Message from the Vice President 

 

August 26, 2022

What a beautiful and busy summer it has been! Throughout the Division of Finance and Administration, we have been finalizing fiscal year 2022 matters and preparing for the upcoming academic term and the return of students. This fall we are expecting to welcome one of the largest incoming classes ever at Oregon State University, and I know the DFA teams will be ready to greet them!

As summer transitions to fall, my thoughts turn to Beaver football. All summer long, I have enjoyed checking in on the construction at Reser Stadium on OSU Live’s real-time camera stream. The Department of Public Safety is preparing for home games in Corvallis – check out this great message from AVP and Chief of Police Shanon Anderson reminding fans how to have a great time safely:

If you are not into football, there are many other fun things you can do on the Corvallis campus this fall. The list of activities below came from Senior Associate Vice President for Administration Paul Odenthal and his team. His office shares it with new employees, and it made me wonder how many of us who have been on campus for years have done all of these things? Or even one activity from each category? I am challenging myself and the senior leadership team to complete the full list over the next year. Whether you’re on the Corvallis campus regularly or visit occasionally, I encourage you to select a few interesting items to check off the list next time you have a little extra time. There’s no better way to feel like a part of the OSU community.

Culture
  • Attend a concert at the LaSells Stewart Center
  • Attend a Provost’s Lecture Series event
  • Attend Shakespeare in the Quad
  • Attend a Friday noon concert in the MU Lounge
  • Check out the art galleries at LaSells Stewart Center, Kidder, Bexell and Fairbanks Halls, and near the lounge at the Memorial Union

Campus

  • Find the circle at Gilkey Hall
  • Take a tour of campus (arranged through the Campus Tour Office)
  • Tour one of the cultural centers
  • Visit Weatherford Hall
  • Buy some Beaver Cheese at Wiegand Hall
  • Visit the Linus Pauling Exhibit in Valley Library
  • Talk to a Grounds Maintenance Crew person and ask them about their job

Academics/Research

  • Audit/attend a class
  • Listen to a dissertation/defense
  • Talk to a student, ask what their major is and why

Administration

 

I look forward to seeing you out and about on campus this fall term. Thank you for the care and diligence with which you conduct your work at OSU. Read on for news about the division and details about many of the great things you and your colleagues are doing to help advance OSU’s goals.

Summer 2022 News from DFA Units

After a competitive national search, Heather Horn has been appointed as the university’s associate vice president and chief human resources officer (CHRO), effective Monday, August 8, 2022. Heather reports to Vice President Mike Green and serves as a member of the DFA senior leadership team and the University Cabinet.

Heather joined OSU in 2019 as assistant vice provost for employee and labor relations and has served as liaison to the Provost’s Office and Office of Faculty Affairs on faculty personnel matters, and as chief university spokesperson in academic faculty and graduate assistant employee collective bargaining. In 2020, Heather was promoted to serve as associate vice provost for faculty affairs and assistant vice president for human resources, focusing on HR strategic partnerships, and employee and labor relations. In that role, Heather served as the key advisor to the chief human resources officer and vice provost for faculty affairs on a wide range of campus issues, initiatives and policies, while continuing her role in collective bargaining efforts.

Heather received a master’s degree in human resources and industrial relations in 2003 and a bachelor’s degree in speech communications in 2001 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She also received a certificate of entrepreneurship and management from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2010. Prior to joining OSU, she worked at the University of Illinois as an associate director of labor and employee relations.

Heather’s skills, depth of experience in higher education and passion for supporting people’s success will help advance programs and further enhance a positive workplace culture at OSU.

Kudos (noun): /ˈk(y)o͞oˌdäs,ˈk(y)o͞oˌdōs/  - praise and honor received for an achievement

From time to time, our campus partners are so impressed by the work of people in the DFA that they reach out to the leadership team to give a shout-out about their excellent experience. Sometimes the stories are about big, multi-faceted projects, sometimes they are about our more everyday work, but they always involve someone exceeding expectations. We’re sharing these stories of how your division colleagues are putting our DFA guiding principles into action. 

