SFS at College Board Meetings

SOMNOLENT : WAKEFUL ::

(A)   envious : fortunate
(B)   benevolent : kind
(C)   adamant : rigid
(D)   graceful : clumsy
(E)   defiant : autocratic

If you’ve taken the SAT longer than 10 years ago, this question might look familiar. So what does the SAT have to do with financial aid?

The SAT is administered by The College Board, a not for profit organization created to expand access to higher education. The College Board also manages the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE, an application that collects information used by some colleges to award institutional financial aid. UVA is one of five institutions in Virginia who use the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE.

The College Board sponsored two meetings in October, in which participants were invited to hear about changes to the application for the upcoming year, receive in-depth and hands-on training on its functionality, and comment on how to achieve vertical and horizontal equity in the need analysis methodology. SFS staff working in financial aid attended one or both of these meetings. Two important discussion topics included:

• Prior Prior Year (PPY) – The President recently approved the use of Prior Prior Year income on the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), the application used to determine eligibility for federal student aid. Participants discussed the benefits and challenges of this change, its potential impact to their respective campuses and how it may affect institutional need analysis. UVA has announced its support for and use of PPY income in its need analysis and in determining eligibility for institutional financial aid, aligning institutional policy with federal policy. The use of PPY will begin on October 1, 2016 for the 2017-2018 academic year, three months earlier than when the current FAFSA is available.
• Reimagined PROFILE – Work is continuing on an improved CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE that utilizes OCR technology and interview style questions to simplify and streamline the application process for families and to provide more accurate data to schools. The new CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE is expected to be available October 1, 2016 for the 2017-2018 academic year.

Beginning with the 2016-2017 academic year, undergraduate students who wish to be considered for institutional financial aid will be required to submit the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE. The information and training received at these meetings will allow the financial aid staff to better counsel families on the application process and to guide the establishment of institutional policies that move towards vertical and horizontal equity.

And just in case you were curious, the answer to the SAT question is D.

SCPS Employee & Community Open House

The School of Continuing and Professional Studies is hosting an open house on Tuesday, December 8 from 4-6pm at Zehmer Hall. UVA employees & community members will learn more about earning a degree, completing a certificate or just enrolling in a course and how to use their UVa education benefit to pay for their education.

SCPS program directors and faculty will be on hand to answer questions. Registration and admission staff will be available to walk through the steps to register and/or apply online.  Assistance will be provided to show employees how to access their education benefits. Refreshments will be served and a raffle will be held.

2015 Holiday Leave Planning

As a reminder with the holidays right around the corner, if you wish to take additional leave or use your comp time, you will need to have approval in advance from your supervisor. Supervisors are encouraged to be as flexible as possible in granting leave requests, especially during the holidays. Even with careful scheduling, on certain University holidays some departments need to be open and should arrange at least limited coverage to provide essential services.

With the end of the year approaching, please review your leave balances in your SSTL to see the amount of leave that you can carry forward to the next year. Please see the Leave Policies and Procedures if you'd like more information.

2015 Remaining Holidays:

Wednesday, November 25, 2015	Day Before Thanksgiving (FULL DAY)
Thursday, November 26, 2015	Thanksgiving
Friday, November 27, 2015	Day After Thanksgiving
Wednesday, December 23, 2015	Additional Holiday Time
Thursday, December 24, 2015	Christmas Eve
Friday, December 25, 2015	Christmas Day
Thursday, December 31, 2015	New Year’s Eve

From Ashley Feero in UHR.

Outreach & Compliance: New Team Members

Jack Jensen joined the Finance Outreach & Compliance team as a Training and Development Specialist.  Jack has spent the past 14 years in Secondary Education, teaching math at Fork Union Military Academy and Monticello High School, and serving as the Distance Education teacher for Fluvanna County.  Prior to moving to Virginia and entering Education, Jack worked in the Chicago area.  He served as a Lab Manager for Sun Chemical Corporation and a New Products Development Specialist for Viskase Corporation.  Jack has a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Nebraska Wesleyan University, and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from North Park University.

