The OLPD Department Dispatch is an internal newsletter, sent out every other Tuesday beginning August 27, 2024, which provides important updates and links from department administrative staff and leadership. Information shared via this publication is archived below, organized by subject area.
Embedded Files
General Announcements
General Announcements
May 13, 2025
May 13, 2025
Please do not leave your air conditioners on overnight.
Take time to review documents in Google Drive marked "deletion pending" before June 7 and move any that should be saved.
April 29, 2025
April 29, 2025
From Joan: all faculty (tenured and non-tenured) are strongly encouraged to attend both the undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremonies.
Thank you to all who completed the course / training on Sexual Misconduct, Discrimination, and Retaliation Prevention and Response (SMPPS) for supervisors. If you haven't yet done this, please take 15-30 minutes this week to do so.
CEHD is doing another evaluation of office space. Rachel will need to go into each office to fill out the space evaluation form. Please let Rachel know if there are days she should avoid trying to enter your office.
April 9, 2025
April 9, 2025
Symposium on April 18: You are hereby formally invited to Jotería Studies in the Midwest: Art, Activism, and Scholarship, a symposium on Friday, April 18th from 9am–2:30pm in EdSci 245. This event is co-sponsored by the undergraduate student chapter of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambios Social (MALCS), Dr. Roberto C. Orozco, Assistant Professor of Higher Education, Dr. Jessica Lopez Lyman, Assistant Professor of Chicano and Latino Studies, and the Association for Jotería Arts, Activism, and Scholarship. The event schedule: 9am, breakfast / networking; 10am, virtual panel; 11:30am, lunch; 12:30pm, breakout sessions featuring music, art, and poetry; 2pm, community closing. Register here.
New Grants Coordinator: Wendy Diedrich has joined the CEHD Office of Research & Policy as a senior grant coordinator, and will be our first point of contact. The office of Research & Policy is asking PIs to use an Intent to Submit form when planning a proposal. They will evaluate the proposal and assign it to the grant coordinator best able to help at that point in time. For more information, see the new Research Support Services intranet site on the CEHD Sky, in particular the Proposal Timeline section and the statement about timely proposals.
Faculty Senate nominations will be accepted through Wednesday, April 30. CEHD has 4 open seats for a term of July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2028, but as of this week only 1 nomination has been submitted. More information on the Faculty Senate may be found here.
March 26, 2025
March 26, 2025
Joan is available to meet with any of you who would like to share concerns, talk through issues, or discuss alternatives regarding uncertainty surrounding dynamic changes taking place.
Any in-person or blended class that is having an in-person final exam must fill out a Final Exam Request form to request a classroom to hold the final exam (instructor or departmental scheduler can fill out the form). The deadline for spring 2025 requests is March 31, 2025.
CEHD has new Digitally Accessible Syllabi Templates and Checklists available on the SKY website. Please use these templates when submitting new or revised course proposals.
Check here for the latest information related to resources on University Guidance for Federal Policy Changes.
February 25, 2025
February 25, 2025
A message went out earlier today regarding action needed before March 10 by everyone supervising Graduate Assistants.
You should have received information about the Dean's online listening sessions. Check your email if you missed it. These sessions are to offer an opportunity for open dialogue on how we can navigate these uncertain times and best support our students, faculty, and staff. Other sessions will be held March 11 (11am), March 25 (10am), and April 8 (11am).
February 12, 2025
February 12, 2025
Please remember to file your 2025 Report of External Professional Activities (REPA). You should have received a message from "repamail@umn.edu" with a link.
As noted in the OLPD Graduate Student Newsletter last week, there's a UMN Safe Campus webpage with Support and Resources regarding Federal Immigration Policies: https://safe-campus.umn.edu/federal-immigration-policies-support-and-resources. Please keep this page bookmarked and check it regularly as it will be updated with new information and FAQs as they become available.
The event above, "C&I / OLPD Joint Meeting," will focus on the President's Strategic Initiative. All are welcome to attend; more information will follow.
January 28, 2025
January 28, 2025
There are treats in 206 to celebrate January birthdays!
Save the date: CEHD Commencement will take place Friday, May 16, 2025 at 3M Arena at Mariucci— 10am undergraduate ceremony; 3pm graduate ceremony
Nominations for the CEHD Alumni Society Awards are due Monday, February 10:
The Rising Alumni Award (recognizes young professionals who earned their degree from CEHD within the last ten years); The Alumni Award of Excellence (recognizes CEHD alumni who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and leadership in their profession, served as mentors to others in their field, or shown exceptional volunteer service); Distinguished International Alumni Award (recognizes outstanding achievements of international CEHD alumni to educational progress in their country).
January 14, 2025
January 14, 2025
Save the date: CEHD Commencement will take place Friday, May 16, 2025 at 3M Arena at Mariucci— 10am undergraduate ceremony; 3pm graduate ceremony
Nominations for the CEHD Alumni Society Awards are due Monday, February 10:
The Rising Alumni Award (recognizes young professionals who earned their degree from CEHD within the last ten years); The Alumni Award of Excellence (recognizes CEHD alumni who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and leadership in their profession, served as mentors to others in their field, or shown exceptional volunteer service); Distinguished International Alumni Award (recognizes outstanding achievements of international CEHD alumni to educational progress in their country).
