LucidChart team account expires October 31

The ASR team account of LucidChart will expire on Tuesday, October 31. At this time, Central OIT is not supporting an enterprise-wide license of Lucid, so you will be downgraded to a free EDU license. All registrants with a .edu email address and employer of a college/university will automatically be registered for a free EDU account.

In preparation for this change, we recommended you download/export any documents you want to preserve as a back-up. If you have a business need to maintain an EDU Premium account, talk to your supervisor.

You will still be able to create documents, import from/export to Visio, and have advanced shape library access as part of the free EDU license. What you will lose as part of the premium license is your ability to collaborate with other users on a shared document. See the list of features that differ between the free and paid accounts.

All OUE Assembly date change

The date for the All OUE (Office of Undergraduate Education) Assembly has changed to Tuesday, December 5. The event will be from 10:00 a.m. to noon in the Great Hall of Coffman Memorial Union, with continental breakfast at 9:30 a.m. RSVP your attendance as soon as possible.

For those new to ASR or the University, ASR is part of the Office of Undergraduate Education. OUE holds an all-OUE assembly once per year and it is a time to connect each unit to OUE's purpose and goals through retention, student success, and timely graduation.

AACRAO conference in Minneapolis, call for presenters

The 2018 Technology & Transfer AACRAO Conference will be held Minneapolis next year. It is the perfect opportunity for ASR staff to showcase emerging technologies and pioneering solutions that help to improve services and facilitate student success. The priority submission deadline of November 15 is quickly approaching. Check out AACRAO’s website for more information on topic session ideas.

What is ASR Central?

As ASR has grown and morphed over the last few years, another sub-unit has formed called ASR Central. This new sub-unit includes Systems Campus Relations, Student Degree Progress, and Strategic Projects & Ops., all of which report directly to Sue.

Donuts, Dogs, and Donations (or, ASR floofers, puppers, and borkers)

Joplin, new member of Chelsea Weber's fam

Thank you to everyone who attended our ASR Community Fund Drive event: Donuts, Dogs, and Donations. Together we raised a total of $725.69 for the TC Student Success Fund!

The winner of the dog photo contest is Joplin (pictured left) who lives with Chelsea Weber of OTR.

Thank you Chelsea Joplin for supporting student scholarships and degree completion. We appreciate everyone who contributed to the event.

For your viewing pleasure, all the submissions are listed below. We could only include one dog per ASR unit, so while all dogs were not part of the friendly competition, take comfort that there's not a dog in the world that isn't cute.

Chunk makes life fun with Theresa Hillesheim of ASR-IT 

Emmett belongs to Joe Baker of OSF

Leon shares living space with Bob Quinney of OCM

Tonks is the herder of Mike and Domini Brown, ASR-IT and C&C

Uli is Trinity Muller's (of One Stop) pupper, see his smile?

Baylee the tiny floofer belongs to Lindsay Bork of ASR Central

This nugget, Kylo, is in Julie Selander's (of One Stop) fam

Loki lives with Christina Wilson of OSF

Murphy and Dorothy make Nate Peterson (of One Stop) and Ryan Ceresnak (of ASR-IT) happy 

Newman thinks deep thoughts as he converses with Amber Cellotti of OTR

Reeses breaks Crystal Nichols' (of C&C) heart when he sleeps like this

Remy hogs the bed (likely) at Michelle Boland's (of OSF) home

Roxy wants Katie Johnson of One Stop to throw the ball (more more more!)

Sugar co-habitates with Dave Dueck of OCM

Renae Faunce (ASR Training Team) has noble Watson to keep her on her toes

Callie waves hi from Christina Yoong's (C&C) backyard

Not done with your dog fix yet? Try this »

E2 survey available on Monday

The Employee Engagement survey will become available on October 16 and remain open until November 3. You will get access to the survey via email from UofMNSurvey@us.confirmit.com. The email will have your own unique link to take the survey. All survey responses are confidential. If you have trouble accessing the email, see Employee Engagement.

There are terms on the survey which may be vague. We would like to keep terms in the survey data as consistent as possible across ASR units, so please refer to the list below when filling out the survey:

• “University of Minnesota” = University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
• “College leadership” = ASR Directors
• Sue VanVoorhis, Grant Clavelle, Stacey Tidball, Jeremy Todd, Julie Selander, Tina Falkner, Adrienne Bricker
• “Department” = Your ASR department
• ASR Central (staff who report directly to Sue)
• ASR Information Technology (ASR-IT)
• Continuity and Compliance (C&C)
• Office of Classroom Management (OCM)
• Office of the Registrar (OTR)
• One Stop Student Services
• Office of Student Finance (OSF)
• “Manager/Supervisor” = Your director supervisor (the person who conducts your performance review)

If you missed it, catch up on the latest ASR in-service presentation given by the Employee Engagement Team. They shared about the Employee Engagement (E2) survey from past years, the measures and initiatives ASR units took on as a result of survey findings, and what to look for in the coming E2 survey.

Mid-year performance appraisals

It is time for mid-year performance appraisals and the form is ready! The form and other instructions are available on the ASR Intranet. To navigate, go to ASR Intranet > Human Resources > Performance Appraisals.

Deadlines for mid-year appraisals are as follows:

• Employees submit completed form to supervisor by November 13
• Supervisors complete form and meet with employees by December 8

IMPORTANT: On some computers, the PDF may open by default in a web browser window such as Internet Explorer. Do not fill out the form in a web browser window. Take the extra step to find the downloaded file and open the file in Adobe Reader DC. For questions about mid-year reviews, speak with your direct supervisor.

