January 8, 1999
You have half an hour for lunch, so you rush to the EMU for a quick snack only to find there's nothing but lint and old copper pennies in the bottom of your fanny pack. There's no time to go to the ATM and you're out of checks. But, wait!
There, shoved in between your fitness club card and your driver's license is your UOCard, the identification card for employees and students. And, since Jan. 4, that card is as good as cash at the EMU and other campus eateries, provided you open a Campus Cash account at the EMU. And you were wondering what those magnetic strips on the back of your ID card were for!
"The speed of service is a real bonus for faculty and staff," says EMU Director Dusty Miller. "The transactions are faster because they are online and immediate." Campus Cash is not a credit card, but a prepaid debit account for use on campus for purchases of food and non-food items. Because users deposit the money, they can control their spending.
"This payment method is convenient, but also safe," Miller says. "If you have cash in your wallet and you lose it, it's gone forever. With Campus Cash, you simply report the loss and your card is locked up so nobody can use it. Besides, the card has your picture on it. Because it is non-transferable, that adds an extra layer of safety."
Those who open a new account and deposit money during January get additional savings. For every $5 deposited, a 50 cent coupon is generated that card users may redeem on Campus Cash purchases, at all locations, except the EMU Ticket Office and PARS. The coupons are good through Feb. 7, and more than one coupon can be used per purchase, provided it is not equal to or more than the amount of the Campus Cash purchase.
"There are no interest fees, monthly service charges, annual membership dues or minimum balances to maintain," Lee LaTour, EMU Marketing, says. "It takes an initial $10 deposit to open up the account, and then unused funds will carry over from one term to the next and from one year to the next."
Unused balances will take 18 months to become inactive, and those closing their accounts will receive their money 30 days from their request.
"The system does require a reissuance of cards for those who had cards made prior to Nov. 20, 1998," Joel Woodruff, UOCard manager, says. "New cards will be provided at no cost to card holders."
Locations that welcome the card include:To open a Campus Cash account, simply go to the UOCard office, fill out a form, get a new card, if required, and deposit an initial $10. For more information, contact the UOCard Office at 6-3113.
--Leigh Freeman, COMMUNICATIONS INTERN
President Dave Frohnmayer has scheduled a special "town hall" meeting of the University Assembly and other interested members of the campus community from 3-5 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 1, in 100 Willamette. Topics include the new budget model, the legislative session and the Process for Change. This session replaces the regular winter term University Assembly meeting of Jan. 6 which was canceled.
Jan. 1 marked not only the arrival of 1999 but also the migration of payroll and human resource information processing to the new Banner Human Resources Information System (HRIS) on campus from the antiquated and no-longer-repairable Bull mainframe computer in Corvallis.
Stephen Pruch hopes you didn't notice much of anything was different, except for the new earnings statement. Starting at the end of January, the redesigned form will accompany the nearly 8,000 paychecks and direct deposits now being produced for UO employees by the new software.
On New Year's Day, the University of Oregon joined OSU as the last parts of the Oregon University System to leave behind the three-decades-old Bull computer that state system staff plan to unplug by the end of January. PSU, the regional colleges and state system staff previously shifted to the campus-based HRIS.
"We're leaving a payroll system that was not Y2K compliant and moving to one that accurately handles dates in 2000 and beyond," says Pruch, the HRIS project manager in Business Affairs. "We had already started to 'feel the Y2K devil at our heels' as parts of the Bull computer software that project pay a year ahead started to falter, so the switchover is coming none too soon."
Pruch points out that all employees should have received a mock-up of the new earnings statement with their December pay, with explanations of the changes keyed to each section of the one-page form.
In mid-January, Pruch advises all employees to watch campus mail for a memo offering additional information about the new earnings statement.
We want to reassure employees that we are confident January's new checks and earnings statements will be as accurate as humanly possible," Pruch says. "In the past couple of months, we have run a number of parallel payroll systems to test the new one because our goal is to be 100 percent accurate."
In spite of their best efforts, Pruch admits that minor glitches may occur during the first months of HRIS implementation.
"We don't anticipate any major problems, but employees with questions should begin in their own department with their payroll clerk who has received training on the new system," he advises. "The mid-January memo also may help to clear things up."
