Duluth updates (January 2019)

Associate vice chancellor for HR
Mark Yuran joined UMD as its first associate vice chancellor for Human Resources. We look forward to collaborating with him. He most recently served as the system associate vice chancellor/CHRO for the Lone Star College System, a public, multi-campus system serving more than 90,000 students.

Registrar hiring BA II
Registrar’s office has been approved to post a full-time business analyst II position to work on curriculum and uAchieve deliverables, College in the Schools support, job support, and reporting.

Baden-Wurttemberg program participation
In fall 2018, Joanna McCord, assistant registrar at UMD, participated in the 2018 Baden-Wurttemberg program, hosted by the University of Konstanz in Germany. This program helps to build international understanding between educational systems to support international education, study abroad exchange programs, and transfer of academic credit between institutions in Germany, the United States, and Canada. The team gathered first-hand knowledge about the academic programs and connected with professionals at the University of Konstanz and Thurgau University of Teacher Education (PHTG) in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, including their collaborative Studying Without Borders program. The program included opportunities to get to know a variety of institutions, including research universities, a university of applied sciences, two universities of education, a university that focused on cooperative education, a Gymnasium (academically-focused high school), and a Chamber of Handicrafts (vocational training center). The team also had the opportunity to participate in a program with the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research, and the Arts.

Duluth updates (November 2018)

MN Collection Network conference
Student Financial Services staff attended the MN Collection Network Mega Conference 10/14-10/17. Topics discussed included 1098-T reporting, data security, and updates to the CFPB (BCFP).

Alumna honored
Alumna Georgia Gates '18 recently received the 2018 Midwest Association of Financial Aid Administrators Success Story of the Year award. Gates, a financial aid recipient, was a University Honors student who graduated in three years with degrees in criminology and sociology. As a student, she also worked in One Stop Student Services helping her peers navigate the financial aid process.

Alumna Georgia Gates with Jody O'Connor of One Stop

Duluth updates (September 2018)

MidHEUG Alliance conference presenter
David Norman, Duluth OTR Business and Information Analyst, will be presenting a pre-workshop session called “Deep Dive into Google Data Studio Visualization” at the MidHEUG conference in October.

Duluth updates (July 2018)

Phase 1 of the first floor of Darland refresh project starts on Monday, July 23. Look for new lighting and a new ceiling in the coming weeks.

Staffing update
Natasha Mykkanen, the Office of the Registrar’s new athletic and academic records coordinator, began June 25. Welcome, Natasha.

Duluth updates (May 2018)

UMD Commencement
Commencement ceremonies were held Saturday, May 5, 2018 at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center, Amsoil Arena. There were two separate ceremonies. CLA and SCSE and then CEHSP, LSBE, and SFA.

Higher Learning Commission
The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) was on campus last month. The visit ends a year of preparation. The review is required of higher education institutions every ten years to certify reaccreditation and eligibility to receive and distribute federal financial aid (among other things). This ten-year review comes after the University has prepared an assurance argument report and a federal compliance packet. The process of collecting institutional information and verifying supporting evidence was conducted during the past two years.

Staff Updates
New One Stop director
UMD welcomes Susan Darge Lombardo to the position of director of One Stop Student Services. Her first day will be June 1. Ms. Lombardo has served as the director of Advising and Academic Services in the College of Education and Human Service Professions at UMD since 2005 and has led and been involved in numerous student success focused initiatives since arriving on campus in 1998.

Duluth updates (March 2018)

Reorganization
Duluth’s One Stop Student Services currently serves as the frontline for the offices of financial aid, registrar, and student financial services, and will be incorporating additional campus resources. New services include new student orientation programs, success coaching, support to unique student populations, and coordination of advising technologies and tools. One Stop will be moving out of Financial Aid and into a stand-alone function and will be supported by a realignment of positions currently housed within other enrollment service areas. A One Stop director position will be posted to the University of Minnesota job site soon.

RFP process for new collection agencies
Student Financial Services (SFS) has started the Request For Proposal (RFP) process to search for collection agencies for both loans and tuition accounts. New agencies and contracts should be in place for July 1, 2018.


Staff Updates
Laura Schnell, the Office of the Registrar’s new athletic and academic records coordinator, began March 19. Welcome, Laura.

Duluth updates (January 2018)

Higher Learning Commission (HLC) recertification
UMD is in the middle of our Higher Learning Commission (HLC) recertification with an April 2018 visit anticipated.

Darland space reconfigured
Next time you visit Duluth you will see changes to the first floor of the Darland Administration building, outside of the registrar, student financial services, and financial aid offices. We are thrilled that a unisex restroom is being added to the first floor to serve our students and guests. Additionally a conference room is replacing a no longer used information desk.

