February 18, 1999

FYI HomeUniversity of Utah

Coming in May
Twice-monthly
paychecks will
streamline finances
During May, the University will begin paying employees twice each month rather than every two weeks, says a memo to department heads from Clif Drew, associate vice president for instructional technology and outreach. This means you will receive 24 paychecks per year, rather than 26 (or occasionally, 27), so the amount of each check will be slightly more.
Drew says the change is being made for a variety of reasons, only one of which is compatibility with PeopleSoft software. Other reasons are: (1) the fiscal year, calendar year, and pay periods will come out even; (2) budget encumbrance adjustments will be eliminated; (3) pay periods will match academic calendars; (4) faculty appointments are defined monthly; (5) contracts and federal grants operate on a monthly basis; and (6) the new schedule will simplify budgeting.

Legislators hear
list of U program
funding priorities
President Bernie Machen's presentation to the Utah Legislature's Joint Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee consisted of a matter-of-fact discussion of the University's priorities for funding increases outside of salary increases and capital facilities. Topics included:

Management information systems‹Unfunded debt for upgrading computer systems is growing, and the "year-2000 problem" cannot be solved without resources.

Libraries--The price of periodicals continues to grow faster than the Consumer Price Index, and while electronic conversion can help, it too is expensive.

Academic technology--The University needs the techniques being used in modern classrooms, and with no increase in non-personnel services budgets in 13 years, most departments don't even have a budget line for computer services.

Access enhancement--Students who qualify for admission to the University are still being turned away for majors where demand far exceeds capacity, including accounting, communication, computer science, marketing, nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy, psychology, social work, and teacher education, among others.

Human genetics--Base appropriations are currently only $225,000 for a program that is one of the best in the world, attracting $22 million in research funding. Base funding is needed in part to train students in the U's new master's program in genetics counseling.

Public health program--Addition of a doctoral program would provide necessary skills in a state with a rapidly growing population, and public health problems such as a low immunization rate.

Area health education centers--Seed money is necessary to build on a successful program that delivers medical services to otherwise under-served rural communities, and to attract federal funding.

New online directories
directly access
central data< New online directories, one listing University employees and one listing students, have replaced the various previous versions that were available on the World Wide Web. To find them, go to the U of U home page at www.utah.edu, and look under Faculty/Staff," and "Students," respectively.
"The most important difference about the new directories is that they are more current and accurate because they draw their information directly from PeopleSoft employee and student records in real time, rather than use periodic updates," says Teri Olsen, project coordinator in Administrative Computing Services. "E-mail addresses are also now part of the same database, rather than being kept separately."
The new directories are faster, have better search features, and are cross-referenced when an individual is both an employee and a student. The student directory gives home address and telephone number information unless the student has asked that they be withheld, while the employee directory gives only campus address and telephone information. Features that allow you to update your own personal information will be forthcoming. "We're counting on feedback from staff and faculty to help us get rid of the glitches that will inevitably turn up in the data," says Olsen.

Founders Day
honors service,
U of U involvements
Lifetime records of community involvement and service characterize the winners of high honors to be presented by the Alumni Association at the Founders Day banquet Feb. 19. Winners of the Distinguished Alumni Award are: James E. Faust, attorney, former Utah legislator, member of the John F. Kennedy administration, World War II veteran, and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church; G. Donald Gale, former U of U faculty member, vice president for news and public affairs at KSL, and board member of numerous community and charitable organizations; Pierre Lassonde, gold-mining analyst, CEO of Franco-Nevada and Euro-Nevada Mining Corp., and member of two advisory boards for the David Eccles School of Business; and Kay Winston Lipman, volunteer and philanthropist for various causes, chair of the Fort Douglas restoration fund drive, and board member of the Utah Centennial Commission.
The Honorary Alumnus Award goes to Jon M. Huntsman, CEO of Huntsman Corp., who "has devoted his resources and energy to the alleviation of human misery around the globe," and who serves on numerous U of U boards, and was instrumental in founding the Huntsman Cancer Institute with one of the largest gifts in the history of higher education.

Scandal doesn't
include U; Olympics
will bring benefits
In a report to the Academic Senate, Prof. Wayne McCormack, Law, the U's Olympic coordinator, and General Counsel John Morris said they have been able to uncover no wrongdoing on the part of the University with regard to the Olympics. McCormack said tuition payments accepted for students who are IOC relatives would have been indistinguishable from normal third-party payments, as are received in behalf of thousands of students. Morris said the U.S. Department of Justice has subpoenaed documents relating to tuition payments, business transactions, and medical services, "but the grand jury is treating the University as a witness with information to provide, rather than with any suspicion of wrongdoing."
The major benefits to the University of having the Games will come in the form of academic, arts, and cultural events now being planned, McCormack said, plus volunteer involvements for students, high-quality new student housing, and the variety of consulting agreements that will be forthcoming during the next three years. The University has contracts with the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for use of Rice Eccles Stadium ($8 million), use of student housing at Fort Douglas ($28 million), and--as a subcontract to Intermountain Health Care--to provide medical services within the Athletes' Village.

Diversity nominations
due by Feb. 26
The University Diversity Committee is asking for nominations by Feb. 26 of colleges, departments, or other entities that have made important contributions toward including women and minorities in their programs. Send nominations to 204 Park Building, describing in detail the activities worthy of recognition. For information, contact Anne Bagley, ext. 1-7569, abagley@park.admin.utah.edu.