December 17, 2024
December 17, 2024
The OLPD main office will be closed from December 23-27th. The University is closed December 24-26, and a majority of the admin staff will be working remotely on December 23rd and December 27th.
Here's who to contact if you need assistance with the following:
Grade Entry - Savannah Greaves; Malaika Bigirindavyi (AdminLic)
Purchasing / Finance - Savannah Greaves; Fuechai Vang
Admissions - Dan Grafto
November 19, 2024
November 19, 2024
Application deadline for PhD programs in CIDE, EPL (not exec cohort), HE, and HRD is December 1. We will use Slate to review applications again this year.
November 5, 2024
November 5, 2024
New Classroom Conversations resources to encourage respectful dialogue in the classroom:
Nominations for 2025 U of M Public Engagement Awards due Friday, December 20. See award details and learn about the nomination requirements here.
Please submit requests for desk copies ASAP.
Applications are open for CPAC Professional Development grants for P&A employees.
October 22, 2024
October 22, 2024
Community Fund Drive wraps up in 9 days!
Welcome Nancy Pellowski Wiger and Matt Schuelka to their new OLPD roles, as newly hired research associates in the department. They will work (part-time) on a 2-year grant project called Education Out Loud, a project of the Global Partnership in Education with Oxfam, Denmark.
Office cleaning form: as a reminder, the custodial staff no longer cleans private offices / locked suites. Complete this form to request office cleaning. These requests may be made once per month. Note that this will not include trash pick up, and surfaces will only be wiped down if they are clear of paperwork/personal items. Thank you!
Birthdays & $: We will continue to celebrate all staff/faculty birthdays with yummy cakes/dessert made by Rachel. If you want to donate a small amount to pay Rachel for them, please leave cash with Savannah (this food is not paid for from the department budget).
October 8, 2024
October 8, 2024
This year's UMN Community Fund Drive is active!
Following up on our FISM meeting last week and the discussion on building bridges and dialogue, here are a few more resources from the Center for Educational Innovation:
Strategies to Support Challenging Conversations in the Classroom
Classroom Conversations: Faculty Reflections on Fostering Political Discourse (YouTube video)
You should have received a message from CEI on Tuesday with these and other resources (subject line: "October Events & Opportunities from the Center for Educational Innovation (CEI)"). If you did not and would like to, email olpd@umn.edu and we'll forward the message with info about how to subscribe.
Spring 2025 Registration begins in about a month:
Communicate credit amounts for variable credit courses to Savannah & Andy
Confirm session dates, grading basis
Submit course announcement requests to Alex via this form
Communications & Marketing
Communications & Marketing
Primary staff contact: Alex Evenson (alexeven@umn.edu)
May 13, 2025
May 13, 2025
Priority tasks for the summer will be upgrading program pages across the OLPD website to match the recently-upgrated MLTD program page, reviewing SEO strategies across the website, converting project / lab "innovation.umn.edu" websites to the Drupal platform ("olpd.umn.edu"), connecting with the new Chair to identify marcomm priorities for AY 2025-26, and working to implement integrations in our contact forms between the existing forms tool (Cognito Forms) and Slate in order to facilitate greater efficiency in recruitment and enrollment.
April 29, 2025
April 29, 2025
Thank you to everyone for your well wishes, understanding, and flexibility these past couple of weeks. For those of you who don't know, my mother fell ill on April 15 and passed on April 23, and I am working limited hours (half-days 7am-11am for the most part) as I support my family and manage logistics. I'm focusing my effort on high priority / time sensitive tasks and will likely be returning to a standard work schedule starting Monday. Thanks again, Alex
October 22, 2024
October 22, 2024
Double check that messages from "olpdadmin@ecommunications2.umn.edu" and "olpd@ecommunications2.umn.edu" aren't going to your spam folder!
As per the message earlier today, complete and submit the faculty research topics formas soon as possible so we can create topics pages on the OLPD site.
October 8, 2024
October 8, 2024
Course announcement info from message sent out last March:
We want course announcements to be proactive rather than reactive. It's important to get them out before registration opens. For Spring 2024, that's November 12, so ideally submit info by the end of October.
Bookmark this form for submitting OLPD course announcement info.
If you're not sure whether or not you should submit info to announce a course you're teaching, please consult with your program's coordinator.
September 24, 2024
September 24, 2024
A few OLPD programs will be hosting virtual info sessions in the upcoming weeks:
Higher Education programs
Tuesday September 24, 7-8pm; Thursday October 17, 7-8pm
EPL PhD Executive Cohort
Friday October 11, 11am-12pm; Thursday November 7, 4-5pm; January 15, 4-5pm
Online MLTD program
Thursday September 26, 12-1pm; Wednesday October 2, 6-7pm; Thursday October 10, 8-9am; Friday October 18, 2-3pm
This is a great way to connect with prospective students, and we typically see a high rate of attendees submit applications. Reach out if you'd like to schedule something for your program(s)!
August 27, 2024
August 27, 2024
Is your headshot out of date? Get a refresh at CEHD Fall Assembly tomorrow morning!
