MyLU Insider

Staff

Category: Staff

President’s Award of Excellence nominations open

As you heard during the all-staff meeting, we are continuing the President’s Award of Excellence to recognize staff members who continually go above and beyond for the betterment of Lawrence. Details about the award criteria and nomination process is outlined below.

The President’s Award of Excellence (PAE) recognizes exemplary university staff members for their exceptional support and performance for their department and the college. Award recipients will receive a $1,000 monetary award and a commemorative plaque presented at the annual Service Award Luncheon on Feb. 9, 2017, in the Warch Campus Center, where they will be recognized for their accomplishments. The president and the PAE Review Committee will select up to two individuals annually for this award.

Criteria:
The PAE Review Committee will carefully consider all nominations, taking into consideration the following criteria:

  • Support: Demonstrates above and beyond commitment to the support of students, staff or faculty.
  • Stewardship: Demonstrates a high level of care and responsible management for the well-being of the college and its resources for the benefit of our students, staff and faculty.
  • Innovation: Drives innovation, initiative and leadership in the workplace through creative ideas that positively impact the college and/or the surrounding community.
  • Teamwork: Works in partnership with others while nurturing an environment of camaraderie and collaboration.

Nominees must meet the following conditions:

  • Is an active, regular full- or part-time staff member with a minimum of one year of service (senior administrators, faculty, student workers/students and staff with less than one year of service or casual, temporary or leased/contracted employees are not eligible for nomination)
  • Exhibits consistent demonstration of the criteria listed above
  • Demonstrates and maintains consistent job performance that exceeds expectations while displaying high levels of commitment, stewardship and respect

On behalf of President Burstein and the review committee, I strongly encourage you to nominate a deserving colleague for the 2016 President’s Award of Excellence. You may nominate a staff member from your own department or another department. Nominations will be accepted now through Nov. 11, 2016. Nomination forms are available on the PAE page and must accompany a one- to three-page, typed testimonial, describing how the employee encompasses the above-mentioned criteria. A persuasive nomination will consist of heartfelt examples that illustrate the merit of the candidate, along with real-life anecdotes.

The nomination form can be submitted by one of the following methods:

Email: Excellence@lawrence.edu
Fax: 920-993-6026
Interoffice mail: Rochelle Blindauer, Human Resources
Hand deliver: Rochelle Blindauer, Brokaw Hall Room 108

If you have additional questions, please see the President’s Award of Excellence FAQ page or contact Rochelle Blindauer at 920-832-6541 for more information.

Thank you in advance for helping us to identify and honor outstanding members of our Lawrence University staff!

SAAC food drive underway

The Midwest Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) canned food drive competition has started! The Lawrence SAAC will be collecting nonperishable food or cash donations ($1=2 cans of food) for the next four weeks. We are competing against the other Midwest Conference SAACs for the most donations of cash and food. Last year we collected $144.50 and 99 cans for a total of 388 cans. Knox College was the winner with a grand total of 10,593 cans of food.

We are hoping to step it up this year! Please help in any way you can, please drop them off at Alex Gym. Thank you!

LU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee

 

Understand your PHA report

Learn how to interpret your PHA (personal health assessment) report by attending one of the educational sessions hosted by our registered nurse educator, Laurie Ehlers.

Laurie will be sharing how to read your report, understand your numbers and how the report trends from prior years.

Please join us on one of the following days/times:

  • Oct. 25, 3 p.m.–3:30 p.m., Steitz Hall Room 202
  • Nov. 1, 8:30 a.m–9 a.m., Briggs Hall Room 420
  • Nov. 1, noon–12:30 p.m., Steitz Hall Room 202

Laure is also available for individual appointments. Email laurie.ehlers@lawrence.edu or call 920-832-7498. These appointments can be used to discuss individual results, identify goals and plan how to achieve goals.

Boleyn-Fitzgerald memorial service Oct. 19

The Lawrence community is invited to join a Buddhist service to honor Patrick Boleyn-Fitzgerald and the goodness that he lived, modeled and brought to this world, and that is expressed and carried on through each of you. The memorial service will be held Wednesday, Oct. 19 at 5:30 p.m. in the Warch Campus Center’s Esch Hurvis Room.

During the service, there will be opportunities for guided meditation and for consciously and intentionally turning inward. There will also be space provided in front of the center dais for any who wish to bring a cushion or zafu and join a seated circle on the floor.

A reception will follow, with a variety of opportunities to share memories.

Boleyn-Fitzgerald, the Edward F. Mielke Professor of Ethics in Medicine, Science and Society and associate professor of philosophy, died last month following a lengthy battle with kidney cancer. To learn more about Boleyn-Fitzgerald and the mark he left on the Lawrence community, read a story from the Lawrence news blog.

Reminder: Complete your PHA questionnaire online

As a reminder, please complete the PHA questionnaire online at https://thedacarepha.net.

