February 2025 Newsletter

Fiscal Updates:

• Summer 2025 Faculty Payrolls 
  • The Business Office will be processing summer faculty salary against any grant/contract, start-up, and/or any other salary commitments from the Dean’s Office 
    • We will review the summer effort commitments in the month of February
    • Communication to faculty will commence as soon as the information is gathered and continue through April 2^nd which is the B.O. Deadline for Summer Payroll with an effective date of 5/23/2025 
  • 11-month Faculty
    • The B.O. will work with faculty to process the summer hire 
    • This will include the PageUp Request and the Smart-HR Transaction 
  • Departments will continue to be responsible for processing non-grant summer payrolls
  • Important Reminder:
    • The overload policy allows faculty to be eligible to earn up to an additional 25% over their summer salary (12/12ths) for non-research activity (May and winter intersession, summer teaching, CETL course development, etc.)
    • The overload must be requested and approved prior to the start of the non-research activity
    • If you are processing special payroll compensation for your research-active faculty, please contact the B.O. to start the overload request

• Summer Pre-encumbrances:
  • The B.O. will be pre-encumbering salary and fringe for FY25 and FY26 (starting 6/13/25 onwards) for the following payroll types:  
    • Summer Grads, Faculty Summer, and other Special Payroll appointments on grant accounts 
    • The Pre-encumbrance will be reflected in the May 1^st reports

• New Kuali Financials training Video is available:
  • The General Ledger Transfer: https://kb.uconn.edu/space/FPB/27356823554/Kuali+Financials+Training+Videos
  • This video will provide information on when to use (or not to use) a General Ledger Transfer (GLT) eDoc, and includes a demonstration on how to complete a GLT eDoc

• Graduate Assistant Tuition Waiver Clarification:
  • Tuition vs. Academic Program Fees: Graduate Assistants (GAs) in tuition-based programs receive a tuition waiver, while those in fee-based programs do not receive a waiver for academic program fees.
  • Updated Offer Letter Templates: New Graduate Assistant Offer Letter Templates for Fall 2025 and AY 2025-26 clarify tuition waivers based on program type. Use the appropriate version depending on the appointment period.
  • Financial Responsibility: GAs in tuition-based programs must still pay university fees at the negotiated rate. GAs in fee-based programs are responsible for the full academic program fee and university fees.
  • Approval for Non-Standard Appointments: All retroactive or non-standard GA appointments require Graduate School approval before issuing an offer letter.

 

HR (Human Resources) and Payroll Updates:

• Grad Summer 2025
  • Important Dates
    • Summer dates are 5/23/2025-8/22/2025
    • Due to PageUp: 3/13/25
    • Smart-HR (Internal BO) Submit by 4/2/2025
    • Smart-HR (University) Approved by 4/17/2025
  • Reminders:
    • Please include a print-out of the Grad calculator in your PageUp requests
      • Use AY24-25 Grad Stipend chart for your calculation: https://payroll.media.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2008/2024/09/Grad-Stipend-Chart-AY24-25.pdf
    • Submit a PageUp request for each unique funding period.  In the Smart-HR Special Payroll hire template, the appointment’s start and end dates are sourced directly from the PageUp record and are not editable. This could lead to inaccuracies in encumbrance if adjustments to funding are required

 

• PageUp Training
  • Regular Payroll
    • March 3, from 9:00am to 11:30pm (Register)
  • Special Payroll
    • March 4, from 9:00am to 11:00am (Register)

 

• Graduate School Timely Topics 
  • February 6^th – Part 1: AI is Here to Stay…Now What? A Conversation
  • February 13^th – Part 2: AI is Here to Stay…Now What? A Conversation
  • February 20^th – Graduate Students and Summer: What You Need to Know About Special Payroll, Funding, and Summer Graduations
  • March 6^th – Having That Difficult Conversation with Your Graduate Advisee
  • March 27^th – Strength-based Advising for Neurodiverse Graduate Students

 

CAHNR Internal Professional Development Opportunities:

The CAHNR’s Dean’s Office is committed to providing opportunities for faculty, staff, and graduate students to expand their professional knowledge and skills. Throughout the year, the Dean’s Office will organize workshops and offer training, that will help the CAHNR community grow. Workshops and training will focus on fostering employee understanding and abilities in both hard and soft skills, such as in communication, HR/Payroll competency, and creativity.

As Professional Development Opportunities are finalized, they will be listed on our website here. Please be sure to check regularly for new learning opportunities and other about upcoming events.

• CAHNR Staff Advisory Council (SAC)
  • Visit the CAHNR Staff SharePoint Site for opportunities with professional development, networking, and even hobby and wellness events.

 

Shout-out:  

• Best Wishes:

• • Nancy Wilhelm, Co-op Extension

• Welcome: 

• • Matthew Syrotiak, Educational Program Coordinator, Co-op Extension

 

Fun “Dad” Jokes:

• After an unsuccessful harvest, why did the farmer decide to try a career in music?
  • Because he had a ton of sick beets.
• What’s the difference between a well-dressed man on a unicycle and a poorly-dressed man on a bicycle?
  • Attire
• Where do pirates get their hooks?
  • Second hand stores.