While you're at it, this is a great time to review your faculty profile page—email Alex Evenson with any updates.
Education Technology
Education Technology
Primary staff contact: Peter Zimmerman (zimme922@umn.edu)
May 13, 2025
May 13, 2025
Two-day Treks Events in August
Registration is now open for Treks: Preparing for Fall! Treks is open to all CEHD staff and graduate teaching assistants, with preference given to those with a 2025-2026 teaching appointment.This two-day, online professional development event will be held August 19 and 20 and is designed to help you jumpstart your semester planning, including a variety of session topics covering student engagement, technology integration, course design, and more; and supported work time to apply your learning. Build your own schedule by selecting which topic sessions you attend. Attend at least 3 topic sessions to receive a letter of recognition (clock hours available upon request).Teaching with Canvas this fall?
Let the Digital Education and Innovation team help you make your course sites and materials accessible. We have several options for you to choose from:Use the UDOIT tool yourself to fix accessibility issues.
Let our team run the UDOIT tool and make fixes for you. We'll notify you when it's done for your review.
Meet with our team to discuss and plan your course's accessibility.
Complete the Canvas Accessibility Support Form for each course you teach, and we'll reach out with next steps. You can also email Peter Zimmerman, OLPD Instructional Designer, at Zimme922@umn.edu.
April 9, 2025
April 9, 2025
Treks Monthly April: Accessibility Tools in Canvas
Learn how to adjust your existing courses to make them more accessible. This session will focus on tools available directly in Canvas courses that are helpful in identifying and quickly resolving accessibility issues. We will spend the majority of the presentation demonstrating how to use these tools to resolve some of the most common issues you might find in your course such as: correcting broken links, adding page heading structure, adjusting alt text for images, and more.Also, save the date for Treks: Preparing for Fall, August 19 and 20. More information on the Treks Website.
March 26, 2025
March 26, 2025
Treks Monthly April: Accessibility Tools in Canvas
Learn how to adjust your existing courses to make them more accessible. This session will focus on tools available directly in Canvas courses that are helpful in identifying and quickly resolving accessibility issues. We will spend the majority of the presentation demonstrating how to use these tools to resolve some of the most common issues you might find in your course such as: correcting broken links, adding page heading structure, adjusting alt text for images, and more.
February 25, 2025
February 25, 2025
Throughout March, the Digital Education and Innovation team will be hosting sessions that cover the skills and steps needed to make your course accessible. Register for these sessions on the Treks Website:
Digital Accessibility for All - March 4 at 1-2pm
7 Core Skills of Digital Accessibility - February 12 at 12:30pm , March 12 at 10-11am
Using UDOIT to Apply the 7 Core Skills - February 17 at 1pm , March 20 at 11am-12pm
February 12, 2025
February 12, 2025
Throughout March, the Digital Education and Innovation team will be hosting sessions that cover the skills and steps needed to make your course accessible. Register for these sessions on the Treks Website:
Digital Accessibility for All - March 4 at 1-2pm
7 Core Skills of Digital Accessibility - February 12 at 12:30pm , March 12 at 10-11am
Using UDOIT to Apply the 7 Core Skills - February 17 at 1pm , March 20 at 11am-12pm
January 28, 2025
January 28, 2025
Treks Monthly Accessibility Sessions
Treks Monthly Accessibility Sessions
The Digital Education & Innovation Team is here to assist you with the new digital accessibility requirements. We are adjusting our monthly Treks sessions to add sessions that cover the skills and steps to make your course accessible. For February and March we will have three separate Zoom sessions focused on each of these skills. While we designed these to be taken as a sequence, feel free to join any or all sessions in the order your schedule allows.
Digital Accessibility for All
Digital accessibility involves creating web and media content that everyone can use, regardless of their abilities. A new addition to the Americans with Disabilities Act requires that our online content meet a specific standard. By improving our digital accessibility practices, we can enhance student engagement, reduce barriers to learning, and comply with these new federal standards. In this session, we’ll focus on what instructors need to know about digital accessibility, including key skills and strategies for meeting accessibility guidelines and helpful resources from the university and the Digital Education and Innovation Team. Register for the session on February 7th, 10 - 11 a.m. ; Register for the session on March 4th, 1 - 2 p.m.
7 Core Skills for Digital Accessibility
You might be wondering what you can do to ensure your Canvas course site and materials are digitally accessible. The 7 Core Skills are a set of recommended practices that anyone can learn and implement to make their course materials meet the digital accessibility requirements. In this session, we will demonstrate the 7 Core Skills and how they are used in Canvas, Microsoft Word and other familiar tools. Register for the session on February 12th, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. ; Register for the session on March 12th, 10 to 11 a.m.Using UDOIT to Apply the 7 Core Skills for Digital Accessibility
Canvas includes the UDOIT tool embedded in every course. This tool is helpful in identifying and resolving accessibility issues. This session will begin with a brief overview and recap of the previous two accessibility sessions. You are not required to attend the previous sessions but it may be beneficial. We will spend the majority of the presentation discussing and demonstrating how to use UDOIT to resolve some common issues in your course such as: correcting broken links, document heading structure, and moving content into an archive course if you are no longer using it for your current course. Register for the session on February 17th, 1 to 2 p.m. ; Register for the session on March 20th, 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.
