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February 2007 |
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SideNotes |
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Kerry's Korner... It was an evening to celebrate. There was laughter, generous applause, introduction speeches of heartfelt appreciation, a catered meal, a program, great company and engaging conversation. No, it wasn’t the Academy Awards, the Emmy’s or the Country Music Awards. The event was much more profound and eternal. Such was UTSA’s Ambassadors’ Amber Dinner where each of the student Ambassadors honored one faculty or staff member who had contributed to their growth or inspired them during their years as a student. While several fought back tears and their voices cracked with emotion, to their guests and the assembly, the students freely spoke of their meaningful relationships and the impact each honoree had on their lives. I felt humbled, inspired, challenged and motivated, but mostly just enormously proud of each Ambassador. Reminiscing about the evening, I thought, “What can I learn from this experience – from the uplifting testimonials of each of these successful and dedicated students?” I was reminded that at the end of the day, no matter our work responsibilities, we have to make our time here PERSONAL. If we don’t make it personal, then it’s just a job – a chore – a paycheck. Believe me, if that’s how we feel, it will show on our faces, in our attitudes and in our work ethic; it will be obvious to our colleagues and other university constituents. This is neither the message nor the spirit of our Business Affairs mission, vision and brand. Making it PERSONAL – express appreciation daily; communicate often and effectively; seek changes to improve service; uphold our values; make new friends; encourage others. So, when you travel the hallways, elevators, breezeways, and paseos of the campus, take a risk – smile, greet students passing your way; engage them in conversation. It just might be the highlight of their day – but, more likely, of your day. Thank you for making a difference; thank you for making it personal - every person, every day, every job! Kerry |
Business Affairs
Breakfast
New Employee Worth Remembering... Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. ~ Charles Mingus Readership Survey Results Thank you to all who participated in the Business Horizons Readership Survey. To review a summary of the results click here. |
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Leadership Conference
SURVEY PARTICIPATION – NEW RECORD!
It’s
official! We
had 123 take the Survey by paper and another 305 take it online
for a total of 428, or 85% of all Business Affairs
personnel. This is nothing short of miraculous and you all are to
be congratulated for your commitment to continuous improvement
(Excellence), your belief in team (Partnering), and your
dedication to UTSA.
Values Initiative
SIGN UP to Attend! |
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Therese Wagner has been an Accounting Clerk III in UTSA’s Disbursements Office since March 2003. Therese describes her life prior to UTSA as having been a “Navy brat”. She was born in Agana, Guam, is the fourth of eight children and grew up in Corpus Christi. Besides the “great state of Texas”, she has lived in California and Oklahoma. Therese loves to travel and has been to 40 of the 50 states, Mexico, Canada, the Bahamas, and Belize. This past October, she went on a pilgrimage with some members of her church to Greece and Turkey. Therese considers herself to be one of the biggest NASCAR fans of all time and looks forward to going to the races at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth three weekends a year. Therese says she is blessed in many ways, especially with her husband, Frank. This September they will celebrate 24 years of marriage. Therese’s church is a very important part of her life and she and Frank attend Bible study weekly. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and embroidery. Thank you Therese for your hard work and service to Business Affairs and the university.