Carrie Trant

Carrie Trant, Construction Manager, Capital Planning and Development – Construction Manager Carrie Trant received a shout-out from a claims professional with Insurance and Risk Management Services. She was impressed with the way Carrie demonstrated professionalism and patience while working through unexpected water intrusion issues on the Milam Hall re-roofing project, stating “Even when she’s dealing with frustrating information, Carrie is a joy to work with!”

Carrie’s work shows the importance of providing for OSU community members’ success through community safety, support for well-being and respect for all. Great job!

 

Greg Balck

Greg Balck, A/R Supervisor and the Student Finance Team – The State of Oregon’s Chief Financial Officer commended Oregon State University for “outstanding work” in earning the office’s Accounts Receivable Honor Roll Certificate for fiscal year 2021. The achievement was earned through the team’s “diligent efforts to track and report A/R activities” and submitting timely and accurate reports. The Chief Financial Officer’s letter noted that this is an important part of managing funds on behalf of the citizens of Oregon and ensuring accurate reporting each year to the Legislative Assembly.

Greg Balck and the Student Finance Team show us how proactive stewardship of resources can help ensure the long-term success of the university—and in this case, the success of the State of Oregon! Keep it up!

 

Aaron Amoth

Scott Bond

Aaron Amoth and Scott Bond, Project Managers, Capital Construction – A Facilities Services manager highlighted how well Adam and Scott, two new members of the division are doing to coordinate and communicate about the projects they manage, saying “the knowledge they both have concerning how work gets done is excellent” and “their teamwork and desire…to get the best product possible has been great.” The entire landscape team expressed thanks for the teamwork and support they receive from Aaron and Scott.

Aaron and Scott’s story is a great example of how empowering people with appropriate decision-making authority can improve the satisfaction of OSU community members. This level of collaboration between teams is great to see. Well done, all!

Kudos and thank you to everyone featured this quarter’s update! Your work and attitudes are impressive. We appreciate your care and contributions to the OSU community.

Everyone can use the DFA Hurray! system to send quick notes of gratitude for people across the Division of Finance and Administration who exceed your expectations. When you do, they will receive a thank you email from the Office of the Vice President, with copies to their supervisor and the senior leader for their unit. Each month, DFA Hurray! recipients are entered into a drawing for a fun Beaver-themed prize. I am pleased to share this list of your colleagues who have been recognized so far this year: 

March 2022
  • Ashely Brown, Accounts Payable & Travel
  • Susan Clark, Accounts Payable & Travel
  • Tricia Leman, University Human Resources
  • Kadie Powell, University Human Resources 
  • Melanie Rose, Office of the Vice President 
  • Lewis Walker, University Human Resources
  • Ying Wang, University Business Services
  • Trina Young, University Human Resources 

April 2022 

  • Brittany McDonald, University Human Resources 

July 2022

  • Andy Cadotte, DFA Information Technology
  • Tim Carpenter, Facilities Services Grounds Maintenance
  • Anthony Deck, Accounts Payable & Travel
  • William Doerr, Facilities Services Grounds Maintenance
  • Linda Firth, University Human Resources 
  • Terrance Folden, Facilities Services Grounds Maintenance
  • Kyle Gibbs, Facilities Services Grounds Maintenance
  • Chris Lewis, University Human Resources 
  • Kevin Lorain, Facilities Services Grounds Maintenance
  • Brittany McDonald, University Human Resources 
  • Melissa Medina, University Human Resources 
  • Heidi Melton, Insurance & Risk Management Services
  • Charlotte Pritchard, Facilities Services Grounds Maintenance
  • Angel Silkbaron, University Human Resources 
  • Ted Simpson, Facilities Services Grounds Maintenance
  • David Slifkin, Facilities Services Grounds Maintenance
  • Stephanie Smith, Accounts Payable & Travel
  • Christopher Trine, Facilities Services Grounds Maintenance
  • Rachelle Turpin, University Human Resources
  • Michael Wilkins, Facilities Services Grounds Maintenance

