Sue's update (January 2019)

Spring term is off and running even though it still feels like winter. Thanks to all of you that have continued to finish fall term and prepare for the start of term activities. The government shutdown hasn’t impacted the University as much as other external areas, however, students have more hoops to climb through and some guardians and students may experience difficulty in paying their tuition bill. Hopefully, it will end soon.

Spring term is a time of preparing for administrative transitions. Also, Provost Hanson has taken leave until April and Vice Provost McMaster is filling her role. (Interestingly, Provost Hanson has been in the office every other day.) Jennifer Reckner and I are filling the vice provost role until Provost Hanson returns.

The University’s Strategic Enrollment Management group continues to meet monthly. They are looking at issues that impact all of us across the state.

The Twin Cities campus has a Liberal Education Redesign committee revisiting the requirements and developing one or more possible designs/models for a revised curriculum. An update was presented at the December BOR meeting.

I hope all of you are doing well and excited about all the change ahead of us.

Sue's update (September 2018)

Fall term is upon us and we forge ahead thinking of student success. Our campus visits have been fantastic and we have enjoyed the terrific conversations with everyone. I believe we, student services staff, across the institution have good working relationships. When I ask my counterparts in HR and finance, I am surprised that they do not meet and discuss tough issues as we do. I really do appreciate that we have continued to meet as a group on a regular basis. There are many times we discover on the Twin Cities campus that initiatives, implementations, and projects occur without our involvement. This is fine with me as we shouldn’t be involved with every initiative. We pass this information on to you as we hear of decisions and projects, however, keep in mind that we will not be involved in many of these. Please share initiatives that are occurring on your campus as well so we can work together to avoid duplication where possible.

Sue's update (July 2018)

Financial aid packages are running and notifications are ready to be sent out—oh my. It means summer is almost over for all of us. Congratulations to all of you on the closing of the 9.2 Campus Solutions Upgrade project. What a success and a terrific job by all. We are so lucky to have staff who focus on students and their experiences at this institution.

I attended the AACRAO Transfer and Technology conference and the University of Minnesota was well represented in presentations and knowledge-sharing. Several schools congratulated us on our accomplishments and asked how we keep moving forward with our initiatives. It really makes me appreciate the great work we do. Congratulations!

A few additional updates:

• NameCoach is a student-recorded name pronunciation software. I am trying to purchase this for the system. It is currently sitting with the General Counsel’s office. There isn’t an implementation plan. However, attaching it to Canvas would be the first goal. I’ll keep you posted.
• We have Unizin because of Canvas. The University is looking to provide additional data from Canvas and our SIS (Student Information System) to Unizin. This initiative is spearheaded by the library, information technology, and provost.
• With President Kaler stepping down next year, it will bring uncertainty in the administration. ASR plans to stay focused on student success and the student experience.

Sue updates (May 2018)

We are headed into the summer months which brings a lot of activity, not all realized by many outside of our work. It is so rewarding to see the success of students and the entry of the next class on our campuses. Our work is rewarding and worthwhile. I love seeing students in their regalia with friends and family taking pictures. I saw a graduate in the airport wearing their regalia which made me smile. Another student entered a restaurant with regalia on and I took the opportunity to send over a beverage. All of us should feel gratitude that we have contributed in helping students like these.

As we work to close the 9.2 Campus Solutions PS project, there have been some setbacks. The teams are working to resolve these and not hinder future projects. The uAchieve implementation project is close to kickoff and the team has been meeting to prepare and get this moving forward. Plus we have hosts of other projects to start moving ahead on in short order.

As many of you know, Ted Skogman from student finance has retired after more than 40 years of service to the University. He has been a terrific colleague and we wish him well. Also, Grant Clavelle has announced his retirement date for this September. I am working to get this position posted very soon. Grant has been instrumental in moving the University forward in the technology world and in putting students first. Thank you to both Ted and Grant.

Sue's update (March 2018)

I want to thank everyone for their continued work on the Campus Solutions PeopleSoft 9.2 Upgrade project. We are still on target to end this project in June and Eleanor is doing a nice job of monitoring our progress.

