Communication, Events, and Processing for assisting your new faculty!

• Communication:
  • Send a message to your department (re)announcing your area’s new hires (TT and NTT.)
  • Send a directed message to your new hires informing them of important department/CLAS events, helpful resources and guides, points of contact information (breakdown of staff roles and who to go to.)
  •  Add new faculty to department Sharepoint/Onedrives and Listservs.
• Events:
  • Schedule 1st department meeting and committee meetings (if applicable.)
•  Processing:
  • Update your department’s website.
  • Ensure office needs and general supplies are met, work with CLAS Facility Services and CLAS IT if necessary.
  • Help identify any access issues and add administrative delegation (if applicable) to system profiles.

• Given the current climate and the need to reduce expenditures, meal costs will continue to be reviewed at a very detailed level.
• Please ensure any food costs are truly necessary and critical in nature.
• Pre-approvals at this point should be submitted for any food expense. There is no guarantee of allowable expenses or reimbursements.
• All alcohol purchases must receive pre-approval from the Provost, as well as CLAS, and are subject to increased review.

• Read the Guidance on Essential University Travel released by the President and Provost.

• CLAS Deadline to validate and submit course schedules in CLSS for the Spring 2026 semester is Friday, September 5th.
  • University deadline is Friday, September 12th.
• Please submit by the CLAS deadline in order to allow Shared Services time to review and approve.

• Please note that if an account has multiple recipients of the same award, they should all be listed on one form when submitting within the systems.
  • All submissions that total $10k or more in disbursements to students on one form should have a copy printed by the submitter and emailed to the Shared Services Business Center.
  • Please see the Training Materials for both Kuali Build forms.
  • Please see the Scholarship vs. Fellowship Guide in the CLAS Knowledge Base.

• All CLAS undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in a CLAS program are welcome to apply to CLAS Office of the Dean scholarships and fellowships.
• Please be sure to share with all undergraduate and graduate students in your unit.
• Application will be open Monday, August 25th and closes Sunday, September 21st.

• The next round of Career Progressions nominations begins on September 1st.
• While salary increases tied to career progression will not be approved for the September 2025 period, applications meeting the advancement criteria will be held by Human Resources for consideration in the March 2026 or subsequent application period when the fiscal situation improves.
  • Eligible applicants who apply in September will not need to reapply in March.
• Please reach out to bsc@uconn.edu with any questions on eligibility, format, or submission.

• When processing an Audit Hire in PageUp, please use the “1. ALL UNITS: AUDIT/WAIVER + APPROVER” approval workflow. This workflow requires manual selections before submitting in PageUp:
  • “Org Head/Org Head Proxy” should be Michelle Hicks.
  • “School/College/Division” should be Mackenzie Murphy for all NTT/TT positions or Erin Szela for all other positions.
  • “HR Ad Coordinator” will auto populate, do not change.

• View the latest PTR/PR & Interfolio Updates issued by the CLAS Dean’s Office.
  • This issue features information on the updates and reminders, information on joint appointments and regional campuses, and helpful resources including the CLAS 25-26 PTR-PR Timeline.

• Effective July 24th, the following are restricted for purchase on the University Pro Card:
  • Web hosting services and web site domain registration must be hosted by the University and use a uconn.edu domain.
  • This is per University standards and ensures that brand, web, accessibility, and security standards are met.
•  ChatGPT is available to UConn Faculty and Staff and must be purchased through ITS.
  • If you have paid for a ChatGPT account, please transfer it over to a university license.
    • A refund for any remaining balances will be issued from OpenAI for transferred accounts.
  • All University ChatGPT licenses, new and transfers, must be purchased directly from software.uconn.edu and will require a KFS account number.

• CLAS is working with speaker Marisol Cruz St Juste to offer a 1-hour information session on work/life balance.
• The training will be on Thursday, September 25th from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM in McHugh Hall, room 108. Space is limited to 30 seats.
• RSVP for the event, all are welcome!

• Monthly meetings will take place between CLAS Shared Services Management and the following:
  • Procurement will take place on Wednesday, September 17th.
  • Procurement and A/P will take place on Monday, September 8th.
  • Payroll will take place on Friday, September 12th.
  • CLAS Business Center Monthly Topic Overview will be held on Thursday, September 11th from 1:30 to 3:00.
    • Dan Warren and Nancy Patrylak will discuss travel policy updates.
  •  Please reach out to bsc@uconn.edu with ideas for future topics or any areas of concern to be discussed at any of these meetings. 

• 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 6,000 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.
• 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.
• 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 their website. The Lexington Group is available seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
• Please see the schedule for the Graduate School's Timely Topics webpage. 
  • Topics for live upcoming sessions include:
    • Graduate Student Enrollment: Navigating Policies, Procedures, and Reports - Thursday, September 11th at 1:00 PM.
    • Partnering for Success: A Look at UConn Library Liaison Services for Graduate Students and Faculty - Thursday, September 18th at 11:00 AM.
  • Register for a Timely Topics Session. 

