Twin Cities Registrar search

The search committee for the open Office of the Registrar (OTR) director position has recommended three candidates for on-campus interviews.

How we interact with each candidate throughout the interview process is part of recruitment and we need to balance being inviting, friendly, and informative with our need for assessment. The interview day consists of meetings with the search committee, University Registrar, ASR directors, members of the department, and members of the system campuses. Individuals participating in the interviews are asked to provide feedback through a candidate evaluation survey. All feedback will be aggregated and shared with the search committee and forwarded to Associate Vice Provost Sue Van Voorhis for final recommendations.

The search committee hopes to have made a final decision by mid-October and will update ASR staff again as the process comes to a close.

ASR budget update

ASR has been asked to model for both a .68% ($124,500) and a 2% ($366,100) reallocation as our budget cut this year. However, we cannot impact students which is always difficult due to the nature of ASR’s work. The ASR directors are working on their proposal submission which is due October 7, 2016. Note that any of this information could change once the state legislature begins meeting.

Stay tuned for updates as we learn more about the process.

Mid-year reviews coming up

Please remember that mid-year reviews are coming up. This year staff will use an updated mid-year form that better matches our annual form. That form, along with more detailed instructions, will be available in mid-October. The timeline is:

• Mid-October: Supervisors will begin to communicate with staff about their reviews
• By November 14, staff should complete their self-evaluations

• By December 9, supervisors will complete their written evaluations and hold meetings

ASR Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee and survey

Earlier this week, ASR’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee send a survey to all ASR staff to assess ASR’s climate of diversity and inclusion. All responses to this survey are anonymous. Aggregated survey results will be shared with ASR staff and used to inform future efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion. Please look for your survey link in a September 27th email and share your thoughts and ideas.

The survey coincides with a week of focused conversations and events about equity and diversity. Greater Than 7 is designed to engage our entire University community in these important topics. Check out the events happening on campus, or find out more about the ASR Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee’s work.

Earlier this summer, ASR formed a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee consisting of a cross-functional team of representatives from each of ASR's units. The members of this committee include: Chelsea Weber, Josh Geiger, Katie MacDonald, Rachel McKessock, Roxanne Johnson, Sherief Elabbady, and Julie Selander.

The committee has been developing the charter for their work, and has explored some ideas for future priorities. It became clear to the group that it should first assess and better understand ASR's climate of diversity and inclusion, which will help determine where the committee should focus their efforts.

If you have any questions about this survey or the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee, please contact your unit representative or speak to your supervisor.

ASR website update: organizational charts

As part of the ASR website redesign, the ASR-wide organizational charts are being re-created in a new format. The ASR-wide organizational chart that was hosted on the previous version of the ASR website was not accessible when the new ASR website was launched. However, as a few staff members have expressed a need for the ASR-wide org. chart, a link to the previous version of the ASR-wide org. chart has been added to the ASR website. When the new version is ready, the old version will be replaced. You may need to bypass a warning about website security in order to access the ASR-wide org. chart.

The Community Fund Drive is the month of October

The Office of Undergraduate Education is going to have a Penny War with all proceeds supporting the Completion Fund for students. There was unanimous agreement for where the funds should go. Stay tuned for more information about the Penny War.

New this year, the process for counting the people who have participated in donating to the annual community campaign is more streamlined. Each person does NOT have to fill out a form to be counted. Instead, a simple sign-up list for people to write their names and x.500 and/or Employee ID will do. This should lead to a more accurate count and quicker processing time.

SDP SWAT update and nomination parameters

The ASR Student Degree Progress (SDP) SWAT team has been busy awarding completion funds to students completing their degrees.  You can help by nominating a student for funds!  Potential candidates must be Twin Cities undergraduates admitted Fall 2011 or later that have exhausted available financial aid options.  The goal of these funds is to remove financial barriers that prevent (or could prevent) students from registering for classes needed to complete their degree.

If you have any questions, or wish to nominate a student, please email the ASR SDP team at asr-sdp@umn.edu. This email account can be utilized for all student degree progress and retention-related requests for the team, and helps the SDP team ensure coverage and timely responses for your inquiries. Just a reminder, there is no lead for this group as they all report to Sue VanVoorhis.