August 2022

  • Heidi Benninghoven, University Business Services 
  • Adam Burt, DFA Information Technology
  • Cameron Cox, University Facilities, Infrastructure & Operations
  • Tracy Elmshaeuser, Office of Senior AVP for Administration 
  • Katie Lanker, Procurement, Contracts & Materials Management
  • Carrie Trant, Capital Planning & Development 
  • Traci Yates, Central Payroll Office

Teams across the Division of Finance and Administration continue to cultivate and grow the DFA Framework for Success, with the support of the Enterprise Project Portfolio Management Office and Dr. Javier Calvo-Amodio and his research team.  

Unit-level metrics. A major milestone was achieved in FY22 with the completion of 25 dashboards displaying 67 unit-level metrics across the division. Each team worked through an 8-step implementation approach to develop and build out their unit metrics and design a dashboard visualization using Tableau business intelligence software. Teams worked closely with Dr. Javier Calvo-Amodio and his researchers to map their metrics to the key performance indicators and DFA performance measures; identify key stakeholders; define metric threshold levels; and identify the ideal cadence and responsibility for updating the data and visualizations over time. A team of dashboard experts from DFA IT and other units came together to assist teams with visualization design and helped gather feedback from DFA senior leaders. DFA teams have shown a great deal of persistence and dedication in determining how best to share the story of their work and contributions with the university through data. 

Framework updates based on stakeholder input. In summer and fall 2021, as units in the Division of Finance and Administration continued their work to develop unit-level key activities and metrics, Vice President Mike Green sought feedback from OSU senior leaders about elements of the DFA Framework for Success. The overall feedback was very positive and supportive of the Framework. University leaders shared suggestions about how the DFA Guiding Principles and key activities could be better expressed through more clear and inspirational language and formatting. We also heard valuable insights about using language that more clearly and completely conveys intent and alignment with university values. 
 
Based on this stakeholder feedback, the DFA senior leaders updated some of the ways guiding principles, key performance indicators, key activities and division-wide metrics are expressed, including:

  • An expanded narrative about the reasons for the Framework for Success, how it was developed and its intended outcomes;
  • A new vision statement that clearly expresses how the DFA supports the university’s mission and goals;
  • A new introductory statement to the DFA Guiding Principles that explains how they are intended to be used, along with updates to the structure and format of the text (note that the principles themselves did not change); 
  • Updated language for key activities and metrics – refined key activity statements; division-wide metrics are now referred to as “performance measures” to clarify that they include both quantifiable and qualitative measurements of specific activities and bundles of activities. 

Looking ahead to fiscal year 2023, DFA units will continue to develop disciplined routines around using the Framework elements in our daily work, tracking metrics and communicating outcomes. We will use the Framework as a tool to help us advance the division’s strategic priorities. 
 

In May, the Student Employment team processed 750 summer Graduate Employee appointments with another 143 in process, along with 430 student hourly positions, 230 termination requests and 400 student pay change requests.  Meanwhile, the Employment Services team processed 802 Criminal History Checks in May. The HR team is now starting on the fall term employment ramp-up.

Special thanks go to Senior Employee & Labor Relations Officers Carol Millie and Trina Young, and Academic Human Resources Officer Kim Cholewinski for their long hours and dedication in completing an agreement with the Coalition of Graduate Employees labor organization. 
 

The division’s DEI Action Planning Workgroup launched near the end of 2021, charged with recommending a range of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) actions that all DFA units and employees can contribute toward. The workgroup is on track to deliver a list of actions for fiscal year 2023 (FY23) in time for the start of fall term, and by the end of fall term will complete a recommended five-year plan. 

The workgroup is co-chaired by Tom Fenske, Director of Financial Strategic Services in the Controller’s Unit, and Keahi McFadden, Executive Assistant to the Associate Vice President for UFIO. The group is staffed by volunteers from across the division who have a desire to create positive change. 