Community Fund Drive

The University’s annual charitable giving campaign, Community Fund Drive, is open until October 31. The drive allows employees to give to charitable causes that they care about through payroll deduction. Since 1995, the Community Fund Drive has raised $22.7 million. Last year, a record 31 percent of employees on the Twin Cities campus donated more than $1.16 million to the community.

Relevant to our work in helping students find success, ASR has created the TC Student Success Fund. The fund helps undergraduate students overcome financial barriers that prevent opportunity and success during their academic careers. Help us increase the impact we have on student success by giving a gift to the TC Student Success Fund.

ASR z-link consolidation effort

An effort is underway to transfer all ASR-related, individually owned z-links into departmental accounts. This will ensure that if/when a destination link behind a z-link changes, the change can be made by people in a unit or department instead of just one individual. When a z-link is created, it is “owned” by the Internet ID that created it, but ownership can be transferred.

If you have created a z-link with your own Internet ID that is used on a website, a mass email, or otherwise widely distributed, the goal is to get it transferred to a departmental account. For assistance, contact Matt Tveter at tvet0004@umn.edu.

As a bit of background, the website z.umn.edu is a URL (Uniform Resource Locator, or the address of a webpage) shortening service and many of us across ASR use the service. To learn what a z-link is, visit z.umn.edu and view their short (entertaining!) video on the homepage.

WiFi network “UofM Secure” to retire

The WiFi network “UofM Secure” is scheduled to be retired at the end of December 2017. You should now continuously connect to eduroam, the new, preferred, secure network for students, faculty, and staff. UofM-Guest is available for guests and visitors. OIT-managed devices will continue to connect to UofM Secure for the near future until all areas and places have been transitioned.

Things we do (outside of work): Amber and Stacia run TC Marathon!

Stacia Madsen (left) and Amber Cellotti (right) are co-workers, friends, and long-distance runners. Stacia hails from the GPAS team in Continuity and Compliance, and Amber leads Grad Ed Records in the Office of the Registrar. Together (as well as separately), they have braved all kinds of crazy conditions to crush miles in their tennies. Most recently they ran in the Twin Cities Marathon—notably one of the most beautiful urban marathons in the country (see the map). Together they also completed the Hotdash 10 Mile and Captiol Run 20 Mile, but these are just a few.

For fun, we did a Q&A and they each shared personal tidbits about running. Next time you pass Amber or Stacia in the halls, give them a high five for their accomplishments!

Q: Why do you like running?

Amber: Running is my stress relief. It's the best way for me to get out of my head and clear my mind when there's a lot going on. There is also a really great community when it comes to running.

Stacia: Because I get to eat more food! I run for bacon! (Seriously, I do!) I continue to run to feel empowered, accomplished, and a bada$$! 

Q: When and why did you start running long distance, or have you always?

Amber: I started running about 3 1/2 years ago and did it initially as a way to get in shape. My first race was a 5k through the Minnesota Brewery Running series, because beer. That same year I did the Twin Cities 10 mile and that is what hooked me on distance running. Being a part of the marathon weekend and running part of the marathon course was exhilarating (and exhausting). Part of distance running, for me, is the challenge and testing my limits. 

Q: What kind of training do you do for these races?

Amber: Oy. The training. It's soooo time consuming. I started training in April through my gym's run club doing speed drills and hills along with strength training and then got into my marathon training program at the beginning of June. I run 3-4 times a week and then cross-train (yoga, strength training, etc.) on the days I'm not running. I've never skipped a weekend long run (ranging 8-20 miles during the training), but mid-week runs were a bit more lax...due to laziness and not wanting to get up at 4am to run. :)

Q: What does it feel like when you're done with a race?

Amber: Sweaty and sometimes sore. Also, accomplished. 

Stacia: Running is not easy! No matter how many times I run, the first 10 minutes are always hard. But each run is an opportunity to persevere and challenge me to do more than I think I can. No matter how bad a run is, I always feel like I have accomplished something. This year I completed a 50K (31ish miles) trail race, a marathon, 1/2 marathon, and a trail RAGNAR in Wisconsin. I had doubts about my ability to complete each of those events, but after completing the 50K, I felt like I could do anything.

Q: What running shoes do you wear? Give geeky details.

Amber: I've changed up my running shoes a bit over the last three years trying to find the right one. Right now I'm bouncing between Saucony and New Balance. I prefer a neutral shoe with a wide toe-box and not a ton of cushion. I really like to feel the road when I'm running. My feet probably don't appreciate it, but it makes me feel more connected. 

Q: Headphones or no headphones?

Amber: No headphones! I joke that I like to listen to the sound of my labored breathing while I run. Also, for safety reasons, it's best to not wear headphones so that you are more aware of your surroundings. I do a lot of running in the street and do my best to not get hit by cars/bikers.

Last words: 

Amber: There's a really great community when it comes to running. I've been fortunate to meet a lot of great people through run clubs and there's a lot of support and encouragement. I don't always like running. There are times when it feels like a chore and I have to do a lot of self talk to get myself out the door, but in the end, I very rarely regret lacing up my shoes and running.

Stacia: The hours of training and pain are made easier by the support and community of runners and others who I get to run with and who continually inspire me. Thank you to all who have supported me and asked me about how a race went over this past year.