For questions or problems that departmental staff can't resolve, call Payroll, 6-3151. For information about HRIS, call Pruch, 6-1806, or send e-mail to pruch@oregon.uoregon.edu .
INCLEMENT WEATHER is on the horizon. Because the university rarely closes under such conditions, supervisors are encouraged to be as flexible as possible with the circumstances working parents face when public schools and local child-care centers close due to bad weather. Linda King, Human Resources director, also urges supervisors to review and update inclement weather leave policies and notification procedures with employees. A recent memo to faculty and staff listed the local radio and television stations the university notifies about closure of or work curtailment on campus in the event of snow, ice or other bad weather. For information, browse http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~humanres/weather.htm or call 6-2966.
PROFESSIONAL PARTNERS MENTORING GROUPS have set meetings throughout January. Those with specific dates, times and places--Excel/Budgets, Advanced HTML and Job Search--are listed in the N&V Calendar pages. For information about others that are still organizing, call the contact person listed below:
OREGON WOMEN IN HIGHER EDUCATION will hold its 19th annual conference, "Issues, Values, Integrity," from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on Jan. 29 at The Governor Hotel, Southwest 10th and Alder, Portland. Keynote presenter will be Sarah Weddington, an attorney, professor and assistant to President Jimmy Carter. Registration deadline is Jan. 22. Cost is $65 each or $35 for full-time graduate students. Parking is extra. For information, call Marlis Miller, (503) 916-4111.
NOMINATIONS FOR THE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD, one of the university's highest honors, are being accepted until Feb. 12. Up to three awards may be awarded in one year. Recipients are persons, "who by their knowledge and skills have made a significant contribution to the cultural development of Oregon or society as a whole." The awards will be presented at this year's June Commencement ceremony. Send nominations to Dave Hubin in the President's Office. Call 6-3036.
The Employee Benefits Survey forms distributed at the start of winter term to all employees eligible for benefits--any classified or unclassified employees who work half-time or more--must be returned to departmental payroll/personnel staff as soon as possible for forwarding to Human Resources by Jan. 12.
Results of the survey, sponsored by the Oregon University System (OUS), will be compiled and transmitted to the Public Employees Benefit Board (PEBB) as it moves toward designing a new benefits program for the year 2000.
"Over the past year, numerous campus and faculty group discussions about the emerging PEBB benefits program have shown that OUS employees make their insurance choices with considerable knowledge and care," says Denise Yunker, OUS human resources manager and PEBB board member. "The survey is designed to draw on that knowledge to help develop an equitable and attractive benefits package."
Although surveys returned after Jan. 12 won't be included in the information forwarded to OUS for input to PEBB, UO benefits administrator Helen Stoop says employees are welcome to contact her at 6-2967, or to send e-mail to Yunker at Denise_Yunker@ous.edu.
Retirement-eligible employees who are considering whether to retire March 1 are reminded to act promptly so that necessary paperwork can be completed in a timely manner.
As outlined in a November memo, employees may want to take advantage of the 18.7 percent earnings for the PERS Regular Account which continued through December 1998 and are prorated through the end of February 1999 if they retire no later than Feb. 28, 1999.
The first step is to call PERS, (503) 603-7777, to obtain an estimate of PERS retirement benefits based on whether your money is invested in the Regular and/or in the Variable accounts. It is unlikely that any appointments remain with PERS retirement counselors in Eugene, Portland or Salem, so ask PERS to send you the retirement paperwork to complete.
Employees considering retirement also should call Helen Stoop, 6-2967, for information and to schedule a follow-up meeting to finalize PERS papers, complete the health and dental insurance applications, and receive information on UO services available to retirees.
Soon after News & Views reported last month that UO employees might not reach their 1997 record giving total of $157,396 to the State of Oregon Charitable Fund Drive, 57 donors from Facilities Services/Physical Plant boosted this year's donations to a new record. By ones and twos, late pledges continued to come in until UO employee giving now has topped $164,000.
Individual givers included 81 who, by pledging $500 or more, qualified for a Governor's Cup. Forty of those are leadership givers ($1,000 or more).
Members of the Retired Professors Association added to the campus tally, with 128 donors giving $36,290. Nineteen qualified for a Governor's Cup and 10 were leadership givers.