January 14, 2025
January 14, 2025
The Digital Education and Innovation team has added extra help sessions to our regular schedule in order to answer your accessibility questions. These are in addition to the regularly scheduled sessions for Monday through Friday. We use the same Zoom link for all of our digital accessibility support sessions:
Tuesday, January 14 at 1PM
Thursday, January 16 at 10AM
Year-Round Schedule of Help Sessions:
We use the same Zoom link for all of our help sessions. There are no help sessions on university holidays.Mondays at 10:00, Tuesdays 11:00, Wednesdays 3:00, Thursdays 2:00, Fridays 12:30
Please subscribe to our Google Calendar using your UMN email address to keep up to date on all of our help sessions.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Peter Zimmerman (Zimme922@umn.edu)
December 17, 2024
December 17, 2024
Take your spring planning to the next level and register for Treks: Preparing for Spring. This two-day, online professional development event will be held January 7 and 8, 2025 and is designed to help you prepare for instruction, including:
A variety of session topics covering digital accessibility, artificial intelligence, student engagement, technology integration, course design, and more!
Supported work time to apply your learning.
Building your own schedule by selecting which topic sessions you attend. Attend at least 3 topic sessions to receive a letter of recognition (clock hours available upon request).
Registration is now open! Treks is open to all CEHD staff, with preference given to those with upcoming teaching appointments. Graduate teaching assistants are welcome to register.
December 2, 2024
December 2, 2024
Digital Education and Innovation is working closely with the new ODA to help ensure instructors have resources they need. One resource they have created already, is this one: Digital Accessibility Guide.
For the next few months, the focus is on moving Canvas courses with only content needed for spring. Many instructors copy over their entire course, which brings a lot of old and unused content. By starting spring semester with only the content needed, instructors can focus on making the accessibility changes to that content. We suggest instructors do this now with their fall courses too, if they are teaching them again next fall. Here is a link to how to copy a canvas course.
Instructors also can use the UDOIT tool embedded in Canvas which will point out specific accessibility issues that need to be addressed.
We have a workshop on accessibility in Treks on January 7 and 8. All instructors are welcome to attend. We will be offering more support through workshops and resources in the spring. And as always, if any instructor would like to meet and go through their site, we are happy to do that with them.
November 19, 2024
November 19, 2024
Treks: Preparing for Spring 2025 will be held on January 7 and 8, 2025. Registration is open!
Treks is an online workshop designed to help you prepare for your spring semester. It features supported work time and sessions covering a range of teaching topics. Led by CEHD Digital Education & Innovation Team.
November 5, 2024
November 5, 2024
Take your spring planning to the next level and register for Treks: Preparing for Spring 2025. This two-day, online professional development event will be held January 7 and 8, 2025 and is designed to help you prepare for instruction, including:
Building your own schedule by selecting which topic sessions you attend. Attend at least 3 topic sessions to receive a letter of recognition (clock hours available upon request).
A variety of session topics covering Artificial Intelligence, accessibility, student engagement, technology integration, course design, and more!
Supported work time to apply your learning.
Treks is open to all CEHD staff, with preference given to those with upcoming teaching appointments. Graduate teaching assistants are welcome to register.
October 22, 2024
October 22, 2024
Treks Workshop: Working with Other Instructors in Canvas
This session will introduce participants to all the ways Canvas courses, content, and activities can be shared. Including Canvas Commons, Course Import Tool, development sites, and the "Send to" feature. We will share our recommendations and tips about what Canvas settings/features that can help instructors and teaching assistants work together. We will invite participants to share their own tips and recommendations. Registration is now open: November 7, 2024, 1 to 2 pm (Zoom) | November 15, 2024, 10 to 11 am (Zoom)
October 8, 2024
October 8, 2024
September 24, 2024
September 24, 2024
If you have any questions about Canvas or integrating technology, contact Peter at zimme922@umn.edu
September 9, 2024
September 9, 2024
August 27, 2024
August 27, 2024
Finance
Finance
Primary staff contacts: Fuechai Vang (vang2671@umn.edu), Rachel Bloom-Brovold (brovo023@umn.edu), and Savannah Greaves (greav022@umn.edu)—refer to this Whom to Contact page for details .
May 13, 2025
May 13, 2025
Please submit any outstanding Chrome Rivers and finalize as many purchase requests as possible by June 10.
Remember that professional development funds expire at the end of the budget year.
February 25, 2025
February 25, 2025
Reminder for anyone that has managed or had effort on grants to complete Effort Certification on ECRT. An email from ECRT should have been sent out to anyone who needs to certify. Due date for these to be fully certified and approved is Friday, March 21st. Please reach out to Fuechai Vang if there are any questions. You can access the ECRT website via ecrt.umn.edu
Travel Policy reminder: When booking flights for conference travel, the flight coming back to MSP must be leaving on the same day of the conference, at the latest. Any flights leaving the day after are unallowable, unless the conference ends late in the evening an no flight is reasonable enough to fly in time, or there is a flight price comparison where the flight after the conference is less expensive than the day of.
