the more common ideas:
Moving forward, we will give survey respondents the ability to include additional comments with their response. So, if you have ideas for implementing any of the suggestions above, please include them with your survey response.
Finally, "Top Pop Hits" edged "Minnesota Music" in the vote to determine which type of music we'll listen to before the October staff event. Good thing for Minnesota music lovers that Prince fits in both categories.]]>
Additionally, the Keller Atrium and Humphrey 50 were added to the inventory of study spaces and completely renovated. New fixtures include display monitors and tables for individual study and small group work.]]>
The top 5 CRM categories were:
The previous poll question asked whether you would attend a "brown bag" session for ASR staff about ESUP and what topics you would like covered. 40% of respondents said they were likely to attend a brown bag session and another 6% said they were undecided. Many respondents indicated they already feel very well informed, but several topics were suggested including the student experience in the portal, an overview of the training plan, overviews of what's changing, and information about time and absence management for staff and managers. Watch for more information to come about brown bag sessions for ASR staff.]]>
To use, select the version that best applies to your situation. To use the template:
1 unit
Jane Doe
Multimedia Designer | Government Relations | govrelations.umn.edu
University of Minnesota | umn.edu
email@example.com | 612-624-9098 | c. 612-555-5555
- -
+ 2 units
John Doe
Senior Public Relations Consultant | Information Technology | oit.umn.edu
Director of Student Communications | Office for Student Affairs | www.osa.umn.edu
University of Minnesota | umn.edu
email@example.com | 612-624-3302
- -
+ address
John Doe
Senior Public Relations Consultant | Information Technology | oit.umn.edu
2218 University Ave, Suite 305
University of Minnesota | umn.edu
firstname.lastname@example.com | 612-624-3302
- -
+ address + office hours
John Doe
Senior Public Relations Consultant | Information Technology | oit.umn.edu
2218 University Ave, Suite 305 | Office hours: MWF 3-6pm, Tu 2-4pm
University of Minnesota | umn.edu
email@example.com | 612-624-3302
- -
+ 2 units + 2 addresses + office hours
John Doe
Senior Public Relations Consultant | Information Technology | oit.umn.edu
2218 University Ave, Suite 305 | Office hours: MWF 3-6pm, Tu 2-4pm
Director of Student Communications | Office for Student Affairs | www.osa.umn.edu
100 Church Street, Rm 4 | Office hours: MWF 3-6pm, Tu 2-4pm
University of Minnesota | umn.edu
email@example.com | 612-624-3302
UPlan members with single coverage or dependent children coverage need to earn the full 300 points to save $300 on their 2015 yearly insurance premium while members claiming a spouse or family coverage need to earn the full 400 points to save $400 on their 2015 premiums. Check your current Wellness Points balance by accessing your personal profile on the StayWell Online portal.]]>
If you are interested in more tools, tips, and advice for planning and executing effective meetings, join the Project and Work Facilitation Unit for the next project management round table on Thursday, August 21 at 3:30 p.m. Contact Kristy Davis (firstname.lastname@example.com) or Christa Nicols (email@example.com) if you are interested.]]>
Please be considerate of your fellow ASR members and remember to cancel or update events if needed. Also, events should be for learning or social events; not for fundraising or solicitations.
Any questions? Email email@example.com. Thanks!
Additionally as of August 1, tuition refunds for students with dependent children will be granted for those that are impacted by their spouse's military deployment and required to withdraw from courses. Students with dependents should contact their campus veteran services office for guidance regarding enrollment and tuition refunds when impacted by a spouse's military deployment.]]>
One change is that chat "off the record" is now the default. Chatting "off the record" means that the text from your chat will not be saved to a folder. If you want a record of your chat to be saved to your "chats" folder, you can manually select to go "on the record." All parties engaged in an on-the-record chat session will see a notification of that status in the chat window.
Also, with the new version chat status no longer available. Instead, you will be able to share your "mood" using emoticons. To learn more about the new Google+ Hangouts, visit Google's informational web page.]]>
As part of this process, changes are anticipated to Tier 3 escalation and to license management. The ServiceNow FAQ contains answers to common questions, including a reinforcement that IT@UMN remains committed to a shared IT Service Management (ITSM) tool. On August 20, ServiceNow will poll ServiceNow license usage and set the licensing floor.]]>
Most respondents to last week's survey feel that their supervisor is helpful. Forty percent of respondents strongly agree and thirty four percent of respondents agree that their supervisors help with things like problem-solving, time management, and achieving work-life balance. Fifteen percent of respondents were neutral, while ten percent disagreed and two percent strongly disagreed. Sixty four ASR employees answered last week's survey question.]]>
The model was developed by leadership coach and author David Rock, who published an article about SCARF in the NeuroLeadership Journal. Rosie Barry, the assistant director of Organizational Effectiveness here at the University, summarized Rock's findings in a recent presentation, "Building Resilience in the Workplace."]]>
One Stop's new student workers, the customer relations representatives (CRR), have completed three weeks of training and are transitioning to answering customer calls under the supervision of One Stop counselors. One Stop's phone system now prompts customers to indicate a service preference: "1" for general questions or "2" for specific account questions. Early impressions of the transition have been positive, and CRRs will transition to answer the general questions line independently as they build experience.
Meanwhile, One Stop has been busy with customer contact related to the electronic Financial Aid Award Notice (eFAAN). The top three categories of discussion last week were financial aid packaging, loans, and billing/payment. Last week, One Stop logged 4,090 cases in Salesforce.]]>
LLAS is also busy preparing for its annual Welcome Week presentation, where 5,500 incoming first year students and 400 incoming transfer students learn about LLAS and ways to save money during college.]]>
The meetings are designed to help colleges understand how these changes will impact them, share best practices for applying new processes, provide information about how and when to access training and other information, and uncover potential issues and related challenges specific to colleges and programs. Meetings have already been held with the Law School, College of Design, and College of Liberal Arts.]]>
Please consider donating a purchased or hand-crafted item, or sharing your time and talents. Donations to the silent auction are being accepted by Mara Schneider now through August 12.
Items and services up for auction can be viewed on the ASR Instagram account.]]>
All responses are anonymous; if you have ideas for questions you'd like to see here or other ideas for improving the ASR employee mini-survey please submit them through the ASR comment box.
According to last week's survey, most ASR employees feel as though they are receiving adequate training. Eighty three percent of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed they they have received the training they needed to do their jobs. Seventeen percent neither agreed nor disagreed, while no respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed.
Bagels were the runaway winner in the breakfast treat vote, completely dominating coffee with 81% of the overall vote total. Keep an eye out for an email announcing the date that those will be available.]]>
Technology calls will be routed to a team of support professionals who are available 24 hours a day. OCM support staff remain available for all other classroom and scheduling-related calls from 7:30 a.m. - 4 p.m., Monday - Friday.]]>
Our inaugural poll question asked whether you preferred donuts or cookies as office treats. Donuts edged out cookies by nine votes with a final count of 36 to 27. Stay tuned for when donuts will be making an appearance in your area!
All responses are anonymous. If you have ideas for questions you'd like to see here or other ideas for improvement, please submit them through the ASR suggestion box. Results from both questions will be shared with the ASR directors, as well as in future issue of News and Notes.
Answer this week's poll questions!
The project team is targeting a late August/early September implementation kick off. Also, there are two new positions posted to support the non-credit implementation efforts. Please share the Business Analyst 2 and the Solution Trainer postings with friends or colleagues who would be a good fit for ASR.]]>
1) Financial aid packaging
2) Billing/payment
3) Transcripts
4) Loans
One Stop will also welcome five new counselors on Wednesday, July 23.
For today's issue, our inaugural poll question asks about your favorite treat. Be sure to respond so we know which to surprise you with in the coming weeks!
Question: Which performance-boosting treat would you like next month? Choose between cookies and donuts!]]>
Amanda Grimm will also be bringing her dog, Klaus, for a visit. Klaus is part of Boynton's PAWS program and will be in the 133 Fraser space.
Fozzy Bear and Gabie are excited to see you!
- 98% satisfaction rate with customer service and the benefits processing time
- 100% satisfaction rate from students who attended New Student Veterans Orientation
- 100% satisfaction rate from students who attended Student Veterans Appreciation Day
- 81% of respondents used the online Veterans Benefits Request form, and 99% reported they had a good experience with the new form
Think about what you love to do--painting, drawing, sewing, writing, crafting--and plan to share your talents for a good cause. For example, here are some beautiful stained glass windows that ASR's Sue Johnson has made.
You can also donate something you think others would enjoy, such as a spa basket, candles, DVDs, baked goods, or a house or garden plant. More information about the event will be published in future issues of News & News.
Friday, 6/6, 1:30-2:30 p.m.
Monday, 6/9, 9:30-10:30 a.m.
Wednesday, 6/11, 2-3 p.m.
Thursday, 6/12, 11-12 p.m.
If you aren't able to attend a session but would like to learn more about the classroom technology, contact Jeremy Todd to schedule an alternative time for an overview.]]>
Additionally, University Relations staff will be moving to Fraser 345 the week of June 23. They will work there throughout the summer while their space in Morrill Hall space is being remodeled.]]>
A couple of tips for consideration in regard to the Friday email hiatus:
-If your only response is "Thank you" don't hit the send button. I know it feels like you're being polite, but it just adds noise.
-Don't 'reply to all' unless everyone needs to hear what you have to say. If it's a back-and-forth or follow-up to one person on the email, don't clutter the inbox of everybody else.
Tina's experience: "Not hitting send on Friday is much more difficult than it should be. I would find myself just about to forward an email or draft one up and then I would look at the post-it note on my monitor and remember... 'Oh, yeah, it's Friday, I should just call.'"
Jeremy's experience: "I found one Friday I had five different draft emails just sitting in the drafts folder. Only after I called and walked down to see if the person was there and they weren't did I send the message."
Sue's experience: "I respond to student inquiries via email, as I often don't have their phone number, but I have found that I am calling staff more, even when it's not a Friday."
How has the Friday email hiatus gone for you? Share your thoughts by leaving a note in the ASR suggestion box.
Our experiment will continue throughout the summer, so keep up the good work on taking a break from email on Fridays!]]>
A huge thanks to the Development Team for organizing and hosting a great event! Development Team members include Grant Clavelle, Laura Goldsmith, Olga Kavun-Wozniak, Kess Knight, Christine Mounts, Ruth Newman, Christa Nicols, and Ryan Ricard.]]>
- Public hours: building is open to the public and doors will remain unlocked
- University hours: doors are locked, but anyone with an active U Card will be able to access the building
- Restricted hours: only people with permission and a programmed card for the building will be able to enter
Staff who have not upgraded their U Card with the smart card capability can do so by visiting the U Card office in Coffman. There is no charge, and it only takes a few minutes. (You can check to see if you already have a smart card by looking for the gold numbers on the back of your card in the upper right-hand corner.) Once you have upgraded your card, be sure to notify your building DAC (Department Access Coordinator) with the proximity number that is located on the back in gold numbers.]]>
This will likely be difficult at first, but one of the comments that was pervasive in staff feedback was a sense of email overload, so this is an effort to address that concern. Like any experiment, we want your feedback on this idea. Please feel free to leave comments on the ASR suggestion box page.]]>
Staff will then head off to a breakout session followed by two mini-breakout sessions. Lunch from The Lunch Cube will be served at noon in STSS 412.
A few reminders:
- The River Walk tour is rain or shine - pack an umbrella if needed!
- Both River Walk sessions are first come, first served and capped at 50 people. If you plan to attend either River Walk session, please mention it to staff at check-in.
- If you plan on attending the "Apply Your Strengths" breakout session, you must have completed the StrengthsQuest assessment before the session begins. If you need to do so, please contact Christa Nicols at firstname.lastname@example.com.
The full agenda, including session details and speaker bios, can be found on the ASR Intranet. Copies of the agenda, including session locations, will be available at check-in.]]>
If you haven't already done so, you'll need to set up your office telephone, cell phone or another device to use Duo, or request a new Duo hardware token. If you have been assigned an M Key, you will need it to start the enrollment process. Visit the Two-Factor Authentication website for complete information and resources about Duo Security.
Once enrolled in Duo, please return your M Key to Data Security. You can continue to use your M Key until May 21, 2014. Both M Key and Duo will work during the transition period. Please contact Technology Help at (612) 301-4357 (1-HELP on campus) with any questions.]]>
Fraser 261 also had a new router installed to improve wireless connectivity.
A random drawing will take place Monday, May 5, 2014 to announce the winners. The drawing will occur in Williamson 160, but you do not need to be present at the time to win. Winners will be notified by email. Payment must be made in cash.
Please note the TVs will be sold "as is." This means ASR is selling, and the buyer is buying, an item in whatever condition it presently exists, and that the buyer is accepting the item "with all faults," whether or not immediately apparent.
You may contact Jeremy Todd with questions or to view the equipment before placing your name in the lottery.]]>
The tool automatically merges student data collected by the Admissions, Registrar, and Financial Aid offices, which eliminates the need for a student to enter data the University already has on file. OSF staff are able to use the tool to manage application cycles, edit application questions, review student submissions, and streamline their awarding process.]]>
To learn more about LLAS, visit its Facebook page or contact Nate Peterson.]]>
The third bill for Twin Cities was due April 16. Students who have not paid their bill are unable to register until it is paid, so Student Account Assistance staff have been busy working with late payers to ensure they can register in time.]]>
To throw a monkey wrench into the previous rule, some dictionaries (including the Oxford English Dictionary) do say it's acceptable to use while to mean although. Just make sure doing so doesn't cause confusion. For example, if you say, "While the cat is white, the dog is black." People wouldn't know if you were contrasting the animals' colors or saying that the cat is only white when the dog is black.
Thanks to Cheryl Johnson in the Office of Student Finance (OSF) for suggesting this grammar tip!
This change will bring the University in line with current industry standards and allow billing to be more consistent across all system campuses.]]>
At Oracle's user conference last month, they announced that they will deliver an update to their code so that the preferred name of students appears on class and grade rosters! The University of Minnesota played a big part in this. The ESUP Student Records team built a national coalition around this issue thanks to the help of Product Advisory Group members Max Herman (ASR-IT) and Carla Boyd (Duluth). Max even wrote the white paper that Oracle is using for their development!
Since the delivery timeframe of this fix is unknown, the ESUP team is moving forward with developing modifications to the system to ensure that when we go live next spring, this long-awaited functionality is available to the University community. This is a huge win for our entire institution! Thanks to all who have been (and will be) involved!]]>
You have likely heard about the global HeartBleed OpenSSL vulnerability. The University has been actively involved in mitigation and response to this threat. You can learn more at heartbleed.com.
It's also a good idea to be aware of phishing by not clicking on links provided to you in any notification emails to change your password; there is potential for an increase in phishing scams based on this event. We recommend directly typing the URL (or using a bookmark you've previously saved), to help avoid potential phishing attacks.
For questions about Heartbleed, contact University Information Security at firstname.lastname@example.com.
If you have any questions regarding this process, contact Debbie.]]>
If you have a question you'd like to ask President Kaler, you may submit one now through the end of his address on March 6. Kaler will also accept questions on Twitter (be sure to use the hashtag #UMNsotu) and in written form during the event. For more information, live web-streaming the day of the event, or to submit a question, visit State of the U.]]>
The initiative has four focus areas, which include the following:
- The Bridge Program (funded for Pell eligible students)
- SMART Learning Commons program enhancements
- Increased awareness for advisers regarding these students
- Financial literacy (One Stop will focus on these students)
In addition to Pell-eligible students, first generation students will also be a priority of the program.]]>
West Bank buildings part of the Building Access Pilot Program include:
- Anderson Hall
- Elmer Anderson Library
- Barker Dance Center
- Carlson School
- Hanson Hall
- Mondale Hall
- Regis Center for the Arts
A list of pilot program buildings and their hours is available. The remaining buildings on West Bank will be changed the middle of spring semester, and the rest of the Twin Cities campus during the summer.]]>
"I was overwhelmed by the response this year, and we will put [the] cards to not just good but miraculous use! The ability to use the cards you all raised for us is an invaluable benefit for our students and the program. Please share this email with anyone involved with the fundraising efforts for the SPHC so that everyone involved knows that each and every card is so needed and will be put to such good use. A million thanks!"
Great job, ASR! What wonderful news to hear!]]>
Additionally, the STSS One Stop location will remain open until 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday during the first two weeks of spring semester, as well as the week prior to and the first two weeks of fall semester. Office hours at the West Bank and St. Paul One Stop locations will not change.]]>
- Brown bag discussions focused on clarifying issues regarding merit pay.
- Supervisors will look for additional opportunities to recognize staff and encourage colleagues to do the same. (ASR thank you cards are available from Debbie Henderson. The Office of Human Resources thank you ecard is also another nice way to tell someone you appreciate his or her work.)
- The ASR Development Team will look for ways to increase cross-departmental understanding of what each ASR unit does and how we all work together.
- The ASR Survey Team will plan on reducing the number of surveys distributed and the number of questions asked. The team will also explore asking new questions. If you have a suggestion for the ASR Survey Team, contact Matt Tveter.
These initiatives are still in the planning stage, so be sure to stay tuned for updates in future issues of News & Notes.]]>
Additionally, on Saturday, January 11, 21 One Stop staff members volunteered to bag, pack, and label food at Second Harvest. One Stop was part of a larger group that helped pack 6,435 pounds of oatmeal and pasta during a two-hour period.
If you have ideas for future ASR services projects, please contact Tina Falkner.
The following story is the second of a two-part installment about managing student records in the 1970s. Going forward, issues of News & Notes will include additional entertaining stories of times gone by in the student finance/financial aid and records office. Hopefully, you will find it interesting to read about how much our offices have changed over the years! If you have a story you'd like to share, please send your submission to firstname.lastname@example.com.
The Student Master File (SMF) was a batch system. Updates were applied once a week. Some, including registrations, came from the Active Student File (ASF); others were based on a kind of blind data entry by records clerks. To change a grade, for example, you entered the student ID and name, information about the course, the old grade, and the new grade. If any of the student or course information, including the old grade, didn't match exactly what was in the SMF, the update wouldn't be applied, and the transaction would appear on an error report.
Records maintenance responsibilities were divided up alphabetically by college. For example, my colleague kept the records of College of Liberal Arts (CLA) students whose last names were in the range Mea-N. At the end of the cancel/add period each quarter, records clerks would receive the registration cards and any cancel/add forms for their students. For those not stamped SMF, the clerks would add the term information and courses to the linen transcripts, which they kept in binders in their desks. Future changes to student registrations might require the use of the electric eraser.
Later in the quarter, we'd receive printouts of the course information on the ASF for each student, and we'd compare that information to the accumulated registration and cancel/add forms to an audit of the student bills to ensure students were billed properly, as all of the bills were calculated by hand.
When grades came in at the end of the quarter, we would transfer the grades from the grade sheets to the course cards that students turned in when they registered, using a No. 2 pencil to fill in the appropriate grade in the correct bubble on each card. The cards would then go to the Unit Record section of central IT for processing, and the grades would be added to the SMF. Once all the grades were processed, we'd receive a printout of all grades for each student and we'd add the grades to the linen transcripts. When grade changes came in, we'd once again use the electric eraser.]]>
He grew up in Bottineau, North Dakota. He received his bachelors degree in elementary education from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. "After I graduated from Luther I taught abroad in Brussels, Belgium from 2007-2008," he said. "The traveling opportunities were amazing, the kids were ridiculously adorable, and the beer, chocolate, and frites were incredible."
John returned to the U.S. and spent about three years substitute teaching, table clearing at Maggiano's in Edina, and working as a paraprofessional in the Bloomington School District. Then, in 2010, he went on to obtain a Master's of Arts in Education: Leadership in Student Affairs from the University of St Thomas.
In 2011, John started working at the University in the Orientation and First Year Programs office as an intern. In September 2012, he began working at One Stop Student Services as a counselor.
"As a counselor, I help save the world by offering assistance to students and parents regarding financial aid, registration inquiries, academic record requests, University resources, and all other sorts of tidbits of information," he said.
John works on the St. Paul campus so he works closely with the OTR staff. "It's been really fun getting to know them. They keep me on my toes," he said. "I could not do my job without all the great folks back in ASR and other University offices as they follow up with my incredibly brilliant questions."
John currently lives in Woodbury with his fiancé Allison and their Ragdoll cat. "She's a luxury cat because she costs too much money, but is great because she acts like a dog and loves to chill with people."
His fiancé just finished her Nurse Practitioner's degree at St. Kate's. The two are getting married in July 2014 in her hometown of Spicer, Minnesota.
John's personal goals for the upcoming years include "successfully getting married next summer, paying my car off, running two more marathons for a total of five, and enjoying my upcoming new title of uncle," he said.
Professionally, John hopes to stay at the University. "It's an incredible place and I thoroughly enjoy helping students and working with the people here," he said.
He says that, besides improving his swashbuckling skill-set, he would like to explore other professional areas to utilize the Regent's Scholarship.
Outside of work, John's favorite activity is to get together with college friends, grill out, and play bags all day. He's also not modest about his hidden talents. "I draw an incredible bat symbol," he said. "And my cursive handwriting is better than literally everyone else's."
Jovial John
1. Field of Dreams is his favorite movie.
2. His first concert was The Goo Goo Dolls at the North Dakota State Fair. "It was dope."
3. He just reread The Hobbit in preparation for the second movie.
4. His favorite TV show is Archer.
5. The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs is his favorite book.
6. John loves the Dave Matthews Band and Foo Fighters.
7. New Zealand is his favorite vacation spot.
8. John's favorite foods are lutefisk and macaroni and cheese.
9. John's most memorable Halloween costume was Shredder from The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. "Instead of prepping lessons for student teaching, I spend a day and a half creating my costume and won $60."
10. If he could be anyone for a day, he'd be Stephen Colbert.
The list of affected services, as well as updates during the maintenance period, will be
available on the University's IT Service Status page. (Note: You may need to expand the Planned Maintenance section to view the list). Click here for a complete list of affected services.
Questions and concerns should be directed to Data Center Operations Services service owner Joe Zanmiller at email@example.com.]]>
The following story is the first of a two-part installment about managing student records in the 1970s. Going forward, issues of News & Notes will include additional entertaining stories of times gone by in the student finance/financial aid and records office. Hopefully, you will find it interesting to read about how much our offices have changed over the years! If you have a story you'd like to share, please send your submission to email@example.com.
