The results and recommendations from the third 2011-12 ASR employee survey are now available. The survey team (Anya Norton, Ingrid Nuttall, Maggie O'Neill, and Travis Trautman) reviewed and analyzed the responses from the survey, developed tag clouds from the responses to the qualitative questions, and presented the recommendations to the ASR directors based on the data. The fourth mini-survey will be sent the third week in May. It will seek feedback about the revised survey format and follow-up questions for implementing some of the recommendations.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Tiny Desk Concert in Fraser
The University's Tiny Desk Concert is an opportunity to connect University music students to staff, faculty, and others through live musical performances and a brief discussion of their work. One of these wee wonders took place this week in B20 Fraser Hall during the financial aid-IT unit meeting.
Departmental master's cellist Christa Saeger enraptures her audience.
Departmental master's cellist Christa Saeger enraptures her audience.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
To train or not to train (on Google Apps)
Last year, two sessions were offered on Google Apps tips and tricks. There has been some renewed interest in these sessions, especially following the advent of Google +. Please indicate if you are interested. There needs to be enough people to warrant a session or two, so if you're interested, make your vote count!
Another day, another senator
Senator Amy Klobuchar followed in the footsteps of Senator Al Franken and visited the University to talk with students, staff, and others at a round table about federal financial aid. ASR's own Kris Wright and Julie Selander were in attendance, as was Bob McMaster (vice provost and dean of undergraduate education). In fact, the Minnesota Daily covered the visit and promoted One Stop's Julie Selander to a new position in a non-existent department. See if you can spot it.
By the way, the senator loved the "Like Like a Student" financial literacy campaign. Two high-powered Washington insiders down, 98 to go. 99 if you count the vice president, since he's the president of the senate.
Senator Klobuchar with students
By the way, the senator loved the "Like Like a Student" financial literacy campaign. Two high-powered Washington insiders down, 98 to go. 99 if you count the vice president, since he's the president of the senate.
Senator Klobuchar with students
Future News & Notes content
As you can tell, News & Notes is a fairly conservative publication in that it is limited largely to the nuts and bolts of business. Well, we're thinking of branching out, but we'd like to know your thoughts. Please complete this incredibly brief survey and let us know if you think we should shake things up a bit.
Get to know the Academic Records unit
The academic records unit in the Office of the Registrar (OTR) on the St. Paul campus is a busy team. They provide oversight of all student academic records, including change of college, special exams, dual degree, degree application and clearance, and degree verification. The department also manages the ordering and processing of transcripts and diplomas for the entire University. It's a big job. A staggering 69,000 transcripts and 15,500 diplomas are processed each year.
The team's aim is to simplify and facilitate critical academic and business processes. "One project we're working on is streamlining the degree clearance process for graduate and professional programs by using the PeopleSoft degree clearance pages," said Emily Holt, business analyst. "This will eliminate the need for paper clearances to be routed from the program to OTR and will expedite posting of a student's degree."
The unit recently launched a new electronic transcript ordering and delivery system, Avow. The system, which went live February 8, 2012, allows students to order transcripts more quickly and provides an official electronic copy as a certified PDF. "The system is available for all students, former or current, from all University of Minnesota campuses," Emily said. "It does not require an Internet ID and password to create an order, and it has allowed the University to centralize transcript orders from all campuses to the Twin Cities."
In the coming months, the unit will tackle ways to streamline the Change of College process for students. Since the current application is on paper, the goal is to automate it. This will benefit both students and staff.
The department is also part of the ongoing university-wide Graduate School restructuring initiative, as well as a redesign project related to the setup of courses and classes in PeopleSoft. "The outcome is to improve the quality of data to ensure that end users have clear definitions and intuitive codes when adding information in ECAS and ECS," Emily said.
The office also works closely with the National Student Clearinghouse to verify degree awards. Because many prospective employers now verify a student's educational information, it is critical that the office provide accurate and timely information to the Clearinghouse.
The office has been involved in verifying records of students that are sometimes less than honest. "The weirdest situation was when we were asked to verify a transcript that a prospective employee had provided as proof of earning a bachelor's degree in nursing," Emily said. "Every single course subject on the transcript was nursing, but the best part was the master's and PhD courses they included."
Though the workload can be demanding, the team takes time to relax and have fun, too. "The environment is really a community atmosphere; we're like a family," said Director of Academic Records Frank Blalark. "We meet for breakfast once a term and have potlucks."
Pam Dutchin, executive operations/student services specialist, said people struggle to grasp the scope of work that the team performs. "People would be surprised to know what we actually do, and the amount of what we do," she said.
And there's no room for error. "The biggest challenge for the office is the pressure of accuracy, because we're responsible for the student's record," Emily said.
But, Emily, who has been at the University for nearly 27 years, said the unique interactions she has daily with students, faculty, and staff make the job worthwhile. "I enjoy being part of the University community and working with a wide variety of people," she said. "It's more than just the paycheck and benefits."
Academic Records Staff:
Frank Blalark, Director of Academic Records
Robert Bode, Business Process Analyst
Emily Holt, Business Analyst
Sue Johnson, Functional Analyst
Heather McLaughlin, Business Process Analyst
Brenda Stutelberg, Info Tech Specialist
Colleen Brooks, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Pam Dutchin, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Kathleen Georges, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Bill Jabas, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Robbie Levine, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Deborah Pommer, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Barbara Yungers, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Sarah Johnson, Student Support Services Asst
Janet Powell, Student Support Services Asst
The team's aim is to simplify and facilitate critical academic and business processes. "One project we're working on is streamlining the degree clearance process for graduate and professional programs by using the PeopleSoft degree clearance pages," said Emily Holt, business analyst. "This will eliminate the need for paper clearances to be routed from the program to OTR and will expedite posting of a student's degree."