December 2, 2024
December 2, 2024
There's a new tool to help with project classification (also known as "Fund Buckets" or deciding if something is a gift, sponsored project, or external sale). Visit Fund Bucket Classification Tool > Requestor Panel > click Create New Request .
Reminder that the University will not cover costs associated with "Holiday" or "End of Semester" Parties.
Reminder that reimbursement of group meals for employee-only gatherings or individual meetings with students is not permissible under the Hospitality & Entertainment of Non-Employees Policy.
November 19, 2024
November 19, 2024
For your reference, the Hospitality and Entertainment of Non-Employees and Business Expenses policies, the Expense Allowability Grid, and the documentation requirements and procedures can be found at the following web sites:
Business Expenses Policy (for situations involving only University employees)
Food, Care Packages, Gift Baskets for Online or Virtual Events
November 5, 2025
November 5, 2025
Reminder, a screenshot from the Conference's official website or a copy of the program that shows the dates of the event should be included as supporting documentation when submitting a ChromeRiver expense reimbursement.
For any travel related expenses that are not related to conferences or official agendas, please provide some sort of itinerary of what the daily tasks/activities of the trip consisted of as an attachment to your reimbursement/reconciliation report.
Consider attending the aforementioned ChromeRiver Info Session November 19th, in the "events" section above.
October 6, 2024
October 6, 2024
Notice: the review process for UMN software purchases is not new, but it's newly being enforced.
Software subscriptions need to go through a Risk Management Assessment and Office of General Council (OGC) review before they may be purchased.Avoid out of pocket expensese at places that require a membership (e.g., Costco). The inability to receive tax exemption without business membership and using personal membership in combination with University funds can be perceived as "personally beneficial" to the finance and controllers office.
September 24, 2024
September 24, 2024
Reminder: PCard and TCard purchases have 60 days to reconcile. If they are not reconciled, the card holder will be held personally responsible and it will be considered taxable income.
FSO is no longer policing these transactions, it will be the tax management office.
If you submit your report within the 60 days and FSO does not respond in a timely manner, you will not be held accountable.
Controllers office will be pushing back on card exemption requests that should be purchased via a Purchase Ord
September 9, 2024
September 9, 2024
Do: submit your reimbursement requests within 60 days of purchase or last day of travel.
Do: include an itinerary, program pamphlet, or screenshot from a conference's website that can provide proof of the event's dates.
Do: get the full list of attendees when paying for a group meal/catering.
Do: refer to UMN Travel Policy when not sure about best practices.
Do: check your account balances before submitting a request.
Do: obtain prior approval for meals/drinks involving employees/students.
Don't: cover someone else's expenses (out of pocket or on a travel card).
Don't: forget the itemized receipts (especially for lodging and group meals).
Don't: submit a reimbursement request for more money that you have in an account.
PCard and Travel Card Policy Changes. The new policy Using a University Corporate Card is up and in effect. This new policy applies to both PCard and Travel Cards. The deadline for reconciling both kinds of cards is within 60 days of the expense (not the end of the trip). If you have older card activity that is not yet reconciled, the reconciliation needs to be completed by October 15, 2024. Beginning October 15, any transaction that is older than 60 days may be reported as taxable income. Highlights of the related policy changes are available on the Controller’s Office website. Questions should be addressed to controller@umn.edu.
August 27, 2024
August 27, 2024
Travel Card (Tcard) reconciliation and expense reimbursement 60 day policy reinforcement:
All Tcard transactions (including refunds) must be reconciled within 60 days of the charge date or will be subject to taxation and card cancellations.
All out of pocket expense reimbursements must be submitted within 60 days of the last day of travel (or purchase date for non-travel) or reimbursement will be marked as taxable income or denied outright
Graduate Programs
Graduate Programs
Primary staff contacts: Jeremy Hernandez (herna220@umn.edu) and Dan Grafton (graft003@umn.edu)—refer to this Whom to Contact page for details.
May 13. 2025
May 13. 2025
ALL faculty should submit an intake form to Digital Education and Innovation to ensure their FALL courses are digitally accessible. Canvas Accessibility Support Form
From Bhaskar:
Thank you to all colleagues and staff for supporting the graduate work of students and faculty. Special thanks to Dr. Jeremy Hernandez for his support.
During the next academic year, I see a couple of things needing our attention and action, and I'm looking forward to everyone's support:
Thinking and developing one/two new courses that are core to OLPD.
Revising and finalizing the Graduate Faculty Status (GFS) document for OLPD.
Supporting programs to review/revise/restructure their program as needed.
Continue to support graduate and international students with their academic and other needs, support faculty as needed, and focus on recruitment to and enrollment in our graduate programs.
As your DGS, I am here to support whatever way possible and as needed.
Nicole Dillard recently facilitated a presentation of using AI in the classroom. Here are some resources from Nicole for those who want to learn more about this topic:
Visit the Emerging Technologies Faculty Fellows: Capstone Conversations on generative AI from the 2024-2025 cohort link to get access to all of the GAI resources developed by faculty across the fellowship.
There is also a monthly Teaching with Technology Newsletter, also available in the MyU Portal that highlights updates to UMN and GAI changes and policies and practices.