"The retirees' giving is even more impressive when one realizes that this is in addition to the contributions which many of our retired employees make through their departments," says the university's CFD coordinator Nancie Fadeley.
As two of the county's largest donors, both the university and the Retired Professors Association received Helping Hands awards from United Way of Lane County during the Dec. 14 annual campaign celebration. The retired professors were the only award recipients with no employees.
Impressed with the campus community's generosity, Fadeley says she'd been asking herself how she could adequately express her own personal respect and the gratitude of Oregonians whose lives will be better because of her colleagues' sharing. An insert in this issue of News & Views recognizes the generosity of UO employees and retirees, as well as the extra effort of CFD departmental coordinators.
"My words don't seem good enough," she confesses, "so I must plagiarize from Shakespeare:
President Dave Frohnmayer and his wife, Lynn, will receive the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce's 1998 First Citizen Award during the chamber's annual-meeting banquet at 7 p.m. on Jan. 13 at the Eugene Hilton and Conference Center. Their selection marks the first time in the award's 60-year history that a couple has been selected to receive this prestigious honor. The First Citizen Award is presented annually to an individual who had made notable contributions to the Eugene community through business and community service efforts. To attend the banquet, call 484-1314. Tickets are $50 each, and reservations are required.
Serving through June 2001 on the Promotion/Tenure/Retention Appeal Committee is Paul Goldman, Education.
Michael Russo, Management, is one of 11 researchers--the only one in the Northwest--who received a 1998 Industrial Ecology Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation and the Lucent Technologies Foundation. His $100,000 grant will fund a two-year study of U.S. electronics companies' "green" business practices.
Mary Hudzikiewicz, Student Life, received the St. George Medal from the national board of the American Cancer Society--the only Oregon recipient outside of Portland--for her outstanding contributions to cancer control. She also was selected by Betty Crocker/BacoBits as the only Oregon winner of the company's outstanding volunteer award. Placing sixth in the firm's national competition, she donated her $1,000 prize to the American Cancer Society.
Sidney E. Moore Jr. began work Nov. 9 as human rights investigator in Affirmative Action, succeeding Mark Zunich who left to become employee relations manager in Human Resources. Moore, a May 1998 Law graduate, is primarily responsible for assisting students with the university's formal and informal grievance processes.
Jackie Carpentier joined Legislative Relations on Dec. 1 as office assistant responsible for database maintenance for the UO Alumni Advocates and other advocacy programs. A graduate of the University of Maine in mathematics, she is enrolled here in a second bachelor's degree program in Computer and Information Science.
Three Physics faculty members with nearly 90 years of UO service among them--Rudolph Hwa, Warner Peticolas and George Rayfield--have been awarded emeritus status.
Shirley Marc, CSWS, and Richard Bear, Library, published an edition of Rachel Speght's Mortalities Memorandum (1621) at Renascence Editions http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~rbear/ren.htm .
Jeffrey Hurwit, Art History and Classics, is the author of The Athenian Acropolis: History, Mythology and Archaeology from the Neolithic Era to the Present, published by Cambridge University Press.
In September, Steven Deutsch, LERC, gave a seminar at the Work Research Institute in Oslo, Norway, and a conference in Sweden for European Union participants focusing on changing work organization, technological change and labor management relations. He joined a working party of EU members to pursue this theme in December in Florence, Italy.
Christopher Berger, Exercise and Movement Science GTF, presented "Professional Certification in Health, Fitness and Exercise Science" on behalf of the International Institute for Sport and Human Performance during the 81st annual fall conference of the Oregon Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance in Eugene.
Thomas O. Ballinger, Arts and Administration emeritus, died on Dec. 23 in Santa Barbara, Calif. A UO faculty member and administrator from 1951-1976, Ballinger, 87, was a graduate of the University of New Mexico. In 1955-57, with the U.S. Aid Program, he helped to found Tribuvan University, the Teachers' Training College and a library in Nepal. A memorial gathering will be held Jan. 16 in Santa Paula, Calif. Memorial contributions may be sent to the National Parkinson's Foundation, Attn: Kim Seidman, 15840 Ventura Blvd., Encino, Calif.