Human Resources Update

The Office of Human Resources has put in place an exception request process for employees who are currently, or who will be in the future, working in a state outside of Minnesota. The goal of the exception request process is to ensure that decisions about where work of the University is carried out are made with intention and in compliance with local and state laws.  The exception process should be completed prior to making any job offer to candidates who will be working 2 or more pay periods out of state. Please contact your HR Rep Mary Belisle (mbelisle@umn.edu) with questions, or to get started on an exception request.

Other Items of Interest

New Parking Options! For those that missed the email from Parking and Transportation Services, additional parking options were added that will accommodate people with hybrid work schedules.  There is a part-time parking program in which you can pay for a set amount of parking "uses" for times that you come to campus.  For more details, go to the Parking and Transportation website.

New Mail Process - The student employees from the Dean's office  will be bringing incoming mail to the 6th floor mail/copy room in a mail bin. One of our student interns will be coming in once a week (Fridays) to sort the mail from incoming bin to the mail slots, and process outgoing mail.  Please remember to write your program code on the top corner of the envelope/package.  If you need to mail something before Monday, you will need to attach a bar code slip to the item and deliver it to the main mail room located on the 3rd floor of the Mayo building - on the same corridor as the elevator banks walking towards the side with the main entrance.  The code for your program is posted on the door to the mail slots and the corresponding barcode slip can be found in a notebook next to the mail slots.  This process will start the week of 9/27.

Employee Engagement Survey is coming starting October 11.  Our OME leaders use the results of these surveys to see where changes are necessary in our work environment. The pandemic has caused many changes to our work culture and environment and the Employee Engagement Survey is an important tool to better understand your experience.  Your feedback is important to identify our strengths and weaknesses and address our challenges.  Our OME leaders use the results of this survey to help make the changes  that are necessary in our work environment.  Please set aside 10 minutes during the day to complete the survey and make your voice heard!

REMINDERS:

Scrappy Days!  All OME staff are invited to engage in Scrappy Days starting Sept. 27-Oct 8.  Recycle and (locked) confidential bins will be available in the B corridor for people to clear out old files, books, magazines, etc.  Movers are schedule on Oct 11 to move all unwanted/unneeded office furniture/supplies.  Check your inbox for more details.

Access Keys: Contact Marianne Watters if you are planning to work onsite and need a general access key or key to B620

In Our Programs....

Admissions

Admissions is excited to announce that we will be partnering with the M Simulation Center this academic year! The M Simulation Center will be assisting Admissions with virtual MMI interviews for cycle 2022. Our offices spent the summer reviewing current MMI stations, writing new stations, and training interviewers. We are incredibly thankful for this new partnership. We would also like to share that we are recruiting interviewers for freeform only, which is a 1:1 traditional style interview with candidates. If you are interested, please email us at tcmdinterview@umn.edu. 

Graduate Medical Education

ACGME ADS Annual Update:

A big thank you to Heather Woeste and Molly Pierson for developing our GME office approach to reviewing each program's  annual ACGME ADS update, and for managing the process. We have over 95 ACGME accredited programs. This is a new requirement by the ACGME rolled-out with limited notice to us, limited guidance from the ACGME, and minimal ACGME systematic improvements to help us.  Heather and Molly's creative thinking and analytical approach made a a large undertaking do-able.  We have learned a lot in the process. 

International Medical Graduate (IMG) Orientation: 

A big thank you to Christy Illig and Jennifer Burks! They organized and hosted our annual International Medical Graduate (IMG) Orientation on August 20 in partnership with our IMG resident leaders.  The event was well attended, the content was robust and the attendees seemed to enjoy meeting each other.  Also a shout out to Christy for developing the IMG Resources web presence to help our IMGs more easily locate the resources that are looking for. [Submitted by Carol Sundberg]

Undergraduate Medical Education

Student Affairs

Orientation was held from August 13 through August 19. 175 first-year medical students participated in a hybrid program of in-person and virtual sessions. It was wonderful to see students connect with their classmates and also to hold our first major event in HSEC - what a beautiful space! Orientation concluded with the White Coat Ceremony on August 20 at Northrop Auditorium (students only). First year students heard remarks from Dean Tolar, Dean Rosenberg, Bob, and 4th year Gold Humanism representatives Lien Phuong and Sara Lederman. WCCO was there to film the ceremony and did a feature on our students. You can watch the news clip here.  