Over the course of FY22, the workgroup engaged in shared learning about DEI terms and concepts, problem-solving with an equity lens, and how to collect and use data ethically and effectively. With an explicit agreement to proceed with respect and openness, the workgroup members have spent a great deal of time discussing people’s real experiences in the workplace, DEI-related objectives and goals and a practical pathway to reach them. Using feedback from DFA employees, the workgroup is creating a vision statement that expresses an ideal workplace culture for the division. The upcoming action list will outline steps that leaders, supervisors, teams and individual employees across the DFA can take to help ensure that our division creates and enhances a sense of belonging for the entire OSU community. in FY23. In the meantime, the workgroup is collaborating with DFA senior leaders to identify a sustainable pace for this collective effort. 

It’s well known that DFA units and teams have already done a lot to advance OSU’s DEI goals over the years. That work is important and greatly appreciated, and those unit-level efforts should continue. In fiscal year 2023, we’re seeking to give those efforts more support and attention, and take a broader, collective and more clearly defined approach going forward. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to join in the effort! 

On June 9, 2022, OSU Interim President Becky Johnson announced the approval of OSU’s Path to Carbon Neutrality.  This plan, comprising nine actions to reduce and ultimately eliminate carbon emissions from OSU’s operations, resulted from over a year of public input along with close collaboration with the Faculty Senate Carbon Commitment Committee. The plan emphasizes direct actions like increased energy efficiency and solar electric systems, as well as steps each member of the OSU community can take—things like carpooling, or even embracing wider temperature ranges in some spaces in our buildings. In the next year, the Sustainability Office will release a tracking system to visually highlight progress on each of the nine actions. View the full plan and learn more.

OSU’s Path to Carbon Neutrality, together with the Sustainable Transportation Strategy, are important elements to fulfilling OSU’s goal to become carbon neutral. They also strengthen the university’s position as an employer of choice in the state—one where people can apply their personal values as they contribute toward a more positive future for everyone. 
 

A new radar speed trailer is contributing to safety and communication efforts on Corvallis campus. Acquired this summer, the Department of Public Safety’s radar speed trailer can be used in a variety of ways, including monitoring traffic speeds on campus and displaying informative safety messages. 

OSU police and public safety officers are currently undergoing training on the new equipment.  
 

In Spring 2022, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) conducted an unannounced hazardous waste compliance inspection of OSU’s Corvallis campus. At the time of the inspection, DEQ inspectors identified zero hazardous waste violations. 
 
The DEQ noted that this is an exceptional accomplishment, given the size of OSU’s facility, the numerous employees involved in hazardous waste management, and the numerous streams of hazardous waste generated at OSU during its day-to-day operations, including research. 
 
Additionally, the DEQ shared that OSU’s Environmental Health & Safety team has developed a hazardous waste system that serves as “an excellent example to share with other institutions for higher education in Oregon.” The EH&S team is considering ways to share their successful model with other higher education institutions. 

In late 2021, Ship Operations approached UHR’s Employee and Labor Relations team along with Insurance and Risk Management Services and the Office of General Counsel about creating a crew exchange during the transitional period between the decommissioning of Research Vessel (R/V) Oceanus from research cruises and the acceptance of R/V Taani.

The objective of the crew exchange is to retain qualified mariners as OSU employees by continuing to offer work aboard other vessels in the Academic Research Fleet. The crew exchange will provide additional sea time for OSU mariners to keep current U.S. Coast Guard credentials, continue their OSU employment, and maintain qualified staff for onboarding and operations for R/V Taani. Additionally, it helps the Academic Research Fleet, which supports research operations of OSU and other higher education institutions. Together, the units mentioned above assessed the opportunities and risks of the proposed crew exchange. They have been working with the Ship Operations team to address the mitigations needed to move forward with this concept.

Necessary mitigations include additional insurance to address the arrangement, as well as a secondment agreements with a crew member’s host institution. (Secondment agreements are used when employees are temporarily transferred to another organization for a specified duration.) As of July 2022, two secondment agreements have been executed. The units are continuing to approach other institutions to increase the number of employment opportunities for crew members. Because of the benefits it brings, they expect that this effort will continue beyond the transitional period of the research vessels at OSU.

