Voice

Announcements and Recognition

Sharon Gramstead waters freshly planted vegetables in the Butrovich flower beds. Volunteers planted and will maintain the vegetables, are available for use by any statewide employee. Photo by Monique Musick

Butrovich Employee Garden

For years the flowerbeds in front of the Butrovich building have been overgrown with grasses and weeds. Beautiful irises, peonies, poppies, Jacob’s ladder and other perennials dependably bloom each season, but the overall asthetic is one of wild disarray.� A couple of years ago, Bess Rounds asked the Statewide Administration Assembly, SAA, to pursue putting employee-sponsored gardens in the beds. The idea has been discussed and planned for, but it was not until this summer that all the pieces came together and the employee garden really came to life.� MORE

Outstanding UA Statewide Department & Employee Peer Awards

The Statewide Administrative Assembly, SAA, organizes the Outstanding Statewide Department & Employee of the Year awards. These awards annually recognize employees who consistently contribute to University of Alaska System by carrying out the responsibilities of their jobs in an exceptionable manner.

Employees may nominate their coworkers for employee and departmental awards by submitting a nomination form during the publicized timeframe.

One award each can be awarded to an outstanding department, student, non-exempt and exempt employee. Awards will be presented at the annual employee recognition events in Anchorage and Fairbanks in mid-August.�

Click here for official AWARD INFORMATION

Click here for the NOMINATION FORM�� Nominations are due July 28.

Office moves finished; more expected

The location of several Statewide offices have shifted recently.� Some additional relocations are expected in the near future. Risk Services has moved out of their locations in the Westwood building and Butrovich 106 and are now located in the basement in the area recently vacated by the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center.

The space vacated by Risk Services on the first floor will be filled by three development staff members� moving from a leased space on Geist Road. These moves combine Statewide employees in one location and save money by avoiding leasing costs.

Input sought on ski trail improvements

The University of Alaska Fairbanks is planning improvements to the Skarland and Big Whizzy ski trails on the West Ridge of the UAF campus.

The improvements will change routes to avoid roads and will add to the length of some trails. UAF is seeking public input on the proposed changes. The deadline to comment is July 8.

For a full description of the planned improvements, as well as maps of the changed routes, visit www.uaf.edu/trails or call 907-474-6757.

Ethics Act Compliance & Annual Disclosure of Employment or Services Outside of University of Alaska

All UA employees -- including regular, term, temporary, student and full and part-time faculty and staff -- are responsible for complying with the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.� The Act governs how you do your university job, and to some extent, limits what you can do in your personal life. See the “Ethics Act Quick Reference” or visit the web sites listed below for more information.

Employees also must disclose any work they perform outside of their university employment. If you have no outside activities, you are not required to submit a form.� All employee and employee family member interests in contracts with the university must be disclosed and pre-approved using the Interest in Contracts form, not the Outside Employment form.

Outside employment must be disclosed prior to beginning the employment, when changes occur, and every July 1, even if a form was previously submitted (or within 30 days of beginning or resuming University employment).� OUTSIDE EMPLOYMENT DISCLOSURE FORM

Other ethics disclosure forms may be obtained online at http://www.alaska.edu/hr/forms/hr_ethicsforms/ or from the Office of the General Counsel.

Please note that this disclosure form was revised June 2011; any blank forms with an earlier date should be destroyed.

READ FULL ETHICS DISCLOSURE MEMO

UAF campus road closures

Arctic Health Lot 9A will be closed from June 20 through July 5.

Butrovich Lot 9C will be open to two-lane traffic from June 16 - June 30.� West end only - east end entrance will be closed.

East end of the Butrovich Lot 9C will be closed to entrance / exit (construction area) from June 16 - June 30.

Intersection of Yukon Drive and Sheenjek Drive will be closed from June 20 - June 30.

Koyukuk Drive (between Arctic Health and Elvey buildings), will change the traffic flow from west to east from June 20 - June 30.

Shuttle Service will pickup and drop off riders at the west entrance to the Butrovich parking lot.

These changes are required for the installation of a new sewer line going in from south of Butrovich to the new Life Sciences Building.

Please see the new map on our web site https://www.uaf.edu/files/lifescience/WestRidgePkg.pdf� or contact our Customer Service Center at 474-7000.

No surplus processing July 1 to July 25

Central Receiving would like to let all customers know that they will no longer be able to accept surplus items after July 1, 2011 until their auction is over.

They will resume acceptance of surplus items again on July 25, 2011.

For further information, please contact their office at 474-6137 or 6139.

