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Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Twin Cities updates (November 2015)

ASR-IT

Student Financials Updates

  • 1098-T: SF IT staff and Student Accounts Assistance in OSF are working on data preparation steps and testing the PeopleSoft bundle changes will occur in November and December. System campus finance staff will be reviewing setup in December for accuracy.
  • Spring 2016 tuition setup: This is in progress and expected to be completed by requested dates for each campus. Departments/colleges were reminded that updates to fees for spring should be made in TFMS so they are included in the initial calculations.
  • SF system fixes:  A fix for the bill “Remit To” address will move to production on November 22. An update to the MyU: My Finances tab payment plan link is in testing now. 


Destiny One Registration System (DORS) update  
This system is intended to assist students in registering for professional and personal development courses, certificates, and conferences. The rollout and adoption of DORS continues at a very fast pace, which is exciting. There are potential new users contacting us each week. Duluth CE is testing now and we had a call with Crookston on November 16 to formally introduce them to the system.

We want to remind colleges/units who have non-credit registration needs that there are choices available when selecting a system. The Events Calendar, Tickets and DORS Matrix is a resource the ASR Destiny Team collaborated on to allow potential users a quick glance at the functionality provided by each tool. If you are interested to see the offerings that are currently live and open for enrollment, please visit learning.umn.edu.

Carolee Cohen recognized with IT@UMN Outstanding Service Award
Ten University IT staff received an IT@UMN Outstanding Service Award for their contributions to the mission of IT@UMN. The biannual award recognizes those demonstrating high performance in the areas of creativity, organizational abilities, work success and teamwork. Among this year's recipients was Academic Support Resources' Carolee Cohen. Congratulations, Carolee!

Student Records IT

  • Danita Jorgensen hired as Senior/Lead Business Analyst 4
  • Aileen Lively has returned as is working part time (16 hours a week) on special assignments

One Stop Student Services

Class Time Conflict Form & Regents Scholarship Workflow Gen Project
The current Class Time Conflict form is being reinvented. Academic Support Resources staff are simplifying the approval process for students, staff, and faculty by converting this paper process to an online workflow. The WorkflowGen process is being developed with input from students, staff, and faculty. This form was selected for an electronic workflow based on the volume received in One Stop. The next WorkflowGen project is for the Regents Scholarship form/process which will have a kick-off meeting in the next week.

GSSP move to One Stop completed
Graduate Student Services and Progress (GSSP) at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities has completed the transition into One Stop Student Services at the Bruininks Hall location. While the staff, phone numbers, and emails have not changed, the physical location has changed from Williamson Hall to Bruininks Hall. During the transition time, there was minimal service disruption to students and other constituencies. At this point, service has been fully integrated into the One Stop model in Bruininks Hall and has been met with positive feedback from current graduate and professional students.

New staff in One Stop
One Stop Student Services is excited to welcome four new One Stop Counselors to the
team! The start date for these counselors is Monday, November 30. With experiences
ranging from financial wellness work to residence life to sales, we are confident that they
will be great additions to the team. Here is a bit more information on them:

  • Ian Macomber: graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with a BA in Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature. Ian currently works for a private housing/leasing agency and has worked as a student worker in One Stop.
  • Johanna Lowrey: graduated from the University of Minnesota-Morris with a BA in Psychology and Liberal Arts. Johanna currently works at 3M in Product Sales.
  • Laura Weisner: graduated from The Ohio State University with a BA in Psychology and Communication and from Ball State University with a MA in Student Affairs Administration in Higher Education. Laura currently works at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in Residence Life.
  • Karen Magness-Pokornowski: graduated from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse with a BS in Psychology and an MA in Higher Education Administration. Karen currently works at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst but previously worked at St. Kate's in financial wellness.


Rochester updates (November 2015)

Scholarship & Donor Banquet
On October 29, our annual scholarship banquet was held to honor more than 50 current UMR students have been awarded scholarships from 23 generous donors. Student accomplishments were recognized and gratitude expressed to the generous scholarship donors who assist in funding the education of some of our outstanding students. The night included presentations from three UMR students who shared their personal stories and why they chose UMR.

Month of Giving Campaign
UMR’s students and staff participated in a “Month of Giving” during October. Activities included donating nonperishable food items to Channel One, collecting change and donations for the Women's Shelter, a Make a Difference community service day.

Gail Sauter honored with Lamp of Knowledge Award
Gail Sauter, Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations, has spent a lifetime working in higher education in Rochester. Gail was recently presented with the Lamp of Knowledge Award at the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Membership Celebration. The award is given to an individual, business, or organization associated with the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce that actively supports higher education partnerships in Southeastern Minnesota. Recipients show a commitment to fostering higher education opportunities.

Comings and goings

  • BS Health Professions Transfer Success Coach position: UMR is currently seeking a BSHP Transfer Success Coach. This position will provide leadership in coordinating and executing the recruitment, application, and matriculation plan for BSHP transfer students to UMR. Please refer to the employment website for additional information.
  • Janet Crittenden retired from the University of Minnesota November 2 upon the completion of her contract with the Rochester campus. Janet was critical in establishing much of Rochester’s student business practices for registrar functions, One Stop, and student finance.


Morris updates (November 2015)

Chancellor search committee convenes
The first week in November, Peh Ng, Chancellor Search Committee Chair, Ann Yates, Search Consultant, and Jon Steadland, Office of the President, held listening sessions for the Morris campus and community to solicit feedback on essential characteristics for the next chancellor.

One Stop and Financial Aid news
On November 5, Morris served as one of the host sites around the state for the annual Statewide Financial Aid Conference. One Stop Student Services presented the material to a number of area school counselors and community organizations.