The Transportation Services team was able to showcase their commitment to providing exceptional customer service in a big way at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. The event was held in the United States for the first time at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field in July.

Transportation Services rented out more than 70 motor pool vehicles to be used throughout the multi-week event, which featured world-class athletes and attracted more than 50,000 attendees.

“We transported some of the world’s top athletes and people affiliated with the event,” said Motor Pool Manager Justin Fleming. Fleming added that OSU’s Motor Pool specializes in maintaining a fleet of high-occupancy vans. “We were also able to fulfill vehicle rental requests for academic, field work and research needs at the same time as supplying a high volume of vehicles for the World Athletics Championship,” he said.
 

The Enterprise Project Portfolio Management Office is part of the Division of Finance and Administration. It oversees a portfolio of university-wide programs and projects, where each program is a set of interrelated projects that work together to advance the university's strategic priorities, in alignment with industry best practices. The EPPMO is managing a broad portfolio of projects across the university, including the following. 

 
Beaver Works

The Beaver Works Core Project Team assessing the progress the division has made in addressing the ten challenges identified in the Baker Tilly Business Operations Best Practices Review. Here is a round-up of projects that are addressing business operations functional areas:

Non-Student Billing and Receivables Project.  The business operations review identified OSU’s non-student accounts receivable system as an area that could be improved. Over the past month, the core project team has engaged various stakeholders in journey mapping sessions to further understand how their unit currently carries out non-student billing and receivables activities. In the coming weeks, the project team will consolidate information to better depict the current state of non-student billing and receivables, and then verify that map with the operations groups. 

In parallel, the team is researching best practices to inform an ideal future state process. Stakeholder input will continue to be a critical part of the process to ensure we are working towards a future state that aligns with unit needs across the university.

Business Analytics.  The University Financial Management (UFM) Working Group has completed UFM Suite Phase 2 and has moved into

Release to Production and Phase 3 Budget Scenario Analysis Tool planning. 
 
The UFM Suite will provide a reliable, consistent set of data for university-wide and college-level reporting, while also supporting data analysis for improved decision-making. The set of suite information represents the essential data needed for operational forecasting, and to budget and manage spending, hiring, and enrollment. The selected reports within the suite are being made available within Tableau Dashboards for ease of use by leaders across the OSU community, with self-serve training resources provided.
 
The suite is currently composed of three integrated modules which provide essential information for budgeting and decision analysis at the college level. These modules are under production for suite integration in 2022:

  • Integrated modules
    • Position Reporting (previously Position Management)
    • Budget Metrics
    • Enrollment Management
  • Essential information
    • 5-year history baseline
    • Reliability of data
    • Key metrics tracking, comparison
    • Visualization (Tableau Dashboards)
    • Ease of use and access 

UFM Phase 3 planning for the Budget Scenario Analysis (previously referred to as Bottoms-Up Forecasting) module started in summer 2022 and is currently scoped around the following capabilities:

  • Provide a 2–3 year planning horizon
  • Create and compare multiple “what-if” scenarios
  • Enable improved decision-making 

 
Smart Access Program

The Smart Access Program supports several elements of the OSU IT Strategic Plan 2023 and OSU's Strategic Plan 4.0. The project enables OSU community members to live digitally vibrant lives, offering a foundational capability to provide OSU community members with secure and appropriate access to data and systems. 

Identity Management System Project. The Identity Management System project is one of the Smart Access Program’s pillar projects. The

project team worked since late February with Procurement, Contracts and Materials Management (PCMM) staff to develop a request-for-proposal process, with the goal of selecting a qualified vendor and a set of enabling technologies by the end of June 2022. The RFP was published in mid-March; a vendor and implementation partner was selected in early-August. The project team is conducting contract negotiations and planning an engagement with key stakeholders. 

