August 14, 2011 - August 20, 2011 Archives

Google: The Final Phase
CLA's deadline for migrating all faculty, staff, and graduate student accounts to Google Apps is November 30, 2011.

Next Steps

• CLA-OIT staff will work with each unit individually to schedule a department-based deadline before October 31.
• We'll provide custom lists to department leadership of the people who still need to migrate.
• We'll offer group trainings, but most likely we'll schedule individual appointments for those who need it.
• We'll provide extra support for those with migration concerns.

CLA employees who have not migrated by November 30, 2011, with the exception of those affiliated with the Academic Health Center (AHC) and Health Care Component (HCC)-related accounts, will be moved to a Google account automatically.

Contact
CLA Service Desk
612-624-4357 (4-HELP)
4help@umn.edu




Fall Appointments - Payroll Office Reminder
In an effort to set a payroll deadline that is achievable for most departments, the deadline for fall appointments to be received in the CLA payroll office is 8/24/11.  This is the date that your appointment will be guaranteed to be entered in time. Every effort will be made to enter appointments received after this deadline but there can be no guarantees. Keep in mind that your service team will need additional time to get appointment documents prepared and over to the Payroll office so please coordinate this work with your service team.

If you have your fall appointments ready, please do not wait to send them over. We have begun entering fall documents. Please submit offers and payroll information to your team as soon as offers have been confirmed and avoid waiting until the last minute if at all possible.

Thank you for your cooperation.
Rana




Scholarship Entry
The first financial aid disbursement for undergraduates for Fall 2011 is scheduled for Monday, August 29th. If you have any scholarships that have not yet been entered, please get them processed as soon as possible.

We write to remind you of the importance of complying with federal law by ensuring that all new employees complete both parts of the I-9 form electronically within three days of the start date of their appointment.
Federal law mandates that any new employee must complete their I-9 within the first three days of their appointment.
The University processes all I-9's electronically utilizing e Verify.  This takes away any "wiggle room" that may have existed in the past in meeting this requirement.

Key Roles and Responsibilities:

• Administrators are responsible to ensure that every new hire has completed their I-9 Form within three days of their appointment date.
• After three days, administrators must notify their financial service team to suspend or terminate all new hires who have not completed their I-9.
• Your Financial Service Team is available to assist in this endeavor.
• Department administrators are responsible for ensuring that all new employees (i.e. faculty, instructional staff, graduate assistants, student workers) complete Section 1 of the I-9 (online) prior to the start of their appointment and making sure they complete Section 2 within the first three days of their appointment start date.

Completing Section 1 prior to their first day provides new staff with the list of acceptable documentation from which they are to choose one to bring with them on days one, two, or three. Please see attached New Employee Letter.

Further, within the first three days of their appointment, the new employee must visit one of the financial service teams to complete Section 2 of the process.  Your financial service teams are poised for the rush of I-9 work that will need to be completed during the first three days of fall semester (i.e., August 29, 30, 31).

We will have "all hands on deck" in order to complete this work as efficiently as possible.

Numerous appointments have already been scheduled for the financial service teams' Executive Account Specialists (EAS) to attend departmental orientation sessions as a way to further be efficient in this endeavor.  Let us know if you have other ideas that will be helpful to you.

Federal law mandates that we not allow continued employment for anyone who has not completed their I-9 form within the first three days of their appointment.

For those who do not complete their I-9 form within the first three days of their appointment, University administration has instructed us to suspend or terminate them (depending on the type of appointment) on day four;  further, we have been instructed to not un-suspend or reappoint them until the I-9 work is completed.  Please note that the suspension/termination could have significant impact to an employee's pay, benefits, and immigration status.  Also, any I-9's that are completed after the third day must have a detailed explanation as to why the form is being processed late.  In the event of an audit, this detailed explanation will be the University's only defense.

It is the department's responsibility to initiate the suspensions or terminations.  Your financial service team is available, upon request, to help in this endeavor, such as assisting in keeping track of who has not yet completed their I-9.   Once the administrator has found that an I-9 was not completed by the third day of the appointment, the administrator must contact the senior accountant on the financial service team to inform the senior accountant to process the suspension or termination.

CLA wants to do all it can to avoid placing people in  a suspend or termination status; therefore we ask that departments and fiscal teams work closely together to plan, anticipate, and communicate, so that no one is removed from payroll. Please communicate this message to your hiring managers, Directors of Graduate Studies, DGS assistants, and anyone else who needs this information.  We fully realize that for some departments this will require a change in workflow and in how new staff are brought on board.  It is a responsibility that we all share as we work to keep the University in compliance with this federal law.
 
Please see attached FAQ for further information regarding I-9 processes.

If you have any questions, please contact your unit service team lead or your HR representative.

Thank you for your cooperation.

REMINDER:  Writing Studies move

Writing Studies will be moving out of its summer location in Fraser Hall and into Nolte Center August 22nd.

This could mean that members of these units will not have access to phones and computers for a few days. If there are urgent matters and deadlines planned during the move, please contact the unit prior to the move to address them.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

A message from the Center for Teaching and Learning.
Please forward to the appropriate faculty and staff members. Thank you.

To: Directors of Graduate Studies (DGS) Assistants and HR Pros
From: Jeff Lindgren, Assistant Director, Center for Teaching and Learning

If your department employs graduate or undergraduate teaching assistants whose home language growing up was not English, now is the time to check UM Reports to make sure that they have attained the proper English Language Proficiency (ELP) rating to a hold TA position.

Please inform non-native English speaking students who will be TAs or instructors this year and whose ELP rating is lower than "1" that the University's policy requires them to either:

• enroll in an International TA Program course (GRAD 5105, GRAD 5102, or Foundations); or...
• take the SETTA (Spoken English Test for TAs) if they wish to try to raise their ELP rating.

There is currently space available for students to take the SETTA from August 24 through September 2. Students are eligible for the SETTA, if in the last 12 months, they have taken neither a previous SETTA nor a course in the International TA Program (i.e., GRAD 5105, GRAD 5102, Foundations, or CSE: TALK). For more information or to register to take the SETTA test visit: http://www.umn.edu/ohr/teachlearn/graduate/itap/settaeligibility/index.html

Departments may request exemptions to the English requirement by emailing the student's name, ID#, and reason for the exemption to me at lindg027@umn.edu.  

For more information, feel free to call me at 612.625.3070 or visit the websites below:
International Teaching Assistant Program and Courses
http://www.umn.edu/ohr/teachlearn/graduate/itap/index.html
English Proficiency Policy
http://www.policy.umn.edu/Policies/hr/Performance/LANGUAGE.html
Consultations For All Instructional Staff and TAs
http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/teachlearn/consultations/consultations/index.html

Center for Teaching and Learning
University Office Plaza, Suite 400
2221 University Avenue SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414
612.625.3041
www.teaching.umn.edu
teachlrn@umn.edu

The CLA NOW Meeting will take place Thursday (tomorrow), August 18th, 9am-10:30am in 275 Nicholson Hall.

Here is the agenda.

CLA departments are required to use CLA-OIT's Technology Purchasing service to buy all computers regardless of funding source, need, configuration, or vendor.

Find the complete policy statement online which includes the reason for the policy, details about role responsibilities, an FAQ, and links to related documents.