Update from Sue

I am sharing some text from the excellent work of Leon Prieto and Simone Phipps in their recent book, African American Management History: Insights on Gaining a Cooperative Advantage, which I read from my Tuesday Reading by David Sweetman, MOR Associates Leadership Coach and Consultant.

Deep and meaningful connections: This is about focusing on organization values and creating and articulating meaningfulness in work with each employee, so they feel a strong sense of significance and purpose in their work. For many of us, this meaningfulness is inherent in the purposes of higher education in the creation and dissemination of knowledge. How do we help those we lead more fully see the connection between their work and these purposeful missions?

Additionally, how do we create an environment that enables each person to thrive by best developing and using their knowledge and skills? Especially under increased budget and time pressures, how can we provide some meaningful forms of growth and recognition for each of our team members?

These words really resonated with me as ASR is doing tremendous work, sometimes with little thanks from the community. I believe we are doing such terrific work because all of you are focused on student success, and we all understand our organizational values, which allow us to focus on meaningful work as a team.

As we all continue to be leaders in our positions, go back and look at our mission, vision, and values if you haven't done so in a while, as doing this has reenergized me. You should all be proud of the work you are doing from fall reopening planning, normal operations, and continued enhancements to help students, faculty, and staff.

Thank you.

ASR Operations Project Committee (ASROPC) updates

• Several new Jadu workflows are in progress.
• One Time Drop, Academic Policy Petition, Financial Aid Accommodation Request, and Return to the University
• New Professional Experience and Resource Request (PERR) form is being piloted with ASR-IT and will eventually replace the existing PDR form. We anticipate rolling it out to all of ASR in early fall.
• The Independent Status Appeal process went live in Jadu last month.
• Fall 2020 planning
• Emails were sent regarding instruction modes to all Undergraduate students on Tuesday, and Professional/Graduate students will receive them today.
• July 23, 2020 Email from Office of Undergraduate Education (Reviewed by the Provost and the President)
• July 28, 2020 Email from One Stop to all Twin Cities undergraduate students
• This went to all students with enrollment for fall 2020 (including NAS, NHS, & UIT).
• OCM is working with faculty to finalize classes that still need classrooms. There are roughly 2 dozen classes they are working to place. 
• We worked with the Provost’s office to create talking points about tuition and fees for fall 2020, and we are now working on guidance for instructors.
• Multiple areas of ASR will collaborate on the “Start of Term” email, which is sent to all students right before classes begin. Typically, this email covers how to view class schedules, information about bills, and financial aid. We anticipate multiple changes to this typical email format to fit the needs of fall 2020.

COVID-19 awareness training

If you’re interested in learning more about the Coronavirus, a new COVID-19 awareness course is available in the Training Hub. The course covers the symptoms of the virus, how the virus spreads, and how you can protect yourself and others from the virus.

Academic Support Resources Operations Project Committee (ASROPC) project update

ASROPC is a new group created to facilitate and align project work within ASR. The committee has representatives from all seven ASR Units. The group is working to coordinate ASR operational work and procedures, integrations, custom web development, and central OIT technology projects across units to ensure the appropriate staff and resources are included and available in alignment with priorities.

In collaboration with ASR Leadership, the group has identified these two forms as Jadu project priorities for late September through December.

• Academic Policy Petition
• One Time Drop

The One Time Drop will be removed from the Academic Policy Petition and become its own form. Work to automate both forms will be done concurrently. Advisors have provided feedback that COVID-19 has presented challenges to the current process of using a pdf form, particularly in getting necessary signatures or routing the form. Electronically routed forms will streamline the process for students and staff. The project is co-led by Chris Smith from ASR and Katie Russell from OUE. A working group is being formed to include representation from the undergraduate colleges. As the work gets underway, look for future updates.

PM101 Series update

The ASR Project Management Series provided an understanding of the basic principles of project management in order to help staff effectively contribute to project teams. We previously offered six in-person courses at various times throughout the year. In January, the committee, which is a group of staff who were instructors for various courses in the series, started evaluating options to review the course content and make enhancements, and then Covid happened.