The foremost objective of the Smart Access Program is to implement an Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) system. IGA is a policy-based approach to identity management and access control that efficiently mitigates risk and improves organization-wide security for OSU’s digital assets. It has the following key components:

  • Identity Lifecycle Management - Flexible and reliable tools for identity and account creation, update, and removal, including integration with other systems.  
  • Policy and Role Management - A single source for knowing "who has access to what" across the university through management of different types of groups and roles, authorization workflows, request/approval and renewal/recertification workflows and tracking, plus a repository to store authorization and privilege data extracted from key campus systems.
  • Security and Auditing - Collection and storage of transactions across functional areas, and the mechanisms to analyze and report on those transactions.

 

Endpoint Management Project. Another focus of the Smart Access Program is the management and security of OSU-owned equipment (laptops, desktops, phones) that access OSU data. The Endpoint Management project will enable IT professionals to secure and manage these devices, ensuring they are properly patched and updated regularly.  The project will also implement common tools across IT units at the university.   
 
A tool for Windows and Mac / IOS devices has been selected and implemented within several IT units. Additional distributed IT units will implement these tools according to an implementation schedule that is still under development. A tool is being selected for Linux machines; a recommendation has been presented to UIT management for approval. These tools allow common configuration and management of devices. In addition, a tool has been selected to allow IT professionals to manage and deploy patches and updates to devices on a regular basis. This will also enable IT and security professionals to establish policies that prevent unmanaged or unpatched devices from accessing critical university data, which provides more comprehensive security. Training for this tool is coming soon.  
 
The Endpoint Management project will also develop standards, procedures and policies for managing OSU-owned equipment throughout the distributed IT units and the Endpoint Management group. These policies and procedures are currently in development.   

 
Performance Management Pilot Project  

The Performance Management Pilot project team continues to assess a redesigned performance management process and system, using the OSU IT and Controller’s Unit staff. The pilot project is occurring within the broader context of the OSU Talent Management initiative. The Performance Management Pilot is live; employees continue to be added based on their evaluation cycle. 

The project team is currently: 

  • Developing a multi-rater feedback process for a subset of professional faculty;
  • Incorporating feedback received from pilot users;
  • Releasing a user experience and feedback survey;
  • Hosting monthly Getting Started and Drop-in Support sessions.

A resource library, FAQs, session recordings, and schedule for upcoming trainings for the pilot can be found on the Performance Management Pilot Website at https://beav.es/pmpilot.

 
Non-Credit Learning Management System Project

The Non-Credit Learning Management System (LMS) project is focused on journey-mapping processes and gathering requirements for critical and professional development trainings for OSU employees and volunteers. This work will inform the implementation of a learning management system. 

Over the past several months, the project team has completed a risk assessment and identified stakeholders. The project team is now developing a plan to journey-map current state processes with OSU learners and those who provide trainings to ensure they have a holistic view. In the coming months, stakeholder input sessions will begin, to provide the project team with a better understanding of their experiences, such as pain and gain points.

 
Enterprise Service Management Program

OSU is creating a modern student and employee experience through a new Enterprise Service Management (ESM) platform. A Human Resources Service Delivery (HRSD) system has been identified as the focused effort for phase one. The HRSD project will refine employee onboarding and offboarding processes, provide a new case management tool, and implementing self-service options such as a service catalog, knowledge base, and a virtual agent. 

The project team has identified key functionalities necessary to meet the objectives and goals for the project.  In close collaboration with implementation partners, the project team is determining what work is necessary to deliver the required functionality and assessing impacts on project scope, schedule, and budget. The team is working with Executive Sponsors of the project to make decisions that will determine a path forward. Learn more about the program at https://uit.oregonstate.edu/esm.

Some recent accomplishments and ongoing efforts:

  • Completed current and design state workshops.
  • Completed the initial platform build sprints.
  • Integration efforts are continuing.
  • Planning user acceptance testing - slated to start early September.
  • Training materials are being developed.
  • Organizational change management and ongoing communication.

