On January 28 and 30, the Office of Information Technology conducted a cultural change process training. The training was led by the OIT leadership team made up of the directors, managers and a few up-and-coming leads who had completed a train-the-trainer workshop in October.

A little more than a year ago, the concept of accountability and cultural change was introduced to the entirety of OIT. Based on the book "The Oz Principle," the first phase promoted the concepts of shedding the excuses, accepting personal accountability for one’s success and creating the right experiences for customers so that they develop the desired beliefs in us as an organization.

This next phase focuses on creating a culture of accountability. To do that, requires a change in the way we think and act as an organization. MORE...

The University of Alaska Foundation is offering a rare opportunity for volunteers to participate in the Statewide Scholarship Selection Committee (SSSC) process by reading and scoring student application essays. Serving in this capacity allows you to reaffirm your commitment to student success in a rewarding and creative way. Few people walk away without being touched by the countless experiences our students live. Reading scholarship essays will remind you of what a diverse, capable and deserving student population we have within the University of Alaska System.

Allow yourself this opportunity to make our student's achievements vicariously yours and sign up at
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KDOwa_JkwwsHIFbHAwpfNmTtFtCF53IgAmg_hcfI0ek/viewform

As a reader, you will be asked to read and score between 100 and 200 essays submitted by scholarship applicants. A general scoring rubric will be provided to assist in assigning objective essay scores. Scholarship essays will arrive to volunteers by March 20th. Readers then have until the second week of April to return scores.

Questions? Please contact Dory Straight, UA Foundation Scholarship Officer, at 907.450.8033 or dory.straight@alaska.edu

OIT is making Microsoft Office 2013 available to UA Statewide Staff via Software Center, a brand new tool for delivering OIT managed software. Software Center allows you greater flexibility to install or upgrade OIT managed software on your schedule with a more streamlined interface.� Visit the OIT website to learn more about Software Center.
What is OIT changing? OIT is providing an upgrade for Microsoft Office 2010 to Office 2013 for UA Statewide Staff.
When is this change happening? The update will be made available to UA Statewide Staff beginning, Feb. 17, 2014.� Sometime on or after this date Software Center on your computer will check-in with the server to see if any new software is available.� MORE....

There is recent change at UAOnline. The university is working to allow students, staff and faculty to use a single set of credentials for all online services. UAOnline is the latest online tool to join this
movement. That means that you are able to use your same login credentials - UA Username and your Password - to log into UAOnline. This started Feb. 17, 2014.� Staff will still need their PIN to submitt time sheets. More details are available here: http://www.alaska.edu/files/oit/services/uaonline/help/UAOnline-Password-PIN-Change-Front-Line-Staff-FAQ.pdf

The University of Alaska Foundation is proud to announce that the recipient of the 2014 Harold T. Caven Professorship is Julie Hamilton, assistant professor of accounting at the University of Alaska Southeast.

The two-year professorship includes a $20,000 award. This award will enable Hamilton to provide real-life experiences in tax preparation to her accounting students. Using the UAS slogan of “Learn, Engage, Change,” Hamilton will teach her students the skills needed to provide community tax preparation services through the Internal Revenue Service’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites.

UAS students taking a higher-level class on income taxes are required to complete VITA training. They can gain practicum credits for their work at the Juneau site or any remote VITA sites.

Hamilton has 25 years of experience in the accounting field, including preparing tax returns. She received her Bachelor of Science in accounting from Arizona State University and her Master of Business Administration from the University of Alaska. She worked for 10 years with the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. as the controller and chief financial officer before coming to UAS two years ago.

This professorship was established in 1974 with a gift from the late Loretta Caven in memory of her husband, Harold T. Caven, a longtime Alaskan who first came to the state in 1943. He served as a director and as a vice president of First National Bank of Anchorage.

The Statewide Office of Human Resources announces the following training & development opportunities during March through April 2014 for University employees. See http://www.alaska.edu/hrtraining/Calendar/ for the monthly calendar at a glance.� MORE...

PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS AT UA - SUPERVISORS

Class dates and times in March and April, 2014 are being finalized. An email with class details will be sent to Statewide supervisors, and the registration site updated, the first week of March.

WEBINARS

Webinars descriptions are posted ( http://www.alaska.edu/hrtraining/e-learning/compsych-learning-events/ ) on the HR website. Webinars are scheduled on the first Wednesday at 11 a.m. and third Thursday at 2 p.m. (These dates were scheduled based upon employee feedback for preferred days and times for a webinar.) Upon registering, employees will receive a confirmation email and a subsequent reminder email 24-hours prior to the webinar.� MORE...

UA EMPLOYEE E-LEARNING - SkillSoft Resources available until January 30, 2015. �

University employees have access to free online courses, job aids and Books24x7� anytime and anywhere you have internet access. Courses may be downloaded and viewed when you do not have internet access, for example, if you’re on an airplane. After completing a course, your learning results are automatically recorded and transferred to your learning history within SkillPort after you log-in with an internet connection.� MORE...

SKILLSOFT DEMONSTRATION

Has it been a while since you’ve logged into your SkillSoft account or perhaps you didn’t know about these resources? You can register and add the information to your Google calendar at the following website. http://www.alaska.edu/hrtraining/Calendar/� Or join one of the two demonstrations scheduled. MORE...