OTR exploration of Google tools
OTR is exploring a couple of new Google applications/G Suite tools. One is called Data Studio and the other is Jamboard. Data Studio has powerful options for managing data and sharing it with our users. Jamboard is a google collaborative “smartboard” that saves your “jam”/work directly to the google drive which can be shared/secured the same way of docs, sheets, etc. We are using it for PS training as well as for collaborative projects.

Staff news
The athletic and academic records coordinator search is in its final stages. An offer will be extended this month.

Duluth updates (November 2017)

Higher Learning Commission (HLC)

University of Minnesota Duluth has begun preparing for its periodic evaluation by its regional accrediting agency. The University will host a visit April 16-17, 2018, with a team representing the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). UMD has been accredited by HLC since 1968. The team will review the institution’s ongoing ability to meet HLC’s Criteria for Accreditation.

Staff News

• David Norman - OTR welcomes David as Business Analyst
• Katie Meisner - Has left her Athletic and Academic Records Coordinator position in OTR

Duluth updates (September 2017)

Student Financial Services (SFS) welcomes Ann Ozan as the third party billing and refunding specialist. Ann comes to SFS from the Athletic Ticketing Office at UMD.

Duluth updates (July 2017)

New Chemistry and Advanced Materials Science building
University of Minnesota system leadership and UMD’s community partners jump started construction of the Chemistry and Advanced Materials Science (CAMS) building with a groundbreaking ceremony last week at its future site, across from the Darland Administration building. Construction began this week and will take almost two years. When completed, CAMS will supplement the classes currently happening in the chemistry building, which was built in 1948 for 300 students. It's now serving more than 5,500 students a year.

Staff updates:
Congratulations go out to Nichole Lofald, on the birth of her baby girl, Asa Leigh, on June 28. Both mom and baby are doing great!

Duluth updates

UMD Commencement
On Saturday, May 6, 2017 a total of 1,861 undergraduates, 189 graduate students, and 8 doctoral students participated in commencement at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC). UMD’s Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Fernando Delgado was the ceremony speaker. For the first time students received Military Honor Cords following this protocol: “If you are graduating and are an honorably discharged US veteran, are currently serving in the US military (active duty, National Guard, or Reserves), or will be commissioned upon graduation, you are authorized to wear a Military Honor Cord.”

On-time grades
UMD faculty did a great job of grading. Even with an increase in the total number of grades due over spring 2016, UMD faculty increased their percentage of final grades in by the due date by 1.6% for undergraduate grades and 2.9% for graduate grades. Over 96% of the 43,546 grades were received on time.

Staffing updates
Congratulations to Donna Triebwasser who retired on May 5th from the Office of the Registrar.

Kelly Johnson has left Student Financial Services office as of Friday, May 5th. A search for her replacement will commence shortly.

Duluth (March 2017 updates)

UMD hosts March BOR
The March Board of Regents meeting is being held March 23-24, 2017. There are a number of events scheduled, but the board meeting will be Friday morning from 8:45 a.m. to noon in the Ballroom, Kirby Student Center, at the Duluth campus.

Cross registration program benefits students
In February, UMD Chancellor Black, University of Wisconsin-Superior (UWS) Chancellor Wachter, and College of St. Scholastica (CSS) President Geary signed a recommitment to the Cross Registration Agreement, which allows students enrolled at one school to take up to two classes at the other two institutions. This program helps students graduate faster and fulfill graduate program prerequisites.

Higher Learning Commission (HLC) preparation underway
In 2017-2018, UMD will have multiple events that support the reaccreditation with Higher Learning Commission. Significant reflection work is underway by all units. 

Strategic Planning
Along with the system-wide system strategic planning effort that is underway with all campuses, UMD is conducting a SWOT analysis and will be refreshing our Strategic Plan, mission, values, and vision in 2017-2018.

TRANSform
UMD is moving our “petition to change expected graduation term” form into the new TRANSform workflow that will be in place by summer 2017.

Duluth (January 2017 updates)

Student Financial Services
Student Financial Services staff have been busy canceling enrollments of students with unpaid fall tuition. The initial list of 79 students has been worked down to the final five. Five students’ spring registration was canceled due to non-payment of their fall 2016 bill, but to date, four of the five students have already paid and been re-enrolled in spring term.

Duluth (November 2016 updates)

Spring Registration
Registration queue opened for spring 2017 on November 7.

Comings and goings 

Welcome Carl Huber he started work October 25th as a Financial Aid Educator for prospective students.

