Save the date for a staff appreciation event

This year’s annual ASR staff appreciation event will be held at Loring Pasta Bar on Thursday, December 19 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. We’ve placed a hold on your calendar. We’ll have door prizes given throughout the event. If you’d like to contribute prize items, you can bring it along with you to the event. Student workers are welcome to attend. We’ll have more details to share later on.

Financial aid verification form for independent students is now online

A cross-functional team in ASR recently launched an online form that students can use to complete the financial aid independent verification process. It was previously a paper process using a PDF form. The new form, built with Jadu XForms Pro, will improve things for students and staff by auto-filling the student’s data, allowing them to upload documentation rather than having to mail it, and making turnaround time faster. The project team is also working on creating a similar form for dependent verification. Students selected for verification receive a direct link to the independent verification form. It is also available on the One Stop website.

Calendar for transfer students - submit events

Folks who work in Transfer Student Experience are updating the calendar they provide to new transfer students. The goal is to help those students quickly learn about things on campus in the first few weeks of the term. Sarah Ihrig is asking staff to submit events and resources via Google Form now that may be useful to transfer students within their first six weeks of the spring semester. This may include:

• Any event or resource helpful to transfer students (does not have to be only for transfer students)
• Drop-in hours
• Open houses
• Events that you already have scheduled or regularly hold
• Events/resources that are college/major-specific

ASR Printer Inventory

We are taking an inventory of all the printers we have in ASR. If you have a printer in your office or cube space, please fill out the printer inventory form. This survey is for the personal printers that you may have at your desk. In addition, if your team or unit has a printer in your workspace that is not part of our contract with Loffler/Ricoh/Toshiba, please have one person from your team submit the survey for that equipment.

Office moves in Williamson Hall

There has been some transition of space assignments in 160 Williamson Hall. Kate Sophia and Matt Tveter are now each located adjacent to the 162 conference room. Kristy Davis (M/W/F) and Jaime Wascalus (T/Th) will be sharing the 160S office (formerly occupied by Matt). Rachel McKessock will now reside in 160T (formerly occupied by Kate).

Thank you

We ended up with a 96% participation rate with the Employee Engagement survey this year, which is awesome! The ASR directors send a huge thank you for completing the survey. They look forward to working with everyone as we review the survey results in the future.

Expense reports in Chrome River

It has been a year since Chrome River officially went live for ASR. Thank you to everyone for taking the time to learn the system and switch to the new process. The expense reports have included a lot of good information, however, here are a couple of reminders about the most frequent issues:

1. Please make sure your business purpose (justification) addresses how the activity being submitted relates to the department’s/University’s mission.
2. The conference lodging checkbox is configured to identify situations where travelers are using a published, pre-negotiated rate provided by the conference organizer. If your lodging does not use a conference rate, please do not check this box.

Spotlight from the Mental Health in the Workplace Group: Seasonal Affective Disorder

The fall season brings changing leaves, pumpkin spice, and turning back the clocks. For some, this shift can also bring Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). If you are experiencing symptoms of SAD (e.g., depressed mood, loss of energy, increased sleep, anxiety, irritability, and difficulty concentrating), consider the following:

• check out a SAD light from Magrath Library
• consult your health care provider about vitamin D supplements and exercise
• review these tips from the National Alliance on Mental Illness related to turning back the clock
• talk to your health care provider if you are having trouble managing symptoms

In the coming weeks, we’ll be focusing on stress management. If you have topics that you would like to see covered, please send them to the ASR Suggestion Box with a note that it’s for the Mental Health in the Workplace Group.