Rochelle Blindauer

The President’s Award of Excellence Committee and President Burstein are pleased to announce the 2016 President’s Award of Excellence. We had a lot of great nominations again this year, and it was a hard decision. The awards are based on the following criteria: support, stewardship, innovation and teamwork. The winners this year excel in all areas. Please congratulate Cynthia Patterson from Mudd Library and Larry Darling from the Conservatory of Music!

Cindy is responsible for the circulation desk at the library. Cindy showcases all of the criteria for the award. She demonstrates support by going above and beyond. Her nomination reads, “Cindy will do anything she can to ensure students, faculty and staff can find the materials they need in the library.” She demonstrates a high level of care for university resources and drives innovation and leadership in the workplace through creative ideas that impact the university and community. “All of Cindy’s student employees love her, as do her colleagues,” her nomination adds. “She is meticulous in training her students. Several of her students have gone on to be librarians, and every year her students hold a ‘Cindy Appreciation Day.'” Congrats, Cindy, on this achievement!

Larry is responsible for recording every concert and event at Lawrence. Larry exemplifies all of the criteria listed for the award. Larry supports the university by doing all it takes to get the job done. According to Larry’s nomination, “He is here at the crack of dawn or into the wee hours of the night. He goes above and beyond to provide exceptional service no matter how challenging or inconvenient the situation.” Larry is an excellent steward of the university resources. “He is responsible for maintaining recording and video equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars,” his nomination continues. “Larry finds ways to prevent major expensive repairs through attentive care and vigilance.” Everyone enjoys working with Larry, and he does his job very well. Congratulations on this achievement, Larry!

Please take a minute to congratulate Cindy and Larry. The awards will be presented Feb. 9 at the Service Award Luncheon, and the winners will also be recognized during the next all-staff meetings. A big thank you to everyone who nominated a colleague. We appreciate the considerable effort that went into each nomination and look forward to reviewing the nominations again next year. Thank you!

—President Burstein & the President’s Award of Excellence Committee

The following colleagues have been hired, rehired or have a new position within the last two weeks. If you see them on campus, please welcome them to Lawrence or congratulate them on their new position!

• Kristen Mekemson, assistant vice president of development and campaign director (Development)

Are you interested in making some changes in 2017 to lose weight and get healthier? We would like to determine the level of interest in holding a “Weight Watchers at Work” program here at Lawrence. Weight Watchers’ new “Beyond the Scale” offers the following:

• New SmartPoints based on the latest nutritional science to make healthy eating simple.
• Fitness that fits your life, and gives you more stamina and energy.
• The tools and skills to tune in and unlock the inner strength to make healthy living easier.

In order to get a program started here at Lawrence, we need a minimum of 15 participants. Participants typically are required to sign up for a 12–15-week session, and payment is made at the start of the program. If you’re interested and would like to attend an open house session here on campus to learn more, please email Laurie Ehlers, RN educator, at laurie.ehlers@lawrence.edu.

For those faculty and staff on campus who approve invoices and expense reimbursements and are responsible for forwarding on these items to accounts payable for payment, PLEASE be aware of the following:

In addition to the time it takes on your end to get invoices approved, coded and sent to accounts payable, it still takes an additional ONE to TWO weeks processing time before the final check or ACH payment gets in the hands of our vendors, staff, students or faculty.  The additional processing time includes the following steps:

• Once the invoice or expense reimbursement arrives in accounts payable, it takes time to review the invoice for proper approval and coding to get the invoice processed into Banner to then get ready for payment.  This usually occurs on a first-in, first-out processing system.  This can be delayed if invoices are not properly coded and approved.
• Once the payment is in Banner, time will lapse until the next check run or ACH batch is prepared and executed, which is typically only done twice weekly, on Wednesdays and Fridays.
• Once the check is cut or ACH is released, there is the additional outgoing mail delivery time (typically two days for ACH) to get to the vendor or other recipient.

ACTION STEP FOR 2017: It would be very much appreciated if approvers around campus can make it a New Year’s goal to review invoices for approval and forward to accounts payable on a WEEKLY basis to ensure timely payments are being made to our vendors. Most vendors require payment within 30 days, while some require it within 15 days.

As we begin Winter Term, it is time once again to begin preparations for summer employment! This process allows students to be informed of available positions on campus, apply for them and be offered summer employment as early as spring break. If they are not awarded summer employment with Lawrence, this timeline also provides students with advance notice to apply for alternative summer employment outside of Lawrence throughout Spring Term.

Here is this year’s summer employment timeline:

Jan. 10: Human resources (HR) invites supervisors to submit summer employment requests via web form

Jan. 19: Deadline to submit requests for summer employment to HR

Jan. 23: HR sends notification to students about available summer positions, including Campus Life summer housing information/requirements to stay on campus

Feb. 6: Application deadline for students to apply for summer positions

Feb. 24: Deadline to select summer employees and inform HR of job offers to be made

Feb. 27: HR sends out employment offers for summer positions

March 1: First deadline for students who receive employment offers to accept or decline

March 3: Second round of employment offers for summer positions begin

Please note that our goal is to make this as simple and beneficial as possible for faculty, staff and students. We want to post every available position via LUworks so all students have an equal opportunity to receive employment. Our students are eager to secure summer employment, which can often result in students accepting several positions—putting them over the 40-hour-per-week maximum.  By all following the below guidelines, we hope to make the process smooth across all levels. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Option 1: Web request form

To assist you in advertising your position, HR will compile the information collected via the web form and post your positions through LUworks to ensure consistency in information.

To access the web form, you will need to log in using your network username and password. You will then be directed to the form, where you will enter the job information for summer employment opportunities that you have available.

When completing your requests, there are several things to keep in mind:

• You will need to complete a form for each different job you have available and enter all required information.
• If you have several opportunities for one job, you will need to enter the number of jobs available.
• HR will then create and post your positions through LUworks.
• NEW THIS YEAR:
  • Student applications will be sent directly to you (and any other individuals you notate as part of the hiring process) via email upon completion of their applications.
  • Each application you receive will have a link in it that will direct you to answer additional questions should you like to make an offer of employment to that particular student. Upon submitting this form, employment offers will be handled through HR.
    • This step has been put in place to streamline your efforts and allow HR to double check that the student you are requesting has not already accepted multiple other job offers, causing them to exceed 40 hours a week.
  • Students will have three days to accept or decline and HR will you inform you of those decisions.
  • Please note that offers will be made on a first-come, first-served basis. The sooner we receive notice of who you would like to hire, the sooner we can secure the offer for you! 

The deadline for submitting your summer employment requests will be Thursday, Jan. 19.

Option 2: Summer research assistantship positions (faculty only)

If you have already secured funding and have identified the student(s) you will hire as summer research assistants, please contact Ellen Walsh, ellen.c.walsh@lawrence.edu, for the necessary forms to complete and submit them to Ellen promptly. If you have not identified your summer research assistantship student, please do so by Friday, March 10.

For additional information regarding the entire summer employment process, please consult the summer employment guidelines for 2017.

Any and all questions can be directed to Lindsay Kehl at 7136 or lindsay.m.kehl@lawrence.edu.