Crookston updates (May 2018)

April 6—Chancellor inauguration
The inauguration of Mary Holz-Clause as the sixth chancellor for the University of Minnesota Crookston took place on April 6th. The noon inauguration ceremony, in Kiehle Auditorium was followed by a public reception in Sargeant Student Center. Sign the guest book.

Commencement
The 2018 commencement exercises mark the 110th graduating class to be recognized on the Crookston campus. Commencement exercises were on Saturday, May 5.

College rankings
The University of Minnesota Crookston has been ranked among the top 10 "Best Colleges" for returning students in Minnesota for 2018 by College Factual, an online educational resource. The "non-traditional" student label refers to any student that falls outside the norm of first-time, full-time students under the age of 25.

Staff Updates

• Barb Phaiah’s last day with UMC will be July 5. Barb has been an important part of the OTR family and has served as a Principal Office and Administrative Specialist for five years. Barb played an important role in helping on special projects, updating all APAS reports, and implementing the new TES system. She will be joining her husband, Dr. Peter Phaiah, who has taken a new position as the Assistant Vice President for Student and University Relations at New Mexico Tech in Socorro, New Mexico. We are going to miss both of them at UMC. We wish both of them success in their new endeavors.
• Donna Hartel has been hired as a Principal Office and Administrative Specialist. Donna will start her new position on June 4. Donna has excellent experience with the Farm Service Agency/USDA in this region and earned a BS in communications from the University of Minnesota, Crookston. Welcome, Donna!

Senior vice Chancellor retiring
Senior vice chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, Barbara Keinath, announced her retirement, effective at the end of June. Three finalists for the senior vice chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs position were invited to campus for interviews the week of April 23-27. You may view the recordings.

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.

Morris updates (May 2018)

May 12 Commencement
US Senator Amy Klobuchar served as the 2018 Commencement speaker at Morris. Klobuchar is the first female senator elected to represent the State of Minnesota. Throughout her public service, she has embraced the values she learned growing up in Minnesota.

Minnesota Association of Financial Aid Administrators (MAFAA)
The Office of Financial Aid staff attended the annual spring MAFAA conference at Madden’s resort in Brainerd on May 2-4, 2018. This year's spring conference was a special celebration of MAFAA's 50 years of service to the state of Minnesota.

At the conference, Marie Hagen was recognized for 40 years of service and Jill Beauregard was recognized for 25 years of service. A Morris student, Alyssa Kraft, won the scholarship contest to create the new MAFAA logo.

Staff Updates

• One Stop welcomed Diane Kill on May 7. Diane comes to One Stop with 22 years of experience in the Office of the Registrar. Her knowledge base from the Office of the Registrar combined with learning operations in One Stop will benefit students.
• Tina Nelson has joined the Morris Business office. She will be working in both the Student Finance (as a backup cashier) and in University Finance areas. Tina is from the Education Division Office and we are excited to have her.

Rochester updates (May 2018)

UMR Commencement
Commencement was held Saturday, May 12, 2018 at the Rochester Mayo Civic Center.

Vice chancellor for Academic Affairs and Innovation candidate presentations
The three candidates for Rochester’s vice chancellor for Academic Affairs and Innovation will visit campus on May 21, 22, and 23. For candidate information, visit the search site.

Staff Updates

• Diane Douglas began work as the Registrar for Rochester on Monday, April 30. Prior to joining UMR, Diane worked as Registrar at Norwich University.
• Jenny Casper is transitioning out of the interim registrar role into her new community engagement and career development position. Thank you, Jenny, for all your work.

Twin Cities updates (May 2018)

ASR welcomes the following staff:

• Alexander (Alex) Rose has been hired as a Business/Systems Analyst 3 in ASR-IT and began work on Monday, April 2. Alex previously worked as a Technologist in the College of Biological Sciences.
• Pa Thao has been hired as a Business/Systems Analyst 3 in ASR-IT and began work on Monday, April 2. Pa previously worked as an Institutional Research & Effectiveness Associate at St. Olaf College.
• Meghan Czarniecki began work as a Student Finance Counselor 2 on Monday, April 9, and she reports to Stephanie Kearley. Prior to joining ASR, Meghan worked as a Financial Aid Advisor Data Coordinator at North Hennepin Community College. 
• Jen Hoe Ng began work as a Student Finance Counselor 2 on Wednesday, April 11, and he reports to Deb Wilkin. Prior to joining ASR, Jen worked as a Student Finance Administrator at Argosy University. 
• Amy Brown has joined One Stop Student Services as a GSSP Coordinator. Previously, she worked in student services in the School of Nursing.
• Philip Dolan has joined Classroom Technical Services as an Electronics Technician. Philip previously worked in CTS, moved out of state for a year, and has now returned to the University. 
• Jim Koll from CTS has transferred from the role of Electronics Technician to the role of Inventory Control Specialist. Please congratulate Jim on his new position!

