Nominate a grad student for fellowship competition

The deadline for graduate students to register for the 2013-2014 Diversity of Views and Experiences (DOVE) Recruiting Fellowship Competition is noon on February 8, 2013.

The DOVE Fellowship Program seeks to assist graduate programs to promote diverse views, experiences, and ideas in pursuit of research, scholarship, and creative excellence. Instructions on how to nominate a student and request travel award funds are available online.

PDFs for grad catalog nearly finished

Creative Services, a division of University Relations, has completed nearly all final corrections to the archival PDFs of the Graduate Education Catalog and is awaiting a final staff review. That review is expected to be complete by Nov. 30. At that time, final corrections will be entered, and the archival PDFs will be posted on the catalog website the following week.

New guide available for graduate education policies

Based on feedback gathered at the Graduate Education Transition information sessions, the Graduate School and Academic Support Resources (ASR) have created a guide for the student-centric graduate education policies. Included in this guide are links to the new U-wide policies, their effective dates, what is governed by each policy, and information regarding what has stayed the same and what has changed from previous Graduate School policy.This guide is currently available on the Graduate School's website. Feedback regarding this guide can be sent to Amber Cellotti.

Thank you and good luck to Heather McLaughlin

Heather McLaughlin will be leaving her position as Business Process Analyst for the Graduate Education Transition project. Her last day in Academic Support Resources (ASR) will be Friday, November 30, after which she will transfer to a position in the Office of Information Technology (OIT) as Product Owner of Salesforce.com. Heather would like to extend thanks to everyone she has worked with on this project.

Questions and other communication regarding graduate education, including updates to College Coordinator and Plan Level Coordinator roles, can be directed to Graduate Student Services and Progress (GSSP) staff. Workflow related questions or feedback should continue to be sent to grad-wfg@umn.edu.

Best practice reminders for entering grades

As the grade entry period for fall terms draws near, here are a few tips to keep in mind:
Mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablets, will not work with PeopleSoft self-service pages for grades.
The browser (and version of browser) used by the grade enterer can also have an impact on grades entry. Mac users typically have the best success with Safari (note: Safari on an iPad will not work for grades entry). PC users typically have the best success with Firefox.
Due to the recent PeopleSoft Tools 8.5.2 upgrade, anyone that works with grades, including enterers and approvers, should clear their browser cache prior to the grades entry period in order to ensure they have the most recent version of the grades pages.

Grades can be entered online through the University Self-Service grades pages. Instructors should verify that they have access to all of their assigned grade rosters before the last day of instruction by using the "My Classes" report in UM Reports.

Class rosters and grade entry for courses owned by the School of Public Health are available only through the School of Public Health grading system.

If you know of someone encountering issues with grades entry, please have them call the SR Training Team at (612) 625-2803 or contact them via email.

Fall 2012 probation and suspension dates now available

The Twin Cities fall 2012 probation and suspension dates are now available. Visit One Stop to view the current schedule.

ESUP update

The Enterprise System Upgrade Program (ESUP) had its official kick-off on October 16 and immediately began the "Plan & Discover" phase of the upgrade. This first phase reaffirms and builds upon the preliminary fit/gap analyses and planning and will set the scope and schedule for ESUP going forward. At the end of Plan & Discover, a more definitive timeline should be available.

Ongoing information is available on the ESUP website and Student Project Work Stream website. The Student Project Work stream website currently contains contact information and calendars specific to the work being done in admissions, financial aid, SEVIS, student finance, and student records. Both the ESUP website and the Student Project Work Stream website will expand as the upgrade progresses. A weekly email containing key updates and messages is also available. To be added to the distribution list, send your request to esup@umn.edu.

With business analysts devoting time to tasks associated with the upgrade effort, all requests for production support should be directed to the respective helpline (rather than a specific individual) to ensure that is responded to in a timely manner.

Admissions: admissions-tech@lists.umn.edu
Financial Aid: FA Help Request Form
Student Finance: sfhelp@umn.edu
Student Records: srhelp@umn.edu

Migrating workflow processes to new server

Workflow processes (e.g., Add/Update Adviser and Committee Assignments) will be migrating to a new server which will be centrally supported by OIT. As a result, the email address that sends notifications from WorkflowGen (e.g., notification to act on a committee assignment request) will change, as will the link embedded in the email that brings you to the workflow form. Please be sure to add the new email address to your safe sender list to avoid missing any notifications.

December graduates will receive a hold on their account until loan exit counseling is completed

As previously announced, a new web application has been developed that enables students to complete required loan exit counseling online. Students who fall below half-time enrollment or will be taking a leave of absence must also complete loan exit counseling.