To learn what other faculty are doing on campus, you can visit The Capstone Conversations page, which hosts the Gen AI Explorations blog series. You can go to my blog (or any of the fellows) and each has individualized resources included.
If you want to use AI, but aren't familiar with the various programs, visit There's an AI For That where you can tell the app what you want to do and it will recommend AI applications to use.
AI for Education is one of the best hubs for educators, including a prompt library and also downloaded teaching resources.
March 26, 2025
March 26, 2025
Orientation for new BME and HRD Majors begins next week as we welcome over 100 new BME and HRD majors to our programs!
Undergraduate OLPD is hosting a Consulting Forum for students interested in consulting as part of their career path from 3pm-5pm on Wednesday, March 26th in Burton 205. Two students (Lily Monorom-HRD and Mary Rumyantseva-BME) along with Dr. Carol Rodriguez, Dr. Jonathan Stuart, and Patrick Cummings (OLPD 3401: Teaching Marketing Promotion Adjunct and Strategic Marketing Consultant) will be speaking to undergraduate students about consulting.
Encourage any full-time students in OLPD MA and PhD programs with an interest in conducting visual research on representations of education to apply for the OLPD Education Iconics award by April 1, 2025. All current MA & PhD students have received an email invitation with details and a link to the application form.
February 12, 2025
February 12, 2025
The winter Written preliminary exams are due back from test takers on February 17 this year (normally it is February 15, but that is a Saturday this year)
Anyone planning to hold an in-person final exam must complete and submit a Final Exam Request form to request a classroom. The spring 2025 deadline for these requests is March 31.
The deadline for all Freshman Seminars being proposed for Liberal Education (LE) or Writing Intensive (WI) designation has been moved to March 1, 2025. Please submit any Freshman Seminar proposals to the college by February 24. The deadline for all non-LE/WI proposals remains the same.
January 28, 2025
January 28, 2025
The GLU-UE collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was ratified by The Board of Regents on January 21, 2025. CBA is now in place and must be adhered to moving forward. You will receive details in an email message tomorrow, and University HR will be offering a drop in Q&A (question & answer) session this Friday, January 31 from 10-11am: Join Zoom Meeting umn.zoom.us/j/98976616048.
Update regarding Graduate Teaching Assistantships supporting undergraduate education in OLPD for AY 2025-26: new applicants (current students applying for positions) are currently in the interview stage. Preliminary decisions on appointment offers will be made in early-mid February.
Encourage your graduate advisees to apply for OLPD fellowships. Applications are due February 7.
Reminder that all PhD defenses must be publicized as per University / Graduate School rules. All defending students need to complete and submit this form as soon as they have been cleared by their advisor to defend: z.umn.edu/OLPDDefenseInfo . This is in the PhD handbook, but some students have overlooked it recently. Thanks for your help with this.
January 14, 2025
January 14, 2025
Spring 2025: If any instructor in your department is teaching an in-person or blended class and planning to have an in-person final exam, a Final Exam Request form must be filled out to request a classroom to hold the final exam. The deadline for spring 2025 final exam requests is March 31, 2025.
Submit any course revisions or proposals for next academic year ASAP to Curriculum Committee Chair Andy Furco to ensure timely processing; next meeting February 10
Update regarding Graduate Teaching Assistantships supporting undergraduate education in OLPD for AY 2025-26: Invitations to interview have gone out to new applicants; decisions regarding GTAs (both Graduate Instructors (GI) and Teaching Assistants (TA)) will be an ongoing process through the first part of the spring semester. Current GTAs and applicants for AY 25-26 who have any questions regarding appointments can contact Daniel Koza with any questions.
Week 1 enrollment reminders / student requests for permission: please avoid guaranteeing enrollment into a course in any communication you have with students, as OLPD aims to permit enrollment into courses as equitably as possible based on numerous factors. If you would like to advocate for a student to be enrolled in your course (and exceeding the enrollment capacity), please connect with Daniel Koza. Permission #s for UG OLPD courses are issued centrally within the UG OLPD Advising office, based on a number of variables including declared major, enrollment capacity, time-to-graduation, extenuating circumstances, and instructor advocacy. Please forward permission number requests to Daniel Koza. Waitlists will run for the last time on Monday, January 20th. Students are encouraged to put themselves on the waitlist if they are interested in a course but waitlists will disappear and no longer function beginning Tuesday, January 21st.
Reminder that graduate oral qualifying exams are only pass/fail—reservations have to be submitted as a separate note.
December 17, 2024
December 17, 2024
Fall 2025 grades are due on Friday, December 27th. See the email from the Officer of the Registrar from December 5th for more detailed information on submitting grades.
Nearly 40 graduate students applied for an assistantship supporting OLPD undergraduate education for AY 2025-2026. Undergraduate OLPD will begin to review and interview applicants through January. If applicants have questions, they can reach out to Daniel Koza at kozax018@umn.edu.
Faculty advisors, please remember the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship January 6 due date for OLPD nomination applications. DDF OLPD Application Submission page.
December 2, 2024
December 2, 2024
Visit the new Admissions page on the OLPD Intranet for step-by-step instructions to access and use Slate to review applications. A 7-minute video is on the bottom of the page.
