|
As you begin your career at UMass Amherst,
one of your first steps will be learning and negotiating a new
environment. Below, we’ve organized some answers to key
questions that new faculty commonly ask about the greater
Amherst area and the University.
Where should I live?
The University of Massachusetts is located
in Amherst, Massachusetts, which is a part of the
Pioneer Valley. Although a large number of our
faculty live in Amherst itself, others have chosen to live in
such nearby towns as Belchertown, Easthampton, Hadley, and
Northampton. In deciding where you and your family will live,
and whether you will rent or buy, you may wish to consult
UMass Amherst’s
Commuter Services and Housing Resource Center, a
searchable database of house, condo, and apartment rentals and
sales;
Realtor.com,
a searchable national database for buyers and sellers of real
estate; and the following web pages for individual
towns/villages:
How do I get a Massachusetts
driver’s license & register my car?
The Pioneer Valley has a very well-developed
public transportation system, the
Pioneer
Valley Transit Authority, which services the
UMass Amherst campus and several nearby communities. For those
of you who prefer to drive, one of your immediate needs will be
securing a Massachusetts driver’s license and getting your car
registered.
If you’ve moved from out-of-state, contact a
branch office of the Massachusetts Department of
Motor Vehicles (the closest branch offices are in Hadley,
Easthampton, Greenfield, & Springfield) for
instructions on obtaining a
Massachusetts driver’s license.
When you visit your local branch office, be sure to bring (1)
your Social Security Card or a current
U.S. or non-U.S. passport; and (2)
your out-of-state license.
Instructions on registering your car
can be found on the State web page. Prior to registering your
car in Massachusetts, you’ll
need to secure a Massachusetts auto insurance policy. Because
auto insurance is regulated differently in Massachusetts than in
many states, you may find that your current insurance carrier
does not service this area. Local insurance agencies can be
found in the paper or online Yellow Pages and the State
maintains a
list of insurance carriers
that service Massachusetts.
How do I establish
residency and register to vote in Massachusetts?
The Secretary of State has a
welcome page for new residents, which offers tips
and links on many important issues, including establishing
residency in the state, registering to vote, learning about
state taxes, etc.
How do I enter the University’s
administrative system?
There are five key steps that you can take
before your arrival and in the early days of your employment at
UMass Amherst that will make your transition to the institution
much smoother. Below, we outline these important steps, and
highlight a few road bumps that you might encounter along the
way (and what you can do about them).
STEP ONE:
The most important thing you can do is attend a New Employee
Information Program hosted by the Office of Human Resources.
-
Signing up. Your department will sign you
up for one of the sessions. Check with your department to make
sure you were signed up for a time that is convenient for you.
-
Dates and times. New Employee
Orientations are held every Tuesday, year round, and
additional sessions are offered throughout August and
September. The additional dates and times for Fall 2007 will
be announced in the late spring. You can call 413-545-4549 for
more information. Once you’ve been registered, HR will confirm
and send you the location of the session.
-
Parking for Human Resources Orientation.
If you do not already have temporary parking on campus,
you will need to park in a metered lot or the parking garage
for the meeting. Please see the
campus map for visitor parking information.
Parking locations include metered lots at the Visitor’s
Center, metered spots in the Haggis Mall (the “horseshoe” next
to Whitmore), as well as the parking garage. Please note that
these locations could be a 10 -15 minute walk to the Whitmore
building, depending on where you park. Meter parking is $ .25
per 15 minutes.
-
Required Documents for Human Resources.
The documents listed below are REQUIRED in order for you to be
entered into the human resources system. Bring the following
to your Human Resources Orientation:
-
Documents to complete the INS I-9 form.
Commonly used documents which fulfill this requirement
include:
U.S. Citizens and Residents
International Citizens
-
A current social security card.
The Human Resources Office is required to
match an employee’s name with that on his or her social
security card. Thus, all new employees who have a social
security number must provide a current social security card.