Students expecting to graduate in December will receive an email that notifies them of the loan exit counseling requirement and provides instructions on how to complete the process. Until the student completes loan exit counseling, a hold will be placed on his or her record.

If you receive questions from students about loan exit counseling, please refer them to Student Account Assistance.

One Stop closures on Wednesday, Dec. 12 & Thursday, Dec. 20

The following One Stop Student Services locations will be closed for staff events Wednesday, December 12 from 8 a.m.-12 noon and Thursday, December 20 from 1:30-4 p.m:

160 Williamson Hall (East Bank campus)
130 West Bank Skyway (West Bank campus)
130 Coffey Hall (St. Paul campus)

Graduate Student Services and Progress (GSSP) and Third Party Billing located in 160 Williamson Hall will also be closed during this time.

All One Stop related services will be available at 333 Science Teaching and Student Services Building (East Bank Campus).

FERPA Q&A: Student rights

Question: What are the basic rights of a student under FERPA?

Answer: Under FERPA, students have the following rights to:
• Inspect and review their educational record (all parts, except parent financial data and letters of recommendation for which they have waived the right to see);
• Request an amendment to the record that they believe is inaccurate, misleading, or a
violation of his or her privacy rights, and to request a hearing if request to amend is not granted;
• Consent to disclosure of personally identifiable information (with several exceptions);
• Know what the University has designated as public/directory information, and the right to request suppression of their public/directory information;
• Know that school officials may access their records and the criteria used in determining the legitimate need to know the information;
• File a complaint with the Family Policy Compliance Office in the U.S. Department of Education

All enrolled students are informed of these rights yearly via an email sent to their University assigned email address.

Solving upload problems in ApplyYourself

Due to security settings in ApplyYourself, users may see an error message display when viewing students' uploaded transcripts. This problem occurs when the transcript is combined with other PDF pages.

There are two temporary fixes for this issue:

1) While the official document doesn't work with the batched PDF, you can still view it individually. To do so, go to the section in ApplyYourself where it was uploaded and click "view document."

2) If you need the document to be part of the larger PDF, the best fix is to print, scan, and upload the problem document in place of the current one. Once your document is ready, click "upload document" and follow the prompts.

For more detailed information, check out this helpful PDF.

Attend a best practice session for Leave of Absence policy

Join colleagues from graduate and professional programs, the Graduate School, and Academic Support Resources in a policy best practice session. This session will focus on the Leave of Absence policy (effective fall 2011) for graduate and professional students. Learn the difference between a leave of absence and other enrollment options for graduate and professional students, discuss the reinstatement process, and hear how colleagues across colleges are managing the implementation of this new policy.

Tuesday, November 27
10-11:30 a.m.
B20 Fraser Hall (East Bank)

Thursday, November 29
2-3:30 p.m.
1-109 Hanson Hall (West Bank)

Use this form to indicate which session you plan to attend. RSVPs are requested but not required. Please share this invitation with others who may wish to attend. Questions about these sessions can be directed to Karen Starry or Ingrid Nuttall.

Completing student loan web exit interviews

Federal regulations and University policy require all students with students loans to complete exit counseling prior to leaving the U of MN. Students who are below half-time enrollment are identified as having to complete the exit; this includes graduate students registered for GRAD 999 as they are not registered in "active coursework" and also for students on a leave of absence. While there has been no change to the regulation or policy, the new online exit system has streamlined the enforcement of the regulation and policy.

If a student is not graduating, undergraduates should log onto One Stop and change their expected graduation date, as well as contact Student Accounts Assistance. Graduate and professional students should contact their college and Student Accounts Assistance.

Graduate student international travel requirements

All students traveling abroad for University purposes (e.g. work, internship, field study, research, volunteering, conference/workshop attendance, athletic events) must obtain University-approved international health and security insurance for the duration of their time overseas. The policy applies to graduate and professional students, graduate assistants, residents, and fellows.

Additionally, students traveling to countries on the U.S. Department of State's Travel Warning List must receive approval from the University's International Travel Risk Assessment and Advisory Committee (ITRAAC) prior to departure.

Applicants are advised to apply early, as the committee review often takes six to eight weeks.

Voting on Election Day

Election Day is Tuesday, November 6. Students are expected to attend all classes for which they are registered. Several communications have been sent to students throughout the term regarding the election. The messages reminded them to plan ahead on Election Day, as polls are expected to be busy, as well as provided information about absentee ballots and on-campus polling places for those who live on campus.

Faculty, staff, and students can find information about Election Day at the Minnesota Office of the Secretary of State's website.