OUT &ABOUT
A&F Notes
enhancing our culture by sharing informationNo. 11: Spring ,2000 (without graphics)
A&F reception and chancellor awards
Paul's Page: A message from the vc of A&F
Meet... the people who protect our environment
An ACE reception for ACE Employees
Administration and Finance hosted the first annual ACE reception on November 30, 1999 in the Massachusetts Room at the Mullins Center. About 200 people have received ACE awards since the inception of the program in September of 1998.
Human Resources ACE Award recipients (clockwise from lower left) Sue Barnes, Sue Warner, Mary Wilson, Sandy Clay, Minnie White, Emilia Garcia, Lorraine Weimann, Lisa Nagy, and Barbara Rivet.
ACE Award recipients Cathy Shaw (left), VC’s Office and Donna Motyka, (Auxiliary Services)
Physical Plant ACE Award recipients (left to right) Bill Webb, Roger Simmoneau and Richard Heath with Don Sullivan, Physical Plant.
A&F Employees and Student Employees Receive Campus Recognition
Earl Smith, hands Daniel McCarthy, Physical Plant, his Chancellor’s Citation Award as Paul Page, Vice Chancellor, A&F (far right) and David Scott, Chancellor, (far left) look on.
Chancellor’s Citation Award Recipients: Daniel P. McCarthy, Physical Plant; Dana K. Ritter, Physical Plant; Stephen A. Socha, Physical Plant
Gerald D. Scanlon Award Recipient: Kelley Lynne Dennis, University Store Warehouse
Cheryl Daggett, Human Resourses, Chair. Chancellor’s Citation Award Committee, welcomes all to the award ceremony.
The Chancellor’s Citation Award recognizes outstanding employee performance in contributing to the University’s goals and objectives and the Gerald D. Scanlon Award recognizes the valuable contributions our students make to the campus.
Paul's Page: A message from the vc of A&FMany of you may be aware of a major project underway to implement new administrative software to support the financial and human resources functions on campus. In order to support this initiative the university purchased a suite of software from PeopleSoft and has begun implementation efforts on each of the campuses and in university central administration. This effort on the Amherst Campus has been given the name "Project Pioneer" to reflect the spirit of breaking new ground and moving in a new and challenging direction. Since Administration and Finance units provide the functional support for financial and human resources activities on campus, A&F staff play an important role in helping to define campus business requirements. Staff from Human Resources and Finance and Budget, along with campus customers, have been actively engaged in carefully reviewing the functionality of the PeopleSoft product to meet the needs of the campus and developing general and detailed design for the new system. This effort has required many staff members to devote about 80% of their time over the past 10 months to the project. I would like to commend everyone who has been involved in the project, particularly those who have been taken away from their normal activities, for their effort. I would like also to recognize staff who have assisted their colleagues by keeping the day-to-day activities in their offices functioning with little interruption. This has truly been a team effort all around.
A major change in the implementation strategy of the project has occurred over the past two months. While the initial plan was that each of the campuses was to have installed its own instance of the software, cost and technical considerations have led to the decision to have a single installation of the system to support all of the campuses. The Amherst Campus agreed to this change after considerable analysis of the ability of the system in this configuration to meet our operating needs. We feel that campus functionality and our efforts to date will not be compromised by this change. The level of work and expertise of campus staff have positioned us well to assure that progress already made on this campus provides the basis for the system-wide implementation effort. This is reflected in the selection of Joyce Hatch and Juan Jarrett to lead the implementation of the Financial and Human Resources modules for the University and Jacqui Watrous to be part of the University’s project management team.
The entire campus community looks forward to the completion of Project Pioneer. The operating improvements resulting from our ability to take advantage of technology will support our quality improvement efforts.
UPDATE
The implementation of the PeopleSoft Human Resources (HR) and Financial Systems has been officially named Project Pioneer. The project’s logo, a compass, symbolizes the new course we are charting for administrative systems. Project Pioneer is more than just the installation of computer software. It is an all-encompassing effort to prepare employees in every department for the challenges, opportunities and changes ahead.
