Board of Regents meets March 30-31

In early February 2016, the Board of Regents met and were presented with a five-year enrollment plan for Twin Cities undergraduates. This plan sets out to strengthen the University’s commitment to the enrollment, student experience, outcomes, tuition and financial aid strategies that will help us achieve the University Progress Card milestones -- including raising the four-year graduation to above 65 percent and six-year graduation rate to 82 percent. These efforts are increasingly being supported by collaborative efforts throughout ASR, including student degree progress, retention and graduation.

The Board of Regents are expected to vote on this enrollment plan during their March meeting.

Performance Appraisals due April 1

Please complete your performance appraisal self-assessment and turn it into your supervisor by April 1. Throughout April, your supervisors and unit director will complete your performance appraisals, review them, and then begin follow-up meetings in May. You can find the performance appraisal form, as well as additional information, posted on the ASR Intranet »

• Download the form
• View the complete timeline
• Read the performance appraisal FAQ

May/summer term and fall 2016 registration

May and summer term registration begins on Tuesday, April 12 for students admitted to degree or certificate programs. May and summer term registration opens for non-degree and visiting students on Tuesday, April 19.

Fall registration appointment times run from Thursday, April 14-Thursday, May 5 for students admitted to degree and certificate programs. Registration for non-degree and visiting students begins Friday, May 6. The fall 2016 registration timetable can be found on the One Stop website. Twin Cities students received an email the week of March 28 with instructions on how to find their appointment time and other important reminders. A notification was also added to MyU letting students know their appointment time is now available.

MyU & PeopleSoft Unavailable During PeopleTools Update April 23-24

MyU and PeopleSoft applications will be unavailable for system updates on Saturday and Sunday, April 23 and 24; please plan accordingly. Service is expected to be restored by approximately noon Sunday, April 24. In addition, PeopleSoft Finance will be unavailable for an extended time for normal weekend maintenance. The outage will affect all campuses. 

Based on their analysis to date, the update team anticipates there will be no action or change to business processes for most end users.

Details and updates can be found on the University’s Service Status website.

EAB pilot program launch

Education Advisory Board (EAB) consultants visited the Twin Cities campus on March 7 to introduce the Student Success Collaborative (SSC) platform that was built using University of Minnesota data. EAB led an opportunity assessment with the implementation leadership team and provided training for over forty advisors who have volunteered to pilot the SSC as they advise students over the upcoming the registration cycle. Advisors have volunteered from: 

• College of Biological Sciences
• College of Education and Human Development
• College of Science and Engineering
• College of Liberal Arts
• College of Design
• McNamara Academic Center
• Center for Academic Planning & Exploration
• University Honors Program

The pilot implementation will run for two months, after which these advisors, and their feedback, will help the project’s leadership team evaluate the value of EAB SSC’s data.

Performance Appraisals due April 1

The ASR Performance Appraisal process is underway. Step One for employees will be to complete their self-assessments by April 1 and submit to their supervisors.  A list of changes to the form, as well as a timeline for completion, is available on the News & Notes blog »

University closed March 18

The University will be closed tomorrow, March 18, for a floating holiday.

New procedure for granting PeopleSoft Access to student workers

Starting April 25, student workers who need view-only or basic update access to PeopleSoft Student Administration pages will be required to complete the online training courses available through the University of Minnesota’s Learning Management System. These courses may be launched and completed by the student worker at their convenience. Those who require additional access (e.g., program/plan, registration) willbe granted the access with the understanding that their supervisor will provide the needed training and be responsible for all work completed by the student worker. As always, for any access to be established, an Access Request Form (ARF) with the appropriate ARF attachment must be submitted and processed by Provisioning and Requests (PAR).

One Stop and SAA volunteer at Second Harvest

On Saturday, March 12, the One Stop “Culture Club” -- a group that gathers to do activities that build relationships and improve office culture -- donated their time to Second Harvest Heartland in Golden Valley, MN. Staff from One Stop, SAA and their  family members bagged, packed, sealed and boxed 4,573 pounds of rice!

Pictured left to right (back row) Nate Peterson, Josh Johnson, Jack Everts, Cosmin Tarau, Paul Fastner, Josh Geiger,  Brandon Botzet, Andy Hoeveler (middle row) Ben DeGaetano, Katie Johnson, Carrie Otto, Darcy Fastner, JoJo Lowrey (front row) Betsy Everts and Marcia DeGaetano.

Destiny One team volunteer project

The Destiny One Team used a lunch break to make 150 sandwiches that will be donated to the Minneapolis Recreation Development Center. The center partners with Allan Law to distribute sandwiches to Minneapolis residents experiencing homelessness. If you are interested to learn more about Allan Law’s initiative, view the NBC news clip.

Performance Appraisal form and timeline

It’s nearly spring and time to plan for performance appraisals. The timeline for the appraisal process is as follows:

• April 1: Employees should submit self-assessments to their supervisor
• April 15: Supervisors complete performance appraisals and submit to unit director
• April 26: Directors complete review and edits for all performance appraisals for their unit
• April 27 - May 4: Directors will review all performance appraisals for consistency across ASR
• May 5 - May 27: Performance appraisal meetings with employees are conducted

Please work with your supervisor and unit director for any unit-specific instructions they may have.