Duluth (September 2016 updates)

News and Updates

Significant discussions

Campus prioritization continues to be a significant area of work for the campus. The faculty analysis is complete and staff analysis is in progress for aligning UMD resources and revenues.

Presentations of UMD campus climate

On Tuesday, September 13, UMD Chancellor Lendley C. Black invited the campus to hear the results of the campus climate survey that students, faculty, and staff participated in last fall. The primary goals of the project were to identify successful initiatives; uncover any challenges facing members of our community; and develop strategic initiatives to build on the successes and address the challenges that impact how community members experience living, learning, and working at UMD. UMD has already scheduled and invited faculty, staff, and students to participate in one of the follow-up Idea Sessions to help build action plans based off of the challenges and opportunities identified in the climate survey.

Fall Enrollment Highlights

Overall, the fall 2016 enrollment is estimated at 10,850 total (undergraduate, graduate, professional, and non-degree students). This is down just a bit from the official 10,878 count of fall 2015.

• New freshman enrollment is up more than 6% from last fall, with 2,130 freshman enrolled for fall 2016.
• Degree-seeking, undergraduate students are up 1.5% (9,076).

Schedule of classes highlights

• 4,187 distinct classes scheduled for fall 2016 (-139 classes from fall 2015).

Transfer credit highlights

• 3,721 transcripts were received by the UMD Registrar for articulation of credit decisions in 2015-2016.
• A total of 7,926 courses were reviewed by faculty for transfer decision, recorded and programed by UMD OTR.
• In 2015-2016, academic credit was received from 25 international institutions, UMD received international academic credit from 19 institutions for fall 2016, of which 15 were new institutions for UMD.
• In 2015-2016 Reverse Transfer:
• Twelve AA degrees were awarded by Lake Superior College out of 61 student who authorized records to be sent (19.7%) which is 7.5% of the total students invited to participate. Summer AA degree results have yet to be received.
• Nine students of the 12 AA degrees awarded have received their UMN bachelor's degree, 3 have reduced the number of liberal education credits required to complete their degree (estimated student savings at the non-banded rate of $5,948), 49 students will continue in the program for fall 2016.

APLUS Live!

As of September 1, Duluth began piloting APLUS with a limited number of staff. These staff will be piloting APLUS throughout the fall semester. About half way through the term feedback will be gathered with the hope that APLUS will then have an expanded roll out to the broader campus community for spring 2017.

Fall registration cancellation due to non-payment results

Duluth originally cancelled 29 students’ fall 16 registration due to non-payment of the prior term (Spring 16 or Summer 16) from an original list of 357 students. Of those 29 students that were cancelled, 21 of them have paid their past due bill, and 20 of them have re-registered for fall 16 courses. Many thanks to Deanna Nordeen in Student Financial Services for all of her hard work!

Comings and goings

• Kathy Peterson from the Office of the Registrar accepted a promotion and is a program manager in the Office of Financial Aid. Congratulations, Kathy.
• Kris Grant has left UMD for a new job. September 19 was her last day. Her position will be posted in the future, but for now, Scott Schweikert will temporarily provide coverage.

Kudos Duluth is one of Sierra’s Top 30 Cool Schools for 2016

The University of Minnesota Duluth has once again been named a "Cool School" on the Sierra Club's List of The Top 100 Green Schools. The list recognizes educational institutions and individuals across the country that demonstrate new and innovative approaches to school sustainability, environmental initiatives, and a commitment to leading the way in energy and environmental design.

Duluth (July 2016 updates)

News and updates
UMD APLUS fall pilot status
Duluth staff have been preparing for the APLUS pilot roll out this fall. APLUS is system that helps those who work with students advise them more effectively by capturing a lot of relevant information in one place. So far much has been accomplished:

• Unit/sub-unit tree and student rosters for each unit have been implemented
• Staff/faculty have been imported and assigned to appropriate unit/roles
• PeopleSoft comment categories group, contact purposes, alerts, warnings, and exceptions have been created and associated with appropriate units

Next, staff from Twin Cities campus will travel to Duluth the last week in July to provide an in-depth training session with a "train the trainers" model. When the Duluth Pilot goes live this fall, all of our campuses will be using APLUS.

Executive Vice Chancellor update
Executive vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, Fernando P. Delgado, had his first day on campus July 5, 2016. Previously, Delgado was the vice chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost at the University of Wisconsin River Falls. His previous experience include Hamline University and Minnesota State University Mankato.

