We wanted to recognize everyone in ASR who quickly came together to help support a student and their family in the best way possible. Through thoughtful and swift collaboration, the individuals involved were not only able to ease some of the burden of the student and their family but also support colleagues across the University. Thank you to Mila Ly, Regina Moran, Stacey Tidball, Julie Selander, Nate Peterson, and Karen Magness for working so closely together and offering a great example of how strong collaboration across ASR makes a difference in students' lives.
We also wanted to give a BIG shout out of appreciation and thanks to the following staff who were instrumental in getting our estimated financial aid budgets and packages for 2024 new admits in order for Rochester and Twin Cities: Deb Edwards, Kari Ellering, Nate Rosckes, MEG Calabrese, Larry Bloom, Deb Wilkin, Meghan Czarniecki, Molly Nelson, Lugail Hamel, Lauren Peterson, Karen Magness, and the FA-IT team. This required multiple reviews, conversations, and manual interventions during the month of February. Most importantly, it required teamwork!
Thursday, February 23, 2023
ASR Staff Engagement February 23 Survey
This week’s ASR Staff Engagement Survey examines how we communicate and our preferences. Thank you for continuing to share your stories and experiences.
According to the last survey, most respondents feel satisfied with their work-life balance, with 73.6% rating their work-life balance as satisfied or very satisfied. Similarly, 88.2% of respondents were satisfied with their current work schedule. When asked about how many hours you sleep on an average work night, most reported 7 hours of sleep (67.6%), followed by 6 or less hours (20.6%), and 8 hours (8.8%).
When asked about favorite Valentine’s Day treats and candies, chocolate and Reese’s candy were the overwhelming favorites. Candy hearts and wine were also frequent responses. Thanks all for your continued participation! It is very much appreciated.
February 9, 2023 survey results
On a 1 (not satisfied) to 5 (very satisfied) scale, how satisfied are you with your current work-life balance?
According to the last survey, most respondents feel satisfied with their work-life balance, with 73.6% rating their work-life balance as satisfied or very satisfied. Similarly, 88.2% of respondents were satisfied with their current work schedule. When asked about how many hours you sleep on an average work night, most reported 7 hours of sleep (67.6%), followed by 6 or less hours (20.6%), and 8 hours (8.8%).
When asked about favorite Valentine’s Day treats and candies, chocolate and Reese’s candy were the overwhelming favorites. Candy hearts and wine were also frequent responses. Thanks all for your continued participation! It is very much appreciated.
February 9, 2023 survey results
On a 1 (not satisfied) to 5 (very satisfied) scale, how satisfied are you with your current work-life balance?
- 1 (2.9%)
- 2 (11.8%)
- 3 (11.8%)
- 4 (47.1%)
- 5 (26.5%)
- Yes (88.2%)
- No (5.9%)
- I’m not sure (5.9%)
- 6 or less hours (20.6%)
- 7 hours (67.6%)
- 8 hours (8.8%)
- 9 or more hours (2.9%)
- Godiva after Valentine's Day sale chocolate :)
- Reese's peanut butter cups!
- I can't think of any and that's on my husband
- Red wine and dark chocolate
- I unironically love the candy message hearts; though only the green, orange and yellow ones! I also love the chewy cinnamon hearts.
Thursday, February 9, 2023
Update from Stacey
This week, I had the pleasure of traveling to our Crookston campus for meetings with the registrars of each campus, registrar staff, and Crookston’s interim vice chancellor for Academic Affairs. With the pandemic, campus visits had mostly ended, but this was a great opportunity to restart these connections. Seeing folks in person allows for conversations that simply don’t happen via Zoom.
I might appreciate the drive more in the summer, but it was definitely worthwhile, especially with the visit to the greenhouses and stables on their campus. Next week, I’ll be hosting two vice chancellors from our Rochester campus and hope to have the same kind of conversations about how we can best work together.
I might appreciate the drive more in the summer, but it was definitely worthwhile, especially with the visit to the greenhouses and stables on their campus. Next week, I’ll be hosting two vice chancellors from our Rochester campus and hope to have the same kind of conversations about how we can best work together.
PAWS
Please join us in the open hallway area between the two Williamson office suites, 140 and 160, on February 22 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. for a little Pet Away Worry & Stress (PAWS) fun. Boynton Health’s PAWS program provides Animal-Assisted Interactions with registered therapy animals, including dogs, cats, rabbits, and chickens, and a licensed clinical social worker for each session. For more information about PAWS, check out the Boynton Health website.