If a current card cannot be provided, a new one must be
obtained. A list of
local
Social Security offices is available at the
Human Resources Employee Service Counter at Room 325 of the
Whitmore Administration Building or on-line through the Social
Security Administration
-
Voided check or deposit slip.
The University requires all new employees
to have automatic payroll direct deposit. The form requires a
bank routing number and an account number, which can be found
on a voided check or deposit slip. The direct deposit form is
available at orientation or the Human Resources Information
Counter.
-
Documents to complete health & life
insurance forms.
The Commonwealth offers eleven (11) health
insurance plans through the Massachusetts Group Insurance
Commission (“GIC”). If you choose to cover a spouse on your
health and/or dental insurance plan, you will need to provide
a copy of your marriage certificate. If you choose to
provide coverage for dependent children, a birth certificate
or adoption certificate will be required for each. Please
bring the social security number (if applicable), address, and
telephone number(s) for each dependent and insurance
beneficiary.
Please note that health insurance is
effective the first day of the month following 60 days of
benefited employment, and dental insurance is effective the
first day of the month following 6 months of benefited
employment. If you have coverage through your current place of
employment, you may wish to consider temporarily extending it
through COBRA until your coverage with UMass Amherst becomes
effective.
Newly benefited employees may apply to the
GIC in order to purchase health insurance coverage during the
waiting period if the cost of the premium (100% of the GIC
premium, not the lower employee rate) is less than the medical
expenses that will be covered & incurred during the waiting
period. For example, a new employee might elect to do this if
he/she or a family member is diagnosed with a severe illness
during the waiting period.
A new employee may also wish to purchase
an individual policy (e.g., a policy with a high deductible
and lower premium) in order to protect themselves and their
families in the case of severe illness/injury during the
waiting period. Insurance is a state-regulated industry in
Massachusetts, and
lists of providers are available online.
Additional Suggestions. Please bring the
name, address, and telephone number(s) of your emergency
contacts. Also consider bringing a cell phone, if you have
one, in the event you need to consult with your spouse,
partner, accountant, and/or physician.
STEP
TWO:
Complete and return the paperwork you are given at Human
Resources Orientation in a timely manner.
-
Completing your paperwork in a timely
manner is extremely important because it is impossible to get
into the payroll system without doing so. Being entered into
the payroll system also allows you to get a paycheck, an email
address, parking sticker, UCard (faculty identification,
library access, etc.).
-
Completed paperwork should be submitted at
the Human Resources Counter in the Whitmore Administration
Building, Room 325, which is open Monday through Friday, 8:30
AM – 5:00 PM.
-
Please feel free to contact Leesa Lesenski,
New Employee Information Coordinator, at 413-545-4549 with
questions.
STEP THREE:
Complete a “NENS” (Non-employee, Non-student) form to obtain
your campus I.D., email address, library privileges, etc.
-
Once you’ve completed and returned your
paperwork to Human Resources, it may take a few weeks to
become “official” in the UMass-Amherst computer system. During
this period, completing the NENS form will allow you to get
your Faculty ID (“UCard”), activate your email account,
activate your SPIRE account, and use the library.
-
Access the
NENS form online or ask your department
administrator for a copy. Complete the form and be sure to
select the “PREEM” NENS category from the list on the back of
it.
-
Go to the Office of Information
Technology (“OIT”) in the Lederle Graduate Research Center
Lowrise, Room A113, which is open Monday through Friday, 8:30
AM – 5:00 PM. Bring your NENS form & a picture identification.
During your visit to OIT:
-
A campus identification number will be
assigned to you;
-
An email account will be generated and
you will be asked to select a password;
-
You will be given something called the
“blue form.”
-
Go to the
UCard
Office in the Franklin Dining Hall, Room 104,
which is open Monday through
Friday, 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM. Bring your “blue form” and picture
identification.
-
Go to the
W.E.B.
Du Bois Library (the tallest building on
campus) to get registered into the library system. Library
hours vary – please check the schedule online. Bring your UCard and a copy of your
employment contract to the library (main library).
