The People in Your Neighborhood: Danielle Amira

If you had to use three words to describe Danielle Amira, they would be outgoing, positive, and fun.

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.

U named Military Friendly School

Following a recent survey of more than 12,000 schools, the University was named a 2014 Military Friendly School for the fourth consecutive year in a row. This puts the U in the top 15% of schools nationwide, according to a survey administered by Victory Media, a veteran-owned business and publisher of G.I. Jobs and the Guide to Military Friendly Schools. The survey weighting, methodology, and resulting schools list was independently certified by Ernst and Young. Way to go, Minnesota!

Upcoming Astra Schedule user groups

A series of Astra Schedule user groups is scheduled for this fall. Session topics will address issues that schedulers experience in their day-to-day use of Astra Schedule. They also serve as an opportunity for users to share ideas with each other and receive help solving specific problems.

No registration is required to attend. Locations and times for each session are as follows:

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

Online Student Data Inquiry Training

The Training Team is in the final stages of developing an online Student Data Inquiry (SDI) video that can be used in lieu of in-person training. SDI training is necessary to be granted view access in PeopleSoft. Registration for online training begins Monday, September 30.

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.

Williamson Hall display case

If you haven't taken a peek at the Williamson Hall display case recently, check it out. Sarah Hollerich, ASR's graphic designer, updates the theme of the display a few times a year. Right now, the theme is "Four Years in Focus" and offers tips and advice on how to graduate in four years. Past displays have covered topics such as saving money on discretionary spending, study spaces on campus, the Live Like a Student Facebook page, and Graduation Planner.

Veterans roundtable

One Stop's Julie Selander attended a veteran's roundtable with Senator Klobuchar on Aug. 26 at Saint Mary's University Center in Minneapolis. Discussion focused on issues important to student veterans. Channing Riggs, director of Government Relations from the U of M, was in attendance, along with approximately 100 others interested in veterans issues.

Accessing personnel files

As an employee of the University, you have the right to include or update information in your personnel files that may be pertinent to your performance of job duties. You may also review your personnel record upon written request.

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.

Subpoenas... and what to do with them

Subpoenas or court order issues for student education data are fairly common in higher education, and there's a chance you'll receive one during the course of your work. All subpoena requests received in ASR should be forwarded to Debbie Henderson.

A day in the garden

U of M Day at the Landscape Arboretum will take place Sunday, Sept. 29. All current U of M faculty and staff will be admitted to the arboretum free of charge. Activities include the arboretum's Auxiliary Harvest Sale, a sale of herb crafts and potpourris, and events for kids. For more information, see U Day at the Arb.

Which vs. that

This one can be pretty tricky, but here's how to figure out whether you use which or that. Use that before a restrictive clause and which before everything else. A restrictive clause just means you can't get rid of it because without it, the sentence wouldn't make sense. Here's an example: A dress that is white is usually worn by a bride. If you remove "that is white," the meaning of the sentence would change. Without it, you would be saying a dress is usually worn by a bride, not specifically a white dress.

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.

September Astra Schedule demonstrations

In May, the Office of Classroom Management (OCM) implemented a new, system-wide classroom and event scheduling system called Astra Schedule. You can use Astra Schedule to request both departmental and general purpose classroom space for an event. A quick start guide is available for additional step-by-step instructions. Demonstrations of Astra Schedule will be held at the following locations on campus:

Friday, September 6, 9-10 a.m., STSS 512B
Friday, September 13, 2-3 p.m., STSS 512B

ASR employee survey results

The results from the second 2013 ASR employee survey are now available. The survey team (Trinity Muller, Anya Norton, Maggie O'Neill, and Matt Tveter) reviewed and analyzed the responses. Recommendations based on those responses were presented to ASR directors in August. The third 2013 survey will be sent out in early October.

Professional skills building

As an ASR employee, you may request to attend professional development activities that help you become more successful in your current position or to advance to the next level in your career. You can view the professional development policy by employment group in the ASR Employee Handbook. ASR employees are also eligible for the Regents Scholarship, which covers 100% of the tuition for a first bachelor's degree and 75% for graduate and professional degrees, if you decide to go back to school. Nice!

Football fun

The ASR Athletic Academic Eligibility/APAS team was invited by the McNamera Academic Counselors (for football) to be the honorary coaches for the Gopher football team in the game against UNLV on August 29 (though they didn't actually get to call any plays). They participated in the pre-game rituals, including the "Victory Walk," pre-game warm-ups, Coach Kill's pre-game pep talk to the players, and running out on the field with the players at the start of the game. How cool is that?

New training newsletter

The ASR Training Update is a monthly newsletter covering training initiatives, general updates, tips and tricks, and other matters that may be of interest to you. The newsletter will be sent the third week of each month. Currently, the newsletter is being sent to key contacts for the Student Records Training and Support Team, but that audience will expand. For more information, click here. To begin receiving the ASR Training Update, contact Kess Knight (knigh161@umn.edu).

Tech priorities

To get the latest scoop on the University's IT news and activities, check out the IT priorities video by Vice President and CIO Scott Studham. He outlines the progress made during the past year, as well as the University's IT priorities going forward.

Honoring MLK's Dream speech

On Aug. 28, the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus honored the 50th anniversary of The March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. The historical event was celebrated by chimes sounding across campus. Just before the chimes rang, a brief message was read to the campus community commemorating the speech and King's call to "Let freedom ring." The national and international bell-ringing events were organized by The King Center based in Atlanta.

Me, myself, and I

Can't figure out whether you should use me, myself, or I? Here's a quick trick: when deciding between me or I, ask yourself if the sentence makes sense if you take out the other noun or pronoun. For example, "Sophia and me went out to lunch." If you removed "Sophia" from the sentence, it would read, "Me went out to lunch." That doesn't make sense, right? So, in this case, you would say, "Sophia and I went out to lunch." Here's another example: "The dog licked Alex and I." If you take out Alex, the sentence reads, "The dog licked I." That sure doesn't sound correct! The sentence should be "The dog licked me."

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.)