On August 16, 1974, I began my career in the registrar business as a senior clerk in the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) records section of the Registrar's Office. All registration then was in-person and busy. The supervisor of my section didn't have time to do any training. On my desk was a large computer printout, a tray of registration cards, a red inkpad, and a stamp that read "SMF." My instructions were simple: If a card in the tray belonged to a student on the printout, stamp the card; if not, don't. When you finish with a tray, get the next tray. If the phone rings, don't answer it.
I learned that SMF stood for Student Master File, but I had no clue what that was. I spent the rest of the day stamping cards SMF. I went home at the end of the day with red ink on the side of my hand and on my shirt sleeve and wondering how long I'd last.
Eventually, I learned that SMF was the computerized record of students who started at the University beginning fall quarter 1972. The transcripts were produced on microfiche every two weeks. Transcripts for degree-seeking students who started before fall 1972 were maintained manually, handwritten in ink on special linen transcript paper. SMF stamped on a registration card let the records clerks know they didn't need to print the courses on the linen transcript.
At the time, the registration process had not changed too much since 1948 when a system using 80-column computer cards and IBM unit record equipment was developed to help deal with the influx of many thousands of returning World War II veterans. (What is now the Office of Information Technology at the University began in the late 1940s as a part of the Registrar's Office.) Each student was given a card with basic information and punched into 80 columns: ID number, name, college code, and a few other elements. Students would go around campus to academic departments and college offices to pick up cards for the courses they wanted to take. These cards had the basic course information, subject, course number, section number, and so on printed and punched on them. The number of cards printed for each section matched the section capacity, so a course with 25 seats would have 25 cards produced.
Once the cards were gone, the section was full. Students brought their individual student card, the cards for the courses they wanted to take, and another card on which they had written the courses, to either the Registrar's Office on the first floor of Morrill Hall or to the remote outpost in Johnston Hall where students in CLA and the Graduate School could register. Clerks would take in the packets of cards, making sure that all of the necessary cards were present, and write out a fee statement on a multi-part form. The packet of cards was paper-clipped together and put into boxes. Students received a carbon copy of their registration card and the fee statement.
The typical wait for a student could well be more than an hour. (This coming after the student had traveled across campus picking up the course cards from multiple locations.) Before being sent for processing, each set of registration cards was examined by an assistant supervisor to make sure that all of the cards were present. Boxes of cards went to the unit record section of the central IT department, where the sets of cards were processed, creating entries on the Active Student File (ASF), which contained demographic and current course registration information for all active students, including those not on the SMF. Eventually, the registration cards wound up in trays, waiting for an unlucky records clerk to compare them to names on a printout and stamp some SMF.
Committee members include Tina Falkner, Deb Wilkins, Cheryl Johnson, Pat Rickard, and Jackee Wernersbach.]]>
- Toys for Tots (toys or other gifts for children of all ages). Donations accepted through December 20. Drop-off boxes located in 160 Williamson Hal, 130 Coffey Hall, and 120 Fraser.
- Gift cards for the campus-based Student Parent Help Center (gift cards to stores where student parents can purchase everyday necessities). Donations accepted through January 3. Drop-off box located in 160 Williamson Hall, 120 Fraser, and 130 Coffey Hall.
- Items for the Ronald McDonald House connected with the University's Amplatz Children's Hospital. Donations accepted through January 3. Drop-off box located in 160 Williamson Hall.
- Animal Humane Society (items for all kinds of animals from dog treats to pet dishes and much more). Donations accepted through January 3. Drop-off box located in 225 STSS or at West Bank or St. Paul One Stop locations.
Contact Tina Falkner if you have any questions.]]>
The list of affected services, as well as updates during the maintenance period, will be available on the University's IT Service Status page. (Note: You may need to expand the Planned Maintenance section to view the list). Click here for a complete list of affected services.
Questions and concerns should be directed to Data Center Operations Services service owner Joe Zanmiller at email@example.com.]]>
Registration and training is available in ULearn, the University's Learning Management System that allows for administration, tracking, and reporting of training content. The online training videos and related activities will take approximately 60-90 minutes to complete. Following confirmation of having completed the training, as well as submitting the Access Request Form, access to update data in PeopleSoft will be granted.
Online training provides users a self-paced environment that can be re-launched for future use. In-person training will still be available, but it is no longer required. Registration for both in-person and online training will be in ULearn.
Unlike System Status, Service Status does not rely on the University network, enabling IT to communicate with the University even if the network is down. Another advantage is the ease in which incident, problem, and change records can be associated and tracked. Take a quick video tour of the new IT Service Status page and learn how to create outages in Service Now.]]>
Hailing from Largo, Florida, Mike received his bachelor's degree in biology from the University of South Florida. After college, Mike wasn't sure what career he wanted to pursue, he just knew he wanted to be in higher education.
"I love biology and science, but didn't like the lab work and research," he said. "I began tutoring math and science at St. Petersburg College."
Soon after, Mike got involved with the administrative and student services side of higher education and found his passion. He moved to Minnesota in May 2012 to start at Hamline University's registrar's office as a transfer coordinator.
But Mike wanted to be more involved in process improvement. So, about six months ago, he started working in the Graduate Student Services and Progress (GSSP) office as a GSSP Coordinator.
With his job, he focuses primarily on the Graduate Degree Plan (GDP). He processes the GDP and advises graduate programs on policies and processes. He also troubleshoots student degree progress process problems. On top of these tasks, he is the day-to-day supervisor of the ASR front desk student workers in 160 Williamson Hall.
"I really enjoy working in GSSP. My position affords me more opportunities to be engaged in processes and make large-scale, systematic changes," he said. "The environment is very collaborative and student-centric. It's a great place to work."
Mike plans to apply to the master's program in classics and near-eastern studies in fall 2015. For now, Mike is taking prerequisite classes classical Hebrew language courses as a non-degree student. He hopes to add an advanced understanding of biblical Hebrew to his repertoire so he can conduct academic research on ancient texts.
When he's not at work or brushing up on his ancient texts, Mike lives in Richfield with his wife of three years, Domini, and his sister-in-law. He has an Australian Shepherd named Tonks and a cat named Ferdinand.
In his spare time, Mike likes to read, skate, snowboard, fish, and play video games. He also loves bad science fiction movies and books. Mike also enjoys surfing, but that's proven to be a bit difficult to do in Minnesota.
Mike's Materials
1. Mike can do a roundoff back handspring and juggle (not at the same time).
2. He says people would describe him as friendly, silly, and nerdy.
3. His favorite book is the The Silmarillion by J.R.R Tolkien.
4. Wedding Crashers is his favorite movie.
5. Star Trek is Mike's favorite TV show.
6. If he could be any character for a day, he'd be Sonic the Hedgehog. "He's fast, and I'm slow."
7. His favorite food is cheese.
8. Mike loves punk rock music.
9. Sum 41 was his first concert, though he wants everyone to know that they don't count as punk music.
10. Mike grew up wanting to be a professional folk musician, but says he didn't have the discipline.
- Toys for Tots (toys or other gifts for children of all ages). Donations accepted through December 20. Drop-off boxes located in 160 Williamson Hall and 120 Fraser.
- Gift cards for the campus-based Student Parent Help Center (gift cards to stores where student parents can purchase everyday necessities). Donations accepted through January 3. Drop-off box located in 160 Williamson Hall.
- Items for the Ronald McDonald House connected with the University's Amplatz Children's Hospital. Donations accepted through January 3. Drop-off box located in 160 Williamson Hall.
- Animal Humane Society (items for all kinds of animals from dog treats to pet dishes and much more). Donations accepted through January 3. Drop-off box located in 225 STSS or at West Bank or St. Paul One Stop locations.
- Second Harvest (non-perishable food items for children, families and seniors in our community; you may also make a cash donation). Donations accepted through December 18. Drop-off box located in 160 Williamson Hall.
Contact Tina Falkner if you have any questions.]]>
- The University's Military Color Guard
- The University Marching Band
- Remarks from veteran and University head wrestling coach J. Robinson; and
- Remarks from University student veteran Zach Benson.
Thank you to all of our student veterans for your sacrifice and service!]]>
Children's boots that are in good shape are also accepted, as well as hats and gloves/mittens that still have their mates. The deadline to donate items is Wednesday, December 11.]]>
The students have been working hard on their projects all semester and often have fascinating results to share. Dean Bob Elde from the College of Biological Sciences (CBS) also encouraged staff to check out the students' work during his keynote address at the fall 2013 ASR staff event.]]>
Sarah has a bachelor's degree in sociology and German from the U and a master's degree in teaching from St. Thomas. She speaks fluent German and has studied abroad in Germany multiple times.
Her previous jobs include spending a summer in Alaska with an organization called Youthworks and working in the College of Continuing Education for 4-5 years. Most recently, Sarah worked in North St. Paul as a middle and high school German teacher.
"I really enjoyed teaching middle and high school German," Sarah said. "But I knew that I always wanted to come back to the U."
Two years ago, Sarah began working in One Stop Student Services as a counselor. She currently works in the West Bank location. She counsels students about financial aid, registration, and billing. "I really like working with students," she said. "We see a lot of the same students on West Bank so we can get to know the them a little bit."
And, even though many other people don't like drama, Sarah says she doesn't mind hearing about other people's personal problems. "I like listening to people and helping them through their issues."
Beyond her daily work tasks, Sarah is on the Tuition Refund Appeal committee and a new member of the Financial Literacy Committee.
"I'm excited to be able to use some of my creativity and presentation skills with the Financial Literacy committee," she said. "I can help students understand financial impacts of their decisions and develop skills to gain future financial success."
Originally from Owatonna, Sarah currently lives in Minneapolis, about a mile and a half from West Bank so she can bike to work. She lives with her husband of four years, Francisco, and their 2 ½ year old son, Andrew. She is also currently expecting her second child due on November 11.
In her spare time, Sarah enjoys being active outdoors. She loves camping and taking walks or bike rides.
Sarah is also pretty artsy. She loves to sing and go salsa dancing. In fact, she met her husband salsa dancing at First Avenue. She also enjoys cooking and doing art and crafts projects with her son.
Fun fact about Sarah: her last name means "orange tree" in Spanish.
Singen Sarah
1. Sarah is a landlord. She owns a duplex with her brother that they used to live in but now rent out.
2. Her favorite movie is Shawshank Redemption.
3. She loves the show 24.
4. If Sarah could have a superpower, she'd want to be Supermom.
5. Favorite type of music is salsa music, especially Bachata.
6. Her mom's food is her favorite food.
7. Sarah is very afraid of flying.
8. The last book she read was Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child.
9. Her first concert was The Monkees.
10. She couldn't live without good, healthy food and companionship.
Each survey link is unique so the Hay Group can provide data analysis to the University. If you can't find your email from Hay Group, email them at email@example.com to request a new link.]]>
- The University's Military Color Guard
- The University Marching Band
- Remarks from veteran and University head wrestling coach J. Robinson, and
- Remarks from University student veteran Zach Benson.
A chili luncheon will be provided for guests. The best part? It's free! For more information, including program details, visit the event web page.]]>
Following Dean Elde's keynote address, staff were shown a video entitled "What does ASR do for U?" Associate Vice Provost and University Registrar Sue Van Voorhis then closed the event with a recap of ASR priorities and its direction moving forward. If you were unable to attend the event, you may view it here.]]>
Soon after, she started working in ASR as a counselor in the Loan Unit. Through the years, she moved on to become a business analyst (BA) and a project coordinator.
Now, after 13 years in ASR, Jody is a BA in FA-IT. "My heart goes toward financial aid," she said. "I like to be more hands on and I love helping students."
As a BA, Jody supports multiple business processes, including the Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) and various loan processes. She makes sure everything from the ASR-IT side is running smoothly so the business process can successfully be completed. One of her big projects recently was the implementation of the loan exit counseling system.
She says she loves working in ASR because of her coworkers. "I also really like being on campus," she said. "It's great to be a part of all the great ideas that flow around the University."
Beyond her daily duties, Jody is also involved in ESUP project work. "I'm really excited to learn and use the new 9.0 system and all the tools that come with it," she said. "The upgrade could potentially make old business processes more efficient and create new ones."
In recent years, Jody also received her master's in educational policy and administration from the U.
When she's not working, Jody loves to read and watch movies. She also loves to spend time with her family. She has been married to her husband John for nine years. They live in Apple Valley and have a one and a half year old named Olen.
"We love to be active outside, like playing baseball, going for walks, and jumping on the trampoline," she said. "Olen also likes to look at worms."
And here's something you may not have known about Jody; she was roommates with Tracy Fischer (Continuity and Compliance) for four years.
Joyful Jody
1. Garth Brooks was her first concert.
2. Jody says she has really good reflexes. "I can react quickly to something dropping or when something is thrown at me," she said. "Now people are going to throw things at my face to test me though."
3. Her favorite TV show is the Amazing Race.
4. She loves planning trips, including looking for a flight and hotel, and researching things to do/unique experiences.
5. Jody traveled through Europe with her brother a few years ago.
6. Jody couldn't live without coffee and laughter.
7. Jody says people would describe her as "quiet, agreeable, and compassionate."
8. She grew up wanting to be a lawyer.
9. If she could have any superpower, it would be to know when people are lying. "It would make life a lot simpler."
10. The last book she read was Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.
One of her first jobs was working at a small ice cream shop called Otter Treat in her hometown. "I was an ice cream 'specialist,'" she said. "It may not have been the most interesting job, but it was definitely the most fun."
Her hometown is surrounded by lakes so one of Betsy's favorite pastimes is being on the water. She also loves to be with her friends and family, especially while playing and watching sports. Her favorite sport is volleyball and she is currently in a league.
In fact, Betsy loves sports so much that if she could be anything, she would be a professional golfer. "It'd be fun to travel and play golf all the time," she said.
Betsy also likes adventuring and traveling. The most adventurous thing she's ever done is kayaking through a creek full of wild animals in the Bahamas. She also traveled through Spain with two friends for three weeks.
Betsy currently lives in Hopkins with her fiancé, Jackson. The two recently got engaged and are getting married in June 2014 at his parent's lake house. "Wedding planning is overwhelming," she said. "But I'm excited to start!"
Professionally, Betsy grew up wanting to be a teacher. She received her bachelor's degree from Minnesota State University, Mankato (MNSU) in elementary education. However, after college, Betsy's goals changed. She instead wanted to work on a college campus helping students. So she went on to receive her master's degree in educational leadership from MNSU and began working in Residence Life as a Hall Director at the same university.
Then, this past April, Betsy started in ASR as a One Stop Counselor. "I love having the one-on-one time with students at the counter," Betsy said. "Interacting with and helping students is my favorite part of my job."
As a counselor, she helps students, parents, and staff navigate the enrollment, billing, payment and financial aid processes.
She says the best part about working in ASR is the people. "Everyone is so friendly," she said. "When I started in April, I felt so welcomed into such a fun environment. This is a great place to work."
Bit O' Betsy
1. Her first car was a woody station wagon.
2. Betsy's favorite movie is The Shawshank Redemption.
3. She loves music from Cities 97, like Ingrid Michaelson, The Lumineers, and David Gray.
4. The last book Betsy read was Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer.
5. Foo Fighters was her first concert.
6. Her favorite book is The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, a book about a professor diagnosed with cancer who gives his last lecture.
7. If she had a superpower, it would be invisibility. "I could see when people are having a hard time and help without them knowing."
8. Her family grows giant pumpkins.
9. She loves Subway sandwiches.
10. Betsy can't live without chapstick and a toothbrush.
To view the schedule of a specific general purpose classroom, use the General Purpose Classroom Search. Choose the building you are interested in, then select the room name. The room details will appear on the right hand side of the screen. Click on the "Room Schedule" link to bring up the daily calendar for the classroom. If you prefer to see an entire week or month at a time, you can easily switch your view by using the buttons on the upper left-hand corner of the calendar.]]>
Ah, choices! But there is a time when using one is needed. If the way the sentence is written may cause confusion, then use a serial comma. For example, "I called two friends, Amy and Steve." It's not clear whether the two friends are Amy and Steve or whether Amy and Steve are in addition to the two friends. A serial comma would make that clear: "I called two friends, Amy, and Steve."
She is a farm girl at heart. She grew up on a family farm in Gaylord, Minnesota and is incredibly close with her family.
"I have a twin sister and two other sisters," she said. "I spend a lot of time with my family on the farm. We especially love to four wheel and go shopping."
Danielle received her bachelors degree in political science from the U. One of her favorite parts of studying at the U was the study abroad opportunities. Danielle studied abroad in Florence, Italy. She also traveled to Ireland, Scotland, and Paris on a week break while studying abroad.
While studying in Italy, she met her husband, Mahdi. Her husband is originally from Algeria, but he moved to France when he was 18. He eventually moved to Italy to become a chef and lived there for about 10 years before he moved to Minnesota in 2007 to be with Danielle. Soon after, they married.
After college, Danielle began working at the University Press in 2009. She eventually moved to work in the Williamson Hall Cluster office as an Executive Account Specialist. A year ago, she was promoted to Accountant 1.
"The Cluster serves seven departments around the University, ASR being one of them," she said. "I work with McNamara Alumni Center and University Counseling & Consulting Services."
Danielle plans and forecasts the two department's budgets. She has monthly meetings with both of them to determine their needs. Her favorite part of working for the Cluster is the group of people she works with and her easygoing boss.
Outside of work, Danielle enjoys spending time with her family. She and her husband bought their first home in Columbia Heights and are expecting their first child; a boy due on November 6. "I'm a constant worry wart so my mom jokes that I'm going to follow my kids around with a Clorox wipe," she said. "But cleaning is a de-stresser for me."
One final Danielle fun fact: she cannot live without coffee and hair products.
Danielle's Deets
1. Hope Floats is her favorite movie.
2. Her husband says she resembles Monica from Friends because she's a "clean freak."
3. Danielle likes all types of music, but some of her favorites now are influenced by her husband. She likes Arab musician Amr Diab and Italian musician Nek.
4. Danielle is a good swimmer.
5. She would love to be involved in the fashion/design world, either as a designer or an interior designer.
6. Italian is her favorite type of food.
7. She loves to read fashion magazines.
8. She would like to own her own clothing boutique one day.
9. If she had a superpower, it would be to read minds. "It'd help me understand people better."
10. Her favorite movie as a kid was Clueless.
Thursday, September 26, 9-10:30 a.m., Nolte Center 140
Friday, October 25, 1:30-3 p.m., STSS 512B
Tuesday, November 19, 9-10:30 a.m., Nicholson Hall 110
Tuesday, December 17, 9-10:30 a.m., STSS 512B
The online video and related activities will take approximately 40-60 minutes to complete and will include information regarding FERPA and a short, interactive quiz. Following confirmation of having completed these steps, as well as submitting the Access Request Form, PeopleSoft access will be granted. In-person training will still be available, but it is no longer required.
An employee is entitled to review his or her personnel record once every six months. A former employee may obtain a copy of his or her personnel file free of charge once a year for as long as the record is maintained. For more information, check out the ASR Employee Handbook.]]>
Here's an example for which: Movies, which are fun to see, are going up in price. If you take out "which are fun to see," the sentence doesn't lose its original meaning. This means that "which are fun to see" is a nonrestrictive clause--it can be left out without changing the meaning of the sentence.]]>
Friday, September 6, 9-10 a.m., STSS 512B
Friday, September 13, 2-3 p.m., STSS 512B
As for myself, this one is easy peasy. Only use myself when you've already referenced yourself in the sentence. It can't be used as a substitute for me. How does this sound? "Jon and myself visited the Mayan ruins." If you remove Jon from the sentence, it would say, "Myself visited the Mayan ruins." That sounds all sorts of funny. It should be "Jon and I visited the Mayan ruins."
A last example: "I think the book was excellent, if I do say so myself." Here, "myself" refers back to I. I've already mentioned myself in the sentence, so "myself" is the correct choice. (Thanks to Melanie Paradise in One Stop for suggesting this grammar tip.)
Two classrooms in Science Teaching & Student Services (STSS) are also undergoing construction. In order to provide more room for an Active Learning Classroom (ALC), STSS rooms 114 and 118 have been combined. The new room will seat 171 students and offer the same active learning functionality as before. The project will be completed by the start of the fall semester.]]>
Sue Van Voorhis, Jeannine Rich, and I visited Crookston campus at the request of the registrar, Ken Myers, on July 25-26 to perform a review of the Office of the Registrar (OTR) office. We enjoyed meeting with people from across the campus, including Chancellor Fred Woods, and listening to input, criticisms, and compliments regarding Crookston's OTR operations. The Crookston campus is experiencing an exciting time, as it has recently filled several key leadership positions. We met the new Admissions Director, Carola Thorson, and the new Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs, Barbara Keinath, and were impressed by the level of energy and commitment they expressed about the future of Crookston. We just sent a report with several suggestions that will improve the presence and reputation of Crookston's Registrar's Office.
Sue and I also visited Rochester this week to share information and gather feedback. Our meeting included Rochester staff from the following offices; Registrar, Admissions, One Stop, Advising/Coaching, and Information Technology. Even Chancellor Stephen Lehmkuhle, and Vice Chancellor, Claudia Neuhauser were in attendance. We sought out questions and concerns they had for us and we provided them updates on current projects, and the status of the ESUP Student IDPs. They provided us with updates and expressed thanks and gratitude to all the Twin Cities and system campus staff who have been willing to support Rochester's efforts in their organizational review and restructuring. They are especially excited about the pending implementation of APLUS on campus this fall and working toward full implementation of Astra Schedule in the near future.
On Aug. 20, I visited Duluth. I sat in on the Student ESUP Transcript IDP session with Carla Boyd, Duluth's Registrar's office, and experienced firsthand the full spectrum of remote access via Join.me. I was able to spend additional time with Carla to plan out the agenda for the campus visit scheduled for Duluth in September. We will coordinate that visit with some of the ESUP change management group. I then sat in with the Financial Aid Director, Brenda Herzig, on the Financial Aid IDP session.
It sure is different being "in the field," but it's wonderful to find the campuses fully engaged and in great shape for the start of fall term.