The PeopleTools 8.56 Upgrade is next and will require work on our part. OIT will be putting together a plan on how to manage this project, so more to come. Since the navigation will change, the communication and change management portion will be the time-consuming part of this project. I have heard that it isn’t too bad from my colleagues around the country. I can tell end of term and “summer fun” are just around the corner so let’s keep focused on the student experience.

Sue's update

We are in spring term and the Office of Information Technology (OIT) has added servers to handle the load on our systems. With over 300,000 sessions on MyU the first class day for Morris, Rochester, and Twin Cities, we are hoping these precautions will help keep performance on our systems adequate throughout the week. I do realize performance was not optimal since many of us couldn’t log in to MyU.

The 9.2 CS Upgrade will have a change in project leadership. Eleanor Pijut will be taking over Carrie Otto’s 9.2 CS upgrade responsibilities as she transitions over to work with Lincoln Kallsen on CRM initiatives. Carrie has done an outstanding job on the project and in ASR over the years. Eleanor has played a crucial role in both the ESUP project and the 9.2 CS project so I am confident that the project will be in good hands.

The Campus Solutions/PeopleSoft Audit’s essential finding is now closed. The statement, “Excessive user access needs to be removed and access management processes need improvement,” has been corrected and processes are in place to monitor. Thanks to everyone that contributed to correcting this finding.

Sue's update

While we have had challenges with various systems going amuck this term, the Office of Information Technology continues to find ways to improve. I realize it has been a difficult term for all of us—students, faculty, and staff. I continue to seek proactive approaches so these inconveniences do not occur often.

The University took the snapshot for the 2017 graduation numbers on October 31 in order that the four-, five-, and six-year cohort numbers can be presented to the Regents at the February meeting. The numbers will become public at that point. In previous years, these were released in December, but with the new format, Regent Omari pushed it to February. The release of graduation numbers is always an exciting time; we get to see if all our initiatives and hard work are drawing us closer to the Regents Progress Card.

I want to congratulate all of you for making the Campus Solutions 9.2 Technical Upgrade so successful. It is exciting to now be in Phase II of the project.

Sue's update (September 2017)

Fall term is off and running again. I love seeing the students on campus. It is always my favorite time of year with all the fall activities. The Board of Regents had their September session under their new format and I heard it went well. Lori Carrell, Interim Chancellor, UMR; Sandra Olson-Loy, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, UMM; and Robert McMaster, Vice Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Education, UMTC presented on the system-wide enrollment planning retreat.

The purpose of this item is to discuss the work of the System Enrollment Management Workgroup and seek strategic direction from the Board as the work moves forward. The discussion will address matching aspirations with resources, state and national enrollment environment, the University’s enrollment environment and challenges, alignment with the System-wide Strategic Plan Framework, and recommendations from the workgroup. Detailed information begins on page 39 of the MIS docket materials.

I am excited to be visiting the campuses with a few others. We went to Crookston first and we had an outstanding meeting. There was a lot of great discussion, terrific feedback, and I learned so much from everyone. I look forward to visiting the rest of you as well.

Sue’s update

Summer is going quickly and we have been busy finishing up spring, orienting students, providing summer courses, and preparing for fall term. I hope some of you find time to get away for a little while as I know it is difficult to do so in the summer months.

The University’s budget is finally approved by the Regents. Since we didn’t have any idea what they were going to decide for tuition, we are behind on the timing for setting thing up. Staff are working diligently to get information entered quickly. I realize for the past couple of years I have called this is the most difficult budget year, however, this by far exceeds the others. I am not confident it will be any more predictable for the future either.

On a positive note, the SRC had a great in-person meeting July 17 and 18. Several items were discussed to help prepare for the upgrade and we had great policy discussion.

Rachelle Hernandez, Associate Vice Provost of Enrollment Management, Twin Cities, has accepted a position as senior vice provost for enrollment management at University of Texas, Austin. This is a fantastic opportunity for her and the University thanks her for her 22 years of service at the University.