Therese will be receiving a Roadrunner meal card to use for
either breakfast, lunch or dinner at the Roadrunner Cafe,
compliments of Chartwells. |
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Polo Cervantes |
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Polo left Bell and went into the construction business where he remained for twelve years. During that period, he worked for several major organizations as an owner’s rep on capital projects being constructed in most of the lower forty-eight states. In 2002, Polo joined the City of San Antonio as the assistant capital programs manager in the public works department where he supervised the project managers, the real estate department, and the contract and fiscal departments. In 2005, he was promoted to City Engineer within the Public Works department and responsible for the design and construction of over 400 projects, valued at over $600 million. Polo is excited and enthusiastic about becoming a part of the Office of Facilities team and is looking forward to assisting the department as it continues “promoting excellence.” Welcome, Polo, to UTSA. |
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Joe Rubio - Director of Facilities Downtown |
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Joe has 30 years of Facility and Physical Plant experience in the private, public, government and military sectors and has worked at all three campuses since joining UTSA in 1987. He began his career at ITC as a Manager of Shipping and Receiving, Mail Operations and General Stores and also served as Manager of ITC Physical Plant. In 1997, Joe was promoted to Director of DTC and ITC Facilities. In 1999, he was asked to be the Interim Director of Facilities’ Maintenance and Housekeeping at the 1604 campus. He returned to the DTC in 2005 to work on a variety of projects. Joe’s philosophy is to manage and balance projects, people, and maintain a high level of customer satisfaction through communication, cooperation and excellent customer service. When asked about his management style, he replied, "I believe the staff is an excellent source for new and innovative ideas. They are the ones on the front lines every day and have constant contact with our customers." Joe graduated from APPA's Institute of Facilities Management and has a bachelor's degree in Business Administration. He is currently working on a Facility Management Professional (FMP) designation from the International Facility Management Association (IFMA).
"I'm excited about having the opportunity
to remain at the DTC where I can continue assisting in
maintaining the high visibility of the Downtown Campus as the
Gateway to UTSA." |
Parking Updates Parking and Transportation Services began operation of a wheelchair-accessible golf cart service to Lot 5 near the Convocation Center to the University Center (UC) and Multidisciplinary Studies (MS) buildings. This service became necessary with the closure of Lot 9, south of the UC, for construction of the UC III project. The service operates weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
East Campus Drive opened to traffic on Tuesday, February 6, 2007. This new road allows direct access from Parking Lot 13 off Valero Way to the Art Building, and reduces one-way travel time to 2-3 minutes. This opening also removes some of our shuttles from UTSA Boulevard, resulting in safer travel for our bus passengers and reduced traffic for all. Emergency lighting is in place while street light, sidewalk, emergency phone and camera installation continues. All work is scheduled for completion by the end of March 2007.
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Chief Hernandez Takes to the Skies |
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It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's Chief Hernandez! As part of the Army All-American Bowl football game, Army ROTCs around Texas were given the opportunity to nominate one individual for a tandem jump with the Golden Knights for a jump on January 3 or 4. LTC Mishket, UTSA Professor of Military Science, sent out an email informing certain UTSA faculty and staff that the program was available. This was the first year the program was available in San Antonio. Though others at UTSA expressed interest, Chief David Hernandez was selected to represent UTSA. The Golden Knights are an award winning U.S. Army parachute team with a demonstration and competition team. In recent years, the organization has been reaching out to the public with tandem jumps. A tandem jump consists of jumping out of a plane attached to a Golden Knight expert parachutist at approximately 13,000 feet for a 30-50 second free fall before you land safely on the ground. Chief Hernandez went through a 2 hour training class prior to going up in the Golden Knight aircraft for the jump of a lifetime.
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Announcing New Hours for UTSA Campus Eateries! |
UT Service and Civic Participation |
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This spring we're open even later for the evening crowd. Please join us for a fast, delicious and convenient dinner right here on campus.
NEW HOURS
JPL Food Court
Subway/Starbucks
at the University Center
Subway at the
Downtown Campus |
UT Service & Civic Participation is part
of the President’s Council on Service & Civic Participation and
promotes our proud tradition of volunteer service. The service
awards recognize and honor those who set a standard of service
to others. More about the national program and awards is found
at
http://presidential This Month in History brought to you by ITC Cultural Courier
February 1,
1861 Following the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860,
a Secession Convention is convened in Austin. A 171 to 6 vote
results in Texas's secession from the Federal Union.
