Instructors will receive an email when students withdraw

Beginning February 24, instructors on the Twin Cities campus will receive an email once a week if a student has withdrawn from his or her course(s). The email asks the instructor to review the class list to see which student has withdrawn and if appropriate, report suspicions or evidence of academic dishonesty to the Office for Student Conduct and Academic Integrity (OSCAI).

The University Grades and Transcript Policy states: "If the instructor determines that a grade of F or N for the course should be awarded to a student because of scholastic dishonesty, the student cannot withdraw to avoid the F or N." Instructors will receive one email for each course they teach in which a student has withdrawn. The Senate Student Integrity Committee conceived of this notification to promote compliance with this policy.

Questions should be directed to OSCAI.

Planned system downtime March 3 & 4

There will be planned system downtime to complete a required upgrade to both the software and hardware for the Oracle databases that support PeopleSoft (both Campus Solutions and Financials) and associated web applications. Systems will be unavailable starting at 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 3, 2012. Systems should return to production by 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 4, 2012.

Updating LE course lists on One Stop

During the monthly meeting of the Council on Liberal Education, proposals to designate courses as satisfying the requirements for the diversified core or designated themes for Liberal Education are reviewed. If courses are approved in the monthly meeting, they are updated on the One Stop Liberal Education course lists page, shortly thereafter. The most recent update to these pages was made during the second week of February.

First week of new online transcript ordering service

The new online transcript ordering service went live mid-morning on Wednesday, February 8, 2012. In its first week of service, there were 864 unique orders made totaling 993 transcripts. Of the 864 orders, 263 (approximately 30 percent) were made by students who did not sign in using an Internet ID (x.500) and password. In the past, these students would have needed to complete a paper transcript request form and submit it my mail, fax, or in-person for processing.

Of the 993 transcripts ordered, 253 (approximately 25 percent) were for the new electronic, secure PDF option. This new option is saving students time and money. Secure PDF transcripts from the University of Minnesota have been successfully delivered to recipients in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. Previously, unless the student paid and additional fee for international priority shipping, it could take up to three weeks for transcripts to reach international destinations.

Ordering patterns remain the same as the previous system with the highest volume on Monday, slowly decreasing as the week progresses, with a much smaller volume over the weekend.

University Health Insurance Requirement for fall 2012

All students who are 1) admitted to a degree program and 2) registered for six or more credits per semester that count toward the automatic assessment of the Student Services Fee are required by the University of Minnesota to have health plan coverage. Students should visit www.shb.umn.edu to determine if their insurance meets criteria for a waiver.

Eligible students who do not provide verifiable insurance information at the time of class registration or appropriately waive the Student Health Benefit Plan per established guidelines will be automatically enrolled in and billed for the University-sponsored Student Health Benefit Plan. To learn more about this policy, visit www.shb.umn.edu.

Note: Academic Health Center (AHC) and International students continue to have separate health plan requirements and are not affected by this change.

University of Minnesota selected as a Tillman Military Scholar University Partner by Pat Tillman Foundation

The Pat Tillman Foundation has chosen the University of Minnesota as one of three new University Partners in support of the Tillman Military Scholars program, which provides educational scholarships for veteran and active servicemembers and their spouses.
The University of Minnesota, Arizona State University and Eastern Kentucky University are the new Tillman Military Scholar University Partners for the 2012/2013 academic year, joining 11 returning partners nationwide.

With its selection, the University of Minnesota is recognized by the Pat Tillman Foundation as being among the nation's leaders in support services for student veterans, active servicemembers and their spouses on campus.

"We are honored by our selection as a University Partner for the Tillman Military Scholars program," said Sue Van Voorhis, director of Academic Support Resources. "Ensuring access to a university education for the men and women who serve our country is critical, and the financial assistance provided by this program is invaluable to that endeavor."

In 2008, the Pat Tillman Foundation established the Tillman Military Scholars program, dedicated to supporting educational opportunities for servicemembers and their spouses by filling financial gaps in the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill. The program covers not only direct study-related expenses such as tuition and fees, but also other needs including housing and childcare.

Over the past three years, the Pat Tillman Foundation has awarded more than $2.2 million in scholarship funds to 171 Tillman Military Scholars pursuing education at every level from freshmen undergraduates to doctoral degrees.

Along with its fellow University Partners, the University of Minnesota will help identify and select final candidates during the screening process.

The application to become a Tillman Military Scholar opens on Monday, February 13. To learn more about eligibility and criteria, visit: www.pattillmanfoundation.org/tillman-military-scholars/apply/. University Veterans Services will offer assistance in the application process.

Reminder about full-time equivalency for graduate students

Full-time equivalency courses are one credit courses that certify the post-baccalaureate students as full time for the purposes of things like loan deferment. See complete information on full-time equivalency on the special registration categories for graduate school students page. The important thing to remember is that exceptions to these eligibility requirements should not be granted. Doing so puts both you and the student at risk of consequences from the federal government. The Graduate School is the only office authorized to approve registrations for full-time equivalency courses and permission is required for enrollment.

Moving forward with post-baccalaureate process automation

As work is nearly complete for automating the process of adding and updating advisers and is underway for assigning a committee for graduate students, the Graduate Education Team is planning the next phase of process automation. Based on feedback from constituents and an evaluation of what processes have significant value to users, the team decided to retain language requirement, plan type, and minor declaration on the existing paper-based coursework planning form when adviser and committee assignments are removed. For the time being, these four components of the degree program form will remain a paper process.

Beginning in February, the team will focus on automating exam forms (e.g., doctoral preliminary written, doctoral preliminary oral, final report). An update will be provided when the priority for individual exam forms is finalized.

FERPA Q&A: Questions about billing details

Question: What should I do when someone other than the student calls asking about billing details?

Answer: Billing and other account inquiries can be forwarded to the One Stop Student Services office. In general, billing details are considered private information so unless there is express written permission from the student to share this information, you cannot discuss the specifics of a student account. Sometimes this is difficult to explain to a caller when it seems he/she has the bill in front of him/her. These types of questions provide a great opportunity to discuss the University's "Parent/Guest Access" application with the caller.

Students experiencing intermittent errors with post-baccalaureate registration exception requests

Post-baccalaureate students attempting to request a registration exception have experienced intermittent errors since the afternoon of Tuesday, January 31, preventing them from completing their request. Technicians are aware of the issue and working on a fix. Because they are intermittent, students experiencing errors may have success attempting to make their request after waiting for a period of one to a few hours.

We will send an all-clear when the issue is resolved. Until then, updates will be available at here.