Lasting impression

June 20

Photo by Christopher Gannon.

A group of incoming freshmen and family members gathered at the Fountain of the Four Seasons on the Memorial Union lawn last week for a campus tour during an orientation session. An estimated 5,600 would-be Cyclones are visiting campus this month to register for fall classes and begin their acclimation to college life. Orientation sessions continue for another week, through June 28, including one that begins Sunday, June 23, to accommodate busy family schedules.

Salary increases will come in two parts

By Anne Krapfl
June 20

Editor's note: This story was added after deadline to the June 13 Inside Iowa State, following approval of Iowa State's proposed salary parameters by the state Board of Regents' executive director. For readers who missed it last week, we post it again in this edition.

In support of President Wendy Wintersteen's top budget priority to retain talented employees, faculty and professional and scientific staff with satisfactory work evaluations will receive a two-part salary increase in the fiscal year that begins July 1. An initial 1% increase will take effect July 1, a second 1% on Oct. 1 -- both calculated on the employee's June 30 salary. Employees who aren't doing satisfactory work won't be eligible for either increase. Increases for merit employees are not part of the phased approach. All merit employees will receive a 2.1% increase on July 1 consistent with the state contract.

Because the October increase is not retroactive to July 1, the actual cost for the salary adjustments next year will be 1.75%.

"I understand that implementing salary increases, even ones as modest as these, in a shifting budget environment will require careful, strategic thinking," Wintersteen wrote in a June 13 campuswide communication. "But it is my hope this plan signals how serious we are about our number one budget priority -- retaining excellent faculty and staff. Our people determine the high quality of our teaching, research and extension programs, and support an exceptional experience for our students."

Cain said central funding will cover the majority of the estimated $4.8 million cost for the July 1 increase. Divisions will need to reallocate or identify other funding streams to cover the difference and the total cost of the Oct. 1 salary increase.

The salary adjustment policy applies to post-docs, contract employees and all fund sources, including employees whose positions are funded by external grants. Federal guidelines apply to salary adjustments for Ames Laboratory employees.

High achievement

Units have the option to give performance-based increases higher than 1% on Oct. 1 to reward extraordinary performance. If the total increase (including the 2% for satisfactory performance) for an employee exceeds 10%, the appropriate senior vice president or the president must approve it.

However, salary adjustments to address individual retention, equity or market considerations shouldn't be part of either the July 1 or Oct. 1 adjustments, according to the parameters. These adjustments occur year-round through a request process, and forms are on the university human resources website.

P&S pay matrix will adjust

The maximums for all pay grades in the P&S salary matrix will adjust up 1% on July 1. P&S employees with satisfactory work evaluations who are at the top of their pay grades will receive the salary increase on July 1 and a one-time payment (equal to 1%) on Oct. 1 that doesn't become part of their base salaries. The appropriate combination of salary increase and one-time payment also will be used for employees near the top of their pay grades since base salaries can't exceed the maximum in any pay grade.

Merit employees

The state's new two-year contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Council 61, which represents the university's approximately 1,300 merit employees, calls for a 2.1% pay increase on July 1. Minimums and maximums in the merit pay matrix also adjust upward on July 1.

Where to confirm your new salary

After July 1, salary increase information will be viewable in Workday. Employees can locate their compensation history from their "worker profile" pages. Select "compensation" in the left menu, then the "pay change history" tab at the top of the screen. E-salary slips in AccessPlus won't be active after July 1.

Workday go-live will be phased

By Erin Rosacker
June 20

If you think July 1 will be the Monday-est of Mondays, think again. When many employees get to work on the go-live date for Workday and improved service delivery (ISD), their world will not be much different.

Much of the July 1 go-live work will be happening behind the scenes with final data and configuration checks by ISD specialists and the central offices deeply involved in the Workday system. Once the system passes its last rigorous checks at the hands of the experts, it will be opened up to campuswide access July 2.