The unit recently launched a new electronic transcript ordering and delivery system, Avow. The system, which went live February 8, 2012, allows students to order transcripts more quickly and provides an official electronic copy as a certified PDF. "The system is available for all students, former or current, from all University of Minnesota campuses," Emily said. "It does not require an Internet ID and password to create an order, and it has allowed the University to centralize transcript orders from all campuses to the Twin Cities."
In the coming months, the unit will tackle ways to streamline the Change of College process for students. Since the current application is on paper, the goal is to automate it. This will benefit both students and staff.
The department is also part of the ongoing university-wide Graduate School restructuring initiative, as well as a redesign project related to the setup of courses and classes in PeopleSoft. "The outcome is to improve the quality of data to ensure that end users have clear definitions and intuitive codes when adding information in ECAS and ECS," Emily said.
The office also works closely with the National Student Clearinghouse to verify degree awards. Because many prospective employers now verify a student's educational information, it is critical that the office provide accurate and timely information to the Clearinghouse.
The office has been involved in verifying records of students that are sometimes less than honest. "The weirdest situation was when we were asked to verify a transcript that a prospective employee had provided as proof of earning a bachelor's degree in nursing," Emily said. "Every single course subject on the transcript was nursing, but the best part was the master's and PhD courses they included."
Though the workload can be demanding, the team takes time to relax and have fun, too. "The environment is really a community atmosphere; we're like a family," said Director of Academic Records Frank Blalark. "We meet for breakfast once a term and have potlucks."
Pam Dutchin, executive operations/student services specialist, said people struggle to grasp the scope of work that the team performs. "People would be surprised to know what we actually do, and the amount of what we do," she said.
And there's no room for error. "The biggest challenge for the office is the pressure of accuracy, because we're responsible for the student's record," Emily said.
But, Emily, who has been at the University for nearly 27 years, said the unique interactions she has daily with students, faculty, and staff make the job worthwhile. "I enjoy being part of the University community and working with a wide variety of people," she said. "It's more than just the paycheck and benefits."
Academic Records Staff:
Frank Blalark, Director of Academic Records
Robert Bode, Business Process Analyst
Emily Holt, Business Analyst
Sue Johnson, Functional Analyst
Heather McLaughlin, Business Process Analyst
Brenda Stutelberg, Info Tech Specialist
Colleen Brooks, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Pam Dutchin, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Kathleen Georges, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Bill Jabas, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Robbie Levine, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Deborah Pommer, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Barbara Yungers, Executive Oper/Stud Svs Spec
Sarah Johnson, Student Support Services Asst
Janet Powell, Student Support Services Asst
ASR-IT organizational changes
The following is an email that was sent to all ASR staff on behalf of Grant Clavelle on May 4, 2012 regarding staff and organizational changes in ASR-IT:
Grant Clavelle, ASR IT Director is pleased to announce a number of ASR-IT organizational changes which will be effective immediately.
Carolee Cohen will become an Interim Associate Director, still reporting to Grant. She will assist Grant in his director duties as well as manage the OSF group of business analysts. Richard Toetschinger will report to Carolee. The intent would be to permanently fill the position of Associate Director in the future.
In the near future Carolee will name a Lead Business Analyst from among the current SF analysts to assist her with SF work direction.
WIlliam Dana will become the ASR Project Director for the PeopleSoft 9.0 upgrade. As we continue to ramp up for the upgrade William will begin to reassign his day-to-day duties with the intent of being on the project 100% when we begin in earnest sometime this summer. As people are moved to the project they will report to William for their project duties.
In the near future Grant will name another Lead Business Analyst from among the current SR analysts to assist with work direction.
Kristeen Anderson will become the Lead for ASR Business Intelligence (BI) initiative and will divide her time between the BI project and the Grad Ed project. Kristeen will now report to Sue Van Voorhis.
Santiago Fernandez-Gimenez will formally move to the Project and Work Management Facilitation group as a Lead. This is a formalization of the work that Santiago has been doing for the past number of years with a particular emphasis in the past year. Santiago will report to Grant.
Christa Nicols will continue to have duties in the Imaging Unit, as well as administrative support. She will also have duties in the Project and Work Management Facilitation group, receiving work direction from Santiago.
If you have any questions relating to these changes, please feel free to contact Grant.
Grant Clavelle, ASR IT Director is pleased to announce a number of ASR-IT organizational changes which will be effective immediately.
Carolee Cohen will become an Interim Associate Director, still reporting to Grant. She will assist Grant in his director duties as well as manage the OSF group of business analysts. Richard Toetschinger will report to Carolee. The intent would be to permanently fill the position of Associate Director in the future.
In the near future Carolee will name a Lead Business Analyst from among the current SF analysts to assist her with SF work direction.
WIlliam Dana will become the ASR Project Director for the PeopleSoft 9.0 upgrade. As we continue to ramp up for the upgrade William will begin to reassign his day-to-day duties with the intent of being on the project 100% when we begin in earnest sometime this summer. As people are moved to the project they will report to William for their project duties.
In the near future Grant will name another Lead Business Analyst from among the current SR analysts to assist with work direction.
Kristeen Anderson will become the Lead for ASR Business Intelligence (BI) initiative and will divide her time between the BI project and the Grad Ed project. Kristeen will now report to Sue Van Voorhis.
Santiago Fernandez-Gimenez will formally move to the Project and Work Management Facilitation group as a Lead. This is a formalization of the work that Santiago has been doing for the past number of years with a particular emphasis in the past year. Santiago will report to Grant.
Christa Nicols will continue to have duties in the Imaging Unit, as well as administrative support. She will also have duties in the Project and Work Management Facilitation group, receiving work direction from Santiago.
If you have any questions relating to these changes, please feel free to contact Grant.
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