While we are still awaiting official OHR approval of the revised performance appraisal form, we plan to use the new form in ASR this performance appraisal cycle. The full document is available here and a fully-formatted version will be available soon. The primary changes are:

• Changed rating scale from from 1-5 to 1-3 to reflect employee and supervisor feedback
• Changed "timeliness" to "time management"
• Added separate text boxes for quantity, quality, and time management (instead of having these combined in one)

• Added competency questions related to the Individual Development Planning (IDP) process

Data Analytics fCop findings and recommendations

The following recommendations summarize the Data Analytics fCop findings which were presented at their final meeting on February 16:

• We want to advance in our data maturity beyond operational reporting to using data to inform strategic decision-making;
• We want to invest in our core data infrastructure to reduce risks to our initiatives; and
• We need a better strategy for managing, accessing, and pulling insights out of the University’s entire data landscape.

View the full recommendations document, including links to affinity group final reports »

ASR Director of Continuity and Compliance update

Academic Support Resources is currently seeking a Director of Continuity & Compliance. Only current U of M employees are eligible to apply. You can view the job posting here »

Workflows developed in GSSP collaboration effort

With the support of the ASR Web Team, GSSP and OTR implemented a new form auto-generation tool in the Doctoral Preliminary and Final Oral Exam Scheduling Workflows. GSSP staff had previously produced these forms manually, but with this new tool the forms are auto-populated with student information. The implementation of this feature was the result of great collaboration between One Stop, OTR, and ASR Web Team staff and will greatly benefit the graduate student population.

Estimated Financial Aid Award Notices set to be sent

Incoming freshmen who are planning on attending the University of Minnesota beginning fall 2016 will start receiving estimated financial aid award notices the first week of March. These letters show students the cost of attending the University and a very solid estimate of the financial aid (i.e., scholarships, grants, loans) they are eligible to receive.

What is an RFP? Want to participate?

OSF has created a Request for Proposal (RFP) to solicit bids from collection agencies and use their services to collect on student loans. In an effort to make the RFP committee inclusive, OSF has reserved a spot on the committee for someone within ASR who is interested in learning more and participating in this process. Participation will require a few long meetings (1 to 2 hours) over the next few months to review the RFP and responses received from bidders, and available time to make reference calls and ask scripted questions.

If you are interested and have your manager’s approval, send your name to Tom Schmidt by Friday, March 11.

OCM’s Year in Review

The OCM Year in Review is an account of how well we have met our charge during the past year. It is an opportunity to highlight trends that will impact decisions and services in the Office of Classroom Management through the next year and beyond.

Transition to Windows 10 OS for University computers

Members of the University community who use Microsoft Windows computers are encouraged to transition to Windows 10, if they have not done so already. This summer the Windows computers in the public labs Coffman B60, Humphrey 50 and Walter 101 will be transitioned to Windows 10. All other OIT supported teaching labs will be moved to Windows 10 in conjunction with faculty and staff input.

IT Governance Process

It's Spring Semester and the input phase of the IT governance process begins! Learn more about IT governance and ways you can help us gather input from University faculty, staff and students.

Tech Tuesdays: Google Drive tips and tricks

It’s very easy to drag files and folders around in Google Drive, too easy in fact, and dragging items moves them for everyone in your domain… so take care.

If you are about to “Move” a folder Google does warn you – so watch out for pop-up windows warning about sharing, if you see one, carefully consider whether you do want to “Move” the folder out of a shared area.

When working with shared files and folders, it is important to remember to use the Add to My Drive button instead of dragging the file/folder to My Drive. Using the Add button does just that: it adds the item to your drive without changing the location of the file or folder for other users. Dragging the item moves it for everyone and some users may lose access. If you attempt to add something to your drive and see a pop-up warning that you are moving the item, take heed and do not continue unless you are sure that you want to move it out of the shared area.

Check out this Google support document to Add files to My Drive for additional help.

If you are looking for a file or folder you have shared with someone else and can no longer find it, click on the information icon (the small i in a circle) on the upper right of your drive to see recent activity. You can see which items have been moved, removed (trashed), renamed, shared/unshared, edited, and more, so it may help you locate what you are looking for.

Join the ASR Tech Tuesdays Google Group here, which will give you access to all past posts, presentations and materials, as well as membership to a community of like-minded and helpful people.

The Importance of Resilience

Resilience (or resiliency) is our ability to adapt and bounce back when things don't go as planned. Resilient people don't wallow or dwell on failures; they acknowledge the situation, learn from their mistakes, and then move forward.

According to the research of leading psychologist, Susan Kobasa, there are three elements that are essential to resilience:

• Challenge – Resilient people view a difficulty as a challenge, not as a paralyzing event. They look at their failures and mistakes as lessons to be learned from, and as opportunities for growth. They don't view them as a negative reflection on their abilities or self-worth.
• Commitment – Resilient people are committed to their lives and their goals, and they have a compelling reason to get out of bed in the morning. Commitment isn't just restricted to their work – they commit to their relationships, their friendships, the causes they care about, and their religious or spiritual beliefs.
• Personal Control – Resilient people spend their time and energy focusing on situations and events that they have control over. Because they put their efforts where they can have the most impact, they feel empowered and confident. Those who spend time worrying about uncontrollable events can often feel lost, helpless, and powerless to take action.

Read more at MindTools.com or check out this article from the New Yorker.