Thank you for all of the effort that went into performance appraisals. It is always a big lift to complete all of the self-appraisals, responses, and appraisal meetings. I heard from many supervisors and directors how good it is to be reminded of everything we accomplish in a year. I am especially grateful for folks taking the time to really think about our Diversity Equity & Inclusion Vision Statements; I saw goals spanning each of the statements and am looking forward to the year ahead.
On March 28, I will be giving an ASR update at the virtual All Staff Assembly. If there is something you would like me to cover in that update or in a News & Notes column, send me an email. I’d love to hear from you!
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
All Staff Assembly March 28
As a reminder, the in-person All Staff Assembly for March 28 was postponed due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict. The required safety training will be completed at a future date. We will continue to hold our regular, online All Staff Assembly on March 28 from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. over Zoom.
The Birth Justice Collaborative
The United States healthcare system is one of the most expensive in the world. Yet, preterm birth rates among Black women are 50% higher than Hispanic or White women. American Indian women are 7.8 times more likely to die during birth than white women, while Black women are 3 times as high. These are horrifying statistics, especially in a highly-developed country like the United States. What these numbers reflect is systemic racism in the medical industry.
The Black and American Indian-led Birth Justice Collaborative launched in 2022 to improve community birth outcomes in response to these alarming statistics. The Collaborative’s partners include the University of Minnesota Robert J. Jones Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center (UROC), Hennepin County, Collective Action Lab, and more.
The Collaborative operates with five key strategies. These strategies have formed the Collaborative’s two-year priorities, which include “creating a trusted cultural provider network for mothers with financial incentives, creating an advocate training program to provide quality, culturally-centered advocacy, and prioritizing anti-bias report card programs that call out culturally-insensitive practices and encourage accountability,” amongst others. Want to get involved or learn more? Reach out to the Collaborative at info@birthjusticecollaborative.com.
Interested in learning more about birth justice organizations? Check out these local birth resources within Minneapolis:
The Black and American Indian-led Birth Justice Collaborative launched in 2022 to improve community birth outcomes in response to these alarming statistics. The Collaborative’s partners include the University of Minnesota Robert J. Jones Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center (UROC), Hennepin County, Collective Action Lab, and more.
The Collaborative operates with five key strategies. These strategies have formed the Collaborative’s two-year priorities, which include “creating a trusted cultural provider network for mothers with financial incentives, creating an advocate training program to provide quality, culturally-centered advocacy, and prioritizing anti-bias report card programs that call out culturally-insensitive practices and encourage accountability,” amongst others. Want to get involved or learn more? Reach out to the Collaborative at info@birthjusticecollaborative.com.
Interested in learning more about birth justice organizations? Check out these local birth resources within Minneapolis:
ASR Staff Engagement March 21 Survey
This week’s ASR Staff Engagement Survey examines how we structure our workdays. Thank you for continuing to share your stories and experiences.
According to the last survey, about half of respondents are planning to travel during the spring season (51.6%). Similarly, 50% say that they currently garden or have an interest in gardening. When asked about what you’re looking forward to in spring, many mentioned the warmer weather, opening the windows, gardening, and just being outside.
Finally we asked about your go-to dessert. The vast majority of responses mentioned ice cream, followed by cheesecake and chocolate. Thanks all for your continued participation! It is very much appreciated. The results from the last survey are available below.
March 7 survey results
Are you planning to travel during the spring season?
According to the last survey, about half of respondents are planning to travel during the spring season (51.6%). Similarly, 50% say that they currently garden or have an interest in gardening. When asked about what you’re looking forward to in spring, many mentioned the warmer weather, opening the windows, gardening, and just being outside.
Finally we asked about your go-to dessert. The vast majority of responses mentioned ice cream, followed by cheesecake and chocolate. Thanks all for your continued participation! It is very much appreciated. The results from the last survey are available below.
March 7 survey results
Are you planning to travel during the spring season?
- Yes (51.6%)
- No (48.4%)
- The sun and hopefully rain
- Golf and baseball
- Camping
- Green grass and tulips.
- Warmer weather and patios!
- Gardening!
- More hours of daylight & no chance of shoveling.