"We have a very complex implementation process that allows us to map the different operations that have to be completed before all-campus rollout," said Kristen Constant, interim vice president and chief information officer. "We will be working on July 1 to ensure the system performance and transfer of data are complete. A portion of data transfer will continue past the first day of go-live as well."

The rest of campus will have Workday access at 6 a.m. Tuesday, July 2. Employees will receive an email with login instructions. The Workday link also will be added to Okta dashboards, the "Sign Ons" drop-down menu on the ISU homepage, the sign ons page and the online index ("Workday").

"It is important for service and technical team members to spend the first day of go-live in the new system assuring that everything works as it should, and adding in data transactions that occurred during the changeover process," said Kristi Darr, interim vice president of university human resources.

Search to begin for next registrar

By Erin Rosacker
June 20

Jennifer Suchan

The search is on for a new registrar. Mark Simpson, university registrar since May 2018, resigned earlier this month to accept an assistant vice provost position at the University of Texas, Austin.

University registrar responsibilities include strategic planning, budgeting, compiling data-driven reports and supporting the ISU veteran's center. The position reports to Laura Doering, associate vice president for enrollment management and student success in the student affairs division.

"I want to extend my sincere appreciation to Mark for the leadership he provided during his time at Iowa State," Doering said in an email announcement last week. "Enrollment services is better for having had Mark as part of our leadership team this past year."

Senior associate registrar Jennifer Suchan, who served as interim registrar prior to Simpson's appointment, was again named to the interim post, effective June 17. Suchan adds the registrar duties to those of her current role, which she's held since 2015.

'No better satisfaction': Advising student orgs can be a rewarding sideline

By Dave Roepke
June 20

Karen Bovenmyer was a founding adviser of the Writers' Guild, a student organization for writers, and remains the club's adviser. Photos by Christopher Gannon.

As an undergraduate at Iowa State in the mid-1990s, Karen Bovenmyer devoted herself to the science fiction club. The student organization's ever-changing advisers, however, did not.

"We were always struggling to find an adviser. When we did find an adviser, they never came to the meetings. Basically, we only needed them to sign the forms for who was going to be treasurer next. They didn't really care," said Bovenmyer, program coordinator for the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching's preparing future faculty program.

That experience was on Bovenmeyer's mind about a decade ago, when she joined a Des Moines writing club for National Novel Writing Month and met a group of high school seniors heading to Iowa State. She suggested that if they start a writing club, she'd gladly serve as its adviser -- a volunteer role every student organization requires and only Iowa State faculty or staff can fill.

"I wanted to be the adviser I'd wished for when I was an undergrad, someone who knew what we were working toward or was an expert in the area we were interested in, who would be present for us and interested in us and just, you know, care," she said.

The Writers' Guild took off, and Bovenmyer -- who moonlights as an author, editor and writing instructor -- has remained its adviser, providing counsel and encouragement to dozens of young writers over the years. Some of her former students even became close friends. One of the founding members lived in the guest room in Bovenmyer's home as an undergraduate and now is a technical writer in Baltimore.

"So whenever I go to the East Coast for a conference, I live in her guest room," she said.

As the club matured and new students came aboard, Bovenmyer has spent less time directly involved. Instead of attending every weekly meeting, she'll only go if asked. But the satisfaction of advising the guild is the same as ever, she said. It's fulfilling to forge relationships with students learning to lead, and their passion can be inspiring.

"They bring this personal interest and excitement that reminds you of yours. It can enrich and reinforce why you like this particular hobby in the first place," she said.

Range of roles

Advisers provide student organizations a built-in mentor and liaison to university resources, offer Iowa State a measure of oversight and, ideally, give the ISU employee serving as an adviser an experience as rewarding as Bovenmyer's.

Requiring an adviser for each student organization also ensures continuity as student leaders graduate and move on. That strengthens the organizations, which are an important part of the Iowa State experience, said Kevin Merrill, the student activities center's assistant director for student organizations, leadership and service.

