The following University policies have been revised or added:

• Electronic (E-mail) Communication Policy: There was a substantive revision regarding the bulk or auto-forwarding of email outside the institution. The policy now explicitly prohibits automated copying or forwarding of institutional emails to non-University accounts. There were also minor revisions for readability.
• Emergency Closing Policy: There were a few substantive revisions to better align the policy with current practices and to provide greater clarity to employees. There were also editorial revisions such as adding the link to the campus alert website, updating titles, and using gender-neutral pronouns.
• Policy Against Discrimination: There was a substantive revision to include exempt employees in the employee reporting section.
• Restriction on Lithium-Ion Battery Motorized Personal Transportation Vehicle (MPTV) Policy: This is a new policy. By implementing the public policy of a University enterprise-wide restriction on the charging, storage, and use of lithium-ion battery powered motorized personal transportation vehicles (MPTV) within all University owned buildings and their electrical infrastructure, the reduction of life safety hazards, resulting property damage, and potential disruption to business continuity will decrease, thereby increasing the safety of the whole community.
• System and Application Security Policy: The substantive revision to this policy sets the stage for several upcoming changes associated with server administration including: the definition of public/private networks, separation between academic/administrative and research systems, as well as the definition of an IT Professional (to ensure the individuals responsible for managing systems are appropriately trained and charged with duties to help ensure the security of university data). Other non-substantive revisions include edits for readability.

Due to recent audit findings we updated our LOA payment and transfer procedures between UConn and UConn Health. Here is the updated process:

Executing an LOA

1. UCH contract specialists should work out all details of the contract with UConn Departments involved.
2. Once terms are agreed upon and the contract is created, UCH shall sign the contract and send it to Linda.anievas@uconn.edu (cc-ing heather.ryan@uconn.edu) for final financial review.
3. The Budget Office will obtain a signature from Reka Wrynn –Associate Vice President for Budget, Planning and Institutional Research (she should be signatory on all LOAs) and return the fully executed copy to the UCH contract specialist and UConn department involved.

Invoicing

1. For ongoing expenses, invoices should be submitted twice a year, once in May to capture the expenses from July-May, and once after all the remaining expenses have hit (usually the 1st week in July). If the LOA is for a one-time expense, the invoice can be submitted as soon as that expense hits UConn’s account.
2. The KFS account on the invoices should match the KFS account of the original expenses. (Invoices should use the same KFS accounts where the expenses were originally coded.)
3. Please use object code ‘4950-Support from Affiliate’ on the invoice to record the revenue from the UConn Health Center.
4. Documentation attached to the invoice should consist of a WebFocus transaction report for general expenses, or a Payroll Transactions report for payroll related expenses (exported to excel format) for the designated KFS accounts.
5. Invoices should only be saved and NOT submitted at first. Once the invoice is created and saved, please send the edoc number and related documentation to Linda.anievas@uconn.edu for review.
6. Once the invoice and backup documentations are reviewed by the Budget Office, Linda Anievas will reach out to the relevant UConn Department confirming that the invoice can be submitted.
7. Send the invoice and documentations to UCHC and copy Linda.anievas@uconn.edu as well.

GA appointments with either a retroactive date of hire or a retroactive increase in percentage of appointment are prohibited. Appointment start dates should accurately reflect the employee’s work, but non-standard appointment dates can affect the GA’s tuition waiver and eligibility for insurance. Appointments that are less than one semester also require advance approval from the Graduate Employee Union.

If there is a need for a retroactive or non-standard appointment, departments should contact The Graduate School prior to issuing an offer letter.

From September 18th through 23rd there will be daily events available to employees including yoga, tours of the Benton museum, guided meditation, the employee Sundae Showcase at the Dairy Bar, and the Main Event at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs on Friday, September 22nd.

Faculty and staff can receive up to four complimentary tickets to the UConn vs. Duke football game on Saturday, September 23rd starting at 3:30 PM. Redeem your complimentary tickets.

Please visit the website for a full listing of events.

CLAS Shared Services has started a lending library with a variety of books on professional development and self-improvement. You can view the books we have available on the CLAS Administrative Staff SharePoint Group: CLAS Lending Library.xlsx (NetID required).

For more information on how to borrow a book, please contact Emily Petry at emily.petry@uconn.edu.

UConn is implementing a new Events Calendar to optimize UConn Events. The new system allows you to create robust, formatted event pages, filter events by campus or audience, and collect RSVPs.

University Business Services released this announcement regarding increased bid thresholds for unrestricted (State of Connecticut Bid Thresholds) and grants and contracts accounts (Uniform Guidance Bid Thresholds). This will take effect October 1st, 2023.

When billing another State of CT agency, departments are required to create an invoice in KFS. Accounts Receivable then creates a State Transfer Invoice in Core-CT for the other agency to pay. Departments must include a billing period and Ad Hoc Accounts Receivable on the KFS invoice. The billing period is the date range or period in which the goods or services were provided to the other agency. Please include this in the Notes and Attachments section.

JMA has shipped awards to HR, some awards have been picked up already, but the remainder of awards will be picked up by the CLAS Dean’s Office and held in the Austin Building as of 9/21. An email notification will be sent out on further pick up information to departmental admins to arrange any applicable pickups.

• UConn has partnered with Academic Impressions to offer professional development resources for higher education professionals. Resources include hundreds of hours of trainings in topics such as Academic Leadership, Advancement, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Faculty Success, Leadership Development, Compliance, and more.
• The Office of Human Resources with Deer Oaks EAP Services is offering a webinar on Mindfulness and Compassion as well as financial management. Learn more about their offerings in September 2023.
• Browse the Fall 2023 schedule for the Graduate School’s Timely Topics Series.
  • Timely Topics is a series of opportunities to engage with subject matter experts on topics relevant to those who support and advise graduate students and programs.
  • You can register for the latest live session or watch a previously held session under the Resources from Previous Sessions list.