Going forward, we will be relying on Project Management Foundations, a course available through LinkedIn Learning that combines content from several of our in person offerings. The lessons are broken into short chapters with quizzes to test your knowledge.

Basic project management knowledge is an important competency in our work and we encourage those new to ASR or any staff looking to expand their skills and knowledge to enroll in this self-paced course. It is a great way to take a pause from your day to day work tasks and engage your mind in different ways. For more information, please see the Academic Support Resources Project Page: Short Courses.

Additionally, if you decide to complete the final course quiz, you can earn a certificate for 3.25 professional development units recognized by the Project Management Institute (PMI). The certificate step is completely optional, but we encourage you to speak with your supervisor to evaluate the alignment of job needs and your individual development plans. We will also be providing a coaching guide to department supervisors to help guide one on one conversations.

The committee will be looking to gather feedback from those who complete the course in order to understand the value and impact it has on your professional work. All feedback can be sent to pwf-team@umn.edu. In addition, we intend to offer an in-person component in the future that highlights the nuances of projects in ASR. We will also be evaluating additional course topic areas like Effective Project Teams, Conflict and Change Management, and Business Analysis.

Fee adjustments for fall

All RRC managers throughout the system have been asked to review all collegiate, term, course, class, and other fees to determine if students will receive the full benefit of the fee when courses transition to fully online after Thanksgiving. If the college/department determines they will not, the RRC managers will adjust the fee in the Tuition and Fee Management System (TFMS). This action will hopefully avoid the refunds and adjustments that occurred in spring 2020. The RRC’s fee review and any adjustments are due by Friday, July 17.

Students on the Twin Cities campus who live in University housing will be asked to indicate if they intend to live in the residence halls only through Thanksgiving or to the end of term, and there will be two separate rates. Students who choose to come back to the residence hall after break, but who did not indicate that before, will be charged the appropriate housing and dining charges.

Academic Fees – Campus/College/Durable Goods

The expectation for academic fees is that services will continue to be delivered, possibly in alternative formats, and these rates will not be adjusted. (This is consistent with how these fees were treated during the refund review for spring semester for almost all campuses.)

Miscellaneous Fees – Term Fees

This category of fees includes application fees, confirmation fees, health plans, stadium fees, transportation fees, and others. Most of these do not require adjustment for the updated fall schedule. However, fees related to rental of space or equipment may require adjustments due to limitations for being on campus after Thanksgiving.

Student Service Fees

These fees support student government, student organizations, student wellness, and media organizations amongst other things. There is no expectation that these fees will be adjusted.

Course/Class Fees

By far the largest category of fees, course/class fees are the most directly affected by the change in the academic calendar and changes in course delivery for fall 2020.

Foreign Gifts and Contracts Reporting changes

Section 117 of the Higher Education Act requires schools to submit reports about gifts and contracts that are $250,000 or greater from any foreign source. In the recent past, this was done through OSF and the E-App two times a year (January and July), with information collected by Accounting Services. Recent congressional concerns about foreign influence in schools has resulted in a new reporting tool that requires significantly more information reported, including student tuition paid for by embassies and foreign quasi-government agencies.

In addition, copies of the contracts and donations must be supplied as supporting documentation. You can imagine the volume this represents for an institution of our size and diversity. The new reporting tool appears to have been designed without end user input. For example, thousands of data elements cannot be uploaded in a spreadsheet, but rather, it must be uploaded individually. The Controller's Office has taken the lead on the data and its submission. To our knowledge, there is no pending legal action by school(s) to address this significant expansion of federal oversight or the administrative burden this new tool represents.

Unfortunately, data entry in the new reporting tool will be frustrating as it was poorly designed. The tool requires more data elements but has no ability for multiple uploads. To better understand how this system works, see the grocery store analogy below.

