Below is a roundup of important announcements and reminders from the Business Center. If you have a question or there is something that you'd like to include in the next roundup, please feel free to reach out to the Business Center via bsc@uconn.edu.
Announcements
Annual Budget and Staffing Plan Meetings
- Fall 2025/Spring 2026 Annual Budget and Staffing Meetings have been scheduled, please make sure the following are ready for review:
- Temp Labor Projection.
- Teaching Load Clean up including clearly defined administrative releases.
- Predictable schedule review and alignment.
- For scheduling information or concerns, please contact Mackenzie Murphy.
- For any data clean up or questions, please contact bsc@uconn.edu.
Minimum Wage Increase
- Effective January 1, 2025, Connecticut’s minimum wage has been increased from $15.69 to $16.35 per hour.
- Any student whose active payroll record was not at the new minimum has been systematically increased in CORE-CT.
- No action is required by departments.
- The updated Student Pay Scales can be viewed on Payroll's Website.
Summer Research Appointments
- Summer Research Appointments are due in PageUp on March 15th.
- Please submit all hire requests in PageUp by Friday, March 7th to ensure the CLAS Grant Management has time to review and approve your requests.
- Summer Research Appointments are due in SmartHR by April 17th.
- Please submit all transactions in Core-CT by Thursday, April 10th to ensure the CLAS Grant Management has time to review and approve.
- Please note: Faculty research summer pay can ONLY go against the 12/12ths “bucket/allotment.”
- Faculty teaching in Winter/May terms goes against the overload “bucket/allotment” ONLY.
- Faculty teaching for Summer can go under either 12/12ths or overload “bucket/allotment.”
ATE vs SET
- In March 2024, the University Senate revised the terminology of SET+ to Assessment of Teaching Effectiveness (ATE).
- We urge all units to update their processes and procedures accordingly.
- For further guidance and resources related to ATE, please visit CETL’s website.
Student Administration System Data for 10th Day
- The Registrar’s and Provost’s Offices will reach out to instructors and administrators to ensure that instructors assignments are accurate and complete by the 10th day of classes (Feb 3rd, 2025).
- Accurate instructor assignments are necessary for the ATE (previously SET+, see above) process to run correctly.
- Please ensure accuracy in reporting student-faculty ratio and course loads.
- Instructors can verify their schedules in the Student Administration System by following these instructions.
- Please ensure that your department's scheduling administrators have all the information they need to finalize instructor assignments by 10th Day.
Kuali Fellowship and Scholarship Workflow
- The Scholarship and Fellowship workflows have been moved to Kuali Build starting January 6th.
- Please see the Training Materials for both Kuali Build forms.
Career Progressions
- The next round of Career Progressions nominations begins on March 1st.
- Please reach out to bsc@uconn.edu with any questions on eligibility, format, or submission.
Save the Date: CLAS DEI Training – Unconscious Bias
- CLAS is partnering with Transformative Leadership Strategies (TLS) for a training in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion that focuses on Unconscious Bias.
- Please save one of the following dates:
- Wednesday, March 26th from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
- Thursday, March 27th from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM.
UK Electronic Travel Authorization
- Effective immediately, travelers who do not need a visa to enter the United Kingdom will need to obtain an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) before their visit.
- The UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) is an advance travel permission required for foreign nationals visiting or transiting the UK without a visa.
- The ETA costs £10 and allows multiple trips to the UK.
- Eligible non-Europeans can apply from 27 November 2024 and will require an ETA to travel from January 8th.
- Eligible Europeans can apply from March 5th, 2025 and will need an ETA to travel from April 2nd, 2025.
- For more information, please refer to the following:
Monthly Meetings
- Monthly meetings will take place between CLAS Shared Services Management and the following:
- Controller’s Office will take place on Wednesday, January 29th.
- Procurement will take place on Wednesday, February 5th.
- Procurement and A/P will take place on Monday, February 10th.
- Payroll will take place Friday, February 7th.
- CLAS Business Center Monthly Topic Overview will be held on Thursday, February 13th.
- Please reach out to bsc@uconn.edu with ideas for future topics.
