A smiley face is fingered into the snow covering a campus bush

Happy to be back

January 18

Following nearly five weeks away from campus, students returned to in-person classes Wednesday -- and somebody was happy about it.

Wickert announces move to faculty this summer

January 18

After June 30, Jonathan Wickert will continue to serve Iowa State as professor of mechanical engineering, President's Chair in Engineering and provost emeritus.

All employees should update their Iowa W-4 form

January 18

Two changes prompt the need: Another state tax bracket was eliminated for 2024, and withholdings on the Iowa W-4 changed from an allowance number to a dollar amount to align with the method of counting on the federal W-4.

Large Workday Student data transfer begins Jan. 27

January 18

From Jan. 27 to Feb. 25, student information will be moved from legacy systems, such as AccessPlus and ADIN, into Workday. The bulk of the data transfer will take place Feb. 10-18. The 24/7 process may cause slower results when faculty and staff initiate reports or complete tasks in Workday.

A few reminders about 2024 changes to your health plan

January 18

Employees should plan to pay more attention to their health care and pay a larger share of the (nonpreventive) medical services they receive in 2024. But they also should keep scheduling a host of preventive health services that are free.

Speech-to-text tool makes learning more accessible

January 18

Glean, available as a web, desktop or mobile application, converts speech to text and provides students with disabilities an equitable way to learn. The tool is available to students for free, to faculty and staff for $24/year.

Experimental AI course will return this fall

January 18

English associate professor Abram Anders said he was excited to see students use AI as a tool to aid their education, not to replace their learning or do work for them. Anders believes instructors need a good understanding of what AI tools can and can't do before introducing them into their courses.