You’ve been given a shopping list with various items, such as meat, baked goods, dairy products, and beverages. Typically, you’d go through the aisles at your grocery store to get all of your meat, all of your bakery, and so on, until you can check out with a full cart.

However, with this system, there is institutional information that has four categories, just like the shopping list. But first, you can only go to the meat department and take one item, then you can go to the bakery and take one item, and so on, until you have to check out with no more than four items total in your cart.

Then, in order to get the rest of your items, you have to go back to the store with a new shopping cat, and like the first time, get no more than one item from each department. Even when you have nothing left on your list from a department, you still have to go through that aisle in order to get the last item on your list.

For a small college with one or two gifts, this system is perfectly designed since they would only need to check out once or twice. However, for a large school with hundreds, if not thousands of discrete entries, due to different transaction dates, etc., this process is a lot more complicated and tedious.

Update from Sue

ASR staff are the best! As many of you have heard, one of our staff members is out on an unexpected leave, and in response, staff have offered their assistance and are making adjustments to their schedules for this unit, even with looming deadlines. This is just overwhelming and heartfelt for the directors and me. We truly have staff that care about each other and our University community.

As I mention in your new employee orientation, I want everyone to be a leader in their position, and I can see this over and over again as we prepare for the fall opening. All of you play an important role, and I appreciate the help and support. We continue working towards making ASR and the University even better for our students, faculty, and staff.

Thank you.

Fall communications planning

The ASR Communication team is working with many stakeholders on the fall 2020 communication plan. We have already updated the OCM website and sent messages to schedulers.

We are currently working on the following items:

• Update language on both the One Stop and ASR websites
• Send a message to advisors
• Update MyU to help students understand schedule changes
• Create a slide deck as a placeholder for staff who are presenting externally on fall planning
• Share a fall planning 2020 talking points document with advisors and other stakeholders

If you have any questions, contact Carin Thoms (ande8670@umn.edu).

Mental Wellness Q&A

This section is devoted to answering general questions related to mental wellness in the workplace. Please continue to submit questions using this form.

This insightful Q&A related to Minority Mental Health Awareness comes from Magellan Health Insights with Diane J. Felder, M.D., the medical director for Magellan Healthcare of Texas. Below is one of the questions asked of Dr. Felder surrounding barriers that minorities face when it comes to mental health.

Q: What are the barriers to minorities receiving high quality mental health treatment?

A: “Members of minorities are less likely to seek treatment, both for their physical and mental health. However, when minorities do reach out for assistance, they are less likely to receive consistent, high-quality treatment.

There are many contributing factors to these barriers. The high costs of care can be a deterrent. Most minority groups in the U.S. have higher than average rates of poverty. Members of minorities are more likely to lack insurance coverage, and may only seek emergency care, which costs more and is less effective than sustained treatment. Medications or diagnostic procedures may be viewed as too expensive. Or, reliable transportation for follow up care may not be available.

There are also what are called the social determinants of health (SDOH). These include factors such as consistent transportation, the availability of healthy food and safe and affordable housing, access to education, public safety and environmentally safe living and working conditions. Minority populations are more frequently negatively impacted by the SDoH. For example, these members are more likely to be homeless or move frequently, which interferes with maintaining consistent treatment. They may lack adequate nutrition and are at greater risk for having associated medical conditions like hypertension or diabetes.

Further, the stigma around mental illness, while improving, is still a deterrent to seeking treatment – for everyone. Some cultures may see it as taboo to request help or to be seen as someone who needs help.

When minority patients do seek treatment, there may be no one available who speaks their language. In some clinical settings I’ve been in, it might take a week to arrange for an interpreter or a therapist who was proficient in the patient’s language. They may not have a primary care physician to help with screening for mental health conditions or provide follow-up care. In addition, the community clinics where minority members are more likely to receive care may be understaffed, overcrowded and have long wait times. Understaffing may lead to inadequate screening or even misdiagnosis. And, frankly, the clinic also may not be in a place where the member feels safe traveling so they may hesitate to go in the first place or return for continued treatment.”