In an effort to increase student participation in financial literacy conversations, students will be hosting the game show. Prizes for participants include Ramen (a quick, easy, and cheap meal!), LLAS sunglasses, and LLAS fanny packs. Students will also be advised to follow us on Facebook for a chance to win future prizes by participating in financial literacy efforts at the University. (Thanks to Nate Peterson, assistant director of One Stop, for sharing this update!).
Check out some of the Welcome Week videos below!
The above videos will be captioned and presented at Welcome Week on Aug. 30. They will also be posted on YouTube.]]>
Josh has worked as a VA Coordinator in the University Veterans Services office in One Stop Student Services for two and a half years. His background in the armed forces and bachelors degree in Sociology from the University of Minnesota aid him as a student counselor.
Along with doing typical One Stop Counselor duties like answering student inquiries about registration, billing, and financial aid, Josh also provides counseling to student veterans.
Josh works with the roughly 750 students who receive GI Bill benefits and state benefits at the U. "I help student veterans get started at the U," he said.
Every year, University Veterans Services hosts Veterans Appreciation Day in November. The planning for that important event is starting now and Josh is helping with some of the details.
Josh's knowledge of veterans services comes from his own experience as a United States Army Airborne Infantry veteran. He served for three years. "I was the guy that jumped out of planes and then did work on the ground," he said. Josh did training jumps from about 1,200 feet.
He narrowly missed being deployed to Afghanistan after September 11. "My unit was next to deploy, but I was exempt," he said. "I didn't have enough time left in my contract to be deployed so I stayed in the States while my unit went overseas."
"In the military, you get to meet people from all over the nation, and sometimes the world. And you are all there for the same reason," he said. "Then you get to see the good side of people. You learn so much about yourself and others."
Beyond work, Josh and his girlfriend of seven years enjoy spending time with their daughter, Mikayla, and pitbull-mix, Ernie.
"My daughter is 18 months old and she's the smartest kid I know," he said. "One of my biggest fears is her not being a decent person when she grows up. But I'm not too worried about it."
Josh and his daughter love going to the park and "swinging for 10 second intervals." He says his favorite vacation spot is his house because he just enjoys staying home with his family and not doing things.
He also plays in softball two nights a week and tournaments on the weekends. "I used to play more often, but I've gotten too old," he said.
One of his other past times is eating and cooking. "I love to cook, but my girlfriend and daughter don't really appreciate what I make," he said. "My cooking mainstay is buffalo sauce. It's a really big thing in my life."
He also loves Facebook. In fact, the two things Josh can't live without are his daughter and Facebook. "I'm amazing at Candy Crush Saga," he said.
Through everything, Josh maintains his sense of humor. In fact, that's the main reason he loves working in ASR. "The people I work with in One Stop and University Veterans Services are awesome," he said. "We have similar personalities and get along really well. We are always joking around."
One surprising thing about Josh: Though he has jumped out of numerous airplanes in the military, he has never been skydiving and isn't really interested in trying it.
Josh Jokes
1. His favorite movie is Shawshank Redemption.
2. Growing up, he wanted to be a professional athlete.
3. For Halloween last year, he dressed up as a smurf.
4. His favorite food is Jimmy John's sandwiches or the Buffalo Chicken Burrito from Burrito Loco with extra buffalo sauce. "Buffalo sauce is very important in my diet."
5. His first concert was Reba McIntyre.
6. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is his favorite book.
7. If he could be anything, Josh would be rich. "I'd like to give it a try."
8. His favorite type of music is country and rap.
9. The last book he read was The Big Book of Pulps.
10. If he could have any superpower, it would be to fly. "It's nice to be in the air."
Feedback shared at that meeting has been incorporated into the toolkit and the video, which are all available on the ASR Intranet. Additional feedback that was out of scope for this team's work will be incorporated into the charge for the next Internal Customer Service team.
Philip Hunter, Elyse Paxton, and Sarah Hollerich have worked diligently to create the video highlighted in the toolkit. The video will be available and tracked via ULearn, and will support the orientation of new employees in ASR. Click here to view the ASR customer service training video.
Here are a few examples:
The new classrooms include:
A fourth classroom, Peters 155 (St. Paul), will be converted into a general purpose classroom during fall semester and will be ready for spring 2014 courses and events. Nice job, OCM!]]>
(EQ) ASR-Epson Projector I
(EQ) ASR-Epson Projector II
(EQ) ASR-VGA 25ft Cable
When it's time to pick up a projector, please contact Debbie Henderson, and she'll have it ready for you!]]>
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
PO Box 1450
Minneapolis, MN 55485-6443
Student questions regarding tuition payments should be directed to One Stop Student Services at 612-624-1111 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Questions from staff on how student payments will be processed should be directed to Student Account Assistance at 612-625-8007 or firstname.lastname@example.com.]]>
About 33 years ago, Sarah started in the Office of the Registrar (OTR) as a senior clerk. Currently, Sarah is a student services support assistant.
Sarah is responsible for all degree applications and postings for the College of Education and the School of Nursing. She also works with those colleges on degree clearances.
On top of degrees, Sarah handles all student records and transfers for these two colleges. She is also responsible for transcript work, including transcript requests that come from students with the last names S-Z (excluding X) and being on-call for the transcript helpline.
Another task that she is responsible for is maintaining student grades prior to fall 1999. "If a student has an incomplete from a class they took prior to 1999 and they finish the class, I enter the new grade into the system and archive it," she said. "There aren't a ton of these requests, but there are more than you'd think."
"I have the good fortune of working with people who are mutually supportive and also stimulating, funny, and intelligent," she said. "I have so much history here at the U."
Before joining ASR, Sarah worked in the College of Liberal Arts for a few years. Overall, Sarah has been with the University for a total of 43 years.
"There is a level of intellectual stimulation at the U that you can't get anywhere else," she said. "People here are intellectually curious and informed about the world. It's a great atmosphere."
Sarah currently lives in a loft off East Hennepin in Minneapolis. She recently sold her big Victorian house to downsize. She has two children (a son who is 30 and a daughter who is 43) and four grandchildren.
Sarah loves to learn and has taken a number of journalism and art history classes at Stephens College in Missouri, Minnesota School of Business, and the U.
Her passions are books and music. She has collected records for years, but also enjoys using iTunes to create mixes for her friends. She also goes to a lot of concerts. Her favorite band is the Rolling Stones because "they are the greatest rock and roll band in the world."
Overall, Sarah's coworkers in OTR described her as someone who has a great memory and loves to laugh but is also opinionated and sentimental.
Suddenly Sarah
1. If Sarah could be anything she would be "on time."
2. Her favorite book is "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon.
3. For Halloween in 1973 she dressed up as Trisha Nixon.
4. If she could have a superpower, it would be to reverse environmental damage. "I want the world to be great for my grandkids."
5. Scotland is her favorite vacation spot.
6. She loves to cook and container gardening on her balcony.
7. She loves lutefisk.
8. She loves Indian food, especially with lamb.
9. Love Actually is her favorite movie.
10. "People may be surprised to find out that I'm basically introverted and I need a lot of alone time."
After the One Stop center in Williamson has closed, all visitors to 160 Williamson will be able to enter through the front doors during business hours or check-in with a staff member at the front desk to reach their party. GSSP will also continue to serve graduate and professional students at the Williamson Hall location. A plan is being developed to address staffing needs to accommodate the needs of both in-person graduate and professional student services and other visitors to 160 Williamson.
One Stop has done an outstanding job of supporting GSSP, as well as the rest of the Williamson Hall staff during the past year, and their work is much appreciated.
A transition and external communication plan is being developed, and the transition is expected to be finalized by the end of July. Additional updates regarding this change will be published in future issues of News & Notes and PBED Digest.]]>
Grab your lunch and join an interactive introduction and discussion about resources available to all ASR staff. To register, click here. The brown bag session will take place Wednesday, June 19 from 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm in STSS 119.]]>
Staff were also treated to a presentation from Brave New Workshop where improv challenges illustrated ASR's priorities of embracing and navigating change, as well as maintaining effective communication. Late morning breakout sessions gave ASR members a chance to explore professional development ideas, things to do in the Twin Cities, and how to prioritize the people and things that mean the most to them.]]>
Several ASR staff members attended and presented at AACRAO. They presented on topics ranging from Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) to data usage to title IV audits. I also found a few sessions really resonated with me. For instance, one session focused on how campuses are using preferred name for students, faculty, and staff. Most schools are doing what we currently do (or hope to do in PeopleSoft 9.0): offering students the option to select a preferred name for their diploma, but using their official name on transcripts, and modifying their student information to reflect a preferred name on class rosters, class schedules, and other "external" facing documents.
The other session that really gripped me was an incident that hits close to home. External pressures on Dickinson State University in North Dakota caused some administrators to bend policies for international students. Though the requested actions "felt wrong," some members of the campus still chose to engage in behavior that was contrary to policy and procedure because they were told to do so. This really made me think about how easy it is to get caught up in the moment and to consider making an exception. It's important we all continue to follow our policies and procedures, bring up issues if they seem improper, and to be mindful that we have policies in place for a reason.
This survey is just one tool to allow the Portal team to begin to gauge the "opportunities" that have been identified so far. They are still listening and collecting, and will continue to do so, so it's important to continue to give them your feedback, ideas, and thoughts. They want to deliver the best possible portal and can only achieve that by hearing from everyone. Please share the survey widely with your networks.]]>
She says that the two things she could not live without are her husband and her kids. Victoria is a junior and Erich is a senior at East Ridge High School in Woodbury. Michael is a junior majoring in education at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and plans to become a math teacher.
Sharon's other passion is running. In 1990, Sharon ran her first marathon. Since then, she has run 41 marathons in over 20 U.S. states and on five different continents. She has yet to run a marathon in Africa or Australia.
"I enjoy distance running," she said. "It has given me the opportunity to combine things I love. I love to travel, I love to meet new people, I love to go to new places, and I'm passionate about running."
Sharon belongs to the 50 States Marathon Club and Marathon Maniacs. She travels with both groups to run races in different states and countries.
Most recently, Sharon completed two marathons in a 24 hour period on two different continents--South America and Antarctica. She started her marathon of marathons in Punta Arenas, Chile and ended her trip in King George Island, Antarctica.
"It was pretty incredible. I had to dig down deep to make it happen, but it was an extraordinary experience," she said. "It's an amazing feeling to be elbow-to-elbow with people who come from all walks of life and you're all running to the same goal."
Beyond marathons, Sharon has also completed an Ironman triathlon in 14 hours.
"I was smiling ear-to-ear once I completed the 2.4 mile swim," she said. "The swim was my weakest leg because I had just taught myself to swim about three years before and I'm scared of swimming in open water. So I knew I had it, once I completed the swim."
Sharon is also passionate about giving back to the sport she loves. She volunteers as coaching staff for the Moms on the Run and Girls on the Run. She coaches moms and middle-school aged girls to run their first races.
"I cannot express how rewarding it is to be by the side of a new runner as the cross the finish line of their first race," Sharon said.
After all the marathons Sharon has completed, she has a few favorite memories. She ran a marathon on the Great Wall of China. Sharon also ran a marathon in Walt Disney World. She received a Mickey Mouse medal when she finished.
"My time was awful because I stopped to take pictures with all the characters," she said.
But overall, she says that her favorite one is the Twin Cities Marathon.
After all these amazing accomplishments, Sharon still manages to be an amazing asset to ASR. In fall 2011, she started as a business analyst in the Student Financials Unit in ASR-IT. In January, she joined the ESUP Portal Project team. The team is currently gathering requirements for the Portal and encouraging stakeholder engagement.
"This is a great opportunity to create a dynamic and trend setting portal tool for the entire University," Sharon said. "I enjoy being part of a brainstorming think tank."
Sharon's Strides
1. Sharon loves Italian food. "Lots of pasta for this runner."
2. Sharon has a bachelors degree in psychology and business administration and a master's in software design and development.
3. Sharon has a fear of public speaking, but she is getting involved with the Art of Hosting to help ease that fear.
4. Phil Collins was her first concert.
5. Sharon loves to landscape and garden in her backyard.
6. If she could be anything, she'd be a landscape designer.
7. Sharon's favorite author is Wayne Dyre.
8. Sharon enjoys Jim Carrey movies.
9. Before coming to the U, Sharon worked on the IT web strategies team at Capella University.
10. Sharon loves traveling to the North Shore with her family.
Saint Paul: Tuesday, May 21, 9-10 a.m., Ruttan B35
West Bank: Wednesday, May 22, 2:30-3:30 p.m., Blegen 10
East Bank: Thursday, May 23, 9-10 a.m., Nicholson 155
No RSVP is required. If you have any questions about this change, email firstname.lastname@example.com.]]>
Kudos to the CTS staff for engineering the design and installing the equipment. And a shout out to Justin Myers in OIT who provided staff training for the faculty senate support area of the conferencing equipment. (Thanks to Jeremy Todd in OCM for sharing this news!)]]>
Originally from Hastings, he currently lives in St. Paul with his partner, Ryan, and their two cats: Binx and Orangey. If you've yet to meet him, he has often been described as an outgoing and witty charmer.
Nate has a bachelors degree in sociology and Spanish and a master's in higher education and student affairs. Before One Stop, he primarily worked in residence life at various universities across the country, including University of St. Thomas, The Ohio State University, and Loyola Marymount University. He says that working in One Stop is a totally different way of working with and supporting students.
Nate loves working at the U and in ASR because of the professional development opportunities that are available. He said that one of main draws of the U and One Stop is that they encourage and support professional development so much.
As an Assistant Director, Nate supervises the West Bank One Stop location and three counselors in the STSS location. He also supports staff development and supervises daily counselor tasks. Nate also sits on the Behavioral Care Team, the Financial Literacy committee, and the Welcome Week planning committee.
"Working in One Stop provides a lot of opportunities to reach out to people from all areas of the U," he said. "Having experience in residence life helps me understand the perspective of other departments and of students."
Beyond University work, some of Nate's more interesting jobs include waiting tables at a Chinese restaurant, working concessions at the Metrodome, and rebuilding and rearranging American Eagle stores. However, if he could be anything, he would be a stay-at-home dad.
In his spare time, Nate enjoys spending time with his nephews and being the "cool uncle." He is an avid runner, inside or outside. Being outdoors is very important to Nate, even in the winter. When Nate lived in Los Angeles, he said he hated not having four seasons. Nate also loves restaurant hopping and discovering new places to eat.
Nate is also in the market for a house. "My partner, Ryan, and I are house hunting currently," he said. "We've looked at over 50 houses in Columbia Heights, St. Paul, and South Minneapolis." They are also hoping to add a Boxer puppy to their family soon.
Music is also a big part of Nate's life. "I could not live without music. It just adds so much to every situation," Nate said. "I love the band Journey. I will never stop believing." He even has a Journey tattoo.
Nate's Nuances
1. Nate's favorite movie is Interview with a Vampire.
2. His favorite food is Oreos. "I can't walk by them without buying them.".
3. Nate's guilty pleasure: teen paranormal romance novels such as Twilight and Blue Bloods.
4. Last Halloween, Nate and a group of friends dressed up as characters from the Avengers, even some of the lesser known characters.
5. Nate wanted to grow up to be a country western singer. "I used to sing pop songs in a country western voice."
6. He has a fascination with Dolly Parton.
7. His biggest fear is soup and hot liquids. "I'm convinced it will melt my insides."
8. Nate loves the sound of freeway noise and traffic. "I like knowing there is traffic. It soothes me."
9. The Facts of Life, Hercules, and Xena Warrior Princess were his favorite shows as a kid.
10. His first concert was Wango Tango featuring Styx and REO Speedwagon.
He has always loved science. Growing up, he thought he may be an astrophysicist or an astronomer. Chris ended up with a degree in computer science from Mankato State University and will receive his master's degree in software engineering this May.
Currently, Chris is the Web Team manager. "My job is to act as a filtering mechanism for the team," Chris said. "I try to manage the deluge of incoming requests so the team can remain focused and effective."
Chris has been a member of the Web Team for more than six years, originally starting out as a web developer. In January, he was promoted to manager. One project he has been heavily involved in is the development of the Tuition and Fee Management System. He writes code and develops several applications and systems for ASR.
"People on the Web Team are really passionate and that's great to work with," he said. "Everyone cares about what they are doing and they're excited to be at work everyday."
Before starting at the U, Chris worked at a private company developing medical software, including an ambulance dispatch system. He decided that he didn't enjoy working for a private company and came to the U because of its diverse culture.
"You get to work with so many different people at the U," Chris said. "I feel like I'm doing something that matters."
Chris and his wife, Agnes, currently live in Minneapolis with their six-month-old son Kai and their Pomeranian Coco. Chris is originally from Inver Grove Heights, while his wife is from Indonesia.
Chris considers himself a nerd. In his spare time, he tinkers with various web programming and technology devices to keep up with the industry. He calls himself a "hobbyist electrical engineer."
He enjoys being outdoors and camping. He is also an avid musician. "I have a music room in my basement, though I don't use it much now that I have my son," he said. "I can play the guitar, drums, keyboard, and the trumpet."
"Now people are going to know the depth of my nerdiness when they read this profile," he said.
Covalent Chris
1. Chris's favorite food is Indonesian street food.
2. He enjoys nonfiction books, especially physics books. The last book he read was The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley.
3. Stone Temple Pilots was Chris's first concert.
4. The most adventurous thing he's ever done is travel across Europe for a month.
5. Chris' biggest fear is drowning. He went scuba diving once and said it was terrifying.
6. Chris says people would describe him as friendly, quiet, and nerdy.
7. If Chris could be anything, he would be a successful musician or rockstar.
8. Growing up, Chris' favorite TV shows were science shows like Bill Nye the Science Guy, Mr. Wizard's World, Newton's Apple, and Nova.
9. Though Chris considers himself a nerd, he hates video games.
10. His favorite vacation spot is Bali, Indonesia.
Christa Nicols
Katie Johnson
Adam Howard
Holly Johnson
Stephanie Kearley
Marit Gladem
Dan Delaney
Kris Wright
A Minnesotan by marriage, Elyse moved to the Twin Cities area in 2006 after graduating from Iowa State University with a degree in speech communication. Originally from a suburb outside of Chicago called Mount Prospect, Illinois, she currently she lives in Plymouth with her husband Weston and Corgi named Max.
Almost a year ago, Elyse started working on the ASR Communications Team as a communications coordinator. She is the main communications contact for all Office of Classroom Management and One Stop student veterans communications. She is also the manager of most ASR publications, including The Ledger, News and Notes, The Record, and the Scheduling Update.
One of the major publications she has recently undertaken is the University course catalog. "I create and format the PDF version of the University catalog for all system campuses," she said.
On top of all this, Elyse also edits and approves courses and program descriptions in ECAS and PCAS.
"I love working in ASR," Elyse said. "The Communications Team is very collaborative. We don't have any projects where just one person handles everything; it often involves the whole team."
Feedback is an important aspect for any job she has. She frequently receives immediate feedback on her work. "I'm surrounded by so many smart people," she said. "It's inspiring to meet such bright, intellectual people."
Before joining ASR, Elyse worked primarily in magazine publications. Her last job was at a gardening magazine called Gardening How-To as an associate editor. Before that, she worked at an automotive magazine in St. Paul called FenderBender.
"I didn't know anything about cars," she said. "I learned a lot and my perceptions changed dramatically about the industry."
In her spare time, Elyse enjoys reading. She reads anything from historical fiction to nonfiction books about mountain climbing. "I especially like ones about climbing Mount Everest," she said. "It's just so interesting to read about how people can push themselves like that."
This year, Elyse is pushing herself by running a half marathon in June. Her other goal for the year is to learn how to cook better. "My husband does most of the cooking, but I'm trying to be better at it," she said.
Last September, Elyse got married at the University Landscape Arboretum in Chaska. She met her husband on Match.com. They went to Riviera Maya, Mexico for her honeymoon because she loves tropical locations, warm weather, and sunshine.
"If I could be anything, I'd be a famous author who works on the beach with a fruity drink in hand," she said. "That would be the life."
Elyse's Essentials
1. Elyse wanted to grow up to be a jockey.
2. She loves historical fiction. Her favorite book is A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers.
3. Her first concert was Green Day.
4. Elyse can name all of the U.S. presidents in order (Be sure to quiz her next time you see her!)
5. "Saved by the Bell" and "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" were her favorite TV shows as a kid.
6. Elyse is scared of snakes.
7. The most adventurous thing she's ever done is white water rafting in the Grand Canyon.
8. Her favorite band is Coldplay.
9. She can't whistle.
10. She sponsors a young girl in Rwanda.
In 2005, Richard was working for the U.S. Department of Education's TRIO programs, educational-access programs for first-generation, college-bound students. He worked with two different schools in Minneapolis/St. Paul providing students with advice on entering college.
"This job was how I got interested in financial aid," Richard said. "I was helping students and they didn't have in-depth knowledge of financial aid. I actually met Larry [Bloom] and Mike [Arieta] from OSF while working at this job."
In 2008, Richard began working in ASR as a One Stop Student Services counselor. He helps students, parents, and staff navigate the registration, billing, and financial aid processes.
"I really enjoy helping students," he said. "I feel like I am making a difference and that I have a chance every day to provide information that would really help a student."
Richard is also a member of two One Stop committees: the Tuition Refund Appeal (TRA) committee and the Financial Literacy committee.
As a member of the TRA committee, he reviews forms submitted by students who wish to have tuition charges forgiven or refunded based on extraordinary circumstances, such as medical reasons or military activation. As a part of the Financial Literacy committee, he presents to classes and groups on campus about how to make good financial choices.
Richard and his wife, Martha, live in St. Paul. They have been married for two years. Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, Richard moved to Minnesota when he went to college at St. Olaf for his undergraduate degree in history and social studies education. He is currently finishing up his master's degree from the U in higher education policy administration.
When Richard isn't giving financial advice, he enjoys being outdoors. He loves camping and hiking, especially in the Boundary Waters. He loves water activities as well, including kayaking and canoeing. Reading is also a large part of Richard's life. He likes historical books, memoirs, biographies, and travel books.
Richard also enjoys spending a lot of time with family. His wife is one of 13 children so they go to quite a few family events.
Richard is also quite the do-it-yourselfer. He loves to garden and he even brews his own beer, usually 20 gallon batches at a time. Cooking is another favorite past time. He even built his own wood-fired pizza oven in his backyard.
"I got the inspiration from my co-worker Tom Taff in One Stop," he said. "It didn't take that long to build. It's not too big. It's on a steel cart in my garage and it's made out of the earth."