Note: please allow five business days to pass after your screening (blood draw) appointment to complete the online questionnaire, allowing ThedaCare time to process the lab data. The questionnaire needs to be completed for you to be able to see your results.

  1. Enter the following address into your web browser: https://thedacarepha.net.
  2. Click on “Start Your Online Questionnaire HERE” (to complete your online questionnaire), located in the yellow box.
  3. Enter your unique access code: hbv4mdcv
    (Hint: The access code is case sensitive.)
  4. Enter the required account information. Click “Proceed to Registration.”
    (Hint: Use your “legal” first and last name.)
  5. See box below. 

First Time User

Repeat User

Enter email address and create login and password.

(Hint: Please write down for future use.)

Hint: Your email (if previously entered) and login will autopopulate.

Enter new password and confirm password
  1. Click “Sign up.”
  2. Choose the most current lab date (even if it differs from your screening date) and click “Go.”
  3. Click on “Begin your Questionnaire.”
    (Hint: You must answer ALL of the questions before submitting your questionnaire.)
  4. After submitting your questionnaire, on the main menu click on the “Printable Report” button to view your Personal Health Assessment Report.

Important information security training announcement

Every day Lawrence faculty, staff and students are exposed to many attempts to compromise their accounts, computers and mobile devices. These attacks are constantly evolving as the cyber criminals adapt to changes in technology, work harder to create “smarter” scams and come up with new methods of making or stealing money.

At Lawrence, we have seen several of these new attacks on campus. A few examples include very targeted spear phishing email messages that appear to come from cabinet members requesting sensitive information via email, email messages that appear to come from coworkers requesting recipients to open infected attachments and computer infections that attempt to encrypt all the data on a computer and network share folders (with the goal of demanding payment to unlock your data).

The most important thing to know about information security is that YOU are the target of the cyber criminals. The easiest way for these criminals to make money is to target individuals and smaller organizations like Lawrence. The two most common methods computers are compromised is by clicking on links or attachments in email messages or by using a search engine such as Google to search for something online and then clicking on compromised links in the search results.

How can you tell if this message is legitimate and if it is safe to click the links below?

  • Check the sender and reply to address in the message. If you hit reply does it look like the reply is going to a real Lawrence email address? See the third bullet point below even if it looks right!
  • Hover your mouse over the links—does the pop-up link match the link shown and does it make sense? Is it a lawrence.edu site?
  • Check the subject of the message. Our email system will flag messages in the subject line with [Warning: Possible Fraud] if they were sent to appear as if they came from on campus but originated from OFF campus. Be very careful with these messages.
  • To be extra safe—just retype the link into your browser instead of clicking on it!

In an effort to reduce the risk of security breaches, Lawrence has invested in a security awareness training program to help protect the campus from information security threats. Lawrence has significant amounts of sensitive data about our students, employees, alumni and donors, thus we all must work together to make sure we do everything we can to protect this information. This training is updated each year to include information about these new attacks, so it is important that we all complete it annually.

While this training is very important to protect ourselves and the university, please note that this annual, online training is required for employees in departments that have access to the most sensitive data or credit card information. All staff in Human Resources, Financial Services, Technology Services, Alumni & Development, Registrar’s Office, Admissions, Financial Aid and Research Administration must complete this entire training course. In addition, if you process or handle credit card information in any way, you must complete the training. Please complete the training by the end of October.

You can complete the online security awareness training anytime by going to http://go.lawrence.edu/bhdp. Log in using your network/email username and password. The online security awareness training takes about 45 minutes to complete and consists of a series of videos with questions at the end. Your progress and completion of the training will be automatically recorded. This training is delivered using Moodle, the campus learning management system.

If you have any questions regarding this training, please contact the Helpdesk at 920-832-6570 or reply to this message.

Steve Armstrong
Technology Services

For those that want to know more: Passwords & Password Managers

One topic that comes up frequently is passwords and how to manage them. Here are some key points to remember and a link to additional resources on this topic.

  • Do not use the same password (or a version of the same password) for multiple accounts or websites.
  • Use as long and complex a password as possible. Strongly consider using passphrases instead of passwords.
  • Use a password manager.

Learn more about all of these topics, including a link to a review of five popular password managers, at the Technology Services information security page at http://go.lawrence.edu/infosec.

Transamerica plan updates

As of Oct. 10, Lawrence has made the following changes to the Transamerica plan:

  1. Opened the Schwab Personal Choice Retirement Account (PCRA) to all sources
  2. Allow participants to allocate directly to PCRA
  3. Participants must maintain a $3,000 minimum balance in the plan’s core fund lineup
  4. Participants can only allocate 90 percent of their contributions directly to PCRA

*Schwab Personal Choice Retirement Account (PCRA) is a self-directed investment option designed to complement your Lawrence University Retirement Readiness Plan core investments. PCRA gives you access to thousands of additional mutual fund options.