I want to thank Laura Walker, Rochester, for all her contributions over the years. Laura has provided stability for Rochester in many areas as the campus was created. She is remarkable and will be truly missed by all of us. I wish Laura the best.

Melissa Dingmann, Crookston Financial Aid Director, has accepted the financial aid director position at Minnesota State University, Moorhead. She has been an exceptional employee and has provided great insight on many projects over the years. This is a great opportunity for her and we congratulate her on this new position.

Sue's update

Another semester under our belt. It was a rough road system-wise at the end, but we made it. Hopefully it is behind us. Commencements are complete. Summer classes have begun and orientation is right around the corner. Terrific job, everyone. We are still waiting on the Board of Regents regarding tuition, however, it is dependent on our legislative final budget so it could be a bit before we hear anything. It has been a rough legislative session for the University of Minnesota this year at the state capital. Hopefully the University can establish meaningful relationships going forward for next year with the hiring of Matt Kramer, vice president for university and government relations.

Sue's update

March is full of twists and turns when it comes to the weather. We started off with spring, moved into tornados, and finished with snow. This reminds me of responding to various legislative requests this year. The bill for students attending closed, for-profit higher education institutions financial aid eligibility and credit transfer authorization is on hold. The new bill brought forward recommends we accept all students that are in the top 10% of their class. Governor Dayton was not in favor of the request to support student success for the institution. There is a lot of interesting discussion occurring. Also in February, Regents Omari put forth a resolution (2:39:00) which I recommend you view.

At the Association of American Universities (AAU) registrar’s conference, many schools are targeting the Campus Solutions upgrade for later this fall. Cornell just went live over President’s Day weekend with no major issues. Other notable items from the conference include course and term compliance monitoring, student success initiatives, and filling in the financial gap for students.

Thank you for your help as we head into spring.

Sue’s update (January 2017)

I am hoping all of you enjoyed our University days off and now it’s already spring term. A few items I have heard recently: Brian Burnett is working on beginning a national search for the CIO position that Bernie Gulachek is currently serving as interim. He has indicated that a national search will also occur for the University Services position for which Mike Berthelsen is serving interim.

For those of you have haven’t heard, Carolie Carlson passed away December 27. She was responsible for training in HR and Finance, and led the training for the ESUP project. Carolie was a great colleague to work with on many initiatives at the University. The System-wide Strategic Planning committee met January 10. If we hear additional information, we’ll pass it on to you. Thank you for continuing to help our students succeed.

Sue's update

We are well into the term and preparing for spring term. Our campus visits have been beneficial and I always enjoy the environments of the campuses. Seeing the students, the campus changes, and the staff energizes me to see how we can collaborate even more.

Adrienne Bricker will begin Monday, November 28 in the Office of the Registrar. This is the position formerly held by Ingrid Nuttall. She comes to us from Hunter College, City University of New York, and brings a variety of project management experience, has implemented student degree progress initiatives, has worked with faculty on re-engineering general education requirements, and has an understanding of PeopleSoft. Her background in both financial aid and academic records will allow her to immediately contribute and lead initiatives both within Academic Support Resources (ASR) and with our external stakeholders.

Please continue to contact me if you have any questions about current initiatives.

Sue’s update

Fall term is off and running for all of us and we have hit the census day as well. Thanks to all of you on behalf of the students for making this work smoothly and seamlessly for them.

I only have a few updates for you. Interviews are occurring for the Student Records position formerly held by Ingrid Nuttall. Thanks to the search committee for their efforts. I appreciate the Student Records Council meeting with the candidates as well.

President Kaler announced that Boyd Kumher will be the University’s new Chief Compliance Officer. Boyd comes from Case Western Reserve where he established a compliance program. He replaces Lynn Zentner who retired this summer.

Finalists for the Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations Search have been named. Each finalist’s information will be released one day prior to the candidate coming to campus.

