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Saint Mary's Newsroom

Campus Connection

An update from the president to alumni and parents

Virtual education conference opportunity

Education students, or anyone interested in the education field, are invited to attend the virtual Transforming Learning Summit Wednesday, Aug. 11, and Thursday, Aug. 12, hosted by Fusion Learning Partners.

This two-day, virtual summit will bring together hundreds of leaders and professionals from across the spectrum of K-12 educational settings and functions, along with their private, public, and civic sector partners to advance learning and share best practices. Topics to be covered include:

  • equity in educational practices
  • human element of assessment
  • student centered learning
  • mental health (student and educator)
  • building a culture of learning
  • using technology to transform learning

Saint Mary’s admission staff will also be hosting a virtual table during the event. Registration is $20 for students.

Learn more and register

Virtual conference opportunity for educators

The Transforming Learning Summit, hosted by Fusion Learning Partners, is a virtual event for educators and leaders in education taking place Wednesday, Aug. 11, and Thursday, Aug. 12. We encourage you to attend and share this learning opportunity with current and prospective education students who may also be interested.

This two-day, virtual summit will bring together hundreds of leaders and professionals from across the spectrum of K-12 educational settings and functions, along with their private, public, and civic sector partners to advance learning and share best practices. Topics to be covered include equity in educational practices, human element of assessment, student centered learning, mental health (student and educator), building a culture of learning, and using technology to transform learning.

Who should attend?

  • Teachers
  • Principals
  • Superintendents
  • District and school administrators
  • District and school assessment coordinators
  • Curriculum leaders
  • Educational technology coordinators
  • School board members
  • Special education directors
  • State agency, board, and council members

Saint Mary’s admission staff will also be hosting a virtual table during the event. Registration is $20 for students and $99 for others, but Saint Mary’s faculty and staff can use code TLS21SMUSEPartner for $20 off (will not work for student registration).

Learn more and register

An update about SGPP commencement plans

Several months ago, we shared an update about plans for future Schools of Graduate and Professional Programs (SGPP) commencement ceremonies. Beginning in 2022, we will have only two days of in-person ceremonies to celebrate our SGPP graduates. One commencement ceremony will be held on Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022, off-site at Orchestra Hall (this date is a change from our previous announcement). The other will be in June 2022, with a precise date to be determined.

DBA students, alumna, and faculty present at MOBTS conference

Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) students, alumna, and faculty presented work at the Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society (MOBTS) annual conference, held virtually, June 15-19. The mission of MOBTS is to enhance the quality of teaching and learning across the management disciplines. Work presented was as follows:

Case Study – NAC Enterprises

Anne Swearingen, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota DBA student

Nathaniel Siats, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota DBA student

Engage on The Stage: Using Poster and E-poster Presentations to Motivate Students and Assess Learning

Jennifer L. Schultz, Ph.D., core associate professor, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota

Debra R. Comer, Hofstra University

Abisola Femi-Jegede, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota DBA student

Nathaniel Siats, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota DBA student

Hui Wang, DBA, Nanjing Audit University, China, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota DBA alumna

Learning-Centered Teaching: A Candid Discussion with Senior Faculty

Jennifer L. Schultz, Ph.D., core associate professor, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota

Debra R. Comer, Hofstra University

Matthew J. Nowakowski, Ed.D., core professor and interim vice provost for faculties and Academic Affairs, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota

Tim O. Peterson, North Dakota State University

Akin Falade, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota DBA student

Small Seed, Big Impact: Garrett Popcorn Shops Case Study

Hui Wang, DBA, Nanjing Audit University, China, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota DBA alumna

Jennifer L. Schultz, Ph.D., core associate professor, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota

Metropolitan Mining Company: A Situation Analysis Case Study

Jennifer L. Schultz, Ph.D., core associate professor, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota

As announced previously, four DBA students received scholarships for the Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society (MOBTS) 2021 Doctoral Institute (DI) workshop.