"Iowa State does a really good job showing students smaller elements of community, whether that's in the residence halls or colleges and departments," he said. "Student organizations are the same thing. I think it builds a lot of bridges and helps them feel connected."

Most advisers aren't intimately involved in a club's origins or operations, but how much advising attention an organization needs runs a wide gamut because the groups are so different, Merrill said. Iowa State's lineup of student organizations was just over 900 on average during the spring semester, with 738 faculty and staff serving as an adviser for one or more of them.

"It can be very hands-on. It can be very hands-off," Merrill said. The most active organizations -- those that travel, hold events, serve other students or educate youth -- typically have the most involved advisers, as the faculty or staff member must sign off on purchases, room rentals and other uses of university resources.

There are a few minimum expectations for all advisers, even those for the simplest, interest-based student organizations that exist primarily for members to gather. Merrill said every adviser should have regular contact with club officers and be aware of organizational plans. At its most basic level, that could mean a few emails a semester.

Nights and weekends

On the other end of that spectrum are advisers like Joel Johnson, academic student services director for the College of Engineering. He advises the Engineering Student Council and Engineers' Week student organizations and works as facilities supervisor with the five student-run competition teams that use the Advance Machinery Systems Laboratory. The council represents all of the college's 90 affiliated student organizations, and he provides training for advisers of those organizations, which the college considers valuable educational and leadership opportunities.

Joel Johnson

"I work with all 90 in some way, shape or form at various times," he said.

While the council adviser position is part of his job description, much of his other work with student organizations is volunteer time. It's typically 10-15 hours per week on nights and weekends, much of it for evening club meetings.

"I'm present. I'm there for questions. They know who I am. They have ready access to me," Johnson said. "It's a lot of time outside your typical role if you want to position yourself to mentor. And that's really what we're here to do."

Not just experts

While affiliated organizations typically identify an adviser without much trouble, it can be a big challenge for some groups, Merrill said. There isn't a formal matchmaking method for connecting willing faculty and staff with student organizations seeking an adviser.

"It's a big hurdle for new student organizations to find their adviser, but it's also a meaningful one. Can they go out there in the communities they're aware of and find someone?" he said.

Sometimes, the lack of an adviser has sunk an organization. But Merrill helps club leaders brainstorm about where to look for possible advisers, such as similar clubs, Facebook groups and relevant university departments or units. Organizations tend to struggle more when they are less connected to academic pursuits.

"If what they're doing is in line with something the university is doing on some level, you usually can find somebody," Merrill said.

While it can be useful, club advisers don't have to be experts in the interests of the student organizations.

"Knowledge about the topic is not as important as investment in the students' goals," Merrill said. "A passion for guiding students through processes is helpful, rather than telling them what to do."

They're the leaders

Advising an organization is a distinctly different role than teaching or even academic advising. Johnson, who was an academic adviser for 10 years, said it involves more relationship-building and fewer directions than academic advising.

"Sometimes it is a little bit of a lighter touch. We're there throughout their experiences to help them. We're giving them feedback all the way through so they're not going to be in a position where they're not successful. At the same time, there are opportunities to not take advice," he said. "They need to be able to have the opportunity to lead that group. It's not me leading the group. It's them."

Bovenmyer said she has been surprised at "how powerful, mature and in control the students are with their own club and making their own decisions."

Still, difficult times can come up. Recently, she mediated a heated disagreement when the guild removed a member despite his protests. At times, she said, she wasn't sure how to deal with the dispute, which ended up involving a student's father and, just to be on the safe side, a police officer. But she had a co-adviser to bounce ideas off and contacted Merrill for assistance. In the end, she got a letter from the father thanking her for how she handled the situation.

"That's your only job. Be present enough that they feel safe telling you that they need help or if there's a problem in the club," she said.

Johnson said while he enjoys all aspects of his job, advising student organizations is especially gratifying.