 
Access OSU

Access OSU is a project to increase family and student access to information about attending college. It is a collaboration of the Division of Extension and Engagement, Division of Student Affairs and the Office of Institutional Diversity. The project will also help prospective students develop early relationships with OSU and its student support services through programs designed to build trust among communities of color, specifically African American/Black, Native/Indigenous/Pacific Islander, and Hispanic/Latinx communities. 

Recent accomplishments and ongoing efforts include:

  • Program director search is underway and expected to complete in the coming weeks.
  • Internal partner informational sessions and focus groups are in progress.
  • Drafting a project roadmap for the next three years. 
  • Developing project information and communication plans in preparation for outreach and engagement with programs both internal and external to OSU. 
  • New program website will be going live soon intended for external audiences. 
  • Project team will be representing the Access OSU program at the My Peoples Market and OSU football game in Portland on Sept. 17. 

 
Student Experience CRM Project

The EPPMO began providing project management services to the Student Experience CRM project in August 2022. The project is focused on identifying, acquiring, and implementing a single, university-wide approach and customer relationship management (CRM) platform by June 30, 2023.

Once implemented, the platform will support OSU’s efforts to communicate and engage with matriculated students in a coordinated and personalized manner by establishing a central location for creating, tracking, and monitoring communications and engagements with students. The RFP was released to the public in mid-April following several months of stakeholder involvement to identify important functionality. The team is currently working through the contract phase of the project with PCMM.  For additional information, please visit the project website

 
Elliott State Research Forest 

In December 2018, Oregon’s State Land Board requested that OSU and the Oregon Department of State Lands explore the potential transformation of the Elliott State Research Forest (ESRF) into a state research forest managed by OSU and its College of Forestry. Led by Paul Odenthal, senior associate vice president for administration, this exploratory work has been ongoing since early 2019 and has included the engagement of advisory committees at the state and college level, along with input from a broad range of stakeholders. 

The EPPMO team is working in alignment with College of Forestry, administrative leadership and experts to coordinate connections, collaboration and working groups that help advance the project and meet the required objectives and deliverable outlined in the ESRF Research Proposal, including:  

  • Facilitate a risk assessment with supporting tracking documents and an executive brief. 
  • Provide background and content research, convene experts, and develop documents that explore ownership models for the ESRF.
  • Educate, support, and provide project management tools, resources, and templates to the college project coordinator.
  • Participate in statewide meetings including advisory committee meetings to assist in the tracking, notes, and outcomes. 
  • Plan and facilitate project team meetings.

 
Common Course Numbering

In 2021, the Oregon Legislature passed Senate Bill 233 requiring the Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) and community colleges and universities listed in ORS 352.002 to improve academic credit transfer and transfer pathways between Oregon’s public community colleges and universities. The bill directs the HECC to establish a 15-member Transfer Council with representation from Oregon’s public universities, community colleges, and from secondary education. 

The EPPMO team provides the following support for the Common Course Numbering Project:

  • Provide project management tools, practices, and processes such as tracking project progress, development of project workplans, roadmaps and tracking/storing key project data and information.
  • Participate in statewide meetings to assist OSU leaders and experts in the tracking of notes, outcomes and required work items or follow up.
  • Identify and track project stakeholder details to inform updates, communication, and information dissemination.
  • Coordinate, convene and facilitate OSU project meetings as needed.

 
PacWave

PacWave South is a state-of-the-art, pre-permitted, accredited, grid-connected, wave energy test facility. It is currently under development in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, the State of Oregon, OSU and local stakeholders. The open-ocean test site will consist of four berths, which will occupy two square nautical miles of ocean with a 12-mile long cable route to shore. 

After nearly 10 years of working through the regulatory process, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued OSU a license to build and operate the PacWave South test facility in March 2021. Construction of PacWave South is currently underway, and the site is expected to be operational by 2023, with grid-connected testing beginning in 2024. 