Danielle Hancock joined the Finance Outreach & Compliance team as a Training & Development Specialist in September.  Danielle is one of many Super Temp success stories. After completing the Super Temp training, Danielle spent the last year as the Fiscal Administrator for the Astronomy Department.  The knowledge that she gained from her work in the Integrated System will prove helpful as she takes over the Grants Accounting training among other responsibilities.   Prior to becoming a staff member at UVA, Danielle was a graduate student, earning an Education Specialist degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the Curry School of Education.  Danielle also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Literacy from Wilkes University. 

Erika Priddy joined our Finance Outreach & Compliance team in September as a Training and Development Specialist. Erika’s service in the US Air Force set her trajectory toward training and education.  After three years of ICBM Operations, she became an instructor and developer and ultimately served as the Chief of Weapons and Tactics Training.  But the upheaval of a military career was not for her.  Deciding to put down roots in Charlottesville, Erika spent three years as a contractor at The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School (on North Grounds, across from the Law School) providing instructional design and technological support for the Army Paralegal Program of Instruction.  Erika is specifically interested in eLearning development and blended learning facilitation.  She has a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Miami University and is currently working on her Master’s degree in Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education from Michigan State University.     

LaVerne Harris joined the Finance Outreach & Compliance team as an Export Analyst in September.  Her background includes over 25 years of export/import licensing and compliance experience within the defense electronic divisions of both Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Company.  In addition, LaVerne is a proud US Air Force veteran.  LaVerne’s export/import compliance experience will afford the Office of Export Controls the ability to increase export compliance assessments and training activities to both staff and faculty in support of various international activities. The Office of Export Compliance is located centrally within the Finance Outreach and Compliance office at Caruthers Hall. 

For additional information on Export Compliance at UVA, please visit the website at http://export.virginia.edu/

OE Project Alliance: SHOWCASE

On December 3rd at 1:30pm, a SHOWCASE of OE projects will give you the chance to learn more and ask questions about OE initiatives, network with project leaders, and also provide your feedback. This special JPJ event will feature a UVA Men’s Basketball coach, who will greet attendees and share about the team’s culture and commitment to excellence. Don’t miss this exciting event. RSVP Today!

OE Projects and Initiatives at the SHOWCASE:

HR Strategic Design Initiative

Research UVA

Travel and Expense Management

IT Projects (Email Consolidation, Data Center Centralization)         

Managerial Reporting Project

Gift Processing

Center for Leadership Excellence

Strategic Sourcing

Cornerstone Strategic Plan

Tech Tips: Quick Hyperlinks and PDF/Picture to Text

Here is the fastest way to add a hyperlink to your text in Outlook emails, Word, etc.:

1. Select the URL you want to point to (ex: http://managerialreporting.virginia.edu)
2. Copy: Keyboard shortcut = “Ctrl + C” 
3. Select the text to hyperlink in your document (ex: “Do you know about the MRP Town Hall?”)
4. Add URL

• Keyboard Shortcut = “Ctrl + K” (select the “Existing File or Web Page” option)
• Keyboard Shortcut = “Ctrl + V” (to paste the copied URL)
• Click “OK”

.....5. “Do you know about the MRP Town Hall?”

• It is that simple!
• Link an email address just as easily—“ctrl K” and select the “E-mail Address” option

Have you ever wanted to copy and modify text from a picture or pdf file?

You can insert the file into Microsoft One Note, right-click to select “Copy Text from Picture”, then paste into OneNote or a Word document.  It’s unbelievably simple!

Have a tech trick that could help your colleagues work smarter? Share it!

From Melody's Desk: October 15

October 15, 2015

I just returned from the EACUBO annual meeting in Philadelphia where I heard great presentations, met interesting colleagues, became inspired and re-energized, and explored the Reading Terminal Market (the fresh squeezed lemonade and cinnamon sugar pretzel from Miller’s Twist were excellent).

I wanted to share with you a few take-away ideas from a session by Jeff Hoffman, a very successful entrepreneur (heard of Priceline.com?) and motivational speaker. Mr. Hoffman spoke about innovation, specifically five actions that we can take to be more innovative. I’ll give you a quick summary and suggest that you watch his TED talk for more. His five suggested actions that we can all take:

1.      Don't get used to your surroundings. Be sure to stop and see everything like it was your first time. Watch the TED talk to hear about the “why?” game.