Internal Audit is planning an audit of the Enterprise System Upgrade of the Student System. The audit will address new system functionality, efficiency, and effectiveness. The audit will be performed in three phases: the planning and survey phase; the detailed testing phase; and the reporting phase. As I learn more about this process, I will keep you updated. Grant Clavelle is the point person, so I will be asking the auditors to send all questions through him. They are not to contact you directly.

I am excited about my campus visits and look forward to seeing everyone.

Sue's Update (January 2016)

I only have a few updates for the group. Carla Boyd is nominated to serve on the HEUG* Board of Directors. Voting has opened, so please go ahead and vote. This is quite an honor to be nominated.

The Budget Office is finishing their meetings with the system campuses; Duluth’s meeting is next week. All the meetings have been very educational for the Budget Office and I know Richard Pfutzenreuter wants to release the funds very soon. The campuses made proposals on increasing graduation and recruiting efforts.

At the February Regents meeting, a resolution on enrollment management is to be presented. The Twin Cities is quickly trying to get more information and clarification from the Regents to determine if this request of Twin Cities only or system-wide.

I hope you had a great start to spring semester. Thank you for all your help.

*The Higher Education User Group (HEUG) is a Non-Profit, international organization consisting of Higher Education institutions that use application software from the Oracle Corporation. It represents over 23,3000 individuals, 900 campuses in 34 countries on 6 continents across 20 timezones. It is the largest independent, self-organized industry specific user group in the world. 

Sue's Update - September 2015

I appreciate everyone working through the many issues that have arisen during the last few weeks and keeping the focus on serving the students. I told the executives that the student stream would not feel the true impacts of the upgrade until fall term. However, I didn’t anticipate all of the system issues which I apologize to all of you. I usually have contingencies ready for our processes and did not plan well this time. I do appreciate the OIT staff working 24/7 for two weeks to address the problems as quickly as possible. They were relentless on trying to solve the issues and reached out immediately to Oracle, IntraSee, and GreyHeller which I appreciated. I know this was hard on all of you as well and we will evaluate and plan for registration later this fall as well as look at how we can make the start of spring flawless. Thank you for working as one University team.

Sue's Update (July 2015)

Once again, I want to thank all of you for the tremendous upgrade team effort. You do not know how much it was appreciated by me that we could all come together and address the many interesting issues that appeared during this time. It is exciting to get back to making a positive difference in students’ lives through our work with faculty, staff, and students. Focusing on providing quality service to the University from all our units is much more rewarding and exciting than upgrading software. I realize we are still stabilizing and looking at ensuring everything will run smoother, however, being in this mode of operation allows us to get to where we want to be sooner.

The Regents and President Kaler recently had their retreat and I am sure we will have a few requests or new initiatives from this meeting. You may have noticed the Regents are going to take a more active role in the business of the University and we may all be asked to provide additional information during the year. As I hear more, I will keep you updated and please share what you hear as well.

Eleanor is busy scheduling our visits to your campuses, however, summer slipped by and many will be later this summer or early fall. If there are items you need us to address before our visit or have items we should cover, please let us know.

Enjoy the warmer weather.

Sue's update (May 2015)

Thanks to all of you for making the Upgrade a success. The teamwork from all campuses has allowed us to build a solid foundation from which to move forward for student success. I am challenging the steering committees as they transition to think broadly how we can still continue to increase retention and graduation rates. Review how your committee should function going forward to continue to make progress.

Some major accomplishments from this year include:

• A total of 482 PeopleSoft 9.0 modifications in the student workstream; this is a 53% reduction from 8.9
• 31 pillar applications were replaced or retired through the upgrade, resulting in $4M OIT annual savings
• Launch of STAR online scholarship application: 1,500 students have used the online scholarship application in its first year
• peerTransfer now live: allows international students to pay the University from bank accounts in their country of origin without having to arrange for a wire transfer or pay bank transfer fees. So far, 315 payments have been received, accounting for over $2.3M paid to the University.

To view some of the 2014-15 accomplishments from across the system, please view this presentation.