The Development Team needs your help!

The Development Team is seeking ideas and proposals for breakout sessions for our ASR spring event planned for May 2017. At last year's event, we had breakout sessions that ranged from fun and casual, to informative and engaging. We're hoping to recreate the same varied scope in our breakout sessions this year. Ideas are already rolling around on our table, but we want to hear from you, too. What knowledge, passion, or talents do you have that you would like to share with your colleagues? Take some time to think about it, and send your proposals to us. We'll be reviewing them on an ongoing basis and reach out if we think it's a good fit for the event.

New OTR director starts on Monday, November 28

Adrienne Bricker, the new OTR director, will start on Monday, November 28. Her office is in 259 Fraser Hall (Mara Schneider's old office, kitty-corner to Tina Faulkner).

From Sue's announcement of the hire: Adrienne currently is Deputy Registrar at Hunter College, City University of New York. She brings a variety of project management experience, and has implemented student degree progress initiatives, worked with faculty on re-engineering general education requirements, and has an understanding of PeopleSoft. Her background in both financial aid and academic records will allow her to immediately contribute and lead initiatives in externally and within Academic Support Resources (ASR).

Institute for Student Services Professionals (ISSP)

Andy Fields, Fue Chee Yang, Betsy Everts, and Julie Selander attended the annual ISSP conference at the University of Knoxville, Tennessee. Betsy and Andy presented along with Jerrad Harrison from Miami University in a session titled "Investing in Student Staff to Expand the One Stop Service Model." The University of Tennessee provided an in-depth tour of their One Stop Express Student Services operation.

Upcoming Project Management classes

One more Project Management class is left this semester:  Project Management 301: Evidence Based Portfolio Management will be held Thursday, December 8th 10:00 -11:30 a.m.  Register Here.

Beginning in January all Project Management classes will be offered quarterly, as follows:

Month 1 (January, April, July, October):

PM 101: Introduction to Project Management Fundamentals

PM 102: ASR Business Needs Life Cycle

Month 2 (February, May, August, November)

PM 201: Supporting Effective Project Teams

PM 202: Developing & Managing a Project Plan

Month 3 (March, June, September, December)

PM 301: Evidence Based Portfolio Management

Go to the ASR Projects - PM Short Courses Page for more information & registration links.

Remember that PM 101 is required for all ASR Employees.

Keep an eye out for information on new in-person course offerings and online workshop options on a variety of topics.  If you have any questions, suggestions for topics to cover, or need project consultation, email the Project & Work Facilitation Team at pwf-team@umn.edu.

Community Fund Drive

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s Community Fund Drive. From October 14 to 31, ASR staff raised $527.40 (including some 8,910 pennies and 17 coins from other countries) that will be used to support student success through ASR’s Completion Funds efforts. Want to know who won the "contest"? No spoilers here, to find out which pet raised the most money, visit ASR’s Community Fund Drive page.

ASR well represented at the 2016 UMACRAO conference

The Upper Midwest Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (UMACRAO) conference was held from November 2-4 in Alexandria, MN. As part of the conference proceedings, Amber Cellotti was voted 2016-17 UMACRAO President-Elect. ASR staff were well represented and recognized throughout the conference, as both presenters and those with active roles in UMACRAO, including: Tina Falkner (OSF), Stacey Tidball (C&C), Rachel McKessock (SDP), Allie Cummelin (SDP), Amber Cellotti (OTR), and Erik Sparby (OTR).

Session presenters:

• Tina Falkner presented “Financial Literacy: Helping Our Students Help Themselves”
• Tina Falkner and Stacey Tidball presented “FERPA: Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask”
• Rachel McKessock and Allie Cummelin presented “Collaborating Across Units for Student Degree Progress & Retention”

ASR staff with active roles and who received recognition:

• Amber Cellotti served as Chair of the Program Committee
• Erik Sparby served as Historian
• Amber Cellotti won the Exemplary New Member award and was elected as President-Elect for 2016-17 and will serve as the 2017-18 President of UMACRAO

Staff who are interested in learning more about UMACRAO or who would like to get involved or present at a future conference can reach out to Amber at knap0071@umn.edu.

Undergraduate Teaching Laboratories Facility tours in Fraser Hall

CPPM will be hosting an informational meeting for the upcoming Undergraduate Teaching Laboratories Facility pre-design project on November 10, 2016, from 1:15 - 2:15 p.m. in Fraser 102.

Following the meeting, attendees will take a quick guided tour through the building and around the exterior, focusing primarily on the classrooms, original reading room on the second floor, and corridors to minimize any disruption to the building occupants.