ASR Book Club fall reading

The ASR Book Club continues this fall in early October with our next book, How Full is Your Bucket? Expanded Anniversary Edition, by authors, Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton (Clifton is the author of Strengths Finder). If you’d like to participate, fill out the ASR Book Club form by Thursday, September 26. The group will likely meet every other week for a handful of meetings over a brown bag lunch hour. We’ll discuss key points in the book as well as our own perspectives on the topic. Melissa Gasper and Eleanor Pijut have volunteered to facilitate. ASR is looking into purchasing the book for those who participate.

In this quick read (less than 100 pages) the book provides strategies grounded in 50 years of research. It offers ways to increase positive interactions in the workplace, professional relationship insights, and engaging stories that inspire lasting changes in our interactions. Additionally, there is an access code included with the book that gives you access to take the Clifton Strengths assessment.

Enter your pet for Pets, Pastries, and Philanthropy

To take part in the annual, University-wide Community Fund Drive, ASR will be hosting an event called Pets, Pastries, and Philanthropy on Thursday, October 24 from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. in Fraser B20. All proceeds will go towards the TC Student Success Fund. Pets, Pastries, and Philanthropy will feature an ASR pet picture gallery and treats. You’ll be able to purchase votes with cash and vote for your favorite/cutest pets.

To prepare, we need photo submissions of your pets! To participate, send an email to Megan Wollner (woll0122@umn.edu) by Thursday, October 17. Include a photograph and name of your pet. (Note: if your pet won sometime in the past few years, please refrain from re-entering them this year.)

GPAS team has moved

Earlier this week, the GPAS team members (Stacia Madsen, Clare Dingley, and Chris Abts) relocated from Williamson Hall to Fraser Hall. The entire Degree Audit Team, including GPAS and APAS team members, is now located in the 133 Fraser hallway.

FY20 computer update

Moving forward, all new computers for ASR employees will come with Google Drive File Stream. They will also have access to the Ricoh printer in 200 Fraser and the Ricoh printer in Williamson 160 next to the water cooler. Information about Google Drive File Stream is available. It is a handy way to work on your Drive files offline.

Supporting student success: Financial Wellness Workshops

In collaboration with OSF, the One Stop Student Services Financial Wellness committee is hosting a series of 6 workshops for first-year new high school students and first-year new advanced standing students. Students who take part will be entered into a drawing to win one of fourteen $1000 scholarships! Students can also schedule one-on-one financial wellness meetings for an additional entry. We emailed NHS and NAS students today to invite them to the workshops.

The workshops educate students on budgeting, loans and credit, finding scholarships, and will enable them to make informed financial decisions. From our post-workshop survey, we heard that 100% of students said past workshops were helpful and 96% said they learned something new about finances. From fall 2018 scholarship winners:

"Because of this award, I will not have to borrow as much money as I previously thought. It feels a lot better to know that I don't have as much pressure on myself to get and pay back loans than before. I'm very glad that I was lucky enough to win this award, and that the U has great programs like this to help undergrads learn things they don't in a regular classroom."

"This award has made a huge impact on how I am able to pay for college this year it saved me from taking a loan for the fall semester."

Expiring links in mass emails

You may have experienced clicking on a link in a University email only to find that it’s expired and you can’t find what you’re looking for. You may also have noticed that the link is not familiar, or looks something like this: “click.ecommunications2.umn.edu.” Many mass email applications require the business to define an expiration date for URLs. Additionally, in order to track clicks on links, the mass email application changes the URL from the familiar one to a system-generated URL. We know that this can be a frustrating experience. If it’s crucial that you reach a link that’s expired, you may be able to email the sender in the footer of the email to ask for the original source link.

In ASR, we use Salesforce Marketing Cloud to send mass emails. Marketing Cloud requires us to define an expiration date which we have defined as 6 months’ time. If you have feedback about this, feel free to write to the ASR Communications team at ASRComm@umn.edu.

Mandatory first-round interview question for all ASR positions

The HR recruiting system now defaults eligibility to work in the U.S. as "no". A review of applicants has shown that all are missing this question so we need more information at the interview stage.

Going forward, as part of the first round interview for each and every candidate, this question must be included:

• If you were offered this position, would you be able to provide proof of eligibility to work in the U.S. within one week of a job offer?

It is not allowable to ask if they have a work visa, require sponsorship, etc. This question is also listed in the hiring checklist (z.umn.edu/asrhire) with a link to examples of work authorization.

Please email asrcentral@umn.edu if you have any questions or concerns.