The EPPMO team provides the following support for PacWave South:

  • Project support and coordination with OSU leadership.
  • Support in evaluating potential business models and contracting support for clients when PacWave South becomes operational.
Graduate Employee Hiring Forum

An informational session was held on Aug. 23 to walk supervisors through all aspects of hiring graduate employees, including types of graduate employees, the hiring process flow, timesheets, onboarding, pay updates, required hours, benefits, key deadlines, bargaining agreement updates, financial review steps and key hiring contacts. The recording is available on the HR and Payroll Operations Forum website.

 

Update on Residence Hall Eco-Reps accomplishments in FY22

In the last DFA Newsletter, the Sustainability Office brought you the fun news about OSU Eco-Representatives winning first place in the national Food Future Hackathon competition! The Sustainability Office has tallied the numbers from this cohort’s other success in their annual Eco-Reps summary (link to PDF), hot off the press. This small but committed team logged over 14,000 contacts with their fellow residents, composted over 850 lbs. of food waste and decreased recycling contamination rates. Most significantly, Eco-Reps talk about the program as a great experiential learning experience – and often go on to do great things for other OSU departments as student leaders and employees. The Eco-Reps program helps provide a sense of place and community important to student retention and success.

 

OSU Work Life offers free webinars and events

Participate in a range of workshops and events intended to help improve different aspects of your personal and professional life. Find information about upcoming real-time webinars and access recordings on topics like home ownership, supporting mental health and transitioning to retirement at the OSU Work Life website. September workshops cover time management tools and stress management techniques. 
 

DFA Fall All Staff Meeting, Sept. 21. 11:30 am to 1 pm

Join Vice President for Finance & Administration Mike Green and the division’s senior leaders as they share the DFA’s strategic priorities for fiscal year 2023. There will be prizes, good conversation, lunch and the opportunity to reconnect with your colleagues. Plan to donate a non-perishable food item to support the Basic Needs Center. Don’t miss the fireside chat with special guest, incoming President Jayathi Murthy. Registration opens on Sept. 9. In-person attendance is encouraged; employees working remotely will be accommodated. 

 

UHR offers flu shot clinics for faculty and staff in October

Save these dates, and more information is coming soon.

  • Oct. 5: MU Ballroom, 8:30am – 4:30pm.
  • Oct. 17: MU 49 & 13, 8:30am - 4:30pm. 

 

Open enrollment for health insurance runs Oct. 1-31, 2022

University Human Resources is gearing up to support OSU employees through the open enrollment process for health and wellness benefits. All employees will need to enroll and complete a HEM health assessment, or opt out of benefits. 

  • Attend the OSU Benefits Fair – Oct. 5 at 10 am to 2 pm in the MU Horizon Room.
  • UHR offers “Drop-in” Help Sessions for Open Enrollment & HEM to assist people with completing the online enrollment process and/or the HEM health assessment.  
    • Oct. 10 – 2 pm – 6 pm at University Plaza 170
    • Oct. 11 – 7 am – 1 pm at University Plaza 170

 

Prepare for retirement

A range of financial and retirement-related workshops are available from PERS, Fidelity and TIAA, including life workshops in September and October. Find details at the retirement benefits website.

 

OSU hosts Higher Education Sustainability Conference in March

Save the dates of March 6-8, 2023 for the Washington Oregon Cascadia Higher Education Sustainability Conference (WOHESC). The signature higher education sustainability conference in the Pacific Northwest will be right in our own backyard. Hosted on OSU’s Corvallis campus at the LaSells Stewart Center and the CH2M Hill Alumni Center, WOHESC will bring together hundreds of participants who will explore change, action and collaboration around sustainability within Cascadia region higher education institutions. The call for proposals (link to PDF) opened Aug.10 so now is a great time to submit content for a session, workshop, meetup or tour.  If you want to be involved with the conference or have questions, email Leticia Cavazos Sanchez.  

Thank you for everything you do to help each member of the OSU community excel.

Sincerely,

Mike

Michael J. Green
Vice President for Finance & Administration / Chief Financial Officer

 

Questions or suggestions?

Contact the VPFA Office for information, assistance, requests for signature on documents and to make an appointment with Mike.

The work of DFA impacts every person at OSU, every moment, every day.