Richard also loves dressing up in interesting Halloween costumes. One year he dressed up as a toothbrush. He and his wife once went as Batman and Robin. Richard was Robin and his wife, who is much shorter than him, went as Batman.
Another year, he went as Pac-man and his friends were the ghosts. "We chased each other around," he said. "The costume was so big, I got stuck in a stairway at a bar."
Richard's Riddles
1. If he could be any character for a day, he would be Casper the Friendly Ghost. "I like making friends."
2. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell was the last book he read.
3. His favorite food is lasagna.
4. Richard's most interesting job was when he spent one summer driving a bread truck to catering companies, grocery stores, and local restaurants.
5. Groundhog Day is his favorite movie.
6. Richard would love to go back in time and live in Athens, Greece during the height of civilization. "I would love to hang out with Socrates."
7. He grew up wanting to be a park ranger.
8. His first concert was the Rolling Stones when he was very young. He remembers being very confused.
9. His biggest fear is leaving the gas on the stove or leaving his keys in the door.
10. If he had super powers, he would be Stretch Armstrong.
Now, the Development Team wants to debut a new video at the staff event, which means new pictures need to be submitted!
If you already submitted a picture in the fall, you need not submit a new one. For those of you who haven't taken a new picture, please do so and send it to email@example.com by May 1. If you need help getting a picture taken, contact Ingrid Nuttall.]]>
This line from the movie Auntie Mame is something that Christine Mounts takes to heart. Throughout her life, Christine has taken on many challenges, hobbies, and interests in the spirit of living life to the fullest.
Originally from Peoria, Illinois, Christine moved to Minneapolis in 2003 to the city she calls the "best kept secret of the midwest." She lives with two roommates and her 3-year-old cat named Action Jack. Her niece is living with her temporarily also.
Christine has two bachelors degrees. Her first degree is in aviation management from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Her interest was sparked because her father flew in the Navy and was "obsessed with aviation."
She even has her Commercial pilot's license, but doesn't fly much because it's expensive and she hasn't maintained her required flight hours. "If I had kept up my CFI, I could teach people how to fly," she said. "Flying is easy, landing is hard."
Christine's second degree is in information technology from DeVry University. "My focus on my second degree was on web design, but I basically developed skills to become an IT generalist," she said. "I can do desktop repair and software support as well as some web design."
This degree has guided Christine in many of her past jobs and her current job in OCM. Before coming to the University, Christine worked in Information Technology at various nonprofits in the Twin Cities and in Chicago.
Her most interesting job was at a nonprofit in Chicago that focused on small business and workforce development. She can remember once providing a workspace for a business that built things for NASA and another business that only made dance clothes. This nonprofit was also heavily tied to local politicians. A Christmas card from Rod Blagojevich, former governor of Illinois, floated around her office.
Since 2009, Christine has worked as the Scheduling Reports Coordinator in the Scheduling unit. She is the primary trainer for the scheduling software, including the new Astra Schedule program. She is also the the primary help desk contact for scheduling software issues and helps manage internal communications to departments regarding the scheduling software system.
She considers herself very cultural. Growing up, she frequently went to museums and concerts with her family. "My parents are very cultural and educated," she said. "I went to a million museums and performances with them. I developed a great appreciation for the arts."
Christine's arts include singing, playing the piano and clarinet, acting, dancing, writing, and photography.
She has seven novels written in various stages of draft. She primarily writes science fiction, but also enjoys writing literary short stories. If she could be anything, Christine would be a successful, professional novelist.
"I've been published in a journal, but getting a book published is very difficult," she said. "Anne Lamott said in her book Bird by Bird that you should not write to be published because getting published is not going to change your life in quite the way you think it will."
Christine also calls herself an amateur photographer. "I see beauty in patterns," she said. "I like to take pictures of nature from different perspectives."
She also spends a lot of time reading. She especially enjoys books that get her thinking about life. "I'm very existential," she said.
Traveling is also a big part of her life. Her most memorable trip was when she lived in Berlin, Germany for four weeks with her college roommate. She went and spoke minimal German. "I lived with the people but didn't speak fluent German," she said. "When you're there, you just remember and pick up the language as you go."
But, no matter what Christine does, she always brings everything in perspective and remembers to "live, live, live."
Christine's Culture
If Christine could be any character for a day, she would be Harry Potter. "It'd be a great time to be able to fly and use the invisibility cloak."
Growing up, she wanted to be a timpani player in an orchestra.
Christine's two favorite foods are anything Indian and steak, medium-rare.
Her favorite vacation spot is Santa Rosa Island, Florida.
Her favorite movie is Auntie Mame.
She really wants to dress up as Gossamer from Looney Tunes for Halloween.
Her favorite book is Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl.
Christine likes interesting music, but doesn't like lyrics much.
Peter Gabriel and Led Zeppelin are two of her favorite artists.
She doesn't like country or rap music.
The Graduate and Professional unit in the Office of Student Finance (OSF) is involved with the financial aid packaging and record adjustments of most graduate and professional students, and even some undergraduate students.
"We work on a yearly cycle since graduate and professional programs admit students year round. But there is always a new challenge," said Liz Holm, manager of the unit. "There are only four of us and we are all involved with different programs."
The unit of four works with all professional and graduate careers, except the Medical School. They also work with undergraduate students in the nursing, dental hygiene, dental therapy, and Evans Scholar programs. They have divided this large workload among the four staff members.
Liz works primarily with students in the health professions programs, including dentistry, dental therapy, pharmacy, occupational therapy, and nursing. Mark Larson works with veterinary medicine and Carlson (MBA) students. Jim Parker works with law students and joint degree programs. And Brian Olson works with all students in the master of education programs.
Their busiest time is between April and October, especially when new tuition and fee budgets come out in June for the upcoming aid year. The next process the team is working on is the May/summer aid packaging, which starts in April.
"We work start to finish with the financial aid process every aid year," Mark said. "We make sure the budgets are set up with the correct program and that the students are packaged with their correct aid."
Although most of their work is done automatically through PeopleSoft, they also complete some of their work manually. An example is the several reports and queries processed daily by Brian to be sure the student's financial aid record is in compliance with federal regulations. Brian also reviews the Cost of Attendance appeals from students who may have allowable expenses that are higher than what is in the standard budget.
Jim and Mark also run numerous queries to catch other issues requiring human intervention, such as one term or joint degree students who need manual packaging, or students who were assigned to an incorrect budget.
"You sometimes have to be a detective to figure out what the issue is with these students' financial aid package," Jim said. "Joint degree students are active in two different graduate programs. The system is not capable of determining which budget to assign or which program the student is pursuing during a particular semester or year, so it's my job to figure that out."
The borrower-based programs - dental, pharmacy, and veterinary medicine students - are packaged just once a year in batch. Students who submit a FAFSA after the initial round of packaging in July are identified by query and are then packaged manually. The general graduate populations are packaged automatically twice weekly in batch.
In addition to all this, the team responds to emails and phone calls from departments, colleges, and students. They answer about 800 emails a year.
"We receive a lot of phone calls, especially from prospective students and new admits," Jim said. "They have a lot of questions and concerns about finances for their program and have questions about loan repayment. We do a lot of individual counseling."
The unit also provides new student orientations during late summer for about ten different programs. Some programs can be complicated, such as the health professional and education programs, and the orientation is helpful for students to understand their financial aid options.
The team agrees that the most challenging aspects of their job is managing the volume and keeping up with changes to federal regulations or policies. But all of this can be overlooked with the satisfaction that comes from helping students.
"It's amazing the number of students who thank us for our help," Mark said. "The students we work with are great."
Graduate and Professional Unit
Liz Holm, manager
Jim Parker, financial aid counselor
Mark Larson, financial aid counselor
Brian Olson, financial aid counselor
Your participation is completely voluntary and your responses are confidential and anonymous; only the Employee Survey Team sees the raw survey data, which they share with the ASR managers in a summary format. But get going! You only have until Friday, Feb. 22 to let us know what's on your mind.]]>
(EQ) ASR-160WmsonH Laptop 1
(EQ) ASR-160WmsonH Laptop 2
(EQ) ASR-160WmsonH Netbook 1
(EQ) ASR-160WmsonH Netbook 2
(EQ) ASR-160WmsonH Walkstation
If this affects you, no worries! You can install Google Chrome or Firefox, and anyone using Windows 7 can install Internet Explorer 9 or 10, which are still supported by Google. (Thanks to Christa in ASR for this helpful info!)]]>
Crookston: $6,810,037
Duluth: $51,318,575
Morris: $7,534,057
Twin Cities/Rochester: $360,569,520
The grand total for the entire first spring disbursement? $426,232,189. Wow. Now it's our job to help make these students' education worth it!]]>
McMaster will be hiring an Associate Vice Provost of Enrollment Management to replace the Admissions Director position that Wayne Siger vacated last year.]]>
She may work in financial aid collections, but Maggie O'Neill is all about giving.
For Maggie, making a difference is a priority. She lives by the Latin phrase, Non scholae, sed vitae discimus, which means "We do not learn for the school, but for life," and bases her goodwill around the actions of Mother Teresa.
"I feel very blessed and like to give others similar opportunities," Maggie said. "I couldn't live with myself if I thought I didn't make a difference or give back enough."
Maggie is dedicated to giving back in anyway she can. When she was younger, someone volunteered for her Girl Scout troop by cooking at various events. She decided to continue that legacy.
"I donate my time and cooking services to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts troops at encampments in the Minnesota and Wisconsin area," Maggie said. "I cook everything from scratch and I help kids learn how to make things like bread and cinnamon rolls. It's my way of paying it forward."
Not only does Maggie give back in her free time, but she also pays it forward at work. For five years, Maggie has been in Student Account Assistance as a Principal Collections Representative. And, though it may sound like she's all serious business, she views her job as less of a collections agent and more of an adviser and loan coach to students.
"Yes, we're collectors, but we don't pick up the phone and bark at people to pay their bill," Maggie said. "It's hard to admit that you need help when you get off track financially. We advise students on their rights and responsibilities and help them get back on track."
The aspect of Maggie's job that she is most proud of is her work on the new online Exit Counseling. She joined the project last January, after many issues pushed the launch off for a couple of years. After streamlining multiple processes, the new system launched in July 2012.
When Maggie is not at work or volunteering, she enjoys spending time with her family. She has been married for 27 years to her husband Mike. She has two kids, Caitlin and Kevin. Her daughter just received her master's in deaf education from Smith College & Clarke School for Hearing and Speech and her son is currently enrolled at the University of St. Thomas majoring in physics. For 30 years, Maggie has lived in her current city of Bloomington. Maggie also loves to cook and garden. She has a huge vegetable and flower gardens.
Prior to coming to the University, Maggie worked a few accounting and human resources jobs. Despite her experience in accounting, Maggie initially started at the U as an undergraduate student in the Occupational Therapy program while working accounting jobs to pay for school. A few semesters shy of her degree, Maggie decided to take a job in accounting.
Though she still has a passion for the health sciences field, she likes where she is at. "At the end of the day, if I can look at myself in the mirror and honestly say, "Today I did my best, whatever that best may be, I made a difference, then it's been a great day and that's all I need."
Magnanimous Maggie:
1. Maggie's favorite book is Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott.
2. Neil Diamond was her first concert.
3. She loves the movie Casablanca.
4. Maggie loves big band era music because she loves to dance.
5. If she could be anyone for a day, she would be Carol Burnett to make people laugh.
6. For Halloween one year, Maggie and her roommates debated between going as a six-pack of beer or a bag of jelly beans. They picked the latter.
7. Maggie says that people may be surprised to know that she is painfully shy. "I worked to overcome my shyness, but it's still hard to get up and talk in front of a group."
8. Maggie has always been fascinated by the health sciences field.
9. Her most interesting job is when she worked for the international engineering firm that created the recordable CD.
10. She loves Italian food.
"Having a background in social work helps me connect with students on a different level," Mike said. "I can talk to students about sensitive topics pretty easily and make them calm down. Also, financial aid is a system that is hard to navigate, just like any other government system social workers typically navigate."
Mike has a bachelor's degree in social work from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. His master's degree in social work is from the U. He is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker.
Mike has been in for ASR for 13 years: two years in Client Services (now One Stop Student Services) and 11 years in the Undergraduate Services office in the Office of Student Finance. For all 11 of those years, Mike has worked for his manager Larry Bloom.
"Larry often tells me that you will either really love this job or really hate it," Mike said. "I never thought that this was the direction my career would go in, but I'm loving it."
Mike is responsible for "mining the ISIR suspense files." Mike digs out the student records from the Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) that were not loaded during the first process due to issues with name, date of birth, and/or social security number. He takes a look at these records and loads them into the system when the information has been corrected. He also does dependency overrides for students who have issues with the dependency status they were assigned.
"I work with students whose situations require a lot of attention," Mike said. "The best asset I have in my job is the amount of time I spend working with students. It makes my job worth it."
Previously, Mike worked multiple jobs in social work. He was a mental health counselor for a local addictions program for a few months and also worked at Eastside Neighborhood Services as a social worker to teens. His last job before coming to the U was in a nursing home for chemically dependent patients.
When asked why he would choose to be a financial aid counselor if he has a social work background, he replies, "Wouldn't you have wanted a financial aid adviser who had a background in social work when you were in school?"
Other than work, Mike enjoys spending time with his fiancee, a special education teacher for St. Paul schools. They have been together for 5 years, and have been engaged for about a year. They are thinking about getting married this summer. Currently, Mike spends his time between his place in Minneapolis and his fiancee's place in Apple Valley.
Mike also loves to travel. He has been to many places across the U.S., especially different, out of the way places like small towns. He likes to see how other people live in different areas. He has not had the chance to travel outside the country as much as he would like.
When it comes down to it though, Mike really enjoys working at the U. "I love the diversity of students we have here. I learn something new everyday," Mike said. "Students often have underlying issues beyond finances. I just help them understand finances and debt and navigate their options."
Mindful Mike:
Mike's favorite movie is Waiting...
His biggest fear is leaving his wallet somewhere.
If he could be any character for a day, he would be Indiana Jones. "He has a no-nonsense personality, but he likes to explore and find interesting things."
Growing up, Mike thought he may be a physical therapist or a doctor.
His favorite book is To Kill a Mockingbird.
He loves modern rock music.
His first concert was Amy Grant.
The last book he read was Addictive Behaviors, third edition.
If he could be anything, he'd be a wolf.
Mike has five tattoos.
A fount of knowledge, Gary Andersen, Nancy Killian, and Heather Micek make up the Training Team. They provide comprehensive training, production support, and documentation for PeopleSoft Student Records and related web applications for all University of Minnesota campuses.
The Training Team provides support for One Stop, ASR Business Analysts (BA), and OCM staff on a regular basis. But their work doesn't stop there.
"We provide training and support for all departments on system campuses," Gary said. "We're basically the public-facing service team to colleges and departments, just like One Stop is for students."
The Training Team also supports many different applications and processes, including PeopleSoft Student Records, PeopleSoft UM ECS, Grading, ECAS, PCAS, and Management/UM Reports.
University staff and faculty can receive help from the team by phone, email, or in-person. The team also offers training through workshops or staff meetings (by request).
"I think people would be surprised by the volume and variety of calls we get," Heather said. "We average over 400 phone calls and 200 ServiceNow tickets per month. We handle 95 percent of our tickets and phone calls on our own."
The team considers themselves the helpline for instructors so they are very busy at the start and end of semesters and during registration time. Because they are the helpline for the U, they say that it is often hard to hold their tongue when people call and are frustrated.
"People aren't calling to say PeopleSoft is working great," Heather said. "They are calling to report a system issue so they are frustrated and that makes it difficult to talk to them sometimes."
The team also strives to put a positive spin on the University systems. They say they are the PR arm for the system. Nancy has learned that the best way to deal with people who are frustrated is to get them laughing. "When someone calls and is frustrated with how the system is working (or not working), I'll say, 'Well the gremlins are having a good day in the system," Nancy said.
Despite this, everyone on the team loves providing customer support. "I like talking to someone and helping people learn things," Nancy said. "We'll hear from people a lot at first and then they call back just to say hi after they have figured everything out. We've worked really hard to make personal connections with our customers."
The team says one of their strengths is the connections they have to people in all departments and campuses. "We train people and talk to people on the phone. We help people by documenting training and production support," Heather said. "We're kind of popular."
In fact, the team has even been recognized outside of the University setting. "I've been on vacation and had people come up to me and say, 'Hey, you're the PeopleSoft guy.'" Gary said.
Other than phone and email support, a big part of their job is providing training to the system campuses. There are PeopleSoft and PCAS training sessions available to all campuses. Student Data Inquiry is the most popular class.
There are also various workshops that people can attend every month. The topics vary, but by far the most successful workshop was the Big Picture workshop, which helps people understand how all the systems work together. When it was held two years ago, the workshop had more than 100 attendees.
The team has recently finished up quite a few projects. They went live with the transition of maintaining training records in PeopleSoft enterprise learning management system to a new system called ULearn.
They also completed a project set to provide PCAS for graduate programs. Originally only available for undergraduate departments, the team provided training to different Graduate School units to ensure a smooth transition. They have also been training the same units on adding a Leave of Absence to a student record.
The one major project underway is the Enterprise System Upgrade Program (ESUP). Heather is the representative from the Training Team for ESUP. The team will potentially be providing training on the new PeopleSoft, depending on how different it is from the older version.
"We are not sure if everyone will have to be retrained, but there will be some sort of training system in place with the new system," Heather said.
The Student Records Training and Support Team
Heather Micek, trainer/analyst
Gary Andersen, trainer/analyst
Nancy Killian, trainer/analyst
The ESUP Project Management Office is working on preparing another space for IDP work that would allow 261 to be available for departmental scheduling again. B20 will be offline for the remainder of ESUP.
Those who had meetings previously scheduled in B20 and 261 Fraser rooms have been notified that they need to find an alternate location. If you received this notice and need assistance finding a new location, contact Kate Sophia.]]>
Amber rubbed elbows with former football players Urban Meyer, Kurt Warner, Marcus Allen, retired coach Bobby Bowden, and actor Owen Wilson. In the video, Amber is the person interviewed briefly at the end and the one getting gatorade dumped on her. Go Amber!]]>
This spring, CTS will focus its energy on installing technology systems in the new Biomedical Discovery District.]]>
Matt has his bachelor's in English and cultural studies and comparative literature from the U. Recently, he received his master's in strategic communication from the U as well. This experience has aided him in his work in ASR.
"My job is to make sure things are implemented as smoothly as possible," Matt said. "I work more on an interpersonal level and make sure everyone understands the process, that everyone's concerns are heard, and that everyone is aware of what is happening."
Matt says that the most important attribute to bring to this job is having a broad understanding of how ASR and the University work.
Working in a school environment is not unfamiliar to Matt. Previously, he worked at the Northwest Suburban Integration school district for seven years. He was responsible for helping them streamline processes, such as moving from paper-based formats to online.
Matt also taught English abroad for a few years in Spain and Taiwan. He worked primarily with kids and teens. His wife also taught abroad with him.
"It was an interesting job. I think the kids thought of me as a well-meaning, easily-confused troll because I have hair everywhere but my head and that fascinated them," he said. "I really enjoyed working with the kids though. They learn quickly at that age."
From teaching in two different countries, Matt is somewhat of a world traveler and an adventurer. He once went on a jungle trek with his wife through northern Lao. "It was an awesome experience. We went to various Hmong villages during the dry season, though it rained the whole time," Matt said. "Because of all the rain, leaches would attack us whenever we stepped in water."
He also vividly remembers when he almost walked into a bird-eating spider's web.
When he's not treking around the world and encountering frighteningly large spiders, Matt enjoys reading, watching movies, and going to museums. He loves to spend time with his family and go to concerts. He also enjoys writing. He has even written a science fiction book that is the process of being published. He especially enjoys doing anything in his favorite city: Minneapolis.
Though born in Fargo, North Dakota, Matt has adopted Minneapolis as his hometown. He moved around as a kid from Grand Forks to Minneapolis to Dallas, but Minneapolis is his favorite place to live. Currently, Matt lives in Northeast with his wife Holly and his two kids, four-year-old Layla and eight-month-old Sam.
Though Matt has only been at ASR and the U for a few months, he has enjoyed his time immensely. Matt says that the best thing about working here is the atmosphere. "It's very supportive and positive," Matt said. "People are happy to be here and care about doing a good job. Being new, it's nice to know that I can ask for help and get it, without question."
Matt's favorite movie is Brazil.
Matt would love to be in Prince's shoes for a day because then he could "play the guitar and dance."
Matt is a Certified Thai Masseuse, something he says his wife convinced him to do (smart woman).
He wanted to grow up to be a baseball player.
If he could be anything, he would be a giant golden eagle.
The Rolling Stones in 1994 was his first concert.
Matt loves cured and dried meat. He also loves Asian and spicy food.
Matt loves musical artists with a unique sound.
In fourth grade, he once dressed up as the Hunchback of Notre Dame for Halloween.
He is a certified reverend and officiated a wedding.
Jenni and her husband got married in October 2012. They own a duplex in St. Paul with their two-year-old Boxer named Rocky. They live in one half of the duplex and then rent the other half.
Though Jenni hasn't lived anywhere else but Minnesota, she loves to travel. She has been to a dozen countries, including all over Western Europe, Japan, Israel, Belize, Mexico, and Canada.
Her favorite spots to visit are Belize, where she recently went on her honeymoon, and Barcelona, Spain. "I studied abroad in Spain and I also spent a month after college there," she said. "I have been to Spain three times and have spent a total of six months of my life there. It's one of my favorite places."
Not only does Jenni love to travel, but she also loves to eat. "If I could be anything, I would be a food and travel writer," she said. "I'd love to be like Jeffrey Steingarten, the author of The Man Who Ate Everything."
In fact, Jenni's love of travel and food is what helped her recently get the job as the Manager of University Veterans Services in One Stop. "When I was interviewing for the Manager position at Veterans Services, I did a presentation about my favorite food from each country that I've been to," she said. "I love studying other cultures and there is no better way to learn than to travel and eat."
Jenni has been working at the University and in One Stop Student Services for five years. Her first two years of working here, she was a One Stop counselor and then became a Senior Counselor in University Veterans Services. At the end of November, Jenni was promoted to the position of One Stop Manager where she manages University Veterans Services.