ASR Operations & Strategic Initiatives
- Conducting the annual Student PeopleSoft access audit.
- Continuing work with OTR to refresh the Student Data Update online courses.
- Collaborating with One Stop Student Services to plan the implementation of the Ivy chatbot tool that will live on the One Stop website.
- Posted the Project & Change Manager position.
- Working with OSF to review, test, and update Financial Aid communications.
- Collaborating with each unit to create an ASR Annual Report by gathering information, writing the report, and designing each document.
- Partnering with the Application Development Team to assist their team and associated ASR product owners with collaborative work planning of both development and UX research needs.
- Coursedog project work:
- Coordinating the project management and change management efforts for the project as a whole.
- Conducting usability testing for both the curriculum & catalog products.=
- Planning for the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) process.
- Reviewing and editing in-app Coursedog help text for end users.
- Reviewing ASR communications to students for inclusion in APLUS advising notes.
- Conducting a comprehensive review of student degree progress data and documentation.
- Collaborating with the Application Development Team to explore sharing student degree progress data with system campuses.
- The team meets in person once a month and sets aside time to address improvement areas identified in the Employee Engagement survey results. Topics include workload, training, and development. Most recently, the team watched videos from a content strategy conference and then discussed how to incorporate the concepts into their work. The talks covered how content can support or impair DEI efforts and how to work effectively with stakeholders in processes.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
Black History Month
This February, we encourage you to check out the various events and educational opportunities happening during Black History Month at the University of Minnesota and beyond.
Do you know other Black History Month events or activities? Share them with the ASR DEI Community of Practice Group (ASR DEI CoP). Not a member? See below.
Join our ASR DEI Community of Practice
This February, we encourage you to check out the various events and educational opportunities happening during Black History Month at the University of Minnesota and beyond.
- Black History Month Events at the U of M
- This resource offers a sampling of events taking place systemwide throughout Black History Month 2023. Some events are more specifically related to Black History Month, and others are events that center Black creators, student groups, and organizations.
- Where It Starts
- This series explores how change has begun through the creativity, vision, and joy of Black community members at the University of Minnesota, including individual video and article profiles that highlight their stories.
- Black History, Black Freedom, Black Love
- Throughout the month of February, the three-part MasterClass, “Black History, Black Freedom, and Black Love” is available to stream for free. From critical race theory to the 1619 Project, Black intellectuals are reshaping conversations on race in America. Now, seven of those preeminent voices share their insight on the reckoning with race in America in three parts: past, present, and future.
Do you know other Black History Month events or activities? Share them with the ASR DEI Community of Practice Group (ASR DEI CoP). Not a member? See below.
Join our ASR DEI Community of Practice
Subscribe to our DEI Google Group to discuss the latest news, connect with the committee, and keep up-to-date with DEI initiatives. More resources and information about the DEI committee can be found on the ASR Intranet.
Staff recognition
We wanted to give a big shout-out to everyone in ASR who worked on getting the 1098-T forms out to students. It's a large, collaborative effort across units to coordinate all of the work that goes into supporting the forms.
We especially wanted to recognize Trung Mac for getting the paper forms out in the mail before the January 31 deadline and for processing all of the extra forms that could not be handled by Printing Services. In SF-IT, we wanted to give a round of applause to Lori Frase and Andy Fields for running the processes and coordinating all of the work to get the forms out. OTR and SAA also work on the forms by correcting data issues that can cause errors in form production.
In SAA, Lydia Self, Melissa Gasper, and Penny Levine all deserve a shout-out for handling bounce back emails and fielding requests and questions on the forms they receive through One Stop, as One Stop also plays a major role in supporting the 1098-T work. One Stop Counselors field questions from students and parents, explain information on the form, and screen requests for students who would like a 1098-T to be created for them. Way to go everyone! This work could not be done without you!
We especially wanted to recognize Trung Mac for getting the paper forms out in the mail before the January 31 deadline and for processing all of the extra forms that could not be handled by Printing Services. In SF-IT, we wanted to give a round of applause to Lori Frase and Andy Fields for running the processes and coordinating all of the work to get the forms out. OTR and SAA also work on the forms by correcting data issues that can cause errors in form production.
In SAA, Lydia Self, Melissa Gasper, and Penny Levine all deserve a shout-out for handling bounce back emails and fielding requests and questions on the forms they receive through One Stop, as One Stop also plays a major role in supporting the 1098-T work. One Stop Counselors field questions from students and parents, explain information on the form, and screen requests for students who would like a 1098-T to be created for them. Way to go everyone! This work could not be done without you!
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