Storytelling and content creation from Marketing and Communications

The Office of Marketing and Communications has been working throughout the summer on stories that highlight the success of Saint Mary’s University students, alumni, staff, and faculty. The stories can be used to promote Saint Mary’s mission and values on social media, admissions materials, and our website. This content has great recruiting potential, and we ask you to share it when possible. We would not be able to tell these stories without the input of faculty and staff, so please continue to share story ideas with us.

Here is a look at a few of the stories that have been produced by our team this spring and summer:

Winona Campus mailroom information

The Winona Campus mailroom summer hours are 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Courier service is scheduled on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, from the Central Services Office in Heffron Hall and Monday through Friday from the Toner Student Center Mailroom. Any outgoing mail received by 11 a.m. will go out that same day (if mail is picked up on that day from that location).

As a reminder, the mail meter is now located in the Toner Student Center mailroom. Please plan accordingly and contact Neal Nixon, mailroom coordinator, at nnixon@smumn.edu in advance if you have a large (over 100+) piece mailing needing to be sent.

We encourage all colleagues to check their mail regularly. If you receive a package, you will receive a confirmation email from mailroom@smumn.edu. We also encourage you to pick up these packages in a timely manner as space is limited in this location, and many packages are being delivered on a daily basis. Contact Nixon at nnixon@smumn.edu if you have any questions.

HR launches new recruiting and hiring platform

The Human Resources team is pleased to announce that iCIMS will be our new applicant recruiting, tracking, and hiring system. The target go live date is Monday, Sept. 20. iCIMS is a talent management software platform that replaces Applicant Tracker. With iCIMS, hiring managers will be able to digitally request new positions, obtain approval signatures, and create job posting text. Hiring managers and their search committees will be able to organize and review applicant pools, select finalists, and onboard new hires — all electronically. The system is completely digital and eliminates the need to print paper forms, obtain ink approval signatures, or track paper document flow between departments.

Since December 2020, the HR and IT teams, together with iCIMS implementation specialists, have been configuring and testing the system for streamlined efficiency based on our current workflow process. Key improvements for hiring managers and search committees include:

  • Position request creation and approval is all done via electronic approval within iCIMS.
  • Budget approval will be included in the workflow.
  • Review of applicant submission materials — resume/CV, cover letter, mission statement, and other documents can be done in real time as a group.
  • One of our HR team members will be a dedicated recruiter for each position to assist with process workflow, offer creation/delivery, and onboarding. We’ve adopted this approach recently in response to the large number of job openings and dearth of applicants for Saint Mary’s positions. It’s produced very good results, so it will be incorporated as part of the new iCIMS platform and workflow.

Hiring managers should continue to use Applicant Tracker to post new positions and close all current open positions through Friday, Sept. 17. Beginning Monday, Sept. 20, all new positions will be requested and approved through iCIMS. In preparation for the launch of iCIMS, we encourage hiring managers to start familiarizing themselves with the platform by visiting the iCIMS Training Library: Getting Started for Hiring Managers.

As an additional next step for hiring managers, please review your current job postings in Applicant Tracker and make an extra effort to complete your searches quickly and close them out with the current candidate pools as soon as you can.

More details, including additional training links, will be shared regularly via Cardinal Update as we approach our go live date of Monday, Sept. 20. If you have questions or want further information, contact Abbie Henningson, talent acquisition manager at Ext. 7113 or ahenning@smumn.edu or Dave Miliotis, vice president for human resources at Ext. 1421 or dmilioti@smumn.edu.

Ed.D. student publishes in medical science journal

Xiao (Brenda) Liang, current Ed.D. student, published a manuscript with her former co-workers. Adapting Teaching Methods of Basic Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the American Academy of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (AAAOM) for the US Postsecondary Audiences (co-authored with Qian Li and others), International Journal of Clinical Acupuncture, Volume 29, Number 1, 2020.

Liang was also selected as an ad hoc reviewer of Scientific Reports for May 2021 and received mention on their website (view the May 2021 reviewers archived list at the bottom of the webpage).

Father James P. Burns

The Rev. James P. Burns, IVD, Ph.D.
President
Saint Mary's University of Minnesota

Comments?

Email: chahn@smumn.edu

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