The application for Graduate Assistantships supporting Undergraduate OLPD is open through 4pm on Friday, December 6th. OLPD graduate students interested in Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTAs) or Graduate Instructor (GIs) positions for AY 2025-2026 are encouraged to apply and can contact OLPD Coordinator of Undergraduate Studies & Advising, Daniel Koza (kozax018@umn.edu) with questions.
Final UG Instructor and Graduate Assistant meeting of Fall 2025 is Monday, December 9th from 12:30pm-2pm in Burton 227.
Fall 2025 grades are due on Friday, December 27th.
November 19, 2024
November 19, 2024
The application for Graduate Assistantships supporting OLPD Undergraduate Education will be sent out to all OLPD graduate students tomorrow (Wednesday, November 20th). Applications are due Friday, December 6th by 11:59pm. All OLPD graduate students interested in securing a Teaching Assistant or Graduate Instructor assistantship in AY 2025-2026, including current GAs supporting Undergrad OLPD, must apply.
If you have a student you'd like to nominate for the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, please complete and submit this form.
All SRTs are currently being administered online. Students received an invitation today containing a link to complete their ratings. SRT links will also be in Canvas. Check response rates during data collection by logging into srt.umn.edu/blue with your University account. Results are available approximately 3 weeks after data collection closes.
SRT assistance: eval@umn.edu or 1-HELP
SRT information: http://survey.umn.edu/srt
SRT rating site: https://srt.umn.edu/blue
Patrick Doble sent out the following info:
We are accepting proposals for the fall 2025 and spring 2026 Freshman Seminars. This is an excellent opportunity for CEHD to share our expertise and pedagogical interests with incoming freshmen. It is also an excellent way for incoming students to transition into a university experience while exploring or discovering an academic passion. To be considered for a freshman seminar, the Freshman Seminar College Proposal form will need to be received in the dean’s office no later than January 14, 2025, for all Freshman Seminars being proposed for Liberal Education (LE) or Writing Intensive (WI) designation and April 21, 2025, for all non-LE/WI proposals. There needs to be a form for each proposed seminar even if it has been approved in the past. All freshman seminars being proposed for a Liberal Education theme must meet the Fall 2010 LE criteria and be approved by the Council on Liberal Education (CLE). The criteria for the themes can be found here.
October 22, 2024
October 22, 2024
The deadline to submit Final Exam requests for fall 2024 courses is November 8, 2024.
If an in-person or blended class is planning to have an in-person final exam, the Final Exam Request form must be filled out to request a classroom. This same form can also be used to inform us of any final exam changes (date/time or alternate seating). You can submit up to five classroom/change requests per submission.
Fall 2024 Final Exam and Common Exam Scheduled Rooms spreadsheet
Register for Guidance for Graduate Admissions after Supreme Court Decision, a holistic admissions training (mandatory for program area coordinators and encouraged for others who are involved in admission review and decisions)
Resource from the Graduate School: AI Guidance for Graduate Education
Resources from the University regarding the use of AI in Scholarly Work: LibGuide | Navigating AI
October 8, 2024
October 8, 2024
Winter written preliminary exam proposals from grad students are due on November 15 to Jeremy.
Most OLPD PhD programs have a fast-approaching application deadline of December 1.
September 24, 2024
September 24, 2024
CEHD's BME and HRD Career Fair is on October 15th from 2pm-4pm in the Mississippi Room in Coffman Memorial Union. Please share this information with your students and include information in your course Canvas page as well.
If you're looking to connect with CEHD Career Services (materials, classroom presentations, etc.) for Fall 2024, please complete this form by September 30th. Denise Felder (Associate Director of Career Services, CEHD) can be contacted at felde035@umn.edu.
The OLPD Advising Office is currently in the process of hiring an Undergraduate Student Ambassador role that will support a variety of projects related impacting BME and HRD students. The new hire should be made by mid-October.
APLUS Alerts: Please take a moment to review your courses and submit an APLUS Alert for any student that you have concerns about and would like Advisors to engage in outreach to.
The Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (DDF) application process opens on October 2, 2024.
Faculty reviewers needed. From Bhaskar: "Very likely this is a repetition but I personally request you to kindly consider volunteering to be a reviewer for Graduate School Fellowships and Awards. Since some of our students have received the DDF in recent years, let's give back by volunteering to be a reviewer. I know this is on top of everything else you already have; yet this is a good way to learn and help our students become competitive in these fellowships and awards. Thank you much for your support. Best and Peace, Bhaskar."
If interested,fill out this form and the Grad School will be in touch.
Updated FAQ on Doctoral Degree: Performance Standards and Progress in the University Policy Library.
Sepetember 9, 2024
Sepetember 9, 2024
Prelim exam reviews: due by September 18, 2024. Thank you to those of you who have completed your reviews already!
Course Works opt-out deadline: there’s a new tab in Canvas called “Course Works” that appears on the left hand side, under “History.” The deadline for students to opt in to Course Works Select is September 16, 2024. Those who do not take action will be opted in to Course Works Select by default, which could cost students money. Learn more about Course Works here.
Permission needed: starting today through the end of registration on September 16, adding any course (undergrad or grad) will require a permission.