Annual Scholarly Accomplishments Event
The campus gathered on November 10 for the annual Celebration of Scholarly Accomplishments that showcases faculty, staff, and retirees’ research and artistic activities from the past year.

Office of the Registrar 
Morris spring registration began on November 16. Student advising sessions are underway.

Duluth updates (November 2015)

Updates/projects
Recently completed the conversion of student loan accounts from Campus Partners to Heartland ECSI. ECSI’s system went live for borrowers on Monday, November 16.

Comings and goings
Financial Collections has officially filled the loan collector position by promoting Nichole Gryskiewicz effective November 2. A search has started to fill the Principal Accounts Specialist position vacated by Nichole.

Crookston updates (November 2015)

Higher Learning Commission visits Crookston
The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) was on campus November 9-11. Meetings with the various constituents on campus went very well, largely due to the advance preparation by staff.

Regents visit Crookston
Four members of the Board of Regents visited campus in late October, where they attended multiple open forums with faculty, staff, and students and toured the campus.

New spaces
The Admissions Department vacated their shared office space in mid-September leaving the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships a plethora of space.
The new $15 million Wellness Center is currently under construction and scheduled to open summer 2016.

Comings and goings
An analysis of the Admissions Department is being conducted by our interim Admissions Director, Bill Cleaveland, U of MN Twin Cities. This review will assist in creating a new job description for the Admissions Director, which should be posted early next year.

Barb Phaiah has been hired for a full-time position in OTR as Principle Office & Administrative Specialist, starting November 9. For the last two years, Barb has been working in OTR at a 75% appointment as a Office Support Assistant.

OTR is in the process this week of interviewing several candidates to fill another Principle Office & Administrative Specialist position related to the review of transcripts being shifted to OTR.

University-wide updates (November 2015)

System One Stop Website Project
The System One Stop Website Steering Committee and Content Strategy Subcommittee has been working hard to collect and analyze data and feedback regarding all the campus needs for the new site as phase one to create the content strategy nears the end. Additional information can be viewed in the October project status update.

Student veterans celebrated
Student veterans were celebrated this month on several campuses. Take a look at the events held across our campuses in expression of appreciation.

At Crookston the Jazz Band celebrated veterans during November 13 and November 14  concert performances at the local VFW, featuring music from the 1920's, 30's and 40's.  The concerts included several patriotic numbers, honoring veterans and their service to our country.

On Veterans Day, Wednesday, November 11, UMD  hosted a  free open house in appreciation of its veterans, military members, and their families in the Kirby Garden. Glensheen, the historic Congdon estate, offered free standard tours for all veterans of the armed services, active service members, and their accompanied families. Also for the 5th year UMD has been honored with the Military Friendly School designation by Victory Media.

Vice Chancellor Bryan Herrmann represented  Morris in honoring our student veterans at a community wide celebration held at the Morris Area High School on November 11. This is the fifth year Morris has been honored with the Military Friendly School designation by Victory Media.

Twin Cities hosted the 9th annual Student Veterans Appreciation Day  on November 17. The event was held to honor University of Minnesota student veterans' sacrifice and service to our country. The free event included pizza and games provided for all attendees; information fair for veterans with resources from the University and the community; and relaxation resources: PAWS, a masseuse from Boynton, and Reiki courtesy of CSPH. First 200 student veterans received a commemorative coffee mug or water bottle. The public was invited to stop by to leave a written thank-you message to our veterans.

Sue's update (November 2015)

I enjoyed seeing many of you for our system campus meeting earlier and only wish we could get together more frequently. We had a lot of cross functional sessions that were so worthwhile. I truly believe we work very well as a team and focus on the University and its students.

The Budget Office is scheduling meetings with Crookston, Rochester, and Morris during the December Regents’ meeting to discuss the Regents’ process card. Eleanor and I have been invited to attend and she’ll provide you updates from those meetings. I believe they are scheduling a campus visit with Duluth.

We have received some applications for the Office of Student Finance director position. Jeremy Todd will be leading a small search committee to determine if we have viable candidates. If they believe we can move to interviews, all of you will be invited to participate. We will keep you posted.

The Education Advisory Board and Student Success Collaborative Corporation (EAB, SSC) is reaching out to your campuses. As I have mentioned them briefly, we will be evaluating the predictive information this spring to see if it provides the University with information we currently don’t have available to us. I hear they are reaching out to some of your campuses, please do not sign up as we set the Statement of Work up for all campuses and we are providing them with all campuses data. Feel free to give me a call for more information.

As registration has started, we all continue to work with passion and pride for the success of the student experience. Thank you.

Please continue to reach out to me with any questions you may have on any topic.

Eleanor's update (November 2015)

The fall all campus in-person meeting has come and gone. It seems we never have enough time together to do all the things we’d like to do, and the meeting evaluation results support that sentiment. Thank you to those who responded to the evaluation. I’ll be looking at the interesting dynamic between wanting more team time and wanting more cross functional opportunities and seeking to create ways to meet both desires going forward.

Rankings

Little
Some
Great
N/A
Value of whole meeting
 0
 14
 18
 0
Value of the general session
 1
 17
 12
 0
Value of the team session
 0
 6
 22
 0
Value of the reception
 4
 12
 8
 5
Some survey comments:
  • It would be nice to have a "mixer" of sorts. We just sat with our own campus - not as valuable as mixing us up. We need help with being mixed up...
  • I really appreciated the time we had for our small working groups. This was of utmost value!
  • Suggest sharing across the various areas with the whole group, such as top 5 things each group is working on.
  • The ability to meet in person with dedicated "chunks of time" is always helpful and meaningful.
  • More times for open dialogue or meetings among the group. When sharing what each unit is doing, more time for questions and answers.