Now, Jenni oversees all of University Veterans Services, including managing the Veterans Affairs (VA) work-study students, three veterans coordinators, and five One Stop counselors. Jenni works with all students, but she primarily works with student veterans. Jenni will be working on the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) project in the coming months as well.
The best part about her job, Jenni says, is helping a "student veteran who has no idea where to start or go, and I'm able to help them transition to life at the U."
Jenni is in a unique position because she often has the chance to get to know the student veterans that come into her office. "There are roughly 750 students who receive GI Bill benefits, so we see them a few times a semester," Jenni said. "You get to be more familiar with veteran students and their families."
Though many people who work in University Veterans Services offices are veterans themselves, Jenni is the exception. "Prior to working here, I had little to no experience with veterans," she said. "I feel honored to serve veterans and University students as a whole."
One surprising thing you may not know about Jenni: she's an adrenaline junkie. She has gone skydiving, paragliding, and recently repelled 300 feet into a cave in Belize. "I'm a short woman so I don't fit the stereotype of the person who enjoys jumping out of planes," Jenni said. "But I love anything that gets my adrenaline going."
Jetset Jenni:
1. Her favorite movies are Casino and Amelie.
2. Jenni enjoys cooking, especially Mexican food, and loves to bake fresh bread.
3. People have often told Jenni that she looks like Natalie Portman.
4. Jenni is terrified of rodents, but bats are particularly frightening because they are "flying rodents."
5. Jenni studied Global Studies and Sociology and European Area Studies at the U.
6. Her favorite book series is the Millennium series by Stieg Larsson.
7. She loves the Flaming Lips. She has seen them in concert six times.
8. Her first concert was Alanis Morissette in junior high school.
9. Jenni loves to go camping, especially in the Boundary Waters.
10. Her best Halloween costume was when she dressed as a pumpkin sitting on a table. "My mom put a box over me to look like a table and my head was the pumpkin," she said.
"Other universities have their scheduling units nested under the registrar's office," said Nate Meath, reporting analyst. "We have a unique advantage being tied to OCM because we work closely with the people who design the space we schedule."
In fact, the Scheduling Unit is revered among higher education institutions. "We are well known for having a handle on scheduling and being cutting edge in scheduling technology," said Bob Quinney, scheduling system administrator. "People from other universities often ask us how we do things and how our office is set up."
But the unit didn't always operate this efficiently. Sandie Carlson, lead scheduler, will be in Scheduling for 20 years this December. "When I first started, we were scheduling rooms for classes on index cards and coordinating with people on the phone," she said.
Some of the Scheduling Unit's job duties include maintaining the integrity of the course data in PeopleSoft for the class schedule, course guide, and course catalog. They also manage the scheduling process and software for scheduling classes and finals each semester.
The Scheduling Unit is responsible for a multitude of processes and systems, serving staff, faculty, departments, and all campuses. The diversity of their work is challenging, but it's what makes it interesting as well.
"We go through the same processes every semester, but it's always changing and challenging. The sheer volume of our work is impressive," said Sarah Kussow, course and scheduling manager. "In each semester, we schedule more than 3,000 final exams, manage roughly 16,000 course sections, and schedule more than 3,500 events for the Twin Cities campus."
One major project that the team just completed is the acquisition of the newest scheduling software, Astra Schedule. The implementation process is underway currently, and it will affect the work of the entire unit, as well as all University campuses.
"This new software will have a positive impact on our work," said Bob. "It is all web based, so delivering the necessary information to people will be much easier. There is more functionality available with this software as well, including the ability to customize calendars and automate final exam scheduling. Currently, this is done manually for more than 3,000 final exams each semester."
Other benefits to this new software include an efficiency in all of the Scheduling Unit's processes, a decrease in the current workarounds they utilize, and the ability to have one scheduling software licence for all University campuses.
The training for Astra Schedule will begin in February. The Scheduling Unit and people they have
identified as "major academic power users on campus" will be trained on how to use the new system. "We are taking a train the trainer approach and expect most users to be trained throughout the spring and summer," Sarah said.
Another major part of the Scheduling Unit's job is to collect space utilization data for all campus spaces. They monitor how efficiently they use space and provide data to ASR managers and University administration.
Nate also conducts scenario planning each semester to determine workaround solutions to problems that may arise. For example, if a building is suddenly unavailable for a period of time, the Scheduling Unit is responsible for figuring out where to reschedule and place those classes.
"It's hard getting people to understand what we do," Bob said. "People have a really simple view of scheduling, but don't realize how complex it truly is. We try to optimize by providing more services for the University while using fewer resources. We do more, with less."
Scheduling Unit:
Sarah Kussow, course and scheduling manager
Kurt Neiswanger, events scheduler
Bob Quinney, scheduling system administrator
Sandie Carlson, lead scheduler
Nate Meath, reporting analyst
Christine Mounts, reports coordinator
Robert Wilson, finals/ECAS specialist
Option 1:
Option 2:
"I stripped the house to the studs when I bought it and put it all back together," Bob said. "I've built everything myself, including cabinets and replacement windows. It has taken eight years and I'm almost done."
When Bob isn't working on his house, he enjoys reading, watching movies, gardening, and knitting. He also loves to spend time with Spider.
"People always stop us on the street and ask what kind of dog he is," Bob said. "He makes quite an impression."
Bob has a Bachelors of Science in psychology from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He also has taken numerous courses in art at Tennessee Technical University and the University of Minnesota. "I've probably taken enough to get another degree, but I haven't gotten one yet," Bob said.
Bob first started working at the University in December of 1997 in what was then called the Institute for Linguistics and Asian and Slavic Languages. During Bob's time at the University, he has moved around a few times and even left the U to pursue a job at another company.
In 2001, Bob joined the Scheduling Team in the Office of Classroom Management (OCM) for two years before moving to the Department of Art. However, he came back to OCM in 2005. Bob is now the Analyst and System Administrator for OCM's current scheduling system, R25.
However, as OCM transitions from R25 to Astra Schedule, Bob's work will remain much the same. "I focus primarily on ensuring that the interface between R25 and PeopleSoft stays in sync," Bob said. He will continue to make sure the system is up and running, monitor error logs, perform basic system maintenance, and be supervisor to two employees.
Before the U, Bob had a few interesting jobs, including for a tree cutting service company in Michigan. "I worked at this job when Detroit's elm trees were hit with Dutch Elm disease," Bob said. "It was tragic to have to cut down all these huge old trees with the disease."
Bob also worked at a gas utility company, which introduced him to the world of computers. "This was during the time when office computers were just getting introduced so the computer was the size of a table," Bob said.
And here's one interesting fact about Bob you probably never knew: Bob is also an avid singer.
He used to sing with a men's group at Wayne State University. They even sang at Westminster Abbey in London when they went on tour in Europe for a competition. They came in third place.
Bob's Bytes
1. His favorite movies are "Truly, Madly, Deeply" and "Lars and the Real Girl."
2. If Hollywood made a movie about his life, he would have Johnny Depp play him because "he's bizarre enough."
3. Bob has three sisters and one brother.
4. If Bob could be anything, he would be a migratory bird because there's "nothing better than flying."
4. Sly and the Family Stone was his first concert. The ticket cost $4.
5. When Bob was younger, he wanted to be a dentist. Now, Bob's biggest fear is going to the dentist.
6. Mumford & Sons is Bob's favorite musical artist.
7. Bob would love to have the superpower to make people disappear. "I guess I'd be an evil superhero," Bob joked.
8. The last book he read was called Wire to Wire by Scott Sparling.
9. Bob's favorite book is I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb.
10. If he could be a character for one day, he would be Atreyu from book The Neverending Story.
Lindsey and her husband will be married six years in January. "Our anniversary is January 13," Lindsey said. "I noticed one day that all of our major anniversaries fall on Friday the 13th. Hopefully, that's not a bad sign." Lindsey and Jake don't have any kids or pets right now, but will "hopefully someday." Right now, they live in Lindsey's home town of Woodbury.
She also loves Nascar and Indy racing. She has visited the Michigan International Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway and also saw the Indy Grand Prix in Sonoma County, California.
Lindsey is also an avid runner. For the past five years, she has done the Grandma's half marathon in Duluth with her husband and father-in-law. They are members at two wineries in Washington State and the Alexander Valley region of California. She also enjoys reading, cooking, remodeling her house (which just got a brand new kitchen), bowling, golf, and traveling. She would like to remind everyone that the U of M staff bowling league and golf league are always looking for new members!
Music is also a big part of Lindsey's life. Her husband is a music buyer for Target Corporation, which means that they often get to sample the local music scene. Some memorable moments so far have been Alabama Shakes at First Ave, Zac Brown Band at Target Center...and of course don't forget Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw at the first ever concert at Target Field.
Lindsey graduated from UMD with a degree in biology and chemistry. She recently completed her certification in project management from the College for Continuing Education, which helped her to get a new job in Financial Aid-Information Technology (FA-IT)
Before beginning at the University, Lindsey worked at Metropolitan State University in their Financial Aid Office.
In 2004, Lindsey started working in ASR. Originally, she started out as a One Stop Counselor and moved on to become a Financial Aid Counselor working under Larry Bloom in the Office of Student Finance. About two months ago, Lindsey was hired into one of the backfill business analyst positions for FA-IT.
"I update the batch schedule for various communications we send out," Lindsey said. "Recently, I have been attending the Plan and Discover sessions for the PeopleSoft upgrade."
She is known in her unit as the "resident scribe." Her work focuses on issues related to the student Campus Community side, and the pages in PeopleSoft that are crossing to/from Human Resources.
"My boss at my old job used to say to me, 'financial aid picks you, you don't pick it,'" Lindsey said. "It's not like I woke up one day and said to myself, 'I want to be in financial aid.' We are a small community of people, and our main goal is to make sure we can provide for students and parents to the best of our ability and make that transition easy."
Lindsey's Laws
1. Lindsey's favorite vacation spot is Hawaii and she is going for her sixth time in March.
2. New Kids on the Block was her first concert.
3. She has many favorite books but thoroughly enjoys receiving her monthly FoodTV magazine for new recipe ideas.
4. She knows every line to the movie "Christmas Vacation." Her other favorite movies are "Amelie" and "P.S. I Love You."
5. If she could have any career, it would be a wedding/party planner.
6. Her biggest fear is heights. Though her husband would say it is flying.
7. Growing up, she thought she may have wanted to be a doctor or a dentist, but the cost of school changed her mind.
8. The last book she read was from the Shopaholics series by Sophie Kinsella.
9. She loves the tres leche cake from Cafe Latte on Grand Ave. Secretly, her favorite place to eat is IHOP.
10. If she could be any movie character, she would be the female version of Daniel Craig in James Bond.
She's not kidding. The team of six adeptly adheres to a rigorous list of clients, which includes all ASR units.
While much of the work the team handles is ongoing, they've recently completed several big projects. Graphic Designer, Sarah Hollerich, finished a series of colorful magnets depicting imaginative "monsters" that illustrate different StrengthsQuest talents. She also collaborated with Communications Coordinator, Elyse Paxton, to design flyers and brochures for the 2012 Student Veterans Appreciation Day that took place on Nov. 15.
Writer/Editor, Mandee Kuglin, developed a new ASR intranet, in conjunction with the web team, and she worked with Elyse to edit and communicate the release of the University's new scheduling tool Schedule Builder. Mandee and Sarah also launched and manage the new Live Like a Student Facebook page, which provides money-saving tips for college students. Meanwhile, Communications Coordinator, Kate Sophia, established the ESUP student project work stream website.
Juggling each client can be a challenge. "It's difficult to keep all the plates spinning," Kate said. Adapting to other units' business processes and often working under tight time constraints is also demanding for the team, as each project requires an exemplary level of creativity and attention to detail. The intricate and often complex details of financial aid are also a continuous learning experience for the Communications staff.
One of the biggest misconceptions of the team is not what you may think. "It isn't just writing well," Ingrid said. The ability to work collaboratively--often with little direction--and produce a high quality product requires innovation, imagination, and resourcefulness. The writing and/or designing is the byproduct. "We're constantly learning new ways of doing things," Kate said.
The team's diversity is ample, both in terms of personalities and approaches to work. But somehow it all works out. "We're all very different, but we all gel," Ingrid said.
Communications/OE Coordinator, Matt Tveter, agrees. "There's a genuine desire to get along and a mutual feeling of respect. No one says that something is a bad idea."
For Sarah, this type of collaborative team environment is a first. "I've never had a job like this before," she said.
Communications staff:
Ingrid Nuttall, Communications Manager
Matt Tveter, Communications/OE Coordinator
Kate Sophia, Communications Coordinator
Elyse Paxton, Communications Coordinator
Mandee Kuglin, Writer/Editor
Sarah Hollerich, Graphic Designer
The HR team is a local partner to the central Office of Human Resources and provides services on a local level to the ASR staff and managers.
Team members Marit Gladem, HR specialist, and Olga Kavun-Wozniak, HR/Payroll cluster lead, are responsible for many tasks. "We post open positions, provide consultation during the search process, perform background checks, and meet with new employees to review policies and benefits," Marit said. They also appoint staff, maintain and update employees records in PeopleSoft, manage different types of leaves, and assist managers with performance management issues. Melissa DeWees, principal office & administrative specialist, is responsible for posting student job openings, student hiring, entering the biweekly payroll, and processing employee absence requests.
The Williamson Hall Cluster was created in 2007. Prior to that, Marit and Olga had different roles within ASR; Marit worked in the Office of Student Finance as the department's HR contact, and Olga worked in Continuity and Compliance. Melissa joined the cluster in 2008, shortly after the cluster was formed. "The purpose of the cluster was to support one or two large departments, as well as a few smaller ones, to help provide more adequate HR staffing." Olga said. In addition to HR, the Williamson Hall Cluster also provides finance/accounting services and has four accounting employees.
The team is most busy with recruiting efforts and the hiring of student workers in April for summer employment. The month before school starts in the fall is also hectic. Fortunately, their work is mostly steady rather than having the peaks and valleys that other positions may experience.
Keeping track of changing policies, procedures, and benefits is the biggest challenge the team faces. That, and helping employees understand that the HR staff are not the rule makers. "We're just the enforcers," Marit said.
And sometimes being the enforcer is a delicate matter. "It's hard because we act as employee advocates, but we also support management," Olga said. "We really have our feet in both worlds."
Each of the five departments that the unit serves has its own set of policies and procedures, which the team must continuously be aware of. For example, ASR places a strong emphasis on professional development. As such, after six months of employment, ASR employees are allowed four hours per week to use to attend a class on campus. This is harder for smaller departments to do, however, because of coverage loss.
But, at the end of the day, it's all about making life as easy as possible for employees. "The best part of my job," Marit said, "is knowing that you helped someone, and that person didn't have to go to five different places to find the answer."
HR staff:
Marit Gladem, HR Specialist
Olga Kavun-Wozniak, HR/Payroll Cluster Lead
Melissa DeWees, Principal Office & Administrative Specialist
Here are three apps we discovered that may make life just a bit easier:
Unlike web page favorites that are stored on your computer, Google Bookmarks are stored in the cloud like the rest of your Google Account and can be accessed from any internet accessible computer.
Google Reader allows you to subscribe to your favorite websites, and new content comes to your Google Reader when it's posted, so you don't need to visit individual sites.
This is a handy way to upload photos for an assignment or project you're working on. You can choose whether the photos are public or only available to select people.
Check out these apps when you have a chance, and if you find one that's particularly helpful, email us, and we'll publish your tip in a future issue of News & Notes.]]>
Right now, Collin lives in Minneapolis. Collin and his boyfriend recently adopted a Shiba Inu puppy named Dallas. You may even know Collin's boyfriend, Jason Matheson. He is the co-anchor of the FOX 9 weekday morning show, "The Morning Buzz" and host of the "Jason & Alexis" show on the radio station MyTalk 107.1.
"I go along with him on public appearances a lot," Collin said. "It can be a little exhausting, because most weekends are busy."
When Collin listens to the radio show, he will occasionally hear his own name. "He does talk about me on air sometimes," Collin said. "It's interesting. I don't mind it, though."
One year ago, Collin joined ASR as a One Stop counselor. "I help students with any issues or questions they have related to financial aid, billing, and registration," Collin said. "It's nice when you help a student realize what types of aid are available to them that they didn't know about."
Collin also serves on the Strategic Operation Plan committee for One Stop. The committee, consisting of various One Stop staff, meets every other week and each member also serves on a subcommittee with other counselors. Then, the Strategic Operation Plan committee shares what the smaller subcommittees have been working on. "We address issues like employee morale/satisfaction, training/hiring, organizational effectiveness/efficiency, scheduling, and clearly defining policy/procedures and designing a protocol for unique situations," Collin said. "We then work as a group to implement ideas to improve these areas within One Stop."
When Collin first started last November, he worked in the STSS location. But, this July when the new One Stop location opened up, Collin moved over to 160 Williamson along with Jenny Scherber. Since then, Collin has been helping more Graduate Students and now works with Graduate Student Services and Progress (GSSP) staff pretty closely. "I'm a junior GSSP staff member," Collin joked.
Before beginning to work at the U, Collin worked at US Bank as a teller: a job that often sparked some awkward moments. "People tell you more than you need to know about themselves," Collin said.
Growing up, Collin wanted to be a pilot. "I love to fly," he said. "If I could have one superpower it would be to fly."
When Collin isn't working, he enjoys "lazy weekend days where I just watch a lot of 80's movies," he said.
He also loves music. Collin's everyday music of choice are artists like Michael Buble, Jack Johnson, and Ingrid Michaelson. But he also holds a soft spot for artists such as Lady Gaga and Adele. "Any diva will do it for me, really," he said.
Collin even went to Lady Gaga's concert last year and sat in the front row. "It was so amazing," he said. "It was the craziest show I've ever been to."
Collin's Clues:
1. Collin knows every line from the movie Titanic.
2. He loves spicy food, especially Mexican.
3. His first concert was Green Day.
4. If he could be any movie character for a day, he'd be Spiderman.
5. New York City is Collin's favorite vacation spot. "It's my home away from home," he said. "It's only as big as you make it."
6. Collin used to do theater.
7. The "Harry Potter" series by J.K. Rowling and the "Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown are two of his favorite books.
8. He wants to be a publicist.
9. Collin is afraid of wide, dark, open spaces and snakes.
10. One Halloween, Collin dressed up as Dr. Frank-N-Furter from Rocky Horror Picture Show.
This year's event will include a short program, including speakers and an introduction of the Tillman Military Scholars. A chili luncheon will be provided for guests, and the best part? It's free!
For more information, including program details, visit the One Stop website.]]>
Thank you,
The Customer Service Team
Gary Andersen
Olga Kavun-Wozniak
Carrie Otto
Toni Pangborn
Didi Nguyen
Paula Seeger
Jackee Wernersbach
Note the custom search bar at the top that allows you to search both the intranet and the current ASR website for content. This means once the Intranet goes live, you should still be able to use it as your first choice to find resources related to your work in ASR.
Please send any feedback on the site to Ingrid Nuttall by Wednesday, October 31.
Once the intranet goes live, the content that is duplicated on the ASR website will be removed, and work will begin in earnest to update asr.umn.edu. Questions about this next phase can also be directed to Ingrid.]]>
Unlike undergraduate studies, graduate programs are not completely coursework-based, but rather self-designed with the guidance of an advisor to meet individual research needs. In addition to verifying that graduate students have completed the necessary steps for their degree, the GSSP staff also collaborates with the graduate education transition team to ensure a smoother flow of policies and processes, as responsibilities once housed in the Graduate School continue to shift to the colleges and ASR.
The team currently serves 10,000 students and over 150 graduate programs. Each year, they process 3,000 graduate degree plans. Stacia Madsen, coordinator of doctoral degree services, reviews roughly 700 doctoral dissertations for formatting consistency per year; Amber Cellotti, coordinator of master's and certificate degree services, handles the paperwork for 1,700 master's degree students that graduate each year; and Renae Faunce, coordinator, Graduate Student Services, reviews Graduate Degree Plans, manages committee workflows, and answers graduate education policy and procedure questions.
Recently, the team worked with members of the graduation education transition team to complete the committee and adviser assignment workflows. These new workflows replaced processes for initiating and updating graduate and professional students' committee information and graduate students' adviser assignments. In addition to creating new workflows, the GSSP team also worked on the redesign of the Graduate School website.
Right now, the GSSP staff is meeting with different colleges on campus to review graduate education policies to clarify roles and responsibilities as they relate to policy and procedure. Based on feedback they receive, the team will determine how to best support colleges and programs as they transition into their new roles now and in the future.
In addition to their day-to-day responsibilities, settling into their new space in Williamson Hall has sometimes been a challenge. "We're getting used to the new office environment and how we allocate tasks," Amber said.
But they've taken the changes in stride. To accomplish so much, the team supports each other and is very collaborative, adopting an integrative approach to different tasks.
Having a passion for what they do also makes the job easier and more rewarding. "We're supporting students who are going to make a major impact on the world," Renae said. "They're doing groundbreaking work, and we make it easier for them to focus on that and not have to worry about administrative stuff."
GSSP staff:
Amber Cellotti, coordinator, Master's and Certificate Degree Services
Stacia Madsen, coordinator, Doctoral Degree Services
Renae Faunce, coordinator, Graduate Student Services
She currently works on the student records side of Imaging, processing student name changes and resolving duplicate student records. She also images and indexes College in the Schools registrations and student-athlete information, and audits the work of the Imaging student workers.
Imaging is the process of scanning documents to eliminate paper and store the documents digitally. All student records (past and present) are scanned and either manually indexed or linked to the student information through PeopleSoft. These records are stored in the system called ImageNow.
Pat was born in Wichita Falls, Texas, but moved to Minneapolis when she was a baby and hasn't left since. Before she began working at the U, Pat remembers one very unique job that she had working third shift as a pizza maker at the Totino's pizza factory. Her mother didn't want her to work nights alone, so she tagged along. Pat was responsible for a number of tasks, including putting on pieces of pepperoni or laying out the pizza dough.
"Needless to say, it was a very messy job and one we didn't last long at before we decided enough was enough," Pat said. "We would laugh about it every night on our way home from work. We felt like Lucy and Ethel when they worked in the chocolate factory."
