University swans swim on Lake LaVerne

Spring at the lake

University swans Lancelot and Elaine enjoy a sunny swim on Lake LaVerne this week.

Categories and levels in the new P&S structure: What do they mean?

Bundled into every P&S employee's title in the new classification/compensation system will be a job classification, level category and level that reveal information about the complexity and responsibility of that job.

Next budgets will need to be 5% leaner

President Wendy Wintersteen shares the current budget picture in an email to university employees.

Senate to vote on scholarship change for home-schooled students

Proposal would eliminate GPA as part of the consideration when the admissions office awards automatic scholarships to incoming home-schooled freshmen. ACT or SAT scores would be the sole criteria.

Synchronous instruction provides connection students crave

Some instructors are holding classes in real-time to create a better learning environment and give students structure in a time they are asked to do more on their own.

Performance record-keeping moves to Workday

For faculty and P&S employees, only the employee's rating and confirmation of a completed evaluation will be logged in Workday this year. For merit employees, the entire process has been in Workday since July.

Nontechnical tips for improving virtual meetings

After a monthlong crash course, most employees working from home have the basic etiquette for virtual meetings down pat. Camera on, microphone off. But as the "new normal" morphs into just "normal," consider how to make virtual meetings better.

Portal offers central catalog of IT services

A complete catalog of products and services offered by information technology services is now available via the new IT Portal.

COVID-19 survey helped ISU improve employee support

In a late March survey, Iowa State employees had generally positive outlooks on how the crisis was impacting them. Their responses helped shape the university's support for faculty and staff.