Who should choose to invest through PCRA?

PCRA may be appropriate if:

  • You have a sophisticated understanding of investment principles and the stock market;
  • You have the resources to research and monitor your investments;
  • You are comfortable with the additional risk associated with making investment decisions;
  • You are willing to undertake any additional trading and maintenance costs that may apply

How can I obtain additional information about PCRA?

Visit luretirement.trsretire.com. Under the Resource Center tab and Services section, please find the Schwab Personal Choice Retirement Account (PCRA) brochure for more information.

How do I open my PCRA?

  1. Visit luretirement.trsretire.com.
  2. Sign in to your account and go to the Messages section (on the top center of the page).
  3. In the Messages section, click on Schwab Personal Choice Retirement Account, then click on the link that appears in the message box. Please make sure to note the Retirement Plan ID and Plan Password displayed on this page—you’ll need them for the next step!
  4. You’ll be directed to the Schwab site to complete the process.
  • From the Schwab site, enter the Retirement Plan ID, Plan Password that you noted from the prior page and your Social Security Number.
  • Follow the steps to complete the online PCRA application.
  • Once you click “Submit,” you will receive your account number instantly on the screen.
  • To set up your PCRA for online access, go to Schwab.com, click the “New User” tab, then the “Register” button.
  • Your PCRA is now ready to be funded, and you can begin researching investment opportunities.
  • You will receive welcome materials from Schwab in a few days.

Can I make direct payroll contributions to my PCRA?

Yes, you can allocate direct payroll contributions to PCRA. Log on to your account at luretirement.trsretire.com and select Manage/Future Allocations. The maximum allocation is 90 percent of payroll contributions to PCRA.

Can I transfer money into my PCRA?

Yes, you can transfer assets from your Lawrence University Retirement Readiness Retirement Plan through the following process:

  • Determine which of your core investments you want to transfer money from.
  • Decide on the amount to transfer. See below for transfer restrictions.
  • Log onto the plan website at luretirement.trsretire.com and follow the steps to initiate a transfer or call the Transamerica Call Center at 800-755-5801.

Are there transfer restrictions?

  • Transamerica does not impose any charges on your transfer, but certain plan options may charge redemption fees on frequent trading, which could apply if you liquidate a fund with a redemption fee in order to fund your PCRA contribution.
  • Direct transfers to your PCRA from the New York Life Insurance Company Guaranteed Interest Account cannot be transferred directly to your PCRA. You may transfer them to any other fund offered under the plan for a period of 90 days. You may then transfer those funds to your PCRA. Such restrictions are an industry standard and are intended to prevent excessive short-term or disruptive trading to protect the integrity of the fund and its shareholders.

Is there a minimum transfer required?

Yes, the initial transfer minimum is $1,000, and each subsequent transfer must be at least $250. You must maintain a minimum core product account balance of $3,000. 

What does it cost?

  • Transaction fees and trading commissions are outlined in the Charles Schwab Pricing Guide for Retirement Plan Accounts provided in the welcome materials you receive from Schwab after opening your account. Please contact Schwab at 888-393-PCRA (7272) for questions regarding commissions and transaction fees.
  • Transamerica will apply an annual PCRA fee of $50 that will be withdrawn from your Transamerica account in addition to any other Transamerica administrative fees.

Grants office to host training sessions

The grants office would like to invite faculty and staff to these upcoming training opportunities:

  1. Intro to Grants @ Lawrence: Whether you’re a grants newbie or seasoned pro, register for this eat-and-learn session where we’ll discuss how internal and external grants work at Lawrence and how the Corporate, Foundation, and Sponsored Research Office can help you accomplish your goals. Join us in Kraemer Room at the Warch Campus Center for a lunch session Friday, Oct. 21, noon–1 p.m. (reading period). Space is limited! Please RSVP to lissette.jimenez@lawrence.edu by Monday, Oct. 17. Let us know of any dietary restrictions while registering.
  2. Introduction to the Funding Information Network: Come and get your hands on this powerful funder database, hosted at the Mudd Library! We’ll teach you tricks on how to identify potential grant funders, plus fellowship and scholarship opportunities. Space is limited in the ITC, so please email lissette.jimenez@lawrence.edu to reserve a seat for either Thursday, Oct. 20, 10-11 a.m. or Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017, 10-11 a.m.

Haunted Lawrence event

Join us in the Milwaukee-Downer Room of the Seeley G. Mudd Library on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 8–9 p.m., for tales of “Haunted Lawrence.” Attendees will hear true stories of ghostly happenings on campus (past and present), have the opportunity to share their own stories and view some spooky materials from the LU Archives. There might even be treats!

UPDATE: Due to space limitations, we have to cap this event at 30 attendees. To register, please submit this online form. Please know that spots are going quickly! If you have questions, please contact Erin Dix at erin.k.dix@lawrence.edu.