Employee News – Page 25

Summer hours schedule announced

Summer hours will begin Monday, May 22, and will continue through Friday, Aug. 4.

Official university summer office hours will be Monday-Thursday, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., and Friday, 8:30 a.m.-noon.

Full-time employees are expected to work a nine-hour day, Monday-Thursday and a four-hour day on Friday. Staff who normally work Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., are permitted to leave on Friday at noon. All full-time employees will work 40 hours every week and are required to take a minimum of 30 minutes for lunch.

Examples of some summer scheduling hours include:

• 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Monday-Thursday, with an hour for lunch, and 8 a.m.-noon on Friday (or any combination to equal four hours: however, the office will be open 8:30 a.m.-noon).

• 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Monday-Thursday, with 30 minutes for lunch, and 8 a.m.-noon on Friday.

• 8 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday-Thursday, with an hour for lunch, and 8 a.m.-noon on Friday.

The various combinations of flexible schedules listed above are permitted as long as the office has staff employee coverage from 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 8:30 a.m.-noon on Fridays. Know that the actual schedule for each employee requires the approval of the supervisor. Additionally, some departments will not follow the summer schedule as necessary coverage is required after normal business hours.

Summer hour exceptions

The following departments are the exception to the Summer Hours Policy. They will be open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., during the summer.

• Undergraduate Admissions Office

• Graduate Admissions Office

• Registrar’s Office

• Financial Aid Office

• Student Business Office

The following are exceptions to the above summer hours schedule:

• The week of May 29-June 2 – since the university will be closed Monday, May 29, for Memorial Day, the university will be open regular hours Tuesday, May 30-Friday, June 2 (8 a.m.-5 p.m.).

• The week of June 19-23 – since the university closed Monday, June 19 in observance of the Juneteenth holiday, the university will be open regular hours Tuesday, June 20=Friday, June 23 (8 a.m.-5 p.m.).

• The week of July 3-7 – since the university will be closed Monday, July 3, and Tuesday, July 4 in observance of the Fourth of July holiday, the university will be open regular hours Wednesday, July 5-Friday, July 7 (8 a.m.-5 p.m.).

Other exceptions are Lake Days scheduled for the summer. Lake Days will continue as scheduled and offices associated with Lake Days will remain open after noon if those days fall on a Friday. The rest of the university offices will close as scheduled.

Planned leave
All OLLU faculty and staff are asked to avoid scheduling planned leave between Monday, August 14, 2023 and Wednesday, September 6, 2023. A supervisor may extend the dates established by the university for individual offices and departments. Special circumstances which require leave during this time (a child’s wedding, taking your child to college) must be approved by the vice president or chief administrator of a division.

Reminder: Compliance training must be complete by Friday

Full-time and part-time OLLU employees who received an email notice from the Compliance Office on Feb. 24, 2023 are mandated to complete annual compliance training modules by Friday.

As part of ongoing compliance efforts, employees are required to complete the 2023 annual employee compliance training modules to reduce or prevent incidents of sexual misconduct, sexual harassment, and other types of inappropriate behavior on our campus. This training also includes information about campus safety, protecting privacy rights, and communicating this information to the appropriate university officials. To support employees with their obligations, OLLU has provided the following online training modules to help employees learn how to recognize and prevent unlawful harassment. Additionally, these training programs support our compliance with regulatory agencies governing the practices of higher education institutions.

All OLLU employees are expected to know and understand the university’s policies on unlawful harassment and discrimination and to abide by them. As a reminder, employees of OLLU who, in the course and scope of their employment, witness or receive information regarding the occurrence of an incident that the employee reasonably believes constitutes sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence or stalking against an OLLU student or OLLU employee, are required by law to promptly report the incident to the Title IX Coordinator within 72 hours of obtaining the information. We believe that all human beings are inherently sacred and deserve dignity and respect and every community member is expected to be respectful in all interactions as part of the learning experience.

This training is mandatory for all full-time and part-time OLLU employees as stated in the Feb. 24 email.

Employees are assigned to complete the following NINE courses:

Data Security: Phishing (10 minutes)
Data Security: Malware (10 minutes)
Data Security: Passwords (10 minutes)
Data Security: Physical Security and Unintended Disclosures (10 minutes)
Data Security: Mobile Security and Third-Party Websites (10 minutes)
FERPA: Protecting Student Privacy (10 minutes)
Understanding the Clery Act (15 minutes)
Committing to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – Faculty and Staff (25 minutes)
Title IX Mosaic: Prevent Sexual Violence Together (45 minutes)

To begin training, follow these FOUR steps:

1. Go to https://learn.ue.org/Login2.aspx

2. Enter your login credentials.

Username: Your @ollusa.edu email address
Note: Do not use @lake.ollusa.edu email address
Password: Ollu2023!
Note: Password is case-sensitive
The first time you log in, the system will prompt you to reset your temporary password and set a security question.
Helpful Hint: You can change your password to be the same as your OLLU portal and email log in password.