"Yes, it's work. But it's work that's incredibly rewarding," he said. "You see them mature through the course of a year in leading the group. There's no better satisfaction, in my mind."

Morrill Road-Union Drive corner to close for reconstruction

By Anne Krapfl
June 20

Purple shading and text boxes summarize the Morrill Road-Union Drive road reconstruction that will begin July 8. Map courtesy of facilities planning and management.

To reconstruct a section of crumbling road, the Morrill Road-Union Drive intersection will close Monday, July 8, and remain closed through mid-August. The intersection is northwest of the Memorial Union, and the closure includes the sidewalk between the MU and Music Hall corners. Sidewalks connecting the MU to central campus, on either side of the north lawn, will remain open. Pedestrians should heed signage about detours.

Morrill Road will close to through traffic, impacting reserved parking along the road and rerouting several CyRide routes.

"We recognize road closures are an inconvenience to our campus community,” said Angie Solberg, who's managing the project for facilities planning and management. "This intersection gets a lot of vehicle use, and for driver safety and for our busing system, it's important to make these repairs before the school year begins."

She noted patchwork paving done this spring in that area was a temporary solution until road reconstruction could begin after new student orientation wraps up next week.

Morrill Road was the lone north-south vehicle route through central campus this summer, with Bissell Road and Union Drive (near Friley Hall) on the west side and Wallace Road on the east side closed for road and building construction, respectively. Morrill, Union and Bissell will reopen before fall semester begins, while the Wallace closing will continue until November 2020 for the Gerdin building addition project.

Morrill Road users

Solberg said emergency vehicles and campus garbage, mail and dining trucks providing service to the Hub and Morrill, Beardshear and Carver halls will be allowed to travel in both directions on Morrill Road during the closure.

Parking director Mark Miller said Morrill Road parking permit holders will be temporarily relocated to stalls on Osborn Drive. Reserved permit holders who park on Union Drive along Lake LaVerne will have access to those stalls on most days of the construction period but will need to U-turn and exit west -- the same way they came in.

The road construction zone will extend north on Morrill to the Carver Hall/lot 19 driveway and west on Union Drive toward the lake, beyond where Morrill Road jogs south adjacent to the MU.

New unit will integrate communications, marketing, public relations

June 20

President Wendy Wintersteen recently announced the creation of a new unit that will begin to bring together expertise and resources to develop a strategic, integrated approach to institutional communications, public relations and marketing.

Jacy Johnson

The newly named office of strategic relations and communications replaces the office of university relations, effective July 3. Wintersteen has appointed Jacy Johnson, director of advancement in ISU Extension and Outreach, to serve as interim executive director of the office. Staff members of university relations and university marketing will continue to serve in their positions as part of the new unit.

Over the next year, Johnson will oversee development of a new framework and vision for university-wide communications and marketing. To strengthen coordination with colleges and academic units, Wintersteen also appointed Brian Meyer and Rob Schweers to assist Johnson part-time on special assignments while maintaining their communications positions in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and provost’s office, respectively.

John McCarroll

The changes come on the heels of the July 2 retirement of John McCarroll, who has served as executive director of university relations since 1997. McCarroll served under four presidents and two interim presidents, providing advice and counsel to countless university leaders, faculty and staff.

WorkCyte story archive

June 20

It started with the 2016 decision to transition to the cloud-based Workday system for Iowa State's business and human resources work and grew into WorkCyte, a collection of enterprise systems that streamline campuswide processes and provide improved service delivery (ISD).

If you're new to Iowa State or need to catch up, you can read about the history and evolution of the WorkCyte project with Inside's archive of stories.

Big groups visiting campus this summer

By Dave Roepke
June 20

Students, faculty and staff share campus in the summer with a variety of camps, conferences and competitions held at Iowa State facilities. Here's a list of summer gatherings expected to draw 100 people or more to campus. Email inside@iastate.edu to suggest any additions we've missed.