Remember to grab a cup of coffee/tea/hot cocoa (and maybe a donut) and join us on the first Thursday of the month in welcoming new staff at the "Virtual Coffee Break-Welcome New Faces!" zoom event.  This is a recurring meeting with Zoom information in staff calendars.

Our OME team is growing!  More staff will be introduced and welcomed in the next edition of The Pulse:  Sacha Brueggeman (UME),  Jessica Strayer (UME-A&E), Spencer Whiteley (Admissions), Aakanksha Angra (UME - starting in Dec)

We have some real superstars in our Student Intern Pool!  Abbie Schwartz (graduating this fall) was the recipient of GME's August VIP Partnership Award.  The award was established in the fall of 2018 to recognize colleagues that help their office and others achieve success. Abbie worked with the Graduate Medical Education Office to help rebrand and update the GME Orientation website. Abbie ensured all branding and messaging adhered to applicable brand and style guides. She collaborated closely with the team to develop a visually appealing and functional website.  Congratulations Abbie!

I know that our interns are doing some pretty incredible work for many of our programs.  Please send me their successes on projects that they have worked on to help your team - I want to recognize them in The Pulse!

Remember:  If and when you are interested in requesting assistance for short-term or long-term projects or for onsite events/projects,  or if you need ongoing assistance in your program please complete the “Request for Remote Work” form or contact Marianne (mwatters@umn.edu)  

SADI (Staff Advancing Diversity & Inclusion) News!

EVENTS

Join us and the UMN Disability Resource Center for our Ableism Workshop!  This is still several months away so we hope you can carve time out of your schedule for this valuable and insightful session!

• 11.9.21

• 12:00-2:00pm

• Flyer

• Dialogue RSVP

OPPORTUNITIES

Join SADI!  Call for Nominations for SADI Leadership Committee & Subcommittees!

• Missions & Current Initiatives

• Submit Self-Nomination Form

BABIES!!

• "I would like to give a HUGE shout out and THANK YOU to Marianne Watters for her help wiht the Admissions & Recruitment Coordinator interviews" [Crystal Esparza]

• "Shout out to SHANNON NELSON!!! Your support with all things related to Peers Supporting Peers, Well Being Committee and in-person events at Orientation was extremely helpful this summer. Thank you for all that you do! " [Maryanne Reilly-Spong]

• "To all Student Affairs Staff for all your contributions to the new student orientation and onboarding efforts. This new class will be starting medical school fully prepared and confident. Thank You!" [Scott Davenport]

• [Kudos to] "Rachel Rudeen - for another amazing orientation and White Coat Ceremony. Your organization, leadership and ability to adjust as the situation dictates is incredible!" [Scott Davenport] 

• "Thank you to student intern Blake Barber [student intern] for his help with the graphic design for several worksheets we were mailing to incoming MS1 students! They turned out absolutely perfect, and I am so excited for students to begin working with them! "  [Addy Irvine]

• "Thank you Cynthia Johnson for all of the amazing work you've done organizing all of the CCCs.  This was a HUGE undertaking and we could NOT have done this without you. We are lucky to have you in UME/OME!" [Marianne Watters]

• " Thank you to Shannon Nelson - for being an amazing partner in Orientation planning and absolutely crushing it in your first year." [Rachel Rudeen]

• "Thank you to Scott Davenport - for being a calm presence and willing to run any errand needed." [Rachel Rudeen]

• "Thank you Jennifer Burks for all of your hard work and efforts this past year and a half in GME!  You will be missed!"  [Marianne Watters]

• "Thank you members of the Orientation Content Creators group for your work in creating the multi-day program: Kelaine Haas, Maryanne-Reilly-Spong, Jamie Larson, Mary Tate, Scott Slattery, Michael Kim, Addy Irvine, Esther Dale, Scott Davenport, Shannon Nelson." [Rachel Rudeen]

• "Thank you Marianne Watters - for handling the ordering and organization of the white coats - you took so much off my plate, thank you!" [Rachel Rudeen]

• Kudos to "Eric Martin-LaPlant - for creating and managing the evaluations for both pre and post-Orientation." [Rachel Rudeen]

• "Thank you Mark, Bob, Austin, and other members of leadership for consulting me on matters related to the ever-changing COVID guidelines and restrictions for events. I felt my voice was heard and my opinions respected, especially when it came to what we were capable of handling regarding event logistics."  [Rachel Rudeen]

• "THANK YOU TO the many MANY staff members who volunteered their time (sometimes on the fly) to assist with check-in, lunch, tear-down, White Coat, etc. " [Rachel Rudeen]