August 27, 2024
August 27, 2024
Preliminary Written Exams are due on 30 Aug and the review will be taking place in September.
The section of the OLPD Intranet site on course and program info has recently been reviewed and updated.
All students who have not completed everything by the end of August (including any and all post-defense paperwork) must register for Fall semester. Failure to do so will result in the student being discontinued and not graduating.
If a student has completed all required coursework and dissertation/thesis credits but still need to register they have multiple options including GRAD 999 & OLPD 8333 for MA students (MEds not eligible) and OLPD 8444 for PhD students. All of these require petition forms and have restrictions as well as pros/cons. Contact Jeremy if you have any questions.
All students taking independent study courses (OLPD 5095 or OLPD 8095) must submit a petition form before they can register for it regardless of the reason the course is being taken.
If a OLPD graduate student wishes to go on a Leave of Absence (LOA) they must apply and have the request fully approved before September 9, the end of the Fall registration period. If not fully approved prior to that date, the student will be discontinued for non-enrollment and will have to re-apply for admission later without exception. Note: students on an LOA lose all student privileges except for their UMN email as they are not expected to be working on academic pursuits during the LOA period.
If a PhD student has (1) passed the written preliminary exam, (2) an approved GPAS on file, (3) formed their preliminary exam committee, (4) completed all required coursework appearing on the GPAS, and (5) formally set a Fall oral preliminary exam date with the Graduate School, they may petition to take a limited number of thesis credits early. All requirements above must be met for approval without exception and the petition must be fully approved prior to the end of the Fall registration period (September 9).
Human Resources
Human Resources
Primary staff contact: Rachel Bloom-Brovold (brovo023@umn.edu)
May 13, 2025
May 13, 2025
Keep an eye on your email for a Fall Hire Request from Rachel.
April 29, 2025
April 29, 2025
The P&A Promotion process was approved by the faculty on April 8th (document is under HR policies and procedures on OLPD Intranet)
Submit any 9over12 changes to Rachel ASAP (see same area of Intranet for form)
Get all summer appointment information to Rachel if you have not already done so; the deadline for this has already passed.
February 25, 2025
February 25, 2025
Faculty supervisors of GA's: please utilize the GA Tracker to record and submit any leaves for GAs. There will be a new system rolled out later, but for now we need to use the HR link.
February 12, 2025
February 12, 2025
There's another set of training modules available related to the GLU-UE collective bargaining agreement (CBA). All modules linked below; the new ones are parts 5-9:
Part 1: Supervising GAs in a Union Environment (17 minutes)
Part 2: Understanding GA Appointments (17 minutes)
Part 3: Management, Union, and Other Rights (15 minutes)
Part 4: Health and Safety(8 minutes)
Part 5: Respectful and Inclusive Work Environment (10 minutes)
Part 6: Discipline and Discharge (19 minutes)
Part 7: Grievances and Arbitration (14 minutes)
Part 8: Leaves of Absence (8 minutes)
Part 9: Compensation Considerations (7 minutes)
As noted above, CEHD HR will be offering a drop in Q&A (question & answer) session this Friday, February 14 from 10-11am: https://umn.zoom.us/j/91037795808?pwd=o1gxKxZ3QGbVl3tjSkSlsKofuW7P9w.1.
January 14, 2025
January 14, 2025
Betsy Snyder has accepted a position with the Minnesota Department of Human Services as the Grants Manager/Community Outreach Specialist with the Office of Medicaid Medical Director, and her last day with CEHD was Monday, January 13. Moving forward, Ellen Freeman (efreeman@umn.edu) should be your first point of contact for grant proposals and pre-award questions.
Annual Review Materials due to Rachel by January 17th. Subject line should include "Annual Review."
Employee Input for Performance Appraisal Tool (PAT) due January 17th.
November 5, 2025
November 5, 2025
Make sure Rachel Bloom-Brovold is notified about any hires for Spring before November 18th.
A reminder that the hiring process for the faculty position in evaluation studies is underway. Because of the level this position is being hired at, there will be formal visits and job talks; because of the aggressive hiring timeline, these will need to be scheduled with short notice. Your participation in these events is vital, and your flexibility & understanding are appreciated.
September 9, 2024
September 9, 2024
No student honorariums: due to the unionization of GA's and tax policies, honorariums to students are next to impossible to get approved, especially if they are an appointment. When these are approved by HR, they are entered as hours worked, and come with tuition benefit costs. To avoid the headache, don't offer to have students present with the anticipation of receiving an honorarium, unless they are willing to pay the additional costs for tuition benefits (in which case you should consult with Rachel ahead of having them present and provide an idea of the $ amount that you want to hit so I can run it by HR ahead of the student doing the work).
August 27, 2024
August 27, 2024
Changes to the Honorarium process for employees.
The honorarium amount being paid to a salary employee must be approved by HR beforehand (1 week notice minimum needed).
Honorariums to hourly employees must be entered as overtime through timesheets and is subject to tuition benefit charges. (See Rachel for more details)
Due to the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) all Temporary or Casual appointments must go through recruiting solutions and be posted to the UMN Job Board.
Plan ahead: If you need to pay someone, if they have worked at the University in the past, they must be paid through payroll, which likely means a temporary appointment.
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