Delgado holds a PhD and master of arts in communication studies from the University of Iowa and a bachelor of arts in political science from San Jose State University. The executive vice chancellor for academic affairs serves as the chief academic officer and oversees areas such as academic departments, IT, enrollment, and research.

Duluth Financial Collections Office name change
Effective July 1, Financial Collections has officially changed its name to Student Financial Services. This was done in an effort to better encompass all of the activity the office does as well as appear more friendly to those that visit the office.

Campus dates of note

• End of summer term is Friday, July 29
• August 23- 27, Welcome Week (required for all new freshmen)
• Fall semester classes begin Monday, August 29

Comings and goings

• OTR has hired for two positions: Sara Beverage, and Carmel Petersson - both started on June 20. They already visited the TC campus on June 22 for training.
• Student Financial Services hired Stephanie Preckel as a Principal Office & Admin Specialist. She started on June 27.

Duluth updates (January 2016)

Duluth Reverse Transfer Agreement Pilot
Twenty-six students have authorized the ongoing sharing of their records with Lake Superior College (LSC) as a part of the pilot Reverse Transfer Agreement. Both LSC and UMD have signed agreements with the National Student Clearinghouse for transfer of data and we look forward to those next steps in the process to automate the sharing of records.

AACRAO International
Joanna McCord, Sarah Hatfield, and Carla Boyd just returned from the three day AACRAO International Educational Services Winter Institute (a new country every hour) plus a two day workshop on China and India educational systems and credit. They have an enormous number of new resources to share and information nuggets gleaned. If anyone working with international credit is interested, they are happy to share what they are putting together based upon these experiences.

Kudos
Thank you to Travis Trautman, his team, and the security team for updating over 400 Duluth faculty and staff records so they could run the APAS (Academic Progress Audit System) report for any student. This has been tremendously well received by faculty and staff, with many great feedback emails. Thanks ASR and OIT teams!

Comings and goings

• The Duluth Financial Collections Office will be welcoming Shirley Kortekaas to our office on January 25 as the new principal account specialist. Shirley comes to us most recently from UMD’s Dining Center as a senior cashier.
• Jodi Lieske (degree services specialist in the Duluth Registrar’s Office) has accepted a position in the College of Education and Human Service Professions effective February 1. She will be advising students and serving as a systems specialist. She has tremendous expertise in PCAS, ECAS, and APAS and will continue to be a tremendous resource for us all with the added benefit of even more direct contact with students.

Duluth Updates - September 2015

Updates/ Projects

Records

• The Reverse Transfer project with Lake Superior College will begin next month. 
• The ELSi program at UMD will begin spring 2016. 
• UMD successfully supported the new MN Board of Teaching requirements for spring and summer graduates but is interested in confirming what other campuses having students do in order to comply. 
• This week the ABET accreditation team was on campus. Their questions for the Registrar centered around prerequisite checking, enforcement of prerequisites and exception decisions.  
• Duluth is looking forward to seeing demo of APLUS and learning from the implementation experiences of our colleagues. 
• Associate Professor Jill Jenson has been appointed the director of the Center for Writing and Learning Excellence; there are some exciting collaborations underway in this area. 

Student Finance
The ECSI to Campus Partners conversion has been delayed by one month; the conversion will now happen on November 1. Implementation planning is already in progress.

Kudos

Among the top in the region
UMD is ranked 7th on the list of Top Public Schools in the Midwest in U.S. News and World Report's "Best Colleges 2016." Placing 36th in Regional Universities Midwest, UMD also received high rankings for its business and engineering programs.

Comings & goings

• Steve Keto has been hired as the vice chancellor for finance and operations. A UMD alumnus, he most recently worked as the associate vice chancellor at North Carolina State University, where he oversaw the Budget Office, Controller's Office, Office of Contracts and Grants, and Office of Cost Analysis. Keto begins Oct. 1
• Melissa Honkola has been hired as the director of Human Resources and Equal Opportunity. 

Duluth updates (May 2015)

Senator Amy Klobuchar spoke at UMD's two commencement ceremonies May 16 at AMSOIL Arena, Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. A total of 2,325 students will graduate from UMD this year, with 1,998 bachelor's degrees, 321 master's degrees, and 6 doctoral degrees

Comings & goings

• Carly Morwitz will be leaving Office of the Registrar in June.
• Mark Goehring has joined UMD and will be working with Astra class scheduling. Mark is the new "scheduling guru" in Duluth, replacing Amanda Fudala.

Duluth Updates (September)

Duluth will present an all-campus ESUP update on Wednesday, September 24. The event is very comprehensive and will provide information from an ESUP Overview, to breakout sessions for Student, HR, Finance, and Reporting, and Portal Session.