3. Once you are logged in, be sure to complete all of the training modules assigned to you in the “My Courses” section of the home page.

4. You will receive an email containing a link to your completion certificate, upon successful completion of each course. Please keep a copy for your own records. A history of your completed courses is available in “My Completions.” The system will automatically document your completion so there is no need to forward your certificate as proof of completion.

Thank you for your time and cooperation in completing this essential training program.

Tips for Completing Courses

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Need Help?

If you have any issues with sign-in or accessing the courses, call Support at 844-348-3650, or visit the Support Site Learning Portal at portalhelp.ue.org for options to live chat or create a help ticket.

All other questions should be directed to the OLLU Compliance Officer at compliance@ollusa.edu.

Dr. Friesenhahn published two new poems

Dr. Jacob Friesenhahn, Program Head for Theology and Spiritual Action, has recently published two poems. On February 11, Prof. Friesenhahn published “dream of decapitation,” a spooky and surreal mediation on absence and loss, with BOMBFIRE. On March 12, Prof. Friesenhahn published “precipitate” with Nostalgia Press. Dr. Friesenhahn is currently one of the “Featured Writers” on the website of Nostalgia Press.

Summer 2023 textbook and course material adoptions due Wednesday

The deadline for submitting books and materials adoption information for classes this summer is Wednesday.

Depending on the department’s standard procedure, the instructor, program head, or administrative assistant must enter adoptions in Follett Discover by this date to allow time for material to be sourced, processed, and made available to students.

No textbooks needed or using OER (Open Educational Resources)? Your class will appear to be missing its adoption unless you go to Follett Discover and select “I have no materials for this course” or “Only OER material is being used for this course.” If you wish, you may also email the bookstore at 1688mgr@follett.com to request a notation on the bookstore’s website, such as “Your instructor is using Open Educational Resources for this course.” (Include the course prefix, number, and section in your email message.)

Multiple ISBNs for different formats for your book on the publisher’s website? Enter the ISBN for the US printing (no foreign printings) of the physical book for purchase (not rental) unless you prefer that students have only the digital format.

Undergraduates’ books are part of the OLLU All-Access program, which means they are provided at no additional charge beyond their tuition. If there is a digital option, that is what undergraduate students will receive, even if you enter the ISBN for the physical format.

For graduate classes, if you enter the ISBN for the physical format the bookstore will also provide the various options available for that book (purchase, rental, and/or digital format). However, if you enter the ISBN for the digital version of a book, the physical version will not be made available to students in the bookstore.

Problem accessing your Follett Discover account or have another question? The direct link to Follett Discover is https://ollusa.follettdiscover.com/log_in. If you do not remember your password, you can click “forgot password” and reset it. If you have trouble after logging in or have other questions, email or phone the bookstore at 1688mgr@follett.com / 210-431-3932 or campus extension 3932. (Ask for Jennifer or Brandon.)

Reminder: Nominations are being accepted for One Percent for Saints Success

Nominations are being accepted for the One Percent for Saints Success Challenge. Submit your nomination via the nomination link by April 14, 2023 (only complete nominations will be considered). First place will receive a total monetary award of $5,000, second place $2,500, and third place $1,000. In addition to the monetary award, the first-place winner(s) may receive some budget to support the individual or a select number of the team to attend a conference to present their initiative. Send any of your questions to SaintsSuccess@ollusa.edu.

What is the Saints Success Challenge?
Paralleling OLLU’s three university priorities, the One Percent for Saints Success Challenge will recognize those small or large initiatives that have been implemented that go above and beyond to challenge, improve, enhance, or elevate OLLU’s systems for how we matriculate, retain and persist, and graduate our students.

Who is eligible?
Staff, faculty, programs, departments, schools, campuses, multi-program/faculty/staff collaboratives who have conceived and implemented initiatives with a promise and focus on Saints Success are eligible for this prize. Anyone can nominate, and self-nominations are acceptable. No member of President’s Council (PC) is eligible.

Initiatives should be those already in place.

How to nominate?
Fully complete and submit the nomination criteria by April 14, 2023.

Selection
Comprised of off-campus non-OLLU individuals, the selection committee will objectively review all nominations and make first, second, and third place selections based on a rubric grounded in the nomination criteria. First place will receive a total monetary award of $5,000, second place $2,500, and third place $1,000. Note, in addition to the monetary award, the first-place winner(s) may receive some budget to support the individual or a select number of the team to attend a conference to present their initiative.

NOMINATE
The 2022-2023 One Percent for Saints Success Challenge is now open. Submit your nominations by April 14, 2023.