New fiscal year July 1

The FY12 fiscal year begins July 1.� Click HERE for the FY12 staff salary schedule.

Specific compensation changes for FY12:

Non-unionized staff pay schedule:�� 2% increase to the grid
Temporary pay schedule:����������������� 2% increase to the grid
Student pay schedule:����������������������� 50 cent increase
Executive pay adjustments:�������������� 2% pool distributed to eligible executive officers as a combination of market and across the board adjustments.

Adjustments are effective July 3, 2011 and should be reflected in the paycheck received on July 29th. Non-unionized staff will receive an additional 1% on January 1, 2012.

Health plan contributions will only change if an employee elected a new health plan level or did not complete the open enrollment paperwork and defaulted into the middle plan. Employee only bi-weekly charges are $15.20, $42.93 and $97.97 respectively. For additional rate information click HERE.

UA System Employee Summer Picnic

Please join President and Mrs. Gamble at an employee summer picnic for all System staff and their immediate family members on Tuesday, August 2, 2011, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Moose Creek Pavilion at Pioneer Park.

There will be food and refreshments; games including volleyball, bocce ball, gunny sack races, balloon stomp; and much more. RSVP to Dianne Taylor at (907) 450‐8014 or dianne.taylor@alaska.edu

An Anchorage holiday event will be held for all UA System employees in November –– stay tuned for details!

Risk Management is looking for Butrovich Emergency Floor Managers

The Statewide Office of Risk Management is looking for several people within the Butrovich Building to act as Emergency Floor Managers.� As an Emergency Floor Manager, you would be the vital first link in an emergency building evacuation.�

If a fire alarm should ring, you would be responsible for:

  • Walking down the corridor of your floor
  • Directing people to the nearest exit and then to the Museum (our building’s Emergency Evacuation Location) unless actual smoke or fire was smelled or located
  • If smoke or fire was smelled or located, direct evacuees from outside the building
  • You may be asked to pass on information to a Fire Fighter if it was reported to you that someone was actually trapped inside the building
  • Once gathered at the Museum you would assist with accounting of people by having directors report to you the status of their personnel

As an Emergency Floor Manager, you would be provided with a distinctive Emergency Safety Vest, training and possibly some sort of tangible gift as a thank you for your service.� Based upon historical information, you may expect a fire alarm to activate between 1-5 times per year.

If you or someone within your department would be interested in assisting with this important public safety function, please contact Syrilyn Tong at 450-8099 or satong@alaska.edu.

Voicemail Upgrade

UAF partnered with World Wide Technologies (WWT) to roll out a campus-wide Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone system. The majority of new telephone products on the market are based on VoIP technology and legacy products are generally no longer available. Systems in the Butrovich are currently being upgraded.

This project will:

  • Upgrade the significant backlog of UAF campus wide network infrastructure (deferred maintenance) needs;
  • Replace the existing telephone switch, which is currently aged beyond its serviceable life; and
  • Capitalize on simplified management benefits and potential long-range cost savings with the deployment of a converged voice and data (VoIP) system. Converged services means moving existing voice and data traffic to one core network rather than preserving two separate networks.

Over 50 buildings will be brought to a modern network standard and approximately 2,780 VoIP telephone handsets will be delivered to UAF and Statewide (SW) customers over the next three to four years. Residence halls, leased space, and community campus converged networks will be addressed in later phases and/or via separate project(s).�

Technicians with World Wide Technologies are upgrading and testing telephone lines in the Butrovich building. Photo by Monique Musick

Elluminate Live! upgrade

OIT is proud to announce that Elluminate Live! at UAF has been upgraded to version 10, bringing a variety of new features and compatibility enhancements that make the service more accessible than ever before.

Among the many new features are enhanced accessibility options allowing for expanded keyboard navigation, as well as audible notifications and a more screen reader friendly interface for the vision impaired. Other highlights include higher quality presentation slides, clearer audio, customizable timers, enhanced notifications and faster application sharing (especially for Mac users).

This upgrade does not impact any previous recordings. Recordings for previous courses/sessions will remain available, and will open in the version of Elluminate in which they were recorded. The first time you load Elluminate, it may take longer than normal while the new software is downloaded. This process should take between 1-5 minutes, depending on your Internet connection speed.

For a complete list of new features, see What's New in Elluminate Live! V10 (PDF).

UA Health Link

Keep up-to-date on current wellness benefits and be inspired by healthy lifestyle tips through the UA Health Link. This online newsletter provides monthly updates on IHP programs, wellness breaks, current incentive programs and more. If you missed this month's issue, read it HERE.

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