11.28.22

Good afternoon, colleagues:

Welcome back! I hope each of you had a relaxing and fulfilling Thanksgiving break. Finals week is next week, and I’m sure everyone is working hard to support our students as we approach the end of the fall semester!

New Information

Enrollment Management Town Hall

Please mark your calendars to attend a town hall about our university’s approach to enrollment management from 3 to 4 p.m. Nov. 30 in Brookens Auditorium or via Zoom. Featured speakers will be Vickie Cook, vice chancellor-designee for enrollment and retention management, and Arnold Henning, interim vice chancellor for finance and administration. Our goal for this forum is to help the university community better understand the link between our budget and enrollment; our enrollment history and plan for growth; and external factors that may challenge our future rate of success. Time will be allotted for questions, and the forum will be recorded. Whether you can attend the event in-person, via Zoom or plan to watch the recording at a later date, you are encouraged to submit any questions you have about the future of our enrollment management strategy in advance (no later than noon Tuesday, Nov. 29) to chancellor@uis.edu.

Chancellor’s Intercollegiate Athletic Advisory Committee

I am pleased to announce that I have finalized the 2022-23 membership of the Chancellor’s Intercollegiate Athletic Advisory Committee (IAAC). The IAAC is chaired by Dr. Marcel Yoder and made up of faculty, student-athletes, staff and administrators of UIS. Its charge is to facilitate collaborative communication and counsel for the athletic department on matters relating to student-athlete academic welfare, academic integrity and the educational objectives of the university. A full announcement, including a membership roster, is on Orbit.

Moon Party

Join me on the roof of the Brookens building for a Moon Party from 7 to 9 p.m. this Wednesday evening with Dr. John Martin, associate professor of astronomy and physics. Together we will learn about the newly renovated UIS Campus Observatory and the famous UIS Star Parties. This is an exclusive Know Your U event for UIS employees and their guests to see the moon during a peak time for viewing. If the skies are clear, we will also be able to view the stars! Registration is required and limited to 50 people. UIS employees should fill out a registration form for each of their guests. Note: If this event needs to be cancelled due to inclement weather, it will be rescheduled for Dec. 6.

UIS Global

UIS recently partnered with Shorelight, a company that provides assistance to UIS with the recruitment and enrollment of international students. This partnership is termed UIS Global. As is often the case with any new programs or partnerships, a number of questions have been raised pertaining to cost, billing and other important matters. One of the benefits of the UIS Global partnership is that it provides us with assistance for such questions. If you encounter any UIS Global students who have questions on financial matters, please have them reach out directly to Shorelight by emailing finance@uisglobal.org.      

Skype for Business

ITS will be shutting down the UIS Skype for Business server on Dec. 16. Microsoft has been migrating Skype for Business functionality to Microsoft Teams and plans to no longer support Skype for Business. Please note that this has no impact on Skype; Skype for Business is a separate service. Please reach out to ITS Client Services if you would like additional training on Zoom or Teams. 

Staff Appreciation Day Survey

The Staff Appreciation Day Committee is working on a plan to celebrate our Civil Service and AP staff members in AY22-23 and is looking for feedback. If you are a CS or AP employee, please complete the Staff Appreciation Day Survey.

Information that Bears Repeating

Listening Sessions

For the remainder of the academic year, I will be hosting listening sessions for any faculty or staff member who wants to share their thoughts about our university climate and culture. Please complete this online form to express your interest in participating in a listening session. A member of the Chancellor’s Office will work to schedule you prior to May 2023. I will be prioritizing sessions with College of Business and Management faculty and staff first.

Equity and Compression Study for Faculty

UIS agreed to conduct an equity and compression study in the faculty collective bargaining agreement. We are excited for this opportunity to demonstrate our institutional commitment to equity. To carry out this work, we have partnered with the Huron Consulting Group, which will conduct the review as an independent third party and will help us evaluate compensation across multiple equity lenses. Over the coming weeks, Huron will distribute an anonymous gender identity questionnaire to faculty to allow for the inclusion of gender identity as a component of a comprehensive equity and compression analysis. Participation in this questionnaire will be completely optional, although we highly encourage all faculty to participate in this survey in order to facilitate an accurate and comprehensive equity study. The process of reviewing compression and equity will take the remainder of this calendar year (2022). We anticipate any changes to take place in phases over the course of 2023.

Upload Job Descriptions in JDXpert 
To comply with State University Civil Service System rules and requirements, job descriptions for all Academic Professional and Civil Service employees must be uploaded in JDXpert by Dec. 20. The uploading of a job description may be done by the supervisor or the designated department contact.

Orbit Reminder

Don’t forget to check out Orbit, the new web hub for all things employee-related at UIS. 

Celebrating our Star Power

• UIS has been recognized for the first time by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge as a 2022 “most engaged campus” for college student voting! Read more on our UIS Newsroom website.
• This weekend, we will honor the Class of 2020 UIS Athletics Hall of Fame. This is a much-anticipated event that was postponed due to the pandemic. Honorees include volleyball player Danielle Crossen, men's soccer player Jakub Piotrowski, men's soccer coach Joe Eck, Friend of Athletics (and former UIS chancellor) Richard Ringeisen and the 2012 Softball team.
• Speaking of athletics, the Men’s Cross Country team earned an at-large bid for its first National Championship! The team will run in Washington this Friday, Dec. 2. The race will be live-streamed starting at noon on NCAA.com.

Go Stars, and have a wonderful week!

Janet

Janet L. Gooch, PhD

Chancellor

University of Illinois Springfield