- Yes (50%)
- No (43.3%)
- I’m not sure (6.7%)
- Ice cream with fresh fruit
- Cookies! I like to keep frozen cookie dough in my freezer for when the mood strikes.
- Custard tart or some sort of crumb/streusel topped cake.
- Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake
- Root beer floats
Tony’s tech terms: Front-end vs. Back-end
On the AppDev team, we often refer to front-end code or back-end code. But what on earth does that all mean? I’ve mentioned in the past that we write code in the Ruby programming language. That code is back-end code. That means that it runs on a server and sends some information back in the form of a web page or data from an API.
When you click on a link or enter a URL into a browser, that sends a request to a server that’s at the address of the URL. The back-end code interprets that request and sends something back as a response. There’s often some processing that happens before the response is sent. For example, the code on the server may connect to a database to retrieve some information and send a web page back with the contents of that information. All of this happens on the back end.
But we also write front-end code. Front-end code is code that is executed on your computer in the web browser. The interactive parts of a web page are often front-end code, written in a language called JavaScript (not to be confused with Java). Take the Room Search site, for example. When you open the “Location” menu and check a checkbox there, what you see on the page changes. That interaction happens using JavaScript that your browser runs. Neither the server, nor Ruby are involved at all.
So, as a team, we need to know how both of those languages work. Fortunately, the concepts between them are often similar even though the syntax is different. It’s similar to learning Spanish after you’ve already learned French. Familiarity with one makes learning and understanding the other easier.
When you click on a link or enter a URL into a browser, that sends a request to a server that’s at the address of the URL. The back-end code interprets that request and sends something back as a response. There’s often some processing that happens before the response is sent. For example, the code on the server may connect to a database to retrieve some information and send a web page back with the contents of that information. All of this happens on the back end.
But we also write front-end code. Front-end code is code that is executed on your computer in the web browser. The interactive parts of a web page are often front-end code, written in a language called JavaScript (not to be confused with Java). Take the Room Search site, for example. When you open the “Location” menu and check a checkbox there, what you see on the page changes. That interaction happens using JavaScript that your browser runs. Neither the server, nor Ruby are involved at all.
So, as a team, we need to know how both of those languages work. Fortunately, the concepts between them are often similar even though the syntax is different. It’s similar to learning Spanish after you’ve already learned French. Familiarity with one makes learning and understanding the other easier.
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Update from Stacey
I recently traveled to the Association of American Universities (AAU) Registrar Meeting, and as usual, I came back with many ideas. It takes me a bit to sift through the ideas to find the true takeaways. But the experience definitely motivates and energizes me.
It is immediately obvious that ASR has many strengths, as does our University. Several institutions are feeling the growing pains of just starting a One Stop or hiring their first communications person. Many institutions don’t have the campus-wide policies that we have, and instead, every college makes their own. I also hear from peers how much they envy the cooperation inherent in our structure. It’s a good reminder to acknowledge the things that are going well and be grateful for them. Thank you to all of you!
It is immediately obvious that ASR has many strengths, as does our University. Several institutions are feeling the growing pains of just starting a One Stop or hiring their first communications person. Many institutions don’t have the campus-wide policies that we have, and instead, every college makes their own. I also hear from peers how much they envy the cooperation inherent in our structure. It’s a good reminder to acknowledge the things that are going well and be grateful for them. Thank you to all of you!
Federal Tax Information (FTI) changes
Due to the passage of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Simplification Act, the University must now follow new data security standards regarding who can access federal tax information (FTI) as reported on the 2024-2025 FAFSA. FTI data will no longer leave PeopleSoft and feed into other University systems. Only individuals involved in the administration and awarding of financial aid are allowed to access FTI pages in PeopleSoft.
ASR will be hosting a training on Thursday, March 14 for staff that are retaining access to pages in PeopleSoft that contain FTI information, or for staff that are retaining query access that may pull in FTI data. Please check your calendars to see if you have been invited to this mandatory training.
ASR will be hosting a training on Thursday, March 14 for staff that are retaining access to pages in PeopleSoft that contain FTI information, or for staff that are retaining query access that may pull in FTI data. Please check your calendars to see if you have been invited to this mandatory training.
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