Since the decision to move to a single instance of the HR and Financial modules, representatives from each campus and the President’s Office have been working together to review and consolidate the work already done and prepare a plan for implementation.
CAMPUS LIAISON NETWORK
Project Pioneer will use a network of liaisons to link departments to team members. The liaisons will be responsible for coordinating needs assessment, communication and training in order to ensure as smooth a transition as possible.
Check out the Project Pioneer Website .... where you can get all the latest information about the PeopleSoft implementation, including team updates, timelines and answers to FAQs....at www.umass.edu/af/systems/pioneer/edu
SPOT AWARDS
Budget Office: Lisa Sbrocca
Bursar's Office: Sheryl Crowe, Teri Miller
Campus Distribution Services: Les Holmes, Chuck Niedzielski, Rich O'Rourke, & Sean Tobin
Controller's Office: Terry Lucas
Human Resources: Timothy Cendrowski, Emilia Garcia, Barbara Rivet, Barbara Stahelski, Sue Warner, Minnie White, Mary Wilson, & Kevin Wissman
Auxiliary Services: Mary Cardinal, Joe Corso, Stephen Cumberbatch, Doniel Ephraim, Jodi Krentzman, Dawn Malinowski, Jeanne Ragan, Charlotte Tabakin, & Meghan Valas
Mail Services: Lori Wiles
Facilities Planning: Roland Giguere
Physical Plant: Edgar Berry, Peter Boothroyd, Rosemary Charnley, Roy Page, Raymond Samson, Roger Simmoneau, Christopher Thornton, Harry Thornton, & Ernest Wood
Vice Chancellor's Office: Cathy Shaw
DEPARTMENTAL AWARDS
Auxiliary Services
Small Group Awards
CQI Data Evaluation
Employee of the Period
Pride and Customer Service
Campus Distribution Services
Small Group Award
Spruce-up Project
Mike Capers, Les Holmes, Jeremiah Kermensky, Mike Robidoux
Facilities Planning
Small Group Award
Implement Financial Management/Project Tracking System
Joanne Corbeil-Harper, Sally Delaney, Wanda Dion, Judith Field, Suzanne Hatch, Yvonne Kielb, Margaret Jakutowicz, Colleen Olszewski, Karen Ross, Donald Roy
Pride and Customer Service
Cynthia Haveman, Richard Nathhorst, Clifford Resnick, Peter Volpe
Human Resources
Team of Quarter
Susan Beaubien, Amy Bedell, Tim Cendrowski, Dotty Lesko, Lois Sadowski
Mail Services
Small Group Award
Prepare for Asbestos Removal
Andrew Adamski, Richard Colton, Linda Gwodz, Frederick Harris, Cynthia Kicza, Kimberly Melnik, Michael Piotrowski, John Rodzwell, Stephanie Smith, Jeffrey Walsh
For more information about ACE awards or how to nominate someone in your division for an ACE Award, please ask your supervisor.
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Lamentations on Gardening by Cant Orwont Growathing
I love flower gardens and flowering trees and lovely ground cover that sprouts little buds of white, blue, and violet. I believe these things are called lilies of valley and violets, because while I love looking at them, I don’t know much about them and, unfortunately, they do not grow in my yard. As much as I might pray each night that somehow, miraculously, I’ll awaken to a profusion of lovely perennials (these are the ones that come back year after year aren’t they?) and lilac bushes blooming, when I look out the window, all I see is green. I envy those around me with gardening prowess - those who can see the colorful vision, go plant it and then reap the eye catching pleasure. Maybe what I need to do is concentrate more on the go plant it and less on the eye catching pleasure ....nah, I’ll just wander around the neighborhood for a similar effect. And who knows, maybe for my birthday some of my garden wizard friends will make a miracle in my yard.
the people who protect our environmentEnvironmental Health and Safety
working for a safer and healthier campusCampus Safety
Picture of: Sitting l to r: Michele Blajda, Yung Morgan, Nancy Craig, Jeanine Clark, Mike Swain, Don Robinson, Scott Labonte, Bob DiCarlo, Jim Tocci, Robert Laford, Jim Fox, Larry Davis, Rick Sawin, Jim Field. Missing when picture taken: Val Steinberg, Alesia Fugere, Al Sorenson, Chris Messier, Linda Browning, Donald Erickson, Gary Stokarski, Mary McEneany, Ray Murphy, Ken Burdick, Haneef Sahabeen, Dan Hunt, Ed Mientka, Allen Juskiewicz
Visit Environmental Health and Safety on the World Wide Web at EH&S
University Store and Textbook Annex
On January 19, 2000, the University announced its intention to award a contract to operate the University Store and Textbook Annex to Follett Higher Education Group of Chicago.
