Upcoming Diversity and Campus Climate Workshops & Events

International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) is providing an upcoming series of workshops focused on intercultural competency and skills development, as well as "Culture In-Depth" sessions discussing the unique practices, customs, and values of some of the largest international student populations on our campus. Session dates and descriptions can be found on the ISSS website, and registration is now open on ULearn.

PCMC Project Kick-Off: Process Improvement Toolkit Publication - Call for Volunteers!

The Project & Change Management Collaborators group (chaired by Kristy Davis & Ryan Ceresnak, ASR-IT) is getting ready to launch their Process Improvement Toolkit for the University community, and need your help!  If you are interested in helping to finalize the content of the toolkit please join the project kick-off on Wednesday, January 25, 1:00p-2:30p (Fraser Hall, room B20). You will be asked to work on a subcommittee requiring somewhere between 5-15 hours of work spread between January and May. Your job will be to proofread and perform content review before the resources are available to everyone in the University community. If you're interested please complete the RSVP here. Questions can be directed to pcmc@umn.edu.

Extended One Stop hours

One Stop Student Services in Bruininks Hall, East Bank location has extended walk-in hours the first two weeks of spring term. This includes the upcoming dates of 8:00-5:30 p.m., Monday-Thursday, January 23-26. Normal hours will resume January 27, 2017.

Learning Abroad Center looking for scholarship review volunteers

Scholarship reviewers are needed for the Learning Abroad Center's Study Abroad Scholarship, Diversity Scholarship, and Financial Need Scholarship. Each cycle receives a large number of applications, and the time and effort of volunteers who can help with the review process is always appreciated.

Please note that you cannot review scholarships during your work day without making up that time.

If you are interested in reviewing scholarships, please sign-up here by Wednesday, Feb 1. Contact Angela Koenig at ford0174@umn.edu if you have any questions.

University Learning Technology Advisors (ULTA) Canvas/Moodle proposals

Conversations are underway across the University of Minnesota's campuses about learning management systems (LMSs), learning analytics, and general processes and support for academic technology at the University.

The University's onsite implementation of Moodle is beginning to face problems despite the support of OIT, causing concern that our onsite Moodle system may soon become unsustainable. As a result, the University Learning Technology Advisors (ULTA) group is exploring two LMSs options that would be hosted by vendors off-site: Moodle or Canvas. More information can be found at Future of the LMS and Unizin.

ASR strategic area update: Graduation and Retention

The Regents Progress Card established graduation rate goals for the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus. By the year 2021: 

• four-year graduation rate of 65% (fall 2017 freshman class) 

• six-year graduation rate of 82% (fall 2015 freshman class) 

We are happy to announce that the University obtained the four-year graduation rate for this past academic year (i.e. the fall 2012 freshman class); the final graduation rate was 65.2%. Additionally, the six-year graduation rate increased again this year with a final graduation rate of 78.9%.

One of the many ongoing efforts to help promote graduation and retention within ASR was the release of the new Degree Progress tool in MyU. This tool helps students better understand their progress and plan for timely degree completion. Other units such as One Stop and OSF have increased efforts to retain students with financial barriers. All of these efforts help to increase graduation rates.

Thank you to all of ASR for promoting student success, retention, and graduation! 

The Development Team wants to hear from you

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 were fun, casual, informative, and engaging. We're hoping to recreate the same varied scope in our breakout sessions this year. What knowledge, passion, or talents do you have that you would like to share with your colleagues? 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.