Most of her jobs before the U were in the medical area, including at a blood bank and a nursing home. Pat has always been interested in the medical field and considered being a nurse or a doctor once, but her passion really lies in forensics. "If I could do my life over again, I would go into some kind of forensics field," Pat said.
Pat's interest in the forensics field has grown from her love of crime books, shows, and movies. Her favorite book is the ...in Death series by J.D. Robb. In fact, if she could be any character, it would be Eve Dallas from the series. "She's so interesting and looks at everything from a different perspective because of how she was raised," Pat said. "She's her own person and sticks to what she believes in."
Pat also loves to travel. She has owned her own timeshare in Lake Buena Vista, Florida for more than 20 years. "It was the best quick decision I've ever made," Pat said. She has been to most states in the U.S., including Hawaii and has traveled to Canada and Mexico. One of her favorite places to visit is Cape Cod.
When Pat isn't at work, she loves watching her three grandchildren grow up. "My grandkids are 11, 14, and 17," Pat said. "I love to watch them play sports like soccer, hockey, football, and baseball."
Precisely Pat:
1. When Pat was 14, she was voted Snow Queen at a neighborhood park board sponsored dance.
2. If she could have any superpower, she would want to twitch her nose, like Samantha in Bewitched, and go anywhere she wants.
3. Pat loves to crochet. Her biggest project was a 3-foot doll that she calls the "faceless wonder," because she could never get the face to look just right.
4. Her first concert was Brenda Lee at the Minnesota State Fair.
5. Pat grew up with five sisters and one brother.
6. Pat's favorite kind of music is 50's and 60's music.
7. She loves scary movies that make her jump out of her seat.
8. She had been in a bowling league for 18 years.
9. She was a stay-at-home mom for 10 years.
10. Pat can tap dance. She took lessons for about five years.
• Check-in 8:00-8:30 a.m.
• Welcome and topic introduction
• Scenarios and director sharing
• Speaker on conflict and team dynamics
• Toolkit introduction
• Wrap-up and self-reflection
• 12:30 p.m. Box lunch provided
There is a short activity that we ask you to complete prior to the event. The activity, called the "Hot Button Profile," will be a topic of focus and discussion for the speaker. It will take you approximately 5 minutes to complete. You are not required to share your results with anyone. Please complete the assessment, print out your results, and bring them with you on the day of the event.
Parking: If you have a parking contract, you have reciprocal parking in the Gortner Ave. ramp. Use of the Campus Connector or carpooling is encouraged. If you would otherwise have to pay for parking, you can ask for a parking coupon at the registration table when you arrive.
There will be no food or beverages provided prior to lunch. You are welcome to bring your own.
If you have any questions about the event or the assessment activity, please contact any member of the event planning committee:
Toni Pangborn
Carrie Otto
Olga Kavun-Wozniak
Gary Andersen
Jackee Wernersbach
Didi Nguyen
Paula Seeger
While in high school, Cosmin took one of the most important trips of his life. He moved to Orange County, California to be with his parents, who had moved there six years prior. "I didn't know any English, and I didn't like being there," Cosmin said. "But things fell into place, and I'm really glad that my parents had us come to the U.S., even though we were separated for six years."
Now, Cosmin's parents still live in Orange County, while he moved to St. Paul seven years ago. Cosmin and his wife have been married seven years and have an 11-month-old son named Sam.
This past December, Cosmin got his bachelor's in business management from Metro State University. He is considering getting his master's of business administration from Carlson School of Management.
This past May, Cosmin started working in ASR as a principal collections representative supervisor for Student Account Assistance (SAA).
"This is my first time working at a University and dealing with student debt," Cosmin said. "I work with students to make sure they have money to pay back their loans." Before ASR and his tour in Iraq, Cosmin worked in collections dealing mostly with credit card debt and repossession services.
In his spare time, Cosmin loves to travel, swim, ski, and snowboard. "Now that I have a kid, I spend most of my time taking care of my son," Cosmin said. "But I love doing anything in the water. I grew up in the water." In fact, he has been certified in SCUBA diving since 2007.
Cosmin is also a veteran. He was in the military for six years and did a tour in Iraq for a year as a motor vehicle transportation operator. "When I was deployed overseas, I was in a supervisory role in the military," Cosmin said. "I drove the lead vehicle in a convoy of over 50 trucks."
After being deployed overseas for a year, Cosmin remembers feeling happy to see his family again and incredibly proud of himself. "That first day back in Minnesota was amazing," Cosmin said. "Everyone was greeting us and thanking us for our service. It was a moment that made me proud to be American."
Crux of Cosmin
1. Cosmin's first concert was Coachella.
2. Cosmin swam competitively for more than 12 years.
3. If Cosmin could be any superhero with any superpower, he would be Aquaman, so he could swim fast enough to beat Michael Phelps.
4. His favorite food is Sarma.
5. His dream house is one of the homes off East River Road.
6. His wife attended the U of M and is now a chemical engineer at 3M.
7. His hometown of Cluj is known for having one of the biggest medical schools in Europe.
8. His favorite show is the Simpsons, and he has seen every episode.
9. Cosmin doesn't read unless he has to, but the last book he read was Legends of Olympus, and his favorite book is an insurance law textbook.
10. He dressed as Count Dracula for Halloween one year. "Given my background, it seemed appropriate," he joked.
The event will begin with an opening session that provides an overview of the project for ESUP team members, as well as managers, University leadership, and other key stakeholders. This will be followed by more detailed sessions specifically for ESUP team members, discussing methodology, roles and responsibilities, and more.
Kickoff planning is underway, and more details about the location and agenda will be shared as they are finalized. For now, staff who will be working on the project full-time should plan to attend from 1 to 4 p.m. University leaders and others not formally on the project team can plan to leave after the opening session or follow the discussions online via streaming video.]]>
This upgrade will allow the University to continue to receive technical support from Oracle, and is a critical building block for the Enterprise System Upgrade Project. More information is available on the PeopleTools Upgrade page.]]>
She also remembers one year when she tried to dress up as a ghost from the Peanuts Halloween Special, but had a minor wardrobe malfunction. "I cut the holes in the wrong place and they were on top of my head. Tufts of hair were sticking out of the top," Jody said.
Jody also enjoys "geeking out by listening to podcasts and tinkering around with computers," Jody said. "I'm my parent's IT person."
Though Jody loves comic books and Star Wars, if Hollywood made a movie about her life, she would choose Anne Hathaway in her Princess Diary days as the actress to play her. "I always picture her looking the mirror saying, 'This is as good as it's going to get,'" Jody said.
Originally from Shoreview, Jody graduated from the U with a degree in English in 2005. Immediately after, Jody began working as a Student Personnel Coordinator in the Loan Unit of the Office of Student Finance (OSF).
"I sort of tripped and fell into my current job," Jody said. "I started out as a student worker in OSF in 2002 and I've just never left. I haven't found anything that else that is as interesting."
Jody helps students who have Direct Loans, mostly through email, who want to request an adjustment to an award package. "I also coordinate with One Stop on troubleshooting loan questions and help out our Business Analyst, Marietta (Upsher)."
When One Stop was still located in Fraser Hall, Jody would interact with students face-to-face, but it's now all through email. But she has one memory that stands out.
"I had a random moment with a student who gave me documentation to have a checklist item cleared," Jody said. "I did the work and then she asked to see me at the counter. She gave me a big bear hug and thanked me for helping her out. It was really awesome and surprising."
Before ASR, Jody vividly remembers her previous job. She worked as a janitor in Sanford Hall. "I cleaned the bathrooms and the University Dining Services. Nothing grosses me out anymore," Jody said. "It was an interesting job though. I saw a whole other side of the U. It was like the underbelly of the U."
Last year, Jody bought a townhouse in Maplewood. She enjoys gardening in her new home and is learning to play the guitar.
Just Jody
1, Her favorite movie is Stars Wars (the original trilogy) or Moulin Rouge
2. She wishes she could imitate Chewbacca or Yoda.
3. She grew up wanting to be an author like Stephen King.
4. Jody still does creative writing, mostly short stories and fanfiction.
5. Jody is an only child.
6. Her first concert was DC Talk.
7. If she could have any superpower, Jody would love to fly because she is an impatient traveler.
8. Her favorite food is Indian or Italian.
9. Her favorite book is The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy.
10. The last book she read was a short story called Don't Eat Cat by Jess Walter.
You can use commas to mark both ends of a clause that causes an interruption in a sentence or provides additional information. This is called bracketing commas. The commas mark an area where a reader could easily pull out that clause and still have it be grammatically correct, though potentially less interesting. For example, take the sentence, "John Keats, who never did any harm to anyone, is often invoked by grammarians." Removing the clause "who never did any harm to anyone" does not make the sentence grammatically incorrect, just less interesting.
Sometimes bracketed commas may seem necessary when they really aren't. If the clause is integral to the meaning of the sentence, you don't need to present it with a pair of commas. For example, take the sentence, "Belinda opened the trapdoor and, after listening for a minute, closed it again." Removing "after listening for a minute" still provides a grammatically correct sentence, but one that is not as informative. That clause is integral to understanding the meaning of the sentence.]]>
MOHE recently asked for the University's help in identifying students and potential state grant award information for those students losing out on state grant eligibility due to 4 years of attendance rather than 4 years of payments. Identification of these students and the subsequent calculation of award information was no easy task, but thanks to Deb Edwards and Diane Ashby, the Office of Student Finance was able to provide the much needed information for MOHE's preliminary cost projection work.Nice going!
In 2011-2012 the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities disbursed $22,971,115 to over 6,400 undergraduate students.
Dear ASR staff:
The summer is winding down, which means everything is ramping up in ASR. Here are a few of the things that I (and many of you) have been working on, in addition to all of the preparation for the start of the term:
Working with advisers and student service staff
August always starts off with the expanded Registrar's Advisory Committee (RAC) meeting. This whirlwind meeting is an opportunity for us to inform a broader advising and student services audience about issues our office is working on that relate to their working with students. As we inch closer to starting the 9.0 PeopleSoft upgrade project, we provided some high-level information on the upgrade and their anticipated involvement. The undergraduate advisers in attendance were provided with a financial aid update to help support our efforts to graduate students in four years.
Working with the coordinate campuses
This summer, I have spent much time engaging our coordinate campus colleagues as we prepare for the upgrade. With new staff in several key positions at two of our campuses, it has been a good time to strategically examine our policy and procedure differences and identify areas where we all can 'bend' and make our students' lives better; outline strategies for collecting input for decision-making; underscore our shared values and commitment to each other; and come to consensus on future directions. Some of these conversations have been difficult and will require sustained attention over the coming months, but I know we are all committed to the same goal of supporting our students.
Supervisors meeting
The ASR supervisors met in early August to get a preview of the upcoming ASR Customer Service Training event on October 24. The Customer Service Training Program Committee emphasized that we aren't doing customer service wrong in ASR, but we want to continue to develop our skills to continue to provide the best service we can to each other and the University community. Additionally, supervisors spent some time reflecting on giving and receiving performance feedback. As I mentioned in the July wrap-up, feedback is indispensable to creating a good work team and even more important to developing leadership and management skills. I know it is hard and sometimes uncomfortable giving your boss (or even your boss' boss) feedback: however, I encourage you to do so. We are committed to establishing concrete ways to do this more often and readily. If you have any suggestions, please send them to me.
The ASR directors and I have used several of our August directors meetings to examine our career families and their associated knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs). It has been about three years since we have taken a comprehensive look at these. Overall, the families appear to be in good health, still represent the work that we do in ASR, and reflect the values inherent in our office. As would be expected, some emerging skills and abilities need to be added and some dated language needs to be changed. Additionally, we will be examining each position in ASR to determine if it is still mapped to the appropriate job family as we know jobs and job duties change over time.
August is also the time of the year when I review the previous fiscal year and see how closely our actuals matched our budgeted amounts. In most instances, we were remarkably close, and this is good. We are entering the new fiscal year with a carry forward (meaning, we spent less than we budgeted); this is good because we are never fully funded for our salary and fringe and depend on carry forward to cover the difference. I anticipate sometime in mid-September I will be asked to prepare our budget request for the next fiscal year. This is always a tough task because we have so little of the current fiscal year under our belt upon which to estimate. After we have submitted our budget, I will hold budget brown bags as I have the previous two years to share what we asked for and provide an overview of the process.
One Stop center, Third Party Billing, and Graduate Student Services and Progress
The The One Stop Student Service center, Third Party Billing (TPB), and Graduate Student Services and Progress (GSSP) opened their doors in the new Williamson Hall location on August 13. I am pleased to report we have seen fairly steady traffic for One Stop and GSSP, as well as the expected amount of traffic for TPB. I expect numbers will continue to rise. If you haven't yet visited the Williamson location or met the staff, please make the time to do so. I know it was a bit awkward for some of you to either use the side doors to enter or to meet your guests for meetings, but I do appreciate your patience while we all adjust to new processes.
If you've made it to the end of this message, I hope you feel that you have a sense of some of the things that went on during the month of August. I know I've said it before, but I work with the best people on campus. Thank you all for everything that you do, and I wish you a wonderful start to the term.
The largest third party sponsor for the University is Target. Each term, the company pays up to $2 million in tuition for its employees. Most are students in the Carlson School of Management pursuing advanced business degrees. Other big sponsors are the Evans Scholars Foundation in Evanston, Illinois, and the Embassy of Malaysia.
One of the most difficult tasks the team handles is billing several locations of the Armed Forces. Students that are part of ROTC, active duty, the reserves, or the National Guard often have part or all of their tuition paid for, but it's not always easy for Third Party Billing. "It is very difficult to comply with University, Armed Forces, and Department of Defense policies," Accounts Supervisor Sheila Rhody said. "Billing is entered into several systems, and payment is always delinquent." In addition to slow payments, the Armed Forces prefers to pay with a credit card, which the University does not accept due to the additional fees assessed by the credit card companies.
To help document retention and organization, the team plans to join the University's imaging system soon. Right now, it's a huge task to keep track of everything. With so many sponsors and money at stake, the unit is anxious for a more efficient and easier way of managing their work.
The team has a wide range of experience. Sheila has been working for the Third Party Billing unit for 13 years; Doreen Knuston, Office Support Assistant, for 20 years; and Dawn Demaske, Principal Accounts Specialist, for three years. Sheila considers the variety a positive for the team. "It has given us fresh perspective on how to improve processes and assess how we're doing, in addition to experience," she said. They handle the workflow as it comes, working closely as a team and addressing each situation as it occurs. They also meet monthly with Associate director Tom Schmidt to discuss agenda items and any unit concerns.
It can be a demanding job, but the staff keeps it all in perspective. "The best part is helping a student obtain his or her third party funding and knowing you made it easier for them." Sheila said.
Third Party Billing staff:
Sheila Rhody, Accounts Supervisor
Doreen Knutson, Office Support Assistant
Dawn Demaske, Principal Accounts Specialist
"Since the festival takes place in the park right behind my parents' house, I spent many summers gorging on cheese and riding carnival rides - thankfully, none with a disastrous outcome!" Amber said.
She came to the U as an undergraduate student in 1999 and never left. As an undergrad, she worked in University Dining Services, in a biochemistry lab, and in the CLA Undergraduate Advising offices as a peer adviser. She received her bachelor's in communication studies in 2003 and then, shortly after, began working full-time as a Degree Program Adviser for GSSP in the Graduate School.
In July, the GSSP office moved from the Graduate School to ASR. For the past seven years, her position has been coordinator for the master's and certificate degree services.
Amber works with master's and certificate students as they progress toward degree completion by assisting them with paperwork, filing a thesis, and reviewing files for degree completion. "I also work with graduate programs and faculty to assist with students' time to degree," Amber said. "I interpret graduate education policies and manage student records to determine when a student is ready to graduate," Amber said.
Amber also just started the strategic communication master's program this fall. "I'm excited to go back to school and nervous at the same time," Amber said.
Amber's most interesting job was a summer one she had after her senior year of high school and first year of college building fire trucks. "For those who know me, this would not seem like an obvious summer job -- working retail? Yes. Building fire trucks? No," Amber said. "I was always the youngest person on my shift and sometimes the only female. Oh, I also learned to drive a forklift, which comes in super handy. Not really."
Two years ago in September, Amber got married at Summit Manor in St. Paul. Amber and her husband, Todd, currently have no kids or pets, but hope to add a puppy to the family next summer. Now, Amber lives in Roseville. "I enjoy the proximity to both downtowns and love living within walking distance to Central Park," Amber said.
In her spare time, Amber enjoys gardening, reading, dancing, and traveling. One of her favorite vacation spots is Door County, Wisconsin. "It offers opportunities to relax, enjoy the outdoors, and experience great vineyards all within a six-hour drive of the Twin Cities--do I sound like a commercial yet?" Amber said.
Amber and her husband have also traveled to St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands). "We stayed at Bolongo Bay, which is a family-owned resort," Amber said. "It has a fantastic beach and a really relaxed atmosphere. I can't recall a time when I've been more relaxed or had more fun."
Amber Axioms
1. Her favorite movie is the Dead Poet's Society because it has all the elements--romance, drama, and humor in one movie.
2. She also loves comedies like Dumb and Dumber and The Big Lebowski.
3. Her first concert was New Kids on the Block.
4. When she has time, she enjoys salsa and ballroom dancing.
5. Amber and her husband own a rental property near campus that they frequently make renovations to.
6. She loves big band and jazz music.
7. She has a container garden on her deck, growing bell peppers, banana peppers, jalapenos, basil (thai and sweet), rosemary, and chives. Her cilantro, unfortunately, had an "untimely death."
8. She got engaged on Mackinac Island, Michigan.
9. If she could have anyone's job, it would be Great Hotels host Samantha Brown on the Travel Channel.
10. She grew up wanting to be a doctor and actually started out at the U as a biology major in the pre-med track.
He has three biological and eight adopted kids who range in age from 2 to 16 years old. Several of his children have hidden disabilities from pre-birth exposure to alcohol or drugs. "The kids love having that many siblings, and the age groups tend to team up," Robert said.
And, when Robert isn't juggling 11 children at home, he provides valuable insight for the Graduate Education Transition team. He analyzes and streamlines student administrative processes in conjunction with the Graduate Student Services and Progress team. "Either the process stays within the Graduate School, or it is moved out and becomes an ASR process," Robert said. "If it become an ASR process, we work to improve it, if possible."
He is conducting much of the groundwork for the graduate progress to degree process. He has also worked on the adviser workflow and the documentation of processes for graduate student fellowships. He is currently working on implementing checklists in Campus Solutions so a graduate student can track his or her own degree progress in one place.
"We want to provide a student with a continual view of their degree progress," Robert said. "Checklists will be much more dynamic and will allow a student to see the progress of their degree as it is updated in Campus Solutions. We want to help students see their pathways to graduation."
Before joining ASR, Robert worked at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs and at Metropolitan State University (St. Paul) as director of Financial Aid.
When asked what he does in his spare time, Robert joked, "What spare time?" His free moments often involve taking a few of his children out at a time to play golf or go fishing. Earlier this year, his family took a road trip to Seattle and visited Yellowstone National Park. He would love to take another trip with his kids and drive across the country.
He also enjoys watching movies with his children. "Being a father has made me a connoisseur of children's movies," Robert said. One of his kids' favorite movies is The Incredibles, which sometimes inspires fantastical thoughts. "If I were a superhero, my super power would be to control the weather," Robert said. "But 'no capes!'"
Fun facts about Robert:
1. His favorite movie is Casablanca.
2. His favorite book is Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
3. He enjoys jazz music.
4. He loves to vacation in the Boundary Waters.
5. His favorite food is the salmon at Ivar's Salmon House in Seattle.
6. Robert's first concert was Chuck Mangione's "Feels So Good" tour.
7. He wanted to grow up to be a Blue Angels Navy Pilot.
8. f he could be any movie character for a day, he would be Sean Thornton in The Quiet Man.
9. His most memorable Halloween costume is when he dressed up as Indiana Jones.
10. He has a bachelor's degree in English and American literature from Brandeis University and a master of business administration from the University of St. Thomas.
Nothing happens . . . except the message you receive telling you that a server can't be found. You panic. Or, you just get really frustrated.
If you're checking out a laptop, you'll need to download your credentials via an ethernet cable (usually that blue thing) in order to log-in. The laptop should come with one of these cables in its bag, but you can contact CITSU if you can't find one. Make sure you do this in advance of when you need the laptop so that you know it works before showtime.]]>
Exterior sign. The text says, "Dedicated to our staff whose value and contributions cannot be measured."
Nancy Peterson and Vickie Roberts were ASR employees for many years. Nancy served as the scheduling unit manager and Vickie was the director of academic records. Both Nancy and Vickie passed away in 2011.]]>
Eleven years ago, Phil Hunter began working in OCM. He started out by "inspecting rooms and putting out fires," but he soon advanced to Operations Coordinator.
Phil supervises classroom activity and proactively resolves issues in classrooms, such as replacing and repairing furniture. "One of the big issues we've found is markers," Phil said. "If the custodians haven't placed markers in rooms, we hear about it. We try to get our service providers to look at our classrooms as a system. If one part fails the others are affected."
Phil also hires, trains, and supervises the OCM student staff and manages the room features database. Since joining OCM, Phil has served on the Development Team and as the lead on the Recognition Team.
Phil grew up in the Black Hills of Rapid City, South Dakota. "It's a tourist city, so basically everyone works in the tourism industry in one way or another," Phil said. He was no exception and has held a string of interesting jobs.
Growing up, his dad owned a motel called the "Lazy U" where Phil worked as a stripper. "I was the first one to go in the rooms and get them ready for the maid to clean," Phil explained. "I stripped the sheets and prepped the room." He even added his own touch to the tourism industry by developing a tourist map that listed all of the area's hotspots based on how many days people were in town.
He also once worked at a toy store. "It was an interesting job; I liked helping the customers, but a lot of people that worked there were really bitter," Phil said. "You'd think people in a toy store would be happy."
After a string of odd jobs, Phil received his bachelor's in speech communication and theatre from South Dakota State University. Seeking creative outlets, Phil did musical theatre, once playing Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees. Eventually, he got bored with scripts and began doing improv and interactive theatre.
Phil's creativity is also seen in his work. Phil helped develop the student monitoring program that OCM uses to monitor the daily activity in each classroom. And, though he loves working in OCM, his dream job would be doing voice overs, which he currently records, along with music, in his in-home recording studio that he calls Nochy Mozg, which loosely translates to "reptile brain."