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Business Intelligence Reporting Data System - BIRDS |
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Financial Affairs announces the implementation of a new management reporting system called Business Intelligence Reporting Data System (affectionately referred to as BI-RDS in honor of our school mascot, Rowdy.) Like the road runner, this On–Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) system is built for speed, utilizing state of the art technology to produce accurate reports and analyze data in record time. The BI-RDS reporting system is a major initiative hatched from the vision of Mary Simon, Director of Management Reporting & Analyses (MR&A). In May 2006, an ORACLE database running Business Objects software was put into production with the assistance of Denise Brown and Elizabeth Bay in MR&A. The MR&A team migrated three years of financial system data to BI-RDS, and began automating UTSA’s financial statement. This required a process review with the assistance of Ana Longoria, Director of Accounting, and her staff. Financial results are now available within 24 hours of the monthly close, accelerating Income Statement results by one week. The MR&A team is currently working on automating report / data collection required by the State and UT System; merit and budget process improvements; and a standard reporting package to deliver consolidated financial reports to our customers in electronic form. Janet Parker attributes the success of this project to the MR&A team’s shared commitment of the vision, hard work, communication, and drive to make a difference. Mary Simon credits her team and the collective contributions and assistance received from Information Technology, Student Information Systems, and the DEFINE and Accounting Office staffs at both UTSA and UT Austin. This project and everyone’s contribution demonstrates the commitment to goal achievement through excellence in service – every person, every day and every job. |
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Go Red For Women |
Performance Evaluations
As a reminder, the end of the current performance evaluation year is upon us. Managers should be working on performance evaluations for their employees. If you need any assistance, please contact Employee Relations x 5771 or Compensation x 4254.
Key
dates: PUBLIC INFORMATION REQUESTS All requests to view or copy UTSA documents must be processed through the Vice President for Business Affairs Office. For more information, click:
http://www.utsa.edu/bussvc/ |
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February is “Love Your Heart” month. UTSA held a Health Fair at the downtown and 1604 campuses on February 1st and 2nd. We had many vendors that provided glucose and blood pressure screenings, free massages, foot scans, body fat analysis, cholesterol screenings, vision testing, skin care, breast cancer awareness, dental information, and nutrition. At the downtown campus, faculty, students, and staff gathered to form a heart. The 1604 campus held a Go Red Luncheon and Fashion Show. Our models were able to pick out outfits courtesy of Dillard’s and Costco. Over 150 people attended the luncheon and fashion show. We had over 300 faculty, staff, and students attended the health fair. It was a great turn out and next year will be even better. |
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Construction Update |
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University Expansion III UTSA & Spaw Glass are about to begin construction of University Center Expansion III. This $33.3 M capital building project, designed by Perkins+Will Architects, consists of three principal elements: New Construction for University Center program areas, the renovation of existing University Center program areas, and life safety upgrades in the existing University Center that will bring the entire facility up to current code requirements. The New Construction portion will provide space for Student Leadership & Cultural Programs, a 600-seat Ballroom, shared conference and meetings rooms, study areas, and student lounge space. Project completion is scheduled for June 2008.
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Leopoldo
(Polo) Cervantes has joined the Office of Facilities team
as its new Assistant Vice President. He received his
Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Texas
A&M University. Polo started his
career with Southwestern Bell Telephone Company in Dallas in the
engineering department. During this time, he earned his Masters
in Business Administration from Incarnate Word, and obtained his
professional engineering license. His time with Bell lasted
eighteen years, of which, the last ten were as a district
manager in various parts of the state of Texas.
Joe
Rubio has been selected as the Director of Facilities Downtown. Since
March 2006, he has served as the Acting Director of Facilities
Downtown. 
Go
Red for Women is a nationwide movement celebrating the energy,
passion and power we have to band together and wipe out heart
disease. Spreading the Go Red for Women message - Love your
Heart - raises awareness of heart disease and empowers women to
reduce their risk. Go Red for Women at UTSA is a campaign to
educate students, faculty and staff about heart disease. It is
also an effort to encourage both men and women to spread the
word about the impact that heart disease has on women.
