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@Metro (Vol. 4, No. 18) 1. MetroConnect To Replace Current CorporateTime
On July 7, MetroConnect, the college's new portal system will provide users with calendar access, replacing the current CorporateTime calendar system. "Instead of individually logging into Corporate Time and Outlook, users will retrieve their calendar and e-mail all through a single login," said Yvonne Flood, director of administration for IT. To accommodate the portal's conversion needs, there will be no access to CorporateTime or Metro State e-mail beginning at 5 p.m. on July 3 through 7 a.m., July 7. On July 7, MetroConnect goes live. Appointments scheduled through CorporateTime will migrate into MetroConnect's calendar. "As a safety precaution, faculty and staff should print out a hard copy of the next year of calendar items," said Flood. MetroConnect will synch into personal digital assistants (PDA) that are PC accessed. However, MetroConnect is not currently compatible with Macintosh PDAs. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at 6-4508.
The Board of Trustees plans to discuss the proposed Metro State Trustees Policy Manual and Handbook for Professional Personnel and to begin discussions on a tuition increase for 2003-04 at its regular monthly meeting today from 8 a.m. to noon in room 320 of the Tivoli Student Union. To view the agenda, go to: /trustees/
The launch this summer of the online portal MetroConnect will allow the college a number of opportunities to gain efficiencies and reduce costs, including no longer printing information that can be obtained online. As part of this, the Payroll Department plans to discontinue printing and mailing monthly pay advices to employees. The last printed payroll advice employees will receive will be on July 1, 2003. After that time, all payroll information will be available on the BannerWeb portion of MetroConnect. Currently, this information is available through the BannerWeb system on Metro State's homepage, http://www.mscd.edu/banner.htm, in addition to being mailed to employees monthly. If you have any questions or need help finding your payroll information online, call Payroll at ext. 6-3030.
HB 1336, the bill that would have changed the way higher education is financed by establishing college savings accounts, died in the House Appropriations Committee last Wednesday. Members of the Joint Budget Committee had voiced opposition to the bill because they said the voucher system would create an entitlement. Ultimately, the bill's sponsor, House Majority Leader Rep. Keith King (R-Colorado Springs) asked the appropriations committee to postpone the bill until May 8, in effect killing the bill since the legislative session ends May 7. King has said he intends to introduce similar legislation next year. The bill would have established "college and graduate opportunity savings accounts" based on the General Fund per-student subsidy provided directly to state colleges and universities. Students would direct their "savings account" dollars to the state college or university of their choice. Students would still have to pay tuition, although the bill would lower the cost of community college tuition by 25 percent.
The Registrar's Office has always worked to use technology to provide students and faculty with the most up-to-date, convenient and efficient services. Beginning with Spring 2004, the college will change to a class schedule that is available solely online. "The Web class schedule, together with Web registration, will allow students to register for classes conveniently and easily with all the up-to-the-minute information about classes and schedule changes," said Registrar Tom Gray. "Students can register 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They can search for all available classes by a whole bunch of variables. They can print out their class schedule immediately as well as pay their tuition and fees via credit card on the Web," Gray said. The class schedule is online at http://www.mscd.edu/enroll/registrar/sched.htm. The switch to an online schedule only is just the latest way that technology has been used to change and improve the registration process. To read Gray's recollections of changes over the last 30 years, go to: http://www.mscd.edu/~collcom/@metro/@metro_vol4/registrarv4050703.htm.
Nearly 1,300 students are expected to receive their diplomas at Spring Commencement, scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday, May 18, at the Colorado Convention Center, 14th and California streets. Those coming from south of Denver to the ceremony are advised to allow extra time to get to the ceremony. Because of T-REX construction, I-25 northbound between I-225 and Hampden Ave. will be closed that morning. Northbound lanes heading downtown are expected to reopen at 11 a.m. Motorists can detour by taking I-225 to Parker Road to Havana/Hampden Ave. and back to I-25. For more information, go to: http://www.trexproject.com/
Metro State is one of 10 Colorado colleges to be awarded a $200,000 grant from the Daniels Fund to provide scholarships to non-traditional and low-income students. "The current financial crisis facing higher education in Colorado is likely to impact low income families the most, making it even more difficult to pay for a college education," said Hank Brown, president and CEO of the Daniels Fund. "The special $2 million pilot initiative immediately expands the
scope of the foundation's efforts by targeting low-income GED and other
non-traditional populations for the first time," said Carrie Besnette,
Daniels Fund vice president and scholarship program director. "In
doing so, we are honoring Bill Daniels' expressed wish to help individuals
often overlooked by most scholarship programs, but who have every potential
to complete a college education," she said. At its annual conference April 24, the Telecommunications Cooperative of Colorado (TELECOOP) named Herb Stoughton, associate professor of surveying and mapping, Distance Educator of the Year. Stoughton was recognized for his continuing efforts to improve and increase distance education opportunities in Colorado and across the country. Established in 1986, TELECOOP is a coalition of public and private colleges, universities, K-12 education, businesses and public television stations that works to enhance educational opportunities through distance education curriculum and technologies. The Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) has named Emeritus Professor Eugenia Hepworth Berger, who retired from Metro State in 1997, as its 2003 recipient of the Outstanding Member Service Award. Berger, who taught early childhood education at Metro for more than 30 years, is author of "Parents as Partners in Education," now in its seventh edition.
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