This year's open enrollment will be four full weeks, with an updated online enrollment process to make it easier and more streamlined than ever. You'll be enrolling through a secure link through UAOnline, with no printing, faxing or delivering paper to HR necessary.

The rates for UA Choice health plans will stay the same for FY19, as will the supplemental life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance. The Health Care FSA limit is increasing to $2,650 and the Dependent Care FSA (for daycare expenses) is staying the same at $5,000, or $2,500 if married filing separately.

Consider the Health Savings Account (HSA) to save up to $3,450 for an individual, or $6,850 this year for family coverage. You do need to be enrolled in the Consumer-Directed Health Plan, or another qualifying plan, and have no other coverage including a spouse's health care FSA. If you qualify for this plan, you can save money over the years for future medical expenses because there's no "use it or lose it" and the money is yours to keep even if you leave the university. This plan has been called a "health care 401(k)" because you can use it for expenses in retirement. Read all about it on our website, http://www.alaska.edu/benefits/health-savings-accounts/.

FY18 Wellness Program Deadline Reminder

The wellness program deadline is 4/30/18! All program requirements must be completed by this date in order to receive the FY19 wellness rebate. Verify that you are all set by logging-in to your Healthyroads account and going to the ‘Incentives’, ‘Plan Summary’ page. 100% on both progress bars means you are all set!

Still need to complete items to reach your 100%?

• Your Personal Health Assessment (PHA) may be completed by clicking directly on it from your ‘Plan Summary’ page.
• All biometric options are the on the UA benefits/wellness page—scroll down until you see ‘Biometrics Screening Information’.
• If you are needing points to reach your 5, take a look at your ‘Plan Summary’ page to view all options and the ‘Wellness Calendar’ to view any upcoming opportunities to earn points from on-site events.

Contact UA's On-Site Wellness Program Manager, Sara Rodewald if you have any questions or need additional clarification on the program and requirements:
Phone: (907)450-8203
Email: sararo@ashn.com

Keith Champagne, vice chancellor for Student Affairs, has announced that Mary Kreta has accepted the position of associate vice chancellor for Enrollment Management. Kreta is currently the director of the Office of Admissions.�In this new role, Kreta will oversee the Office of Admissions, the Office of Financial Aid, the Office of the Registrar and the newly formed Office of Military and Veteran Services. She will also be responsible for leading the development of a strategic enrollment plan for UAF.

Ali Knabe will continue to serve as the associate vice chancellor for Student Affairs and will lead high-impact student development programming to promote student retention through engagement in areas such as living-learning communities, learning laboratories, and Wood Center’s Student Activities, DRAW, and leadership and diversity programs. She will be responsible for Dining Services, Disability Services, DRAW, the Center for Health and Counseling, Residence Life and Wood Center. Finally, Knabe also�will oversee the division’s assessment and internal and external program evaluations, strategies and initiatives, and will develop and implement the Division of Student Affairs Leadership Institute for Student Affairs personnel.

Champagne has identified educating the whole person — intellectually, culturally, morally and spiritually — as the primary mission of the Division of Student Affairs. He says the new structure will allow the division to improve on student recruitment and retention rates by focusing on high-impact programs and services and long-term strategic planning and assessment initiatives.

Statewide Human Resources is striving to make improvements to the HR System, benefits and procedures to better help employees. Here is an update on system wide projects that are currently in process. We are working on the details of these projects and communication will also be sent to those directly impacted prior to the effective date of the change.

To see previous versions of this communication please go to the Statewide Human Resources web page at the following link: http://alaska.edu/hr/whats-new-at-statewide/index.xml.

In the March edition:DOWNLOAD PDF

• Statewide HR Project Survey for FY19
• Banner 9 Upgrade
• Accelerated Collection and Processing of New Hire Paperwork
• Standardization of FML processing
• Faculty and Staff Compensation Equity Study
• UAFT Faculty transitioning to UNAC Collective Bargaining Agreement
• FY19 Open Enrollment
• Wellness Rebate Payout Changing
• Bona Fide Termination Regulations for PERS/TRS Retirees
• Alcohol and Other Drug Annual Notice Collaboration
• Leadership Development
• Required Training
• Faculty Time Off Cash-In
• Student Wages Meeting Minimum Wage
• Employee Tuition Waiver Changes
• Campus Housing Portal
• Removal of Transition Steps from Temporary Salary Schedule
• Changes to Staff Benefit Charges
• Tax Deductions for Employees in Canada
• HSA Calendar Limits - 2018
• ACA Compliance
• Fiscal Year End Processing (April through July)
• myUA Support
• Recruitments of Leadership Positions

Imagine the difference you can make, the ripple effect that can come from one small act of generosity.

The month of April is a time to reflect on why you choose to work at the University of Alaska and how making that choice is the first step in making a difference in others' lives. In the coming weeks, you will hear how your fellow UA Employees do just that – make a difference – by making a charitable donation to areas that support their passions. Whether your passion is teacher education, engineering, the arts or athletics, your gift, no matter the size, does make a difference. That is what the employee giving campaign is all about.

Beginning in April, you will have the opportunity to join your fellow University of Alaska employees in supporting your passions. Look for more information to come. But for now, please consider your answer to WHY UA?�

Can’t wait until April? Contact the UA Foundation at 907.450.8030 or 907.786.1111 or foundation@alaska.edu.

Save the date of April 18, 2018, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., for the Statewide Employee Recognition ceremony. Employees who completed 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 years of service during 2017 will be recognized. Also employees who went above and beyond in their jobs and were selected for the 2017 Outstanding Department and Employee Peer awards will be announced.

The ceremony will be held in BOB 205 in Anchorage, and in Butro 109 in Fairbanks.

As you upgrade your personal devices to the newest options, do you recycle the old equipment? Being green shouldn't make you blue. Take steps now to remove anxiety later that forgotten sensitive files on your last laptop could become a source of embarrassment or identity theft. Trying to securely delete data at the time you decommission equipment can turn into a multihour chore and a source of stress, but it doesn't need to be that way.

Make sure saved copies of your tax filings, personal photos, and other sensitive files can't be retrieved by the next person with access to your computer's drive by making the drive unreadable to anyone else. Dragging files to the trash or recycle bin doesn't remove data—it just removes the retrieval path to the file and marks that storage space available for other data to occupy sometime in the future. Your pirate treasure is still buried, but the map is missing. "Secure file deletion" functions go a step further to overwrite the data in those locations with random bits immediately.� READ MORE