-
An Important Note for International
Faculty: If you are an international citizen, contact the
International Programs Office (“IPO”) at 413-545-2843 as soon
as your contract is finalized to make sure you are in their
system. OIT cannot process your NENS form unless you are
entered into the system managed by IPO.
STEP FOUR:
Take care of a few other
things!
STEP FIVE:
Attend the New Faculty
Orientation (sponsored by the Office for Faculty Development)
and any orientation your department AND/OR SCHOOL might be
holding.
-
The Office of Faculty Development and the
Office of the Provost co-sponsor a campus-wide orientation for
new faculty in late August/early September. Information on
this event is typically distributed by email during the
summer. If you’re a new pre-tenure faculty member or
non-tenure track lecturer who has not been contacted about
this event by the third week of August, please email the
Office of Faculty Development at
faculty@acad.umass.edu.
-
In addition to the campus-wide
orientation, many departments and some schools/colleges
sponsor orientation events for their new faculty. Ask your
department chair or departmental administrator if such
programming exists.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE:
When you get your first paycheck, it will have both a Campus
I.D. and an Employee ID number. You need to confirm that your
Campus I.D. on the check matches your eight-digit Campus I.D. on
the back of your UCard.
-
If these numbers match, you are
permanently in the computer system of the University.
-
If these numbers do not match, you need to
do the following:
-
Contact the OIT Help Desk at
413-545-9400 or A109
Lederle Graduate Center. The Help
Desk is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM.
Tell them your Campus I.D. on your paycheck does not match
the Campus I.D. on your UCard.
-
The Help Desk will issue a “ticket”
which will be sent to an administrator to fix the problem.
-
In some cases, faculty members will
receive a call that notifies them that they need to go back
to OIT to get their UCard re-issued. This may happen if you
have a duplicate record in the database system. To reduce
the likelihood of creating duplicate identities, be careful
to record your date of birth and Social Security number on
the NENS form exactly as you provided them to Human
Resources. If you have been to the library prior to this,
you should let them know that you will have a new I.D. card
next time you are there.
What
if I have questions about my benefits
(e.g., health insurance)?
New
incoming faculty with questions about their benefits are
encouraged to contact one of the benefits specialists listed
below in the Human Resources Office.
-
Kelly
Pleasant, Benefits Supervisor, 413.545.1478, kpleasant@admin.umass.edu
-
Francine Phelps, Supervisor, Employee Service Center,
413.545.6113, francine@admin.umass.ed
-
Beth
Ives, Insurance Specialist, 413.545.6115, bives@admin.umass.edu
What resources
and organizations are available to support and promote
diversity?
UMass Amherst
has had a long commitment to building a racially and ethnically
diverse campus community of faculty, staff, and students. Below
are just a few of the many programs, initiatives, and
organizations that support and encourage our diverse
community.
For Faculty
For Students
If I’m an
international scholar,
where can I get help with any VISA issues I might have?
The
International Programs Office
serves as a resource to all international students and
scholars. They offer advice on immigration matters and issue
visa documents. They also provide information and guidance on
issues such as employment, health insurance, language courses,
programs for spouses, and general information about UMass and
the Amherst area.
What
organizations offer faculty a voice in the governance and
operation of the University?
The
Faculty Senate
is a representative body which is responsible for faculty
participation in university planning and governance. The Senate
has numerous standing and ad hoc councils and committees
whose members include faculty members, staff, administrators,
and undergraduate and graduate students. Faculty membership on
councils and committees is open to all faculty members, not only
elected Senators, and full Senate meetings are open to the
public.
The
Massachusetts Society of Professors
(“MSP”) is a local union affiliated with the Massachusetts
Teachers Association on the state level and with the National
Education Association on the national level. The union provides
security and stability for faculty and librarians, and assures
them a voice in the operation of the University. All faculty and
librarians are covered by the contract negotiated between the
MSP and the University, and MSP members are available to answer
questions about the
benefits of membership.
|