• Concur Open Labs Registration
  • 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, August 27th and September 10th. Half hour slots are available between from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
  • For more information, visit the Travel Services website.
•  Fall in Love with Refunding in Your Marketplace UStore
  • In this Learning Lab, you’ll discover:
    • How to process and manage refunds in your Marketplace UStore with confidence and ease.
    • Step-by-step best practices.
    • Tips for avoiding common mistakes.
    • Ways to keep your customers happy while keeping your department’s records accurate
  •  Training will be September 11th at 2:00 PM through Microsoft Teams.
•  PageUp Training
  • Regular Payroll Registration
    • September 29th from 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM.
  •  Special Payroll Registration
    • September 30th from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM.

• For the month of June, CLAS faculty submitted 42 grant applications with a total requested amount of $47M.
• For the month of June, CLAS faculty were awarded 17 new awards with a total funded amount of $2.4M.
• GMS will be contacting department heads and administrators to request the opportunity to attend a fall faculty meeting and present an overview of GMS services.

• With the semester starting, please remember that CLAS IT is here to support you.
• For assistance, use the CLAS IT Portal, email us at CLASIT@uconn.edu, or browse the IT Knowledge Base.
• You may also check the IT Status website for university-wide system information.
• An ITS Change Moratorium will be in effect from August 23–30, 2025, during which ITS will defer non-critical changes to reduce the chance of outages at the start of the semester.

The CLAS Facilities Team would like to welcome back our faculty, staff and students. We hope that the summer was enjoyable for you.

• If there are any Facilities related requests we can provide assistance with, please contact CLASFSHelp@uconn.edu.
• Those that are new to UConn can view the Facilities tab on the Shared Services webpage for a list of our services and contact information for the Building Manager or Facilities Professional that cares for your building. In addition, please do not hesitate to contact brett.demarchi@uconn.edu with any questions.
• The CLAS Facilities Team is available to help with problem resolution in the registrar controlled classrooms that are in CLAS occupied buildings. Directions are provided in these classrooms to report problems to UConn FacOps Work Order Control by calling 486-3113, or entering a workorder online.
  • If a problem is not resolved in a timely manner, send us an email at CLASFSHelp@uconn.edu and we will follow up on the request. We regularly track down and retrieve missing chairs!
• Those who park in the North Garage will notice that the Gant North Renovation Project has started over the summer.
  • Pedestrian travel paths have changed and there are construction barriers, fencing, and flaggers set up to help ensure safe navigation around the construction zone.
  • The Gant North/West entrance is no longer accessible to the public, the South/West entrance is now the primary entrance from the North Garage.
  • A pedestrian walkway tunnel has just been completed to maintain the interior connection point between Gant and Bio Physics during construction. Please reach out to Facility Services with any questions or concerns related to travel ways or the construction project itself.

• You can view your available Leave/Comp Time in CORE-CT by clicking ‘Time’ then ‘Leave/Comp Time.
• Types of Leave/Comp Time:
  • Sick (SICK)- UCPEA Article 11:
    • UCPEA gets 15 days a year effective 7/1/xx (105 hours total) for a 12-month employee.
    • Employees who are less than 12 months will accrue time on a pro-rated basis.
    • Sick time does not technically expire but rolls into the Sick Leave Accrual with new fiscal year (July 1st)- called: SPUCN000N.
  •  Vacation (VAC)- UCPEA Article 6:
    • Accruals are at 1.75 days a month for 12-month employees plus one additional day (typically awarded in January) which totals 22 days per year.
    • Employees who are less than 12 months will accrue time on a pro-rated basis.
    • Does not typically expire.
    • Cannot exceed 60 days accumulated by December 31st. Vacation time beyond 60 days must be used before December 31st or it will be lost/unpaid.
    • Employees can request a one-time career exception to carry over more than 60 vacation days into the new year, but again this is a one-time career exception not an annual exception.
  •  Personal (PL) UCPEA Article 9:
    • 2 days a year (14 hours total.)
    • Expires with the new fiscal year (June 30th.)
  •  AUTOEXPN (HCU) UCPEA Article 8:
    • Holiday Comp Time, earned from working on a holiday. Typically considered a 'floating’ holiday.
    • Earned holiday time expires 12/31/xx in the following year in which the holiday was earned. For example, if you worked on Good Friday: 4/18/2025; this time would not expire until 12/31/2026.
  •  SPUCN000N:
    • All left over sick time from the previous fiscal year rolls into the Sick Leave Accrual (SPUCN000N.)
    • Can be used when current sick allotment is exhausted.
    • Typically used when under an FMLA.