Phil is also working on writing a young adult novel, that he describes as "a fantasy/Spanish folklore adventure story that deals with the role of fate in our lives and the grey area between good and evil."
Currently, Phil lives in West St. Paul with his wife of 16 years, Jody, and his two kids, Adaline and Philip John (P.J.). He has a 16-year-old cat named Stein (originally paired with Frank before he passed away) and two new kittens named Snickers and Meep.
Fun Phil Facts:
If he could be any character for a day, Phil would be Groucho Marx and/or Darth Vader.
His favorite vacation spot is Yellowstone National Park during the off season.
He would love to visit Peru to see the Incan ruins.
His first concert was the Styx in 9th grade.
He likes the type of music played on The Current radio station.
His favorite author is Haruki Murakami.
His favorite movie is Spirited Away.
He likes to garden.
Harry Nilsson is one of his favorite singer/songwriters.
He did theatre, most often playing an older person or the funny sidekick.
Student Account Assistance staff are busy working on appeals for registration cancellations, the exit interview project, and the move of Third Party Billing to Williamson Hall.
Now that eFAANs have gone out to students, One Stop's phone and email customer traffic has doubled and will continue to increase through September. Last week, counselors answered 2,159 calls and 1,870 emails. Walk-in traffic will significantly increase later in August. One Stop staff are also hard at work finishing up orientation and Welcome Week preparations.
From left to right: Erik Eklund, Joe Goggins, Chris Dinger, Santiago Fernandez-Gimenez (now part of the Project Management & Coordination unit), Kim Doberstein. Matt Nuttall is the creepy guy on the monitor.
The Web Team focuses on tasks that are unique to ASR or that cannot be addressed as an enterprise solution by the Office of Information Technology (OIT). They look for ways to provide programming solutions that will help support access to important information. They've been working to decrease the time it takes to gather fresh data (e.g., student APAS information), which makes it easier and faster to share critical information with other departments such as Student Records, Classroom Management, and Student Finance.
To keep up with so many projects, the team started scheduling daily check-ins. Every morning around 9:00 a.m., the staff meets in the hallway to go over the day's agenda. Web Team Manager, Matt Nuttall, said they address the following three questions: "What have you accomplished since yesterday? What will you accomplish by this time tomorrow? And what barriers stand in your way?" These morning meetings help the team to assess where they're at among their different tasks and to prioritize the day ahead.
ASR has hundreds of processes, and the Web Team constantly searches for ways to help simplify and automate them. For example, right now the team is finishing their work on the Tuition and Fee Management System. As they work with the Office of Student Finance (OSF), they will re-engineer how the University proposes and approves class fees and tuition; by the time their work is complete, they will have made it easier and more efficient to manage the allocation and collection of hundreds of millions of dollars.
As web developers, it's easy to assume that coding is a major part of the their work. But, in fact, it's really a last resort. Since code is very expensive to re-write if security issues arise, the team only codes when absolutely necessary. "We focus on using resources that are already available," Matt said.
Though the workload can be demanding, the team is dedicated to providing the best service they can. "We're all passionate about what we do and the mission of ASR," Web Developer Chris Dinger said. Co-worker Joe Goggins agrees, saying that this is the first place he has worked at where he truly understands and stands behind the organization's mission.
At the end of the day, it's all about making the lives of students and staff easier. "There's nothing more satisfying," Joe said, "than someone saying, 'You changed how I do what I do.'"]]>
Another live chatter responded to the question: "As a former parent, your student should utilize the One Stop. It was clearly one of the better perks at the U for students to enable them to 'figure questions out' on their own (but with guidance)."
1. What makes you say that?
This is a good follow-up to all kind of statements -- from "things are going fine" to "The venue seems like they're not going to budge on the price." The idea is that you don't just want the surface statement -- you want what lies behind the surface statement, and this question gets at that.
2. What do you think?
If a staff member isn't sure how to handle a problem or move forward on a project, before you suggest a path to try, ask this question first. You might learn that your staff member suggests that solution herself -- or a better one.
3. What are you most worried about?
This question can open the door to all kinds of information and concerns that you might never hear about otherwise. You might think that staff members will tell you their worries without being asked -- but many won't.
Again, thanks to Paula (and to The Management Center) for these helpful tips.]]>
If you are coming to meetings in 160 Williamson, you will need to use the side doors to enter the office. If you don't already have your U Card programmed to work in the card swipes in Williamson, please work with Debbie Henderson to have your card activated for the doors. Or, you will need to wait in the hallway for your meeting convener to meet you and bring you into the space.
If you are holding meetings in one of the 160 Williamson meeting or training spaces, you will need to inform your guests to wait in the corridor until you come to bring them into the space for the meeting.
The Morrill Act is the legislation that laid the groundwork for the public research university's ongoing mission of learning, discovery, and engagement for the common good.
A few ASR staff members, Goldy, and Honest Abe Lincoln (signer of the Morrill Act).
Rebecca received her bachelor's degree in speech communication in 2000 from the U. She switched majors from art history to speech communication because she felt it was a more marketable degree. However, she has always had a love for the arts, especially architecture. Her favorite architect is Antoni Gaudi.
In her spare time, Rebecca enjoys making her own jewelry and reading. She enjoys well-written fiction, but really loves the thrill of a good mystery book. "I love puzzling things out," she said.
Traveling is an essential part of Rebecca's life. Twelve years ago, she took a month-long trip to Barcelona, Spain and had the pleasure of seeing her favorite architect's work in person. She frequently travels to Phoenix to visit her mother and has also traveled to Mexico, Munich, Venice, Salzburg, and Florence. When it becomes more affordable she would like to travel to Scotland, England, and the Netherlands.
As a One Stop counselor, Rebecca answers phones, responds to emails, and mans the One Stop counter. She also conducts the tuition audit and manages the academic calendar.
Rebecca specializes in multi-institutional students and her favorite part of the job is assisting students. "I have always had a job that involved helping students," she said. "There are so few jobs where you hear that you have made a difference in someone's life."
In her time at the University, Rebecca has worked in the Office of the Registrar and One Stop Student Services. She remembers when she worked at the old Information Desk in Williamson Hall.
"One time, these two young ladies asked me how to get to an appointment they had in the Darland Administration Building," Rebecca said. "I didn't know how to tell them that their appointment was actually on the Duluth campus."
After over 30 years of service to the University, Rebecca still loves her job. "The University and One Stop is such a pleasant place to work," Rebecca said. "I have had such incredibly good people as supervisors and coworkers, and I am happy to come to work. Life is too short to have a job you don't enjoy."
Fun Facts About Rebecca:
1. Her first concert was David Bowie.
2. She loves classical music, especially Bach.
3. She does not have a computer at home.
4. If she were wealthy, she would hire a personal chauffeur and cook.
5. She can't watch slasher films.
6. She had a cat who lived to be 21 years old.
7. When she was younger, she thought she may have been a lawyer.
8. She admires journalists like Bill Moyers
9. She has never married and has no children.
10. She loves science fiction movies.
Coordinated IT Services Unit (CITSU) -- firstname.lastname@example.com
Web Team -- firstname.lastname@example.com
DARS Support -- firstname.lastname@example.com
Imaging and Files -- email@example.com
Communications -- firstname.lastname@example.com
Beginning August 1, these two groups will be using ServiceNow:
Student Records Training and Support Team -- email@example.com
Student Records Business Analysis -- email@example.com
If you contact a group who is using ServiceNow, you can expect to see more automated email messages from the system. Also, when a team member using ServiceNow writes you back that your request is complete, you should resist the temptation to write back with a "Thank You," as this will re-open the ticket. It's always good to say "Thanks," but send your appreciation in a separate email or by way of a phone call for these groups.
More teams will be hopping on the ServiceNow train in the coming months, so you can expect to see more central email addresses popping up. For more information on ServiceNow, contact Matt Nuttall.]]>
Right now, this unit consists of Santiago Fernandez-Gimenez, unit leader, and Christa Nicols, administrative assistant. Both report to Grant Clavelle, director of ASR-IT.
Previously a member of the ASR Web Team, Santiago's years at the U and in ASR have prepared him to manage projects where it is often difficult to plan ahead. He has a master's degree in strategic communication, has been the chair of the Project and Change Management Collaborators network, and is a certified Scrum Master, a practice for managing software projects. This summer, Santiago is working on a certification from the Project Management Institute.
Christa has been in ASR since January 2011. She works partially in Imaging and ASR-IT as an administrative assistant. "Right now, I am managing my first project," Christa said. "I am working to redesign the way ASR tracks and monitors project progress."
In order to determine if the direction of this unit is going where staff want, Santiago and Christa have monthly round table discussions with current project managers (PM) to create a community of practice. The round tables are show, share, and learn sessions with staff tasked with PM duties.
"We have captured what we learned and will fold that into our coaching on future projects," Santiago said. "We are hoping to better match techniques, methods, and resources to the actual business needs of the individual projects."
When a project reaches a size and scope where it has an ASR manager as a sponsor, or will take over 2-3 months to complete, Santiago and Christa want to know about it. They can help facilitate and coach PMs to complete a project efficiently.
A standard tool kit will be provided for PMs to track, monitor, and communicate project progress. "Having the Communications Team involved early in projects is a predictor of success and keeps us user-focused," said Santiago. "The practice of regular communication of project status makes staff feel more informed and connected to ASR projects."
Christa is working to make the project tracking and monitoring process more efficient. "We want to help PMs have a standard way to report what is being worked on so there is increased visibility on project progress," said Christa. "The goal is to put better data in front of decision-makers, and increase transparency in ASR."
This standard tool kit will be done through Google Docs and will allow for PMs to fill out status reports that will update a main dashboard for ASR managers and other staff too look at. Ideally, this tool kit will automate the project tracking for PMs.
Overall, the goal is to aid staff in project management techniques. "Project management isn't rocket science, but we aren't getting things done as efficiently as we could," Santiago said. "By learning from each other, we want to facilitate excellent projects in ASR."
If you are currently acting as a PM and would like to participate in the round table, or want help facilitating and managing a project, you can email Santiago.]]>
Note that it will likely be a bit noisy and cluttered in the 160 Williamson space while this work takes place. As a reminder, the 160 Williamson Hall front doors will be closed during the build, so please plan to meet your guests at the side doors to the space.]]>
With so many students using their cell phone as their primary way to access the internet on campus (54% by our latest survey), One Stop's mobile site makes perfect sense. According to Google Analytics, onestop.umn.edu received 126,161 visits using mobile devices during a 60-day period ending March 11, 2012.
The mobile site includes timely and helpful "News" and "Contact Us" tabs, as well as a full site version for those preferring to view One Stop content in its entirety.
The site's launch date is scheduled for July 23.]]>
Cheryl grew up in Richfield and went to high school in Alexandria, MN. She's lived in Minnesota her entire life and has no intention of going anywhere else. "Why move?" Cheryl says, who is now a resident of Bloomington.
She has three grown children and "seven perfect grandchildren," who range in ages from 6 months to 12 years. All of her children and grandchildren live in the Twin Cities area, so she has the chance to see them regularly.
Cheryl loves sports, including biking, hiking, snowshoeing, and other outdoor activities. A few years ago, Cheryl and her husband completed the MS 150 bike race, a two day, 150 mile bike ride that starts in the Duluth and ends in the Twin Cities. To prepare, Cheryl and her husband trained for two months, biking 40-50 miles a day on the weekends. "The last two miles were a pill, but once you get to certain point, it's sheer willpower and determination to finish," she said. "I would absolutely do it again."
Pictures of Cheryl's favorite vacation spot, the North Shore, decorate her office in Fraser Hall. She enjoys hiking and snowshoeing there and recommends that potential North Shore visitors go to the Devil's Kettle waterfall and hike over to the Naniboujou Club Lodge to sip their french onion soup.
Cheryl once thought that she may want to be a fashion designer. Her mother used to sew, and Cheryl used to make her own clothes and her children's clothes.
But a design career was not meant to be. After accepting a job at St. Olaf College, where she worked for 22 years, Cheryl fell in love with higher education. She joined the ASR team three years ago. Her 25 years of experience in higher education have largely been in financial aid.
Cheryl is responsible for the independent/dependent student status verification process and also handles some Special Circumstances Appeals.
"I love feeling as though I'm helping other people achieve their educational goals," Cheryl said. "That's why I love higher education and why I've stayed. This is my dream job."
Fun facts about Cheryl:
1. Her favorite movie is A Man for All Seasons.
2. Her favorite book genres are biography and history.
3. Cheryl doesn't really watch much TV, except the news.
4. Her first concert was The Beatles at Metropolitan Stadium (where the Mall of America now stands).
5. She has her bachelor's from the U in child psychology and master's from Mankato State University in college student affairs.
6. Cheryl loves dogs, but she doesn't have any right now.
7. For Halloween one year she sewed a Pink Panther costume for her daughter.
8. Her oddest job was working part time as a test evaluator. She evaluated the written essays from standardized exams.
9. Cheryl enjoys knitting, cross stitching, and sewing.
10. She has season tickets for Gopher football and volleyball, and has partial season tickets for the Twins.
1. Go to your mail settings (that little gear thing in the upper right-hand corner)
2. Select "Labs"
3. Scroll down to "Undo Send"
4. Click "Enable"
5. Bask in the glory that is now
You have about 10 seconds (counting Mississippies) to take the message back. Send yourself a test if you want. After you send the message, you'll see a yellow bar at the top of your inbox that says "Undo." If you click this, it will take you back to your original message and you can fix whatever errors and your recipients will be none the wiser. Now, if only we had an undo for talking. Get on that, Google!]]>
The past two years, co-chairs have been appointed to the teams. The 2010-2011 co-chairs were Tara Fricke and Shelley Parker. The 2011-2012 co-chairs were Kim Doberstein and Paula Seeger. Ingrid Nuttall in Continuity and Compliance also serves on the team annually as an administrative resource.
Each year, a fall event (scheduled in December) and a spring event (scheduled in May) are held. Typically, the fall event is short and informative, often including a talk from Sue Van Voorhis, director of ASR. Recently, the spring event has resembled a half-day "micro-conference," incorporating multiple sessions that pertain to the interests of ASR staff.
"Planning the fall event was much harder than spring, even though it took longer to plan the spring event," Tara said. "It takes time to 'gel' together as a group. Once you begin planning the spring event, you've already been working together for quite awhile and have a better understanding of how to plan a successful event."
To plan the ASR staff events, post-event feedback from participants is taken into account. A "lessons learned" document is created from the previous year's Development Team and surveys are sent out to ASR staff for feedback after each event.
"Once we had some things planned, we put out a feeler survey to see if what we had planned was in line with what ASR staff wanted," Kim said. "Utilizing News and Notes and surveys were huge communication tools."
Shelley and Tara said they also utilized News and Notes, but also made general announcements at various meetings, including the ASR-IT all staff meeting, to receive input from staff.
The planning of the events differs with each group. Tara and Shelley's team first met in August, but didn't start planning until October for the fall event. They planned both the fall and spring events at the same time and even had so much content that they planned summer brown bag events. Kim and Paula's team began planning in August, but they created more content for fall and, if it wasn't used, they moved it to spring.
"Each committee is made up of the same areas, but the events are always different because you bring in different people with new ideas and interesting perspectives," said Shelley Parker, co-chair of the 2010-2011 Development Team.
Paula added that not only is it a different staff compilation, but the focus and goals change with each team. "We spent considerable time developing a team charter and goals for the year. This was where we could really put thought into how to align ASR mission, vision, and values with the development demands and requests of staff members."
Both teams found it challenging to balance their everyday workload and the planning of the events. Most team members also have little event planning experience.
Members of the team plan two events, but also inadvertently develop working relationships with new people.
"I had never really worked with anyone on the Development Team before, but I found professional reasons to interact with my fellow team members that I would not have known about previously," Shelley said. "You learn about everyone's unique contributions to ASR and how you can utilize their skills in the future."
All four former co-chairs said they would join the Development Team again. "It was a chance for me to branch out and show my leadership skills," Tara said. "It got me involved and helped me to learn what other people do in ASR."
Though there are co-chairs on each team, Shelley, Tara, Kim, and Paula stress the importance of the team as a whole. "We were co-chairs, but we put a tremendous amount of effort to make sure everyone was heard on the team," Shelley said. "The entire team and their unique contributions are incredibly important to the success of these events."
Do you want to join the next Development Team? To become a member of the Development Team, speak with your supervisor and submit a Professional Development Request. A representative from each department and one director is selected. If you have specific questions about what it's like being involved with the team, feel free to speak with a co-chair or member from a previous year, or Ingrid Nuttall.
"Being on the Development Team gives everyone an opportunity to have a true professional development experience," Shelley said.
2011-2012 Development Team:
Melissa DeWees, The Cluster
Kim Doberstein, ASR-IT, Web Team
Nastassia Leigh, One Stop Student Services
Sue Johnson, OTR, Academic Records
Ruth Newman, OSF, Fiscal
Ingrid Nuttall, ASR, Continuity and Compliance
Paula Seeger, OCM, Classroom Support
Julie Selander, One Stop Student Services (representing ASR directors)
Or how about the word "less?" We often confuse it with "fewer." Here's the trick: "less" refers to a quantity that can't be counted; "fewer" refers to numbers. Saying there were less vegetables available at the Farmer's Market is not correct. You can count vegetables. Instead, you would say there were fewer vegetables available.
Kind of interesting, huh? To read about some more words that we commonly misuse, check out this fun article. (Note: Princess Bride fans will especially love it.) Thanks to OCM's Paula Seeger for suggesting this topic.]]>
Dear ASR Staff:
If you haven't already done so, please take five minutes and complete the 2011-12 ASR Employee Survey #4. As always, the survey is anonymous, and your thoughtful feedback is requested. Please help ASR by completing the survey by Friday, June 8.
Thank you for all you do.
Hello ASR staff,
Many of you have requested more regular updates about ASR projects and accomplishments, in addition to the information you receive in News & Notes. In response to your feedback, this note is the first monthly wrap-up of news and highlights from ASR's units. (You can expect to receive a similar email at the end of each month.) I know I will miss some things, but I hope you will let me know what they are so I can include them next time, even if they are a bit late.
Organizational changes
As you know, many organizational changes have already taken place in ASR or are underway. I sent an email on May 11 regarding these changes which you can read on the News & Notes blog. Work on the new student services center in Williamson is underway; you can expect ongoing updates as this initiative moves forward.
New scheduling software
We are in the process of selecting a vendor to replace our current centralized scheduling software (i.e., R25). Vendors were invited to demo their product last week. We hope to have a vendor selected this July. Our target implementation date is fall 2013.
Financial aid efficiencies
OSF implemented a change to eliminate duplicate data entry into the NCAA's Compliance Assistant system. OSF staff are hard at work on summer financial aid processes.
One Stop mobile
ASR-IT, One Stop, and communications staff are working on creating a mobile version for the One Stop website. They have surveyed University students to gain a better understanding of mobile One Stop needs and are continuing to refine the interface.
Presenting accomplishments
Every spring, I present a list of some of ASR's accomplishments to Bob McMaster, dean of undergraduate education. While I keep him apprised of our good work throughout the year, I provide Bob a more formal round-up of some of the highlights. We post these accomplishments on our website.
IntraSee Portal workshops
Last week, many ASR staff joined other University staff for a series of presentations by IntraSee, a company that takes out-of-the-box PeopleSoft portal and modifies it to meet the needs of a particular organization. These workshops are the beginning of a much larger and longer journey toward a re-implementation of the portal, an effort that is being led by One Stop's Julie Selander.
Performance appraisals
As many of you know, ASR supervisors have been hard at work completing performance evaluations for all staff. Supervisors submit appraisals to their unit director who read them and then send to me. I also read all staff performance appraisals to look for consistency across teams and units, as well as to ensure all staff receive a timely evaluation. It also helps me stay in touch with where all ASR staff are at in their professional development.
One final note: we will have our annual spring cleaning day on June 7. Recycling and shredding bins will be available. Mark your calendars for the afternoon to take care of your space.
These are just a few of the things that happened this month. If I've missed something you think others should know, send it my way so it can be included in either a monthly update or the next issue of News & Notes. We all work on a variety of tasks and each are critical to fulfilling our mission. I hope this monthly note will be an effective way for you to know what's going on.
As you know, our job responsibilities don't end when spring semester does-- I still have people ask me if I get my summers off because I work in education! We all know that summers can be some of our busiest times. As we begin another one, I hope you also take some time to enjoy the sunshine.
For two short but productive years, a caramel-roll-loving, bow-tie-aficionado financial manager was the Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations at the University. The late Gus Donhowe, born Gordon Melburn Donhowe, served in both the private and public sector, but he preferred to use his skills for the greater good of the public.
Donhowe received his bachelor of arts in history from St. Olaf college in Northfield, Minnesota in 1951. Afterward, he attended the University and received his master's in economics. Aside from academics, Donhowe also spent two years in the Army (1953-55) as a corporal.
After his military service, he joined Pillsbury Company for 27 years, ending his tenure as the Vice President of Finance. Under former Governor Rudy Perpich, Donhowe became the Minnesota State Commissioner of Finance from 1983-85. In 1985, he became Chief Executive Officer of the Fairview Hospital system.
During President Nils Hasselmo's tenure as president, Donhowe was named senior VP in January 1989 for a temporary one-year appointment. This caused some campus controversy, because he was not one of the finalists recommended for the position by a University search committee. In fact, he was a member of the search committee itself, charged with finding a candidate for the position for which he was hired. Some thought President Hasselmo's decision was politically charged, because Perpich (Donhowe's friend and adviser) threatened to withhold funding until the University addressed financial management problems.
In reply to this, President Hasselmo was quoted in the Minnesota Daily on February 8, 1989 saying, "It became clear to me that this assignment requires a person who comes down sprinting--not just running."
After a national search, Donhowe was named the senior VP in May of 1990. By all accounts, Donhowe was a humble, intelligent, efficient businessman, and one that people respected and liked. A Minnesota Monthly article from April 1989 said, "Donhowe dismisses much of the praise he's gotten, saying he will not be able to simply 'wave a wand' and make the University's fiscal credibility problems disappear."
