FERPA Q&A

Q: What should you do if you receive a request to confirm a degree for a student in your program?

A: You have a couple of options. First, you can always direct these inquiries to the Office of the Registrar at otr@umn.edu. Second, if you want to verify this information you must first check if the student has a suppression on his or her record. If the student has a full suppression you cannot share any information about the student, including confirming whether they attended the university. If the student does not have a full suppression, you may release the information.

9.2 technical upgrade was a success

The upgrade of PeopleSoft Campus Solutions from version 9.0 to 9.2 was successfully completed on Sunday, September 24, smoothly and on schedule Technicians confirmed this even in light of recent, unrelated issues with PeopleSoft that occurred after the upgrade was completed. Thank you to the many people in ASR who were part of the effort!

The project now moves into its next phase, which goes through June 2018. During this phase, functionality will be released on a monthly basis rather than on one, final launch date. You can expect to see process improvements utilizing available delivered tools. More details are available on the project website.

New OCM website to launch in October

The Office of Classroom Management (OCM) will launch a newly designed website on Tuesday, October 3. The site's domain will remain the same (www.classroom.umn.edu), however specific page URLs will change. When the site launches there will be redirects (instances that redirect your browser from one URL to another) in place for commonly accessed pages so you can continue to find what you need. Additionally, a feedback form for the new site will be available.

The site has a new menu structure for better navigation and pages with streamlined content. Content includes classroom technology instructions, scheduling applications, and information about Classroom Technical Services (CTS) including audio/visual equipment design and installation information.

OCM's new site has been built on the Drupal 8 content management system and provides a better mobile experience for users.

B-term spring 2019 changes

In looking at the academic calendar, it came to our attention that there is not enough time in the spring 2019 semester for the b-term to start after spring break. In spring 2019, B-term will start the day immediately after the a-term ends (a Tuesday) and then first Monday class will be after spring break.

CCE to become CCAPS

As of Monday, October 2, the College of Continuing Education (CCE) is changing its name to the College of Continuing and Professional Studies (CCAPS, pronounced see-caps). The name change will be reflected on their website, social media channels, and emails. Implementing the official name change in University systems will be done at a future date, yet to be determined.

If you have links to CCE on any web pages or communications, note to update them after October 2. There will be redirects in place for each of the old URLs. For more information, contact Stephanie Platteter, Executive Director of Marketing of CCAPS, at platt013@umn.edu.

PCAS fixes and enhancements

On September 24, several fixes and enhancements went into the Program & Curriculum Approval System (PCAS). In PCAS, you will notice the following changes:

• When selecting the "Update Type," the order of the radio buttons are now reversed. The most commonly used selection, "Create a proposal affecting only future students," is now first and is set as the default selection.
• When sub-groups and sub-lists are added to a proposal, "Display this subgroup/sublist name in the catalog" is now checked by default. You will need to uncheck the box if you want the name not to display in the catalog.
• When the "Delete Proposal" button is clicked, new wording on the confirmation page provides more clarity.
• Within Program Requirements/Step 4, the "Other requirements, if applicable" textbox character limit is increased to 4000 characters.

For questions or support regarding PCAS, contact the ASR Training & Support Team at srhelp@umn.edu.

Refresher—what’s RAC?

As a refresher, or if you are new to the University, the Registrar's Advisory Committee (RAC) serves as a consultative body to the director of Academic Support Resources (ASR) and meets monthly. RAC members collaborate with ASR to improve critical services for students, faculty, and staff including:

• Process improvement
• Policy clarification and recommendation
• System enhancements
• Reporting features

Attendees of the monthly meeting come from each college and many departments throughout the Twin Cities campus. Meeting minutes are made available shortly after each meeting. Join the RAC Google group if you are interested in receiving the monthly agenda and meeting minutes. You are also welcome to attend the monthly meetings.