Bennion Center
seeks tool donations
for service projects
The Lowell Bennion Community Service Center and KUER FM 90 are sponsoring a drive March 12 for donations "gently used" garden tools and supplies. These will be used in ongoing community service projects. The first will be "Into the Streets" March 19, wherein some 1,500 students will work on 11 projects in the Salt Lake City area, including tree-planting along the Jordan River.
To help out, bring shovels, rakes, garden tools, garbage bags, hammers, fabric scissors, and the like to the Eccles Broadcast Center Friday, March 12, any time from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Olympics plans< Will the U stay
open? What about
residents?
Two often-asked questions about the 2002 Winter Olympics are: (1) will the University remain open and the staff come to work during the Games? and, (2) where will the residents of student housing live while the residence halls are used for the Athletes' Village? Prof. Wayne McCormack, Law, who is the University's Olympics coordinator, describes the plans as they now stand, as follows:
(1) Spring Semester will begin Jan. 3, 2002. University classes will not meet for a three-week period during February, just before and during the Olympics, but the U will otherwise remain open, as it does during a spring break. Administrative offices, the libraries, etc. will be open. (The exception is that the University will close the day of the Opening Ceremonies.) Things won't be normal though, because there will be Olympics-related academic and cultural events going on. Also, parking near Rice Eccles Stadium and the Annex will not be available for University use. Special shuttles will serve alternative parking lots. There are no athletic venues on campus.
(2) Residents of the new student housing at Fort Douglas who do not choose to find their own housing elsewhere* will be relocated into Ballif, Van Cott, and Austin halls, which will be kept vacant for the purpose. In focus groups, current residents have said they would not want to move twice if faced with this situation, so residents will probably remain in the old halls for the balance of Spring Semester. The apartment style new buildings at Fort Douglas will revert to University use March 1, 2002, while the halls in the 11-acre site on the south side of the fort will be used for the Paralympics that follow the regular Games.
*Many moved in with friends and relatives at the Calgary Games.

Tuition actions
will make some
programs cost more
The Board of Regents approved a general 3 percent tuition increase for the Utah System of Higher Education for 1999-2000. In addition, the Regents are allowing the U of U to increase tuition for selected programs at the graduate level. Approved were $2,500 per year tuition increases for the School of Medicine, College of Pharmacy Pharm.D. program, and graduate programs in Dietetics, Communication Disorders, Occupational Therapy, and Physical Therapy. The College of Nursing will add 10 percent to its current differential. No undergraduate programs are affected by the differentials.
This year, the Regents waited until later than usual to announce new tuition levels, in hopes of breaking the tie between tuition and faculty/staff salary increases. However, legislators insisted they needed the numbers for making state appropriations.

Wellness Fair looks
at total person< Faculty and staff are invited to a "Wellness Fair" Wednesday, Feb. 24 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. in the Union Ballroom. The sponsoring Student Health Advisory Committee and Student Health Service say the new event will go beyond the physical orientation of health fairs of the past to include intellectual, physical, social, spiritual, and emotional aspects of health.

Forklift drivers
must meet new
OSHA requirement
Environmental Health and Safety has compiled information to help supervisors meet a new Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirement that employees who operate forklifts, lift trucks, and similar equipment must receive a new standard of training during 1999. Copies of the new regulations can be found at www.ehs.utah.edu, under "Updates," then "Recent Regulatory Activity," or call Jeanine Salustri at ext. 5-9325. To comply with the regulations, EHS recommends using the training provided by the Utah Safety Council, 262-5400, or by private vendors.

Development committee
will oversee
successful effort
In keeping with his desire that administrative functions have faculty input, President Bernie Machen has created a Development Oversight Committee. The committee will review the University's fund-raising activities, in such areas as organization, funding, and programming. Membership includes several deans, the president of the Academic Senate, and other faculty members in what will become staggered three-year terms. The senior vice president for Academic Affairs is ex officio chair, and the vice president for Development is also an ex officio member.
At the end of 1998, the Sesquicentennial Campaign had achieved $489 million toward its $500 million goal, with more than a year to go.

Worth a visit
Fort museum adds
new mural, offers
unique perspective
The Fort Douglas Military Museum recently unveiled a new mural, painted by Don Hague, director emeritus of the Utah Museum of Natural History. The mural depicts the mouth of Red Butte Canyon as it might have appeared prior to 1935, when horse cavalry disappeared from the fort. It serves as a backdrop to a life-size exhibit of horse and rider with all the accouterments of the 1930s, including McClellan saddle, Smokey-Bear hat, and Springfield rifle. Hague was a student of the famous muralist Lynn Fausett, who also has a mural in the museum, depicting the Mormons' first battle with the Utes at Utah Lake in 1850.
Located on the south side of the Parade Ground, the Fort Douglas Museum is worth a visit. Exhibits with uniforms, accouterments, other artifacts, photographs, paintings, and text cover Utah and Mormon history from the military point of view. Included are an account of events at the fort under Colonel Patrick Connor, the "father of Utah mining." Other exhibits give a western perspective through World War II and even Vietnam, with such offerings as a six-foot model of the USS Salt Lake City, a heavy cruiser that fought in World War II, and lasted until it was scuttled off Bikini Atoll after the first H-bomb explosion. Outside, you'll find a collection of tanks, helicopters, and artillery dating from modern times back to the Civil War.
Although the building technically belongs to the University, the museum will be operated indefinitely under the auspices of the Utah National Guard.

Utah online library
provides handy
Web reference<BR> Utah's colleges and universities, public schools, and libraries worked together to create an online reference tool that has the familiar convenience of the World Wide Web. It's called "Pioneer: Utah's Online Library." For access, either select "Academic Pioneer" on the Marriott Library Web site, or go directly to http://pioneer-library.org. Pioneer allows you to search local newspapers, some 1,500 other magazines and newspapers, dictionaries, and encyclopedias, plus some academic journals, and databases.
A service of note on Pioneer is "College Sources," which has scanned text of the college catalogs of 6,900 institutions, include the U of U.