After only two years as senior VP, Donhowe passed away in January of 1991 from a brain aneurysm while skiing with his family in Wisconsin. A Daily article from January 23, 1991 said, "'The University of Minnesota has lost a tough leader and a devoted friend,' President Hasselmo said. 'Donhowe was key in the U's restructuring and reallocation efforts,' Hasselmo said, 'and the best way to honor him is to 'get on with the unfinished agenda he has left us.'"
In his two year tenure, Donhowe accomplished the following:
- Played a large part in helping the University redirect its resources as part of an overall restructuring of programs
- Guided the revamping of the University's budgeting processes
- Begun an investigation into alternative sources of steam to heat and cool University buildings
- Appointed a task force to examine University health insurance
- Led implementation of a computerized financial system
- Helped lead work toward a renovation and construction of new athletic facilities at the University (new arena and improve Williams Arena without relying on state money)
- Led the most successful charity donation program in the University's history in 1990
A "Bow Tie Club" was formed by those who reported directly to Donhowe. Assistant Vice President Neil Bakkenist presented bow ties to President Hasselmo and Regent Chuck Casey in honor of Donhowe. Also in memory of Donhowe, his love of bowties and caramel rolls was commemorated at the University when the "Bowtie Bakery" was named after him in October 1991.
Before Donhowe ever came to the University, though, he had ties to it. He met his wife Ruth at the University's Northrop Auditorium. The two of them both enjoyed living near the St. Paul campus in St. Anthony Park, of which Donhowe was a resident for more than 30 years. In his honor, there is an annual Gus Donhowe Memorial Concert held in St. Anthony Park.
At the time of his death, Donhowe had two daughters, Margit Shippee and Lis Christenson, a son Michael, and one grandson.]]>
Good afternoon,
I am writing to inform you of some significant organizational changes within ASR. During the past year, the ASR directors and I have analyzed how we can improve our services, work more efficiently, and prepare for future changes. We have also engaged many of you in this process.These upcoming changes are related to projects that are large scale and ongoing, such as the PeopleSoft upgrade, Business Intelligence (i.e., reporting), and the graduate education transformation. Also, a move of many of our offices to Donhowe will happen at some point in the future. Rather than wait for that time to restructure, we believe it is best to prepare now to ensure that we can continue to seamlessly serve the University community.
Location of graduate education staff
As you know, three staff members from the Graduate Student Services and Progress (GSSP) and one staff member from Graduate School Data Management (GSDM) will join ASR in July. The GSSP staff (Amber Cellotti, Renae Faunce, and Stacia Madsen) will be located in 160 Williamson Hall; this move will take place some time before fall 2012.
New student services center in Williamson Hall
Before the conclusion of 2012, a new student services center will be located in Williamson Hall. This location will include services and staff from One Stop, Third Party Billing (Shelia Rhody, Dawn Demaske, and Doreen Knutson), and graduate education student services. This new service will require space modifications in Williamson, and the most significant of which will be the reconfiguration of the current reception area into a One Stop counter. Ultimately, this change will mean that staff in Williamson will need to greet guests and meeting attendees. There will also be space changes to accommodate student contact and staff workstations. This new center is a pilot to gauge its effectiveness before a similar center would open as part of a future move to Donhowe.
Classroom Management updates
The closing of the reception area in Williamson will mean that Kurt Neiswanger, Office of Classroom Management (OCM), will no longer serve as the receptionist and will have different workspace in Williamson. Kurt will continue to work in OCM's scheduling unit as an event scheduler; he will take on some additional duties as well. Adam Howard recently joined the facilities operations unit, increasing OCM's role in the field (i.e., direct contact with customers) in order to provide better service. The Classroom Hotline has also reduced its staff by one position but will continue to provide the full range of current services to the Twin Cities campus community.
Staff changes in One Stop, the Office of the Registrar, and ASR-IT
Dan Delaney has accepted the position of Operations Analyst in the Office of the Registrar's (OTR's) academic records unit. Dan will report to Emily Holt and serve as a student academic records expert to support staff within OTR, collegiate units, and the coordinate campuses. Part of Dan's role will be to provide quality assurance of student records data and project support. Heather Peterson will serve as the Interim One Stop Manager for the Saint Paul One Stop location, in addition to her management duties at the West Bank location. As noted in an email you received last week, there have been several organizational changes in ASR-IT. In case you missed it, you can read the original email on the News & Notes blog. A new development since that email is that Travis Trautman has been appointed as the lead business analyst for student records.
We realize that some of these changes have staffing implications. The upcoming PeopleSoft upgrade will likely have an impact on our staffing as well; as current staff transition to that project full-time, we will need to continue to keep up with daily tasks with temporary assistance. It is our plan to fill positions as either new staffing lines, consultants or, in the case of the upgrade, as temporary backfill for positions.
I know change is challenging and even concerning. I hope this message has provided you with a clearer picture of a broad range of developments in ASR. If you have any questions about any part of this message, please contact your director or me directly.
Thank you for all your good work.
Here are some examples: a four-year-old ate the cookie; the blue-eyed girl smiled; a full-time student at the university. You can also reference this helpful hyphenation guide from the Chicago Manual of Style. Or, you can always jump on YouTube and check out this Schoolhouse Rock video.]]>
These are just a few of the 34 themes that describe you and your coworkers according to StrengthsQuest, a personalized inventory and assessment tool that's all over campus these days. ASR was among the early adopters of StrengthsQuest at the U. Many of us have completed the online assessment to learn more about our talents and how to think strategically about our careers. Bottom line: It's totally rad and highly recommended.
If you've joined ASR since our last StrengthsQuest free-for-all, or if you missed out last time around, we're looking directly at you: RSVP below to get your free code!
Do it for the insight
You should take the StrengthsQuest assessment because it will help you use your strengths in your daily work. You'll identify action items to further develop your innate talents. And, you'll learn how your team can use their mix of signature skills to work in concert together. Aaaand, you have to do something related to your Individual Development Plan in June, anyway, right? Use StrengthsQuest to jumpstart your IDP!
Then join us for treats and follow up!
To help you get the most out of your StrengthsQuest assessment, ASR will host sessions to interpret your results and follow up with development plans. Sessions are planned for late June/early July. These fun and interactive sessions will be facilitated by an OHR representative who knows the scoop on ASR, IDP and StrengthsQuest.
There will be refreshments at the sessions. For those who are game enough to share their 5 signature strengths, there will even be a super special SWAG gift!
Who's springing for all this?
ASR staff like to give back. Remember last year when we won the Professional & Academic Senate's Outstanding Unit Award? Well, the honor came with a small cash prize (enough to cover half the cost of codes and the gift goodies). The P&A folks in ASR can think of no better way to spend an award recognizing our collective awesomeness than to promote additional staff awesomeness. This opportunity is open to all ASR employees, regardless of job classification. So get in on this and help us celebrate personal and professional development!
RSVP by May 29
If you have been won over by our undeniable Woo strength, please RSVP online by May 29. We'll follow up accordingly to send you an access code, help you retrieve the results on an earlier StrengthsQuest assessment, or add a meeting to your calendar for the session of your choice. The RSVP form is also the place to share your top 5 themes in order to get your SWAG gift.
TCOB on behalf of your ASR P&A pals,
Dianne Danov, Dan Delaney, Sue Johnson, Jody Seiler-Peterson, Bob Quinney, Nate Thompson, and Travis Trautman.
Departmental master's cellist Christa Saeger enraptures her audience.
By the way, the senator loved the "Like Like a Student" financial literacy campaign. Two high-powered Washington insiders down, 98 to go. 99 if you count the vice president, since he's the president of the senate.
Senator Klobuchar with students
The team's aim is to simplify and facilitate critical academic and business processes. "One project we're working on is streamlining the degree clearance process for graduate and professional programs by using the PeopleSoft degree clearance pages," said Emily Holt, business analyst. "This will eliminate the need for paper clearances to be routed from the program to OTR and will expedite posting of a student's degree."
The unit recently launched a new electronic transcript ordering and delivery system, Avow. The system, which went live February 8, 2012, allows students to order transcripts more quickly and provides an official electronic copy as a certified PDF. "The system is available for all students, former or current, from all University of Minnesota campuses," Emily said. "It does not require an Internet ID and password to create an order, and it has allowed the University to centralize transcript orders from all campuses to the Twin Cities."
In the coming months, the unit will tackle ways to streamline the Change of College process for students. Since the current application is on paper, the goal is to automate it. This will benefit both students and staff.
The department is also part of the ongoing university-wide Graduate School restructuring initiative, as well as a redesign project related to the setup of courses and classes in PeopleSoft. "The outcome is to improve the quality of data to ensure that end users have clear definitions and intuitive codes when adding information in ECAS and ECS," Emily said.
The office also works closely with the National Student Clearinghouse to verify degree awards. Because many prospective employers now verify a student's educational information, it is critical that the office provide accurate and timely information to the Clearinghouse.
The office has been involved in verifying records of students that are sometimes less than honest. "The weirdest situation was when we were asked to verify a transcript that a prospective employee had provided as proof of earning a bachelor's degree in nursing," Emily said. "Every single course subject on the transcript was nursing, but the best part was the master's and PhD courses they included."
Though the workload can be demanding, the team takes time to relax and have fun, too. "The environment is really a community atmosphere; we're like a family," said Director of Academic Records Frank Blalark. "We meet for breakfast once a term and have potlucks."
Pam Dutchin, executive operations/student services specialist, said people struggle to grasp the scope of work that the team performs. "People would be surprised to know what we actually do, and the amount of what we do," she said.
And there's no room for error. "The biggest challenge for the office is the pressure of accuracy, because we're responsible for the student's record," Emily said.
But, Emily, who has been at the University for nearly 27 years, said the unique interactions she has daily with students, faculty, and staff make the job worthwhile. "I enjoy being part of the University community and working with a wide variety of people," she said. "It's more than just the paycheck and benefits."
Academic Records Staff:
Frank Blalark, Director of Academic Records
Robert Bode, Business Process Analyst
Emily Holt, Business Analyst
Sue Johnson, Functional Analyst
Heather McLaughlin, Business Process Analyst
Brenda Stutelberg, Info Tech Specialist
Colleen Brooks, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Pam Dutchin, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Kathleen Georges, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Bill Jabas, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Robbie Levine, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Deborah Pommer, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Barbara Yungers, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Sarah Johnson, Student Support Services Asst
Janet Powell, Student Support Services Asst
Grant Clavelle, ASR IT Director is pleased to announce a number of ASR-IT organizational changes which will be effective immediately.
Carolee Cohen will become an Interim Associate Director, still reporting to Grant. She will assist Grant in his director duties as well as manage the OSF group of business analysts. Richard Toetschinger will report to Carolee. The intent would be to permanently fill the position of Associate Director in the future.
In the near future Carolee will name a Lead Business Analyst from among the current SF analysts to assist her with SF work direction.
WIlliam Dana will become the ASR Project Director for the PeopleSoft 9.0 upgrade. As we continue to ramp up for the upgrade William will begin to reassign his day-to-day duties with the intent of being on the project 100% when we begin in earnest sometime this summer. As people are moved to the project they will report to William for their project duties.
In the near future Grant will name another Lead Business Analyst from among the current SR analysts to assist with work direction.
Kristeen Anderson will become the Lead for ASR Business Intelligence (BI) initiative and will divide her time between the BI project and the Grad Ed project. Kristeen will now report to Sue Van Voorhis.
Santiago Fernandez-Gimenez will formally move to the Project and Work Management Facilitation group as a Lead. This is a formalization of the work that Santiago has been doing for the past number of years with a particular emphasis in the past year. Santiago will report to Grant.
Christa Nicols will continue to have duties in the Imaging Unit, as well as administrative support. She will also have duties in the Project and Work Management Facilitation group, receiving work direction from Santiago.
If you have any questions relating to these changes, please feel free to contact Grant.]]>
The ASR Manager's Meeting is meant to keep each director from the six units and Sue Van Voorhis, director of ASR and University registrar, informed of what is happening in ASR. They meet for two hours every week, except for the last week of the quarter when they meet for four hours to strategize a plan of action on upcoming projects or talk more in-depth about the strategic direction of ASR.
When examining current and upcoming projects, the Directors keep in mind ASR's mission of making a positive difference in students' lives.
"This helps focus resources on those initiatives or changes that have the greatest impact on our students," said Tina Falkner, director of Continuity and Compliance. "For example, the changes in the Graduate School have afforded us the opportunity to focus more energy on articulating how proposed projects and process changes have an impact on graduate and professional students."
Much of the discussion in their meetings revolves around shared projects that affect multiple, if not all, units in ASR. The projects may be mandated, recurring, or simply a way to make a process more efficient and up-to-date.
"A lot of projects are given to us and we find solutions, like the PeopleSoft 9.0 upgrade or the Graduate School Transition," said Kris Wright, director of the Office of Student Finance (OSF).
Grant Clavelle, director of ASR's information technology unit, (ASR-IT) also cites the information technology job family study and policy effectiveness discussions as mandated projects.
Some projects are recurring. For example, each quarter the directors review and prioritize the pending technology projects that require central resources from the Office of Information Technology (OIT).
Each director has a long list of projects he or she would like completed for their unit. Oftentimes, they have more than 70 projects in the hopper. To determine which one to start on, the directors focus on the potential impact each project has on students, staff, and faculty.
"We look at how to help students and make our processes more efficient for all that are affected," Julie Selander said, interim director of One Stop Student Services.
One of the primary challenges the directors face in collaborating on current projects is fairly universal throughout ASR: limited resources, especially staffing and time. Because there are so many projects, prioritization becomes a critical aspect of these meetings.
The projects that have the greatest impact across ASR and provide the greatest benefit to students get the most attention. Solutions to the projects are reached through constructive conversation. As the leader of ASR, Sue is in the tough position to make the final decision if there is no consensus, though an agreement is almost always reached.
"We almost always come to an agreement by using ASR's mission, vision, and values to guide our decision making," said Sue. "These were created in collaboration with staff. We think about how to best benefit students, faculty, and staff."
In addition to using the mission, vision, and values, employee surveys are done frequently to get more direct feedback and ensure staff input on future ASR directions.
"We're not just sitting in a room making these decisions. We want staff's input," said Jeremy Todd, director of the Office of Classroom Management.
Fun facts about the ASR Directors
Sue Van Voorhis, ASR
As a higher education professional who has spent 25 years in the sector, Sue possesses leadership skills utilized in various practices: as a processor, an information technology practitioner, and a university director.
Sue's leadership skills have been prominent since the first grade. She ran for class president and was elected on the platform that on Friday afternoons, students should be allowed to sit wherever they want in class. Sue's leadership skills may also stem from some political genetics; her mother was a state senator, her third cousin, David Durenberger, is a former U.S. Senator from Minnesota, and her cousin, Collin Peterson, is the U.S. Representative for Minnesota's 7th congressional district. Sue enjoys a challenge and always wants people to feel gratified in their work.
Jeremy Todd, Office of Classroom Management (OCM)
Jeremy received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University. He joined ASR in 2002, coming from an engineering position in Facilities Management (FM). He believes we have made great strides as an institution and firmly believes in our mission to make a positive difference in students' lives.
Jeremy's favorite experience working at the University happened in 2007 when the pilot Active Learning Classrooms (ALC) were installed. He visited the Keller Hall ALC during a two-hour break between scheduled courses. Expecting the room to be empty, Jeremy was surprised to find the room near capacity with groups of students collaborating together while using the technology and room features.
A fun fact about Jeremy: he doesn't drink coffee, but has a slight addiction to Coca-Cola.
Kris Wright, OSF
Kris is an experienced operations manager and project manager with more than 25 years of experience managing and improving automated and manual accounting processes and financial systems. Previously, she worked for the United States Postal Service in accounting and operations. Kris joined ASR in 2001 as an Associate Director in OSF. She became the Director in 2002.
She has two dogs: an 8-year-old golden retriever, Sparky, and a 2-year-old chocolate lab, Moose. She enjoys a broad range of books from science fiction to musical instruments. She is also an avid gardener and was a master gardener for five years. Kris has been to every continent except Antarctica, but hopes to go there one day.
Grant Clavelle, ASR-OIT
Grant has been the director of ASR-OIT since 2006. Previously, Grant worked in FM, assisting with selecting, implementing, and supporting their major business system, COMPASS. Grant has always worked in the computer industry since his first job out of school selling computers.
Grant was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He moved to the U.S. in 1984 and became a U.S. citizen in 1999. He is a dual American/Canadian citizen. He enjoys sports, walking, reading, vegetable gardening, and traveling. He currently lives in Champlin with his wife as an empty nester. He has two sons, one working in Phoenix and the other attending school at St. John's University.
Julie Selander, One Stop Student Services
Julie received her bachelor's and master's degree from the University. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the higher education policy and administration program. She passed her preliminary oral exam last year and now needs to research/write her dissertation.
Julie has worked at the University for 12 years and has been the interim director for One Stop Student Services since May 2011. Previously, she was the Senior Associate Director for One Stop and the Associate Director for Student Accounts Receivable. Julie has also been an adjunct faculty member in the College of Education and Human Development for two years where she teaches customer service training for business and marketing education students.
Other than work, Julie and her husband, Steven, have two kids: Spencer, 10, and Emma, 8. Julie enjoys scrapbooking, playing tennis, and traveling.
Tina Falkner, Continuity and Compliance
Tina has her bachelor's degree from Northwestern University. She received her master's and Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Administration from the University. Tina and her husband live in a house built in 1906 and, as an avid "do-it-yourselfer," there is no end to her house projects. When not working inside the house, she works in her gardens or plays golf. Her earliest memory of television is the Muppet Show, which she is still known to watch on occasion.
Frank Blalark, Office of the Registrar (OTR)
Frank grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada and was active in football, track, and wrestling. His dad was an all-American wrestler. With a football scholarship, he attended college in South Dakota and obtained a degree in history and education. Frank is also a doctoral student in the educational policy and administration program in the College of Education and Human Development.
If you've ever requested audio visual and classroom technology services, chances are one of the 19 employees in CTS has helped you. Shortly after the Office of Classroom Management (OCM) was formed in 2000, CTS (formerly called Media Resources Engineering) made the move to Academic Support Resources.
Though other universities and colleges have similar departments, CTS has one of the largest in the United States. Their work has been highlighted in various national magazines, including AVTechnology in 2008 and Architecture Minnesota in 2011.
CTS provides classroom technology for departments and colleges on the Twin Cities and coordinate campuses. They also install, design, and program presentation technology and produce digital signage for all campuses. The CTS Event Services unit also provides technician support and rents equipment for events on the Twin Cities campus and surrounding areas.
CTS is a unique unit amongst ASR units because it functions as an Internal Service Organization (ISO) that charges fees for its services and receives no funding from the University. As a result, all their costs must be covered by revenue produced through the technical services they provide.
"It's a challenge maintaining the budget and keeping up with current technology," said Larry Gilbertson, production manager. "We feel intense pressure to generate sales. If there are no sales, it leads to layoffs."
As a result of its ISO status, Engineering Manager Ray Troyer says the close-knit staff are very interdependent on each other as their workload continues to expand. "We have maintained the same amount of staff we had when we were doing half of our current workload," Ray said.
There is no other organization on campus that provides similar services as CTS, but there is competition with external vendors. "We have a leg-up on external vendors because we can respond faster since we're on campus already," Larry said. "Customer service is critical for our survival."
CTS works with individual customer departments and University project managers on a regular basis to implement presentation technology, spreading into all locations on campus from large lecture halls to small conference rooms and even the Regents Boardroom. Providing faculty and staff with a reliable system that is easy to use and maintain is paramount to CTS success.
CTS provides technology to all OCM classrooms, as well as other instructional spaces, video conference, and meeting rooms, totaling around 750 spaces. OCM is the biggest client as well as their parent department.
"I'm proud of the fact that what we do enhances learning for students," Ray said.
Once the equipment is provided to the client, CTS also offers preventative maintenance on the system. OCM monitors the condition of classroom technology using the Classroom Automated Monitoring System (CAMS). These connect to a monitoring station in 160 Williamson Hall that are viewed throughout the day in case an error occurs with any system. This monitoring system also prevents theft of equipment. In 2011, most of the general purpose classrooms were monitored by CAMS.
Classroom Technical Services Staff:
Larry Gilbertson, production manager
Ray Troyer, engineering manager
Wanda Marsolek, audiovisual operations manager
Zak Manuszak, business manager
Mike Leech, senior engineer
Charles Bottemiller, senior engineer
Jim Fisk, engineer
Jason Knutson, associate engineer
David Silvernale, inventory control specialist
Joel Westacott, events technician
Darren Tolson, presentation technology installer
Chris Bray, presentation technology installer
David Swanson, presentation technology installer
Diego Garcia, presentation technology installer
Jade Woltman, IT support tech
Eric Topping, technical services representative
June Ursel, accountant
Regan Mock-Nelson, purchasing agent
Rita Rocheford, delivery service driver
Interview questions:
Tell me more about some of your more memorable installations or clients.
Some of the larger projects that we have done include:
Audiovisual systems in Science Teaching & Student Services
- General purpose classrooms in Hanson Hall
- General purpose classroom renovations in Carlson School of Management
- Audiovisual systems in the Nicholson Hall renovation
- The additions to the McNamara Alumni Center (including remodeling some of the original spaces)
- The ITV systems installed in the old Sostanza area of Moos Tower for Academic Health Center
- The Dentistry Simulation Lab on the 4th floor of Moos Tower
How do you enhance the learning environment for students?
The simplest answer is to make the systems easy to use. In general, if you know how to operate any given classroom, you can easily learn to operate them all. This lessens the burden on the instructor. System reliability (in the design and in the method of installation) and the way the classrooms are monitored (which helps reduce downtime), mean the systems are ready for use.
Getting the lay of the land in STSS
The Workflow Consortium (in which ASR plays a key role) will serve as an active user group and the business owner for the product.]]>
News & Notes received a personal tour of the new space, conducted by OSF's very own Deb Wilkin. Deb is responsible for the pictures you are about to enjoy.
Ruanne Pearson, Deb Wilkin, and The Stooges solve a particularly pesky problem.
Deb wanted to make sure the new color copier got its due recognition.
Todd Bierbrauer basks in his sunny new digs.
Jim Parker and Brian Olson follow Deb's direction and have a fake conversation.
Christopher Peterson "shames" Richard Toetschinger into posing for the camera.