- Please feel free to reach out to bsc@uconn.edu with any areas of concern to be discussed at any of these meetings.
Professional Development Opportunities
- LinkedIn Learning is now available at no cost to all UConn staff on Storrs campus as an e-learning resource.
- LinkedIn Learning offers an opportunity to develop professional skills through a digital library of over 6000 courses.
- Visit the Microsoft App Store and navigate to the LinkedIn Learning application to activate your license.
- Please reach out to brandon.murray@uconn.edu with any questions.
- CLAS Shared Services has a lending library with a variety of books on professional development and self-improvement.
- For more information on how to borrow a book, please contact emily.petry@uconn.edu.
- Academic Impressions offers 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.
- View the Academic Impressions website.
- The Lexington Group, Inc is UConn’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP). The Lexington Group provides confidential face-to-face counseling, or in certain circumstances video counseling, to assist employees in identifying and resolving personal problems no matter how unique and diverse they appear. Examples include family and marital conflicts, stress, substance abuse, depression, and other emotional issues. The Lexington Group also assists with referrals for eldercare support, childcare, as well as legal and financial guidance through our Life Care program.
- Employees may call The Lexington Group for immediate and confidential assistance at 1-800-676-HELP (4357) or access The Lexington Group's website. The Lexington Group is available seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day.
- Please see the schedule for the Graduate School’s Timely Topics Series.
- Topics for live upcoming sessions include:
- Setting Up For Success: Recruitment, Offer Letters, and Hiring of GAs – Thursday, January 30th at 11:00 AM.
- Part 1: AI is Here to Stay… Now What? A Conversation – Thursday February 6th at 11:00 AM.
- Part 2: AI is Here to Stay… Now What? A Conversation – Thursday February 13th at 11:00 AM.
- Topics for live upcoming sessions include:
Trainings
- Annual Compliance Training will be available in your Learning@Work portal starting in mid-January.
- Topics will include:
- The Code of Conduct.
- The University's Guide to the State Code of Ethics.
- Key Reminders: Privacy, Reporting Obligations Under Title IX, and Export Control Regulations.
- Topics will include:
- Concur Open Labs: Register here.
- Travel Services will be holding bi-weekly Open Labs at 3 Discovery Drive in the Bid Room.
- Please come prepared with receipts and supporting documents saved to your laptop or in Concur.
- The next sessions will be held on Wednesdays, January 29th and February 12th.
- Half hour slots are available between from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
- Visit the Travel Services website for more information.
- HuskyBuy Open Labs: Register here.
- Please come prepared with your laptop, questions, and any quotes or supporting documents you may have questions on.
- Labs will be available biweekly with the next few sessions on Wednesdays, January 22nd and February 5th.
- Half hour slots are available between from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
- Please reach out to huskybuysupport@uconn.edu with any questions.
- PageUp Regular Payroll:
- January 27th from 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM.
- March 3rd from 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM.
- PageUp Special Payroll:
- January 28th from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM.
- March 4th from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM.
CLAS Shared Services Grant Management
- For the month of November, CLAS faculty submitted 53 grant applications with a total requested amount of 59M.
- For the month of November, CLAS faculty were awarded 11 new awards with a total funded amount of 2.6M.
- GMS will begin preparing and processing summer payrolls for faculty.
- Shout-out! Francesca D’Antonio and Jacob Heiden passed the nationally recognized Certified Research Administrator exam.
CLAS Shared Services Information Technology
- Welcome back to a new semester! CLAS IT is here to support you with all your technology needs. Here are some quick links and updates to help you get started:
- Submit a Request or Get Support:
- Visit our portal.
- Email us at: clasit@uconn.edu
- Submit a Request or Get Support:
- View Your Existing Requests:
- Easily track the status of your requests (emailed or created in the portal).
- Recently Updated Knowledge Base Articles:
- Explore these helpful guides:
CLAS Shared Services Facility Services
- Please review the updated UConn Policy for Space Heaters in University Buildings.
- If there are any questions, please contact CLASFSHELP@uconn.edu or your CLAS Building Manager for assistance.