• Student Health and Wellness has an emergency line that goes directly to an advice nurse available 24/7 during the regular academic year.
• For free and confidential consultation, please call 860-486-4700.
• Learn more about what to do in a crisis.

• The deadline for departmental schedules for Spring 2024 to be submitted to the Registrar’s Office was Monday, September 18. Please work with your dean’s office to determine when they’ll need you to submit your schedule to them so that they may review any items that require approval.
• Please see the following blog posts for more information about classroom assignments:
  • Spring 2024: Checklist for Departments. This post lays out what department schedulers should plan to do before the Spring 2024 deadline to get their schedules ready for the room assignment process.
  • Overview of Classroom Assignment and Optimization Process. This post is just a walkthrough of the classroom optimization process to shed more light on how it works.
• To receive updates on CLSS and other scheduling issues, please subscribe to the Registrar Academic Scheduling LISTSERV (REGISTRAR_ACADEMIC_SCHEDULING-L).

• Anthony Travel is offering an informational session via Teams on Concur Travel and the booking process.
  • The following topics will be covered:
    • Concur Travel
    • Updating Traveler Profiles including traveler preferences, cell phone numbers, traveler arrangers, and credit cards
    • Booking Groups/Conference Rates
    • Booking Guests
    • Important Contact Information
    • Unused Tickets
    • Benefits of Booking within Program
    • Travel Industry Updates
    • Local Direct Bill Hotel
  • Tuesday, September 26, 2023 from 1:30pm - 3:00pm Click Here to Register
• Virtual Career Progression trainings are available as live virtual trainings and as previously recorded sessions.
  • Career Progression Overview
    • Wednesday, September 20th - 9:30am to 11:30am
    • Wednesday, September 27th - 9:30am to 11:30am
    • Click here to register
    • View the recorded session here
  • How to Create a Framework
    • Thursday, September 21st - 9:30am to 11:30am
    • Thursday, September 28th - 9:30am to 11:30am
    • Click here to register
    • View the recorded session here
• PageUp Regular Payroll: Sign up here.
  • September 20, 2023 from 9:00-12:00
  • October 24, 2023 from 9:00-12:00
• PageUp Special Payroll: Sign up here.
  • September 21, 2023 from 9:00-11:00
  • October 25, 2023 from 9:00-11:00

• During the month of July, GMS supported 48 proposal submissions, totaling $43,932,136.
• 9 new awards were made to CLAS faculty in July, totaling $2,264,925
• Al Byron will be departing the CLAS-GMS team on Friday, September 22^nd. Earth Sciences faculty that wish to submit a grant proposal must submit the CLAS Grant Proposal Initiation Form and a GMS team member will be assigned to facilitate the grant submission. Christine Blake will be assigned as the Fiscal Officer for Earth Sciences grants and contracts accounts, any questions about active awards (post-award activities) should be directed to Christine or clasgrants@uconn.edu.
• Principal Investigators with National Science Foundation (NSF) proposals submitted on or after July 31, 2023 must complete NSF-required RCR training.  Additionally, co-principal investigators, senior personnel, post-doctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate students funded on NSF awards must complete the training. The training can be completed through UConn’s institutional subscription to the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative Program. Information on the training and how to access is available here and there is no charge when registering with a UConn NetID. Department heads received a more detailed communication on this requirement on Friday, September 8^th.
• The National Science Foundation is mandating the usage of SciENcv for the preparation of the biographical sketch and current and pending (other) support documents in all new NSF proposals submitted or due on or after October 23, 2023. Faculty are highly encouraged to create their profiles and documents in SciENcv in advance of October 23^rd to allow for a smooth proposal submission process. The following tutorials and FAQs are available, and faculty can always reach out to the CLAS Grant Management Services team for additional support. Department heads received a more detailed communication on this requirement on Friday, September 8^th.
  • SciENcv Resources:
    • NSF Biographical Sketch video tutorial
    • NSF Current & Pending (Other) Support video tutorial
    • SciENcv help guide with NSF-specific section (includes screenshots and step-by-step instructions)
    • Using SciENcv Frequently Asked Questions
    • SciENcv demo recording from June 2023 NSF Grants Conference (demo starts at the 23:49 minute marker)
    • Creating an NIH or NSF Biosketch with SciENcv

Email is an official means of university communication. Email services are provided in support of the administrative and academic functions of the University, which may include various types of protected information (e.g., FERPA, HIPAA, PHI or PII types of data). The University has regulatory and contractual obligations to protect this data and ensure it is stored on systems with appropriate safeguards. All institutional messages to a published @uconn.edu address are required, by policy, to be delivered to a UConn-supported system. Creating a forwarding rule from University accounts that forwards a copy of each message to an external non-University account is no longer permitted. Specific emails may still be copied or forwarded individually, but the account holder assumes responsibility for ensuring that the email does not contain content that violates policy or regulatory/contractual obligations. From the perspective of this updated requirement, UConn Health email accounts should be considered university accounts. Review the new policy.

• Max Klinkert, Financial Assistant 1, CLAS SS BC
• Andrew Kolano, Financial Assistant 1, PSYC
• Michael Balaoing, Financial Assistant 1, CHEM
• Pablo Hernando, Facilities Professional, CLAS SS FAC
• Michael Werchadlo, Service Delivery Manager, CLAS SS IT

• Christopher Los, Financial Assistant 2, CLAS SS BC
• Sierra McCaffrey, Educational Program Assistant 2, HEJS
• Alexander Byron, Grants and Contracts Assistant, CLAS SS GM