Dialog, UA Faculty and Staff News

August 23, 2004

HRD Training

Benefits Update:

TIAA Offers Individual Counseling Sessions
TRS Retirement Preparation Seminar Offered
New Faculty Benefits Orientation Sessions Set
Faculty Photos Needed
UA Employee Health Care Plan Adds Nurse Practitioner Coverage

HRD Training

Building Community: Human Relations for the 21st Century

The Diversity Experience
Sexual Harassment Awareness and Prevention
Understanding the Role Personality Plays at Work
Who Moved My Cheese?
How Would You Like to Be Treated?

Communication

Assertiveness Skills and Communication
Business Communications for Today
Written Communication Basics

Computer Courses

Advanced Computer Classes
E-Course Windows for E-Course
A Partnership for Active Learning: Faculty and Staff
Library Orientation for New Faculty and Staff
Advanced Internet Searching

Continuous Quality Improvement

CQI Leadership Seminar Series — CQI workshops are part of the Leadership Seminar Series designed for people in academic and administrative organizations, such as deans, department chairs, directors, managers, assistant and associate directors and faculty who lead projects, or plan on moving into leadership roles. All workshops will be facilitated by John Dew, director for Continuous Quality Improvement. Contact the CQI Office at 348-9831 to schedule workshops, which are designed for 2-4 hours.

Customer Service

Advanced Connections — Moving Quality Service Beyond the Basics
Customer Service and The University of Alabama
The FISH Philosophy

The Management Project

Register now for The Management Project — an in-house management certificate program for UA managers. This course is a comprehensive training program designed to give participants practical knowledge and skills enabling them to effectively manage within the University's work environment. It was created to assist managers with the increasing challenges they are facing and to prepare potential managers to accept future challenges.

Performance Management and Development

Four Step Performance Plan
Conducting Performance Reviews
Supervising Students
Setting Goals and Defining Expectations

Personal Growth and Development

Conflict Management/Resolution
Managing Time and Establishing Boundaries

Personal Safety

Right to Know

Policy and Procedures

On-Line Purchasing Procedures
Personnel Action Procedures
Conducting Effective and Legal Interviews
Ten Danger Zones for Supervisors
Accounting and Reporting Procedures
Effective Processing of the INS Form I-9
UA Budget Procedures
Purchasing Procedures
Sexual Harassment Awareness and Prevention
Independent Contractor Procedures

Professional Development Series

HR Development are development programs intended to benefit UA employees, departments and customers by enhancing the professional development of office employees.

Job Openings

The University of Alabama is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer. For the latest job updates, call the UA job line, 348-7780. For a full line listing of available positions, visit http://hr.ua.edu/employment. Remember that office, technical, clerical, maintenance and service positions stay on the Job Line only five days. Faculty positions are listed under the appropriate college or school.

Miscellaneous

New Employee Orientation introduces all new UA employees to campus life and provides them and employees with a status change (regular, part-time or temporary) an opportunity for benefits advisement and enrollment. New employees and employees with status change must pre-register and attend a New Employee Orientation session within the first 30 days of employment to be eligible for health insurance. Sessions are offered every Monday.

Three Ways to Register and to Check Out Training Material: call 348-9700, fax to 348-2072 or e-mail dharbin@fa.ua.edu.

Human Resource Development Training Sessions will be conducted at G54 Rose unless otherwise stated. Persons with special needs should contact Daphne Wright.

The Training Resource Center (TRC) offers videos for a staff development "lunch and learn" program. The TRC accommodates six to eight people.

The website for Human Resource Development Training offers the current Staff Training Calendar.

Benefits Update — TIAA Offers Individual Counseling Sessions

TIAA/CREF, UA's retirement plan for regular full-time faculty and professional administrative staff, will offer individual counseling sessions for faculty and staff this fall. Meetings will be in room G-54 Rose Administration Building. Reservations may be made by calling Michael Odom, TIAA appointment scheduler, at 1-800-842-2003. Dates for TIAA individual counseling sessions this fall are Sept. 15-17, Oct. 27-29, Nov. 3-5 and Dec. 15-17. Link to the TIAA/CREF site at www.tiaa-cref.org.

