Academic Support Resources technical projects updates

ASR has created a resource for the U of M community to track planned, in-progress and completed projects that our technical staff are or were working on. This information is being compiled on the new ASR Technical Project Updates webpage. These projects largely address issues that our users have identified related to their work with the Office of the Registrar, the Office of Student Finance and the Office of Financial Aid.

New Schedule Builder available

A new version of Schedule Builder is now available. Under the new version of Schedule Builder, students will have the option to explore, plan, and see a calendar view of their schedules. With the start of spring 2016 registration quickly approaching, we anticipate this new version of Schedule Builder to be highly accessed and we encourage you to notify your students, faculty, and other staff members about this change. If you have any questions, please contact help@umn.edu.

New location for Graduate Student Services & Progress starting November 9

On November 9, the Graduate Student Services and Progress (GSSP) office currently located in 160 Williamson Hall will move to the One Stop Student Services center in Bruininks Hall. Graduate and professional students and others who need to speak with GSSP staff in-person should visit the One Stop in Bruininks Hall for assistance. All phone and email information for GSSP will remain the same. The GSSP office in 160 Williamson Hall will have limited service (no walk-in service; available via email and phone) after Wednesday, November 4 for the move and re-open with full service in its new location on November 9. You may continue to contact GSSP at 612-625-3490 or gssp@umn.edu.

FERPA: How should we work with parents that want to help their child with a disability transition to the University of Minnesota from another college or university?

Since this student is not yet accepted to or enrolled at the University, he or she does not have the ability to give his or her parents access via the University's online tools. In these instances, it is appropriate to work with the student to send or fax a signed letter stating that he or she grants your office permission to speak with the parents about the student's process, educational record, outstanding requirements, etc. Unless the student has an activated University of Minnesota email address, you cannot accept an email from the student granting this permission. And, simply because the student has a disability doesn't mean that FERPA doesn't apply nor can you work with the parents without the students express written permission to do so.

New report available: My Advisees (Midterm Grades)

A new PeopleSoft query report is now available by going to MyU > Reporting Center > Student Services > Advising > My Advisees - Midterm grades. Here, you can find your advisees with midterm grades for the selected term and midterm grade.

Mid Term Alerts in the new system (now, In-Progress Notifications)

University Senate Policy requires instructors of 1xxx-level courses to provide in-progress notifications to students who, based on performance in the course thus far, appear to be in danger of receiving a grade of D, F, or N. The process for doing this has changed with the University’s PeopleSoft Upgrade, and the former mid-term alerts system has been retired. The new process was made available on October 1, 2015 and takes place in the “Grade Rosters” tab of MyU’s Faculty Center. The ASR Student Records Training & Support team has created a “Mid-Term Grade Entry” quick start guide to help instructors.

Registrar's Advisory Committee meeting on October 5

The next Registrar's Advisory Committee (RAC) meeting will be held on Monday, October 5 from 9:30 a.m.-12 p.m. in Humphrey, room 50B. The agenda can be found here.