2.      Be an “info-sponge” by constantly scanning the rest of the world, especially the world beyond our homes, our offices, and even higher education. Take 10 minutes every day to read or watch or observe something new.

3.      Hold “blue sky sessions” with co-workers, colleagues, and key stakeholders where we ask the question “if we could start all over, what could we do better?” Don’t worry about the reasonableness of the responses… 99 of the ideas might not be implementable, then the 100th may be the best idea ever.

4.      Deepen our understanding of our primary stakeholders - students, parents, researchers, business administrators. Do this by meeting them in their comfort zone, dressed similarly to them, and without an agenda – just “hang out,” listen, and learn.

5.      Re-think of our workplace with a culture of experimentation. Do small things differently on a regular basis and see if we stumble on a better way. If the experiment isn’t better, it is not a big deal to go back to the old way or to try a new way.

One idea from Mr. Hoffman’s presentation really made me stop and think:  he advocated for each of us to be unreasonable at times. Doesn’t that sound odd? I’ve always tried to be reasonable and practical. And I think that approach has served me well in many situations.  But, I’ll leave you with one last quote from George Bernard Shaw on reasonableness and ask you to think about what this means to you.

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends upon the unreasonable man."

Have a great weekend and hope to see you at the CVC Cornhole tournament tomorrow!

Melody

Using Your Volunteer Leave

All University Staff are allotted 16 hours of School Assistance and Volunteer Service Leave. Have you used yours? The guidelines for using this leave are broad (contact UHR to determine a specific opportunity's eligibility). Many people have put their leave to good use in local schools and other community service efforts. Here are some examples:

Mark Anderson spends an hour each week working one-on-one with a participant at Computers4Kids to tackle computer projects. At the end of 36 sessions, the participant takes home their very own computer.

For two years in a row, Andrew Bedotto travelled to Massachusetts to assist The Institute for Natural Learning in facilitating a weekend outdoor mentoring program for adolescent boys.

Randy Ellis and his fellow coaches at Western Albemarle spend time with kids at the YMCA to talk about coaching and mentoring.

For several years, Lynn Galasso used school/volunteer leave hours to support her son in the High School Regional & State Academic Quiz Tournament competitions in Richmond and Northern Virginia.

Alpana Gautam uses her leave to volunteer at her daughter’s elementary school. Recently she helped make the salt dough maps that students will be using for a geography project.

Kobby Hoffman speaks to middle schools students in Albemarle County regarding leadership, involvement in community service and personal finance.

Lisa Layne volunteered at Caring for Creatures in Fluvanna, helping with the cats and dogs.

For the past three years, Mike Ludwick has used his service leave (and some annual leave) to go on week-long trips to West Virginia with the high school youth group from his church to help improve housing conditions for those in need.

Patty Marbury spent a week in Darlington County, South Carolina with Habitat for Humanity doing a “blitz build”--a team of about 50 people built an entire house from foundation to roof in 6 days!

Lynne Schwar knits shawls for Caring Embrace, a volunteer group at Martha Jefferson Hospital, who provide shawls for patients and often family members who could use a little comforting after a tough diagnosis or death of a loved one. She has also volunteered at Hope's Legacy Equine Rescue in Afton, feeding the horses and doing barn chores.

Marissa Waddell volunteered as a docent at the Charlottesville Design House for the Shelter for Help in Emergency, which provides services to women and children who are victims of domestic violence.

Managerial Reporting Project Fall Town Hall

After our successful March Town Hall, 90% of our MRP stakeholders asked us to hold other similar events in the future. We heard you, and on Thursday, November 5^th, the MRP team will present an update on project accomplishments and statuses. Come to the Managerial Reporting Project Fall Town Hall and together, let's write the story of how our project outcomes will reach the broader University.

Bookmark This: GMS Interface Codes & Contact Info

If you are preparing or approving a monthly reconciliation, you may have asked “What are these transactions that begin with GMSA-?” The prefix GMSA- tells us that the transaction was uploaded to the Integrated System from a file generated by a school or department. Check out the GMS Interface Contact Information sheet to crack the code found in the transaction number that tells which area created the batch. To navigate to this document from the Comptroller's home page, click "Important Links," then "ISP Contact Information."