HOW TO NOMINATE
Submit your nomination via the nomination link by April 14, 2023. A complete nomination must include each of the following. Only complete nominations will be considered.

1. Introduction. Describe the one percent initiative that is enhancing Saint Success. Which department(s) and/or process(es) have been positively affected? Who is the one percent ‘team’? [up to 250 words]

2. Impact. Use any qualitative, quantitative or longitudinal data to speak to the impact the initiative has been having on student matriculation, student retention and persistence, and/or student graduation rates. In other words, how much has student matriculation increased because of the initiative? Or, how much has student retention increased as a result of the initiative? Or, how much have student graduation rates increased because of the initiative? [up to 250 words]

3. Scaling. Could this one percent initiative be replicated or scaled to other parts of campus? What impact could replicating or scaling have on Saints Success? [up to 250 words]

4. Sustainability. What will be required to sustain this effort? [up to 250 words]

Submit your nomination online.

Submit any of your questions to SaintsSuccess@ollusa.edu.

Dr. Sanborn selected for Moody Professorship

Dr. Wallis Sanborn, Associate Professor of English, has been selected for this year’s Moody Professorship.

Dr. Sanborn has demonstrated excellence in leadership in his teaching and service to his discipline and to the entire university. He serves as the MA/MFA Graduate Program Head, Chair of Veteran’s Day Ceremony, and point of contact for the Professional and Technical Writing program. Dr. Sanborn also is an international scholar on the works of Cormac McCarthy. He has been cited over 100 times (as per Google Scholar).

He is the author of “Animals in the Fiction of Cormac McCarthy” (2006) and “The American Novel of War: A Critical Analysis and Classification System” (2012) and the editor of “The Klondike Stampede” (2017). His work has appeared in “They Rode On: Blood Meridian and the Tragedy of the American West,” Gale’s Contemporary Literary Criticism, Harold Bloom’s “Modern Critical Views,” “The Cormac McCarthy Journal, Southwestern American Literature,” “Texas Books in Review,” “Voices de la Luna,” “Iron Horse Literary Review,” and “Concho River Review.” Most recently, he has published “Reconsidering Horses and Horsemanship in Blood Meridian and the Border Trilogy” and the forthcoming “The Vietnam War in No Country for Old Men;” both in “The Cormac McCarthy Journal.” His next book project, tentatively titled, “The Vietnam War in the Literature of Tim O’Brien,” is forthcoming.

The Moody Professorship is a shared program with the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW). It was established in 1971 through a gift from the Moody Foundation of Galveston. It provides two endowed professorships each year—one at OLLU and one at UIW. Moody professors from both universities present lectures on each campus. The date has not yet been set for Dr. Sanborn’s Moody Lecture.

Professor Benavides receives Texas Association of Broadcasters award, has story published

Yvette Benavides, OLLU Professor of English, is the recipient of an award from the Texas Association of Broadcasters in the category of Public Affairs for “Diagnosis: Diabetes,” an audio documentary she researched, reported, co-narrated and co-produced with David Martin Davies This project was supported by the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism Impact Fund for Reporting on Healthy Equity and Health Systems and Texas Public Radio. Professor Benavides said that she and Davies produced audio documentaries in English and Spanish and a series of short features on a variety of topics related to type 2 diabetes and barriers to health equity in underserved communities as part of their work with the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism.

Professor Benavides received additional recognition when her creative nonfiction story, “Souvenir” was published in the most recent issue of “Ruminate” magazine.

Cohort completes Service-Learning Faculty Fellows training

The OLLU Service-Learning Faculty Fellows completed an intensive, weeklong training about the service-learning pedagogy and scholarship, and then worked all summer with the Center for Service-Learning and Volunteerism (CSLV) to redesign one of their courses to integrate an experiential learning component. The cohort is currently teaching their redesigned class this semester and have a range of experiential and reflective components woven throughout their courses. Faculty can contact Jennifer Bendele at JBendele@ollusa.edu for more information about how to incorporate service-learning in their classes.

Photo: Front row (left to right): Kelsey Penn (service-learning coordinator), Jamie Crosswhite (English), Laura Petersen (English), Jennifer Bendele (AVP of Student Affairs and CSLV director). Back row (left to right): Angela Guzman Palacios (Spanish), AJ Arreguin (Mass Communication), and Jessica Hajek (Music)

Dr. Sauers, students published study in international journal

Dr. Emily Sauers, Associate Professor of Kinesiology, and undergraduate students Madison Garza and Jennifer Estrada had a study published in the International Journal of Exercise Science Conference Proceedings.

The study is titled, “The Effects of Acute Fasting on Anaerobic Performance in NAIA Softball Players. The abstract can be viewed online.