One Stop Student Services welcomes the following staff members on May 21:

• Lauren Lanigan was a Financial Aid Counselor at Concordia College in St. Paul. She also has experience as a Financial Assistance Specialist with Anoka County Human Services. 
• Amna Hussein was a One Stop Customer Relations Representative for 3 years. She is currently employed at People Serving People as an Educational Services Associate working with homeless youth. 
• Drew Johnson was also a One Stop Customer Relations Representative and Parent Orientation Coordinator at the Office of Transition Experience. 

One Stop Student Services congratulates:

• Maia Noll was promoted from One Stop Counselor 2 to One Stop Counselor 3. Congratulations to Maia on her promotion! 

Join the Office of Student Finance as they congratulate the following staff members.

• Mara Schneider left ASR on May 11 to embark on a new adventure with Facilities Management as the West Bank District Administrative Manager.
• Congratulations to Ted Skogman (ASR-IT), who after 40+ years of service has retired. Now Ted can more fully pursue his gardening and opera interests... Ted's last day of work was Friday, May 4.

Twin Cities updates (March 2018)

Complete Drop Initiative - ASR Collaboration
Nate Peterson (OSSS) and Cathy Schuster (OSF) have been working collaboratively on an initiative to prevent students from dropping all classes without contact with their advisor. Starting in fall 2018, Twin Cities and Rochester degree-seeking students who attempt to drop below 6 credits will get an error message preventing the drop and prompting them to meet with their advisor.

The minimum credit threshold of 6 credits will be applied the day after the 100% refund date and remain indefinitely. Athletes and international students will be excluded from this (due to NCAA and visa requirements). The student will be warned that their action would drop them below the minimum required credits, and refer them to their college advising office, International Student and Scholar Services, or Veteran’s Services. After the advisor or college staff has contact with student, the minimum threshold can be reduced or removed so the student can complete the drop.

Once a communications plan is completed, materials will be shared with system campuses in the event that they would like to duplicate any portion of the process.

One Stop annual survey results
Each year, One Stop Student Services sends out a student satisfaction survey to students who we have served during our busy time in the fall. We seek feedback from our students so we continue to keep our finger on the pulse of how students can best be served. There is no better way than to simply ask them! View the survey infographic.

The survey consists of a rating scale for our three modes of contact (phones, walk-ins, and emails). We also determine how well we are meeting our service standards of Knowledge, Empathy, Efficiency and the our newly added standard of “Welcoming” (which has replaced “Friendliness”).

We asked students to comment on how we are doing overall. We received many comments such as "I felt that the One Stop representative was on my side and cared about my problem. Also they took care of my issue in no time. Thank you very much for friendly service." We are proud that the overall satisfaction rating is 80%!

There were some minor changes to our survey design that may have impacted our final results, which we will keep in mind as we continue to improve our survey procedure. We are taking a SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats) approach in reviewing the students’ comments and looking to make One Stop even better in the future.

One Stop West Bank renovation
One Stop Student Services on the West Bank has a fresh look and improved functionality. Updates to the space include more privacy for counseling conversations, better accessibility for visitors in wheelchairs, triage space for periods of peak traffic, and an additional "hotel" workspace. If you are near the West Bank Skyway, stop by and check it out.







Twin Cities submitting the PPA for recertification
The Twin Cities campus will be submitting their Program Participation Agreement (PPA) for recertification to the Department of Education (ED) by March 31, 2018. The campus is allowed to administer aid through the end of June, but often the recertification review process can take several months. Recertification is required for the campus to continue to administer Title IV financial aid. Through the recertification process the campus affirms that they are still meeting the requirements set forth by ED and reflects any relevant changes to academic programs and program delivery. The Twin Cities campus anticipates hearing back from ED in early June.

Staff Updates

• ASR Student Data and Analytics has two new data analysts starting on April 2.
• Alex Rose is joining the team from the College of Biological Sciences.
• Pa Thao will be coming to us from St. Olaf College.
• Jen-Hoe Ng will be starting on April 11 in OSF undergraduate unit. Jen is a Minot State University graduate and presently works at Argosy University in Eagan. He has also worked at the Minnesota School of Business and Capella University. He volunteers at YouthLink Minnesota, providing financial aid counseling to homeless youth.
• Meghan Czarniecki will be starting April 9 in OSF undergraduate unit. Meghan is from New York and worked at the University of Rochester as the assistant director of financial aid before moving to Minnesota. She has been working at North Hennepin Community College since July as a data coordinator for financial aid.

Eleanor’s update (March 2018)

Once again I am amazed at the amount and variety of projects and initiatives we are pursuing. We have some early indicators of good news for the University's budget request with the governor showing support. Of course it is still early in the process, but we have an invitation to Support the U Day. Wouldn’t it be great if we could avoid tuition increase next year?

Several of our campuses are experiencing changes, and welcoming new staff on board. And we continue to make progress on many of our IT priorities including the Custom Solutions PeopleSoft 9.2 Upgrade project.