To privatize a service currently provided by state employees, the campus needs to comply with the requirements of M.G.L. Chapter 296, the Pacheco legislation. This legislation was established to insure that the privatization of a state provided service is in the best interest of the Commonwealth. It requires that the return to the University from a contracted operation be greater than that from continuing self-operation, the quality of service remains the same or improves, the proposed contract be in the public interest, and that the selected company has no adjudicated record of substantial or willful non-compliance with any relevant federal or state regulatory statute. Documentation supporting these factors must be submitted to the State Auditor for approval.
The campus completed its submission of material to the Auditor of the Commonwealth for its review on March 21, 2000. The State Auditor’s Office carefully reviewed all the supporting documentation, analyzed the financial aspects of the submission, requested further documentation and clarification, and spoke with union representatives regarding their concerns. On June 1, 2000 the Auditor’s Office approved the campus’ decision to award Follett the contract.
Management representatives from Auxiliary Services and Administration and Finance met with Bookstore employees on June 1, 2000 to discuss the transition process as well as answer any questions. Over the next few weeks, Follett will be on campus to meet with bookstore employees as well as start the transfer of inventory, accounting systems, and deal with other administrative matters. University management has scheduled meetings with employee unions to discuss relevant transition issues. The time line to complete the transition is July 1, 2000.
Community, Diversity, and Social Justice - A&F Efforts Expand
The Amherst campus is in the midst of an effort to integrate community, diversity and social justice concerns into the core values and goals of the institution. Community, diversity and social justice provide the foundation for an environment that reflects consideration and respect for all its members.
Effective personal and organizational relationships and diversity are integral to Administration and Finance’s values and vision. Over the past several years we have devoted attention to these issues as part of our ongoing training initiatives and through focused sessions for all A&F employees.
As we look toward an A&F action plan for community, diversity and social justice, the Vice Chancellor will appoint an executive area team comprised of individuals representing different organizational levels, roles and backgrounds. This team will work closely with the A&F Council, a group of about 40 senior A&F managers, in conducting an internal assessment, assisting in identifying areas of needed change and attention, helping develop change strategy and monitoring ongoing progress and results. Individuals willing to serve on the A&F team are asked to contact Cindy Hamel in the Office of the Vice Chancellor at 545-1584 or email at chamel@admin.umass.edu.
Building Bridges:
Meredith Schmidt Honored by Student OrganizationsFor the first time, the Student Government Association has recognized someone from Administration and Finance as Administrator of the Year. At their annual dinner on March 5, the SGA presented Meredith Schmidt, Auxiliary Services, with a bouquet of flowers and a plaque in recognition and appreciation for her dedication and commitment to the student body, 1999-2000. A little over a month later, Meredith was again recognized, this time by Student Businesses at their dinner on April 13. Meredith received another plaque thanking her for "suport and recognition of the Student Businesses as a living component of the Campus Center/ Student Union Complex." Meredith collaborated with the SGA to open a resource center for those student organizations that do not have their own offices. As acting director of the Campus Center, Meredith works with students throughout the year to address their issues and concerns related to the Campus Center/Student Union facility. Congratulations, Meredith!
Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities and Campus Services Named
Ted Weidner, director of facilities planning and management at Eastern Illinois University has been named Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities and Campus Services. He assumed his new position on June 5.
Ted comes to the campus with wealth of facilities knowledge and experience, having worked at Illinois University and Rensselaer. He has a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
As Associate Vice Chancellor, Ted will provide leadership for Physical Plant, Facilities Planning, Campus Planning, Space Management and Campus Services. A reception for Ted is planned for later this summer.