Benefits Update — TRS Retirement Preparation Seminar Offered

The Teachers Retirement System is offering a number of free full-day retirement preparation seminars this fall. Employees must be within four years of retirement eligibility to attend a seminar. Dates and locations scheduled for this fall are:

Sept. 15 — Mobile
Sept. 16 — Mobile
Sept. 23 — Tuscaloosa
Oct. 6 — Hoover
Oct. 7 — Hoover
Oct. 28 — Montgomery
Nov. 4 — Fairhope
Nov. 9 — Muscle Shoals
Nov. 10 — Muscle Shoals
Nov. 16 — Andalusia.

Advance registration is required; early registration is essential as space is limited at all sites. Spouses are welcome. Registration forms may be picked up in the Human Resources Service Center, G-69 Rose Administration Building, or you may call 348-7732 to request a registration form be sent to you through campus mail. Forms must be mailed to the RSA. For more information about the seminars, call RSA Communications at 334/832-4140 or 800/214-2158 to reach Judy Guy at ext. 617 or Sue at ext. 509.

Benefits Update — New Faculty Benefits Orientation Sessions Set

Employees must enroll in benefits programs within the first 30 days of employment. Dates for benefits orientation sessions for new UA faculty follow:

Monday, 8-30-04, 8:30 a.m.-noon
Tuesday, 8-31-04, 1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
Wednesday, 9-01-04, 8:30 a.m.-noon
Thursday, 9-02-04, 8:30 a.m.-noon
Thursday, 9-09-04, 4:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m.

All sessions will be held in room G-54 of Rose Administration building. Reservations can be made by contacting Daphne Wright at 348-9700 and dharbin@fa.ua.edu. Bring names, birthdates and Social Security numbers of dependents and beneficiaries.

Benefits Update — Faculty Photos Needed

UA's Office of University Relations needs new faculty to have photos made in the photography office in G-5 Rose Administration building. New faculty may have these made 30 minutes before or after benefits orientation sessions (see above announcement). To make an appointment, contact Jennifer Sanford at 348-8332. These photos are needed in the promotion of faculty and their research to outside media outlets.

Benefits Update — UA Employee Health Care Plan Adds Nurse Practitioner Coverage

The University of Alabama's self-insured employee health plan has added nurse practitioners as covered health care providers effective immediately. The Office for Human Resources has sent employees an insert to add to the Group Health Plan Summary description booklet. Under this new coverage, members of the University's employee health plan may choose to use any licensed, certified nurse practitioner who is a participating Blue Cross Blue Shield provider for approved medical care. These nurse practitioners have had advanced training that allows them to provide a wide variety of professional health care services. Approved services include office visits, minor office surgery, minor emergency medical care for accidental injuries, inpatient hospital visits, office consultations and prescription medications. Plan members will still have the option of visiting medical doctors for these types of services, but the additional choice of nurse practitioners may lead to reduced office waiting times for our plan members.

Members will pay a $20 co-payment for each office visit to a participating BC/BS of Alabama nurse practitioner. Co-payments for visits to participating medical doctors (PMD) are currently $25. Members who see a nurse practitioner and are then referred to and treated by a (PMD) doctor will be required to pay an additional co-payment of $25 to see that PMD doctor, just as they would if referred from one PMD doctor to another.

Of special interest to University employees, the new University Medical Center (formerly Capstone Medical Center), located at 850 5th Avenue East, has certified, licensed nurse practitioners on staff to treat patients. Members should be sure to tell the medical facility that they are covered University of Alabama health plan members and should present their new BC/BS health plan ID cards for insurance purposes. Members who have questions about this new coverage for nurse practitioners under the University's employee health plan should call BC/BS Customer Service at 1-800-292-8868 and have their new BC/BS of Alabama ID card on hand for reference.

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