SFS Launches MyIntuition Quick College Cost Estimator

In September, SFS launched MyIntuition, a new tool for estimating the amounts of financial aid and family contribution a student can expect for one academic year. With just 9 questions, it is much simpler and faster than the Federally mandated Net Price Calculator, but maintains a very high level of accuracy.

U.Va.'s use of this new tool was highlighted by The New York Times and EAB. The articles quote President Sullivan, who said she hopes this tool will help “avoid the possibility of losing prospective students due to misperceptions about cost.”

You can try the MyIntuition calculator at virginia.edu/costestimator.

MRP New Team Members

Navya, Steve and Katie

Navya Kommalapati is also a new ETL Developer on the MRP team. She is originally from Hyderabad, India, and came to the United States to attend graduate school in Alabama. Navya was an ETL consultant for five years, so like Steve, she brings valuable business and data experience—but from the telecom, retail and healthcare sectors. Navya is excited to learn and use the many new MRP tools and applications, and is eager to get involved in other project tasks in addition to her ETL work.

Navya enjoys outdoor activities, and is even teaching herself how to swim! She recently spent an entire weekend cooking an authentic Indian feast, so the MRP team hopes Navya will bring one or two delicacies to Fontaine someday.

Steve Patterson joined the Managerial Reporting Project as an ETL Developer. That is extract, transform and load—tech jargon for transforming data from our various source systems, and bringing it into the new data warehouse. ETL is a critical step for the project to deliver the future reporting environments. Steve has more than 15 years of business intelligence, technical and leadership experience in the financial services, publishing and not-for-profit sectors.  He also adds valuable Agile methodology experience to the team—he is a Certified Scrum Master, and will help advise the team on Agile/Scrum best practices. 

Outside of work, Steve enjoys spending time with his wife, Jen, and their four children (ages 8,10,13 and 15), as well as reading and long distance running. He has run the Charlottesville Marathon, and three half marathons, and enjoys running the Rivanna trail right outside his Fontaine office.

Katie Lake is the new Office Manager for the Managerial Reporting Project. She is a recent UVA graduate, with a degree in linguistics. While in school, Katie was a research assistant for a study on the Mopan Mayan language. As an alumna, Katie is excited to kick off her career at UVA, and is thrilled that the Managerial Reporting Project will provide an opportunity to work with many new people around the University. The rest of the project team is also excited to welcome Katie and her enthusiasm for UVA.

As a linguist, it is no surprise Katie admits to “nerding-out” about languages. She also loves Battlestar Galactica and classical music—and even plays the guitar, drums and piano! Like many other newly-employed recent college graduates, Katie joined her first fantasy football league. She says it is “not going too well.”

Comptroller's Office: Updates on Audit and Cardinal

The audit is in its final two weeks and going smoothly. The APA is frantically trying to wrap up their audit. The University submitted its consolidated financial information to the State on 9/23 (as required) for the State’s CAFR.

Cardinal implementation is entering its training phase where several UVA folks will be attending both on-line and in-person classes with the Cardinal training team. This will continue until the end of October. We have already done testing on “Mock” data, comparing CARRS reports to Cardinal reports and noted NO exceptions. February 1^st is till the “Go Live” date for Cardinal.

2015 Day of Caring

This September, 36 volunteers from the Associate VP for Finance area completed three projects at area schools for the annual United Way Day of Caring:

 A group of 8 went to Walker Elementary School, where they attended 4 different lunch periods with 5^th and 6^th grade students who were asked to sit at tables where they didn’t know everyone. They played Bingo, which required that they interact with those other students who they might not know. Math seemed to be the favorite subject of most of the students-- Sarah Doran said, "I told them if they keep up the good work, they could come work for us some day!"

A group of 11 went to Western Albemarle High School, where they had a great day landscaping and assembling two picnic tables.

A group of 17 went to Nathanael Greene Primary School, where they created two 10 x 10 number grids on the playgrounds--a great project for a bunch of accountants and project managers! It was a total team effort, the group NEEDED and utilized all of the planning, analytical, and project management skills its members had to offer.

Excel Tips & Tricks: The Quick Access Toolbar

Do you ever find yourself clicking through the Ribbon in Excel (or other MS Office programs), because you can’t quite remember which tab you need?  The Quick Access Toolbar allows you to easily customize your favorite or most often-used commands, saving time and reducing frustration.