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Employees must complete Open Enrollment by 5 p.m.

Participation in FY24 Open Enrollment is mandatory for all benefits-eligible employees - even if you're opting out of coverage. As of 8AM this morning, we show an 87% completion rate! If you have NOT completed your enrollment, please see the website prior to 5 PM today.


Mary Gower and Andy Harrington discuss ethics compliance
Compliance Chat #5 - Restrictions Post-employment

Most obligations under the Executive Branch Ethics Act end with the termination of university employment with two exceptions. This includes (1) the information that we glean from our UA official duties and (2) the other has to do with advice, assistance, and representation. Learn more in this month's Compliance Chat.

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"For Alaska" Campaign Reaches 20,000 Total Donors

The University of Alaska Foundation's "For Alaska" campaign reached a major milestone this week - since the effort began in 2016, 20,000 unique donors have given in support of public higher education across the UA System.


COVID virus
COVID-19 update: End of university response

As has been widely covered in national media, the federal government earlier this month ended the COVID-19 national emergency. The separate federal public health emergency is slated to end on May 11. The University of Alaska will also end its formal COVID-19 response on May 11. This change means that we will handle any COVID-19 needs as part of our normal operations.

Human Resources News

Alaska Capitol building
Retroactive Pay Adjustments and Compensation Increases

In February 2023, the Governor introduced a supplemental FY23 budget that includes salary increases for the current 2023 fiscal year. The supplemental budget includes the negotiated FY23 3% salary increase for faculty and an additional 1% increase for staff, fire fighters, and local 6070 bargaining unit members. These increases cannot be applied to base salaries until the Legislature grants the University the budgetary authority to do so.


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FY23 Annual Leave & Personal Holiday Forfeiture 

Employees eligible for Annual Leave and Personal Holiday Leave are being reminded of their leave balances. Take care of yourself and utilize the benefits bestowed upon you!


Image of apple, measuring tape and workout gear representing fitness
ABCs of Fitness Wellness Challenge

The final wellness challenge of the FY23 program year - the ABCs of Fitness challenge - began Monday, April 24 and will end Monday, May 19. The objective of this challenge is to select a new exercise each day starting with each letter of the alphabet, beginning with A and ending with Z.


NOTICE: Employees who do not fill out an Open Enrollment form by 5 p.m. May 5 will automatically be enrolled into an employee only basic medical plan with basic dental and vision - even if they have opted out in the past. Act now!


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Brightline Security Break

Some UA Employees received a letter in the mail from Brightline last month regarding a data security breach, and a subsequent follow-up email from UA HR two weeks ago. If you received neither the letter nor the email, you were not impacted by the data breach.


Zoom logo
Modification to Video Recording Records Retention Requirements

Given the more common use of Zoom as a part of recruiting, the UA Talent Acquisition team has put new practices in place to ensure compliance with records retention for interviews that are recorded via Zoom.


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HR Training and Learning Opportunities

Be sure to check out the UA HR Training and Development and Benefits Upcoming Events calendars that have an assortment of offerings. Register early to guarantee your place!

IT News

Butrovich building
UAF and OIT Realign Duties to Better Serve Users

OIT and UAF have begun a realignment of IT resources. The reorganization will create a new UAF IT Department headed by VCAS Julie Queen, which will oversee mission-enabling resources for students, staff, and faculty at both UAF and the System Office. OIT under CITO Shier will shift its focus to enhancing IT efforts for the entire UA System, and will continue to support Cybersecurity and LAN for UAF.

Technician works on cables
Data Center outages May 13 and 20 will affect Internet, VPN access and shared drives

UAF Facilities Services will be conducting a planned maintenance power shutdown in the Butrovich Building to integrate a new Uninterruptible Power Supply for the Butrovich Data Center. The University of Alaska Fairbanks main campus and all UAF community campuses and outreach centers will not have Internet access during the planned maintenance shutdown periods. System Office and UAF users will also lose access to VPN services and any shared file servers hosted in the BDC.

Personnel News

Kara Axx
Announcing the appointment of Kara Axx as the next Chief Procurement Officer

Kara Axx will be appointed the next Chief Procurement Officer for the University of Alaska on June 1, 2023. Kara has served in multiple roles during her 21 year career with the university. In every role, she has shown a commitment to leadership, customer service, and process improvement.

BOR Chair Ralph Seekins
May Board of Regents meetings and public testimony

Later this month the UA Board of Regents will hold public testimony, committee meetings and a full board meeting in Fairbanks on May 23, 25, and 26 respectively. All meetings will be live streamed at www.alaska.edu/bor/live.