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Q: When did you come to Wesleyan?
A: I came to Wesleyan in 1987 as the director of Financial Aid. In 1998,
I became the project manager for the PeopleSoft Student Administration
System, and later the director of administrative applications. It was a new
position.
Q: What does it mean to be “director of administrative applications?”
A: I have overall responsibility for how the Student Administration
System (SFIS) and the Human Resources Management System (HRMS) are used by
the functional offices around campus. My job is to develop better and more
efficient ways to use systems in office operations.
Q: What is your interaction or overlap with Information Technology
Services and Human Resources, or other departments of note?
A: ITS has responsibility for all the technical aspects of the systems,
but I work with offices to make this technology more efficient. We work
closely with ITS to help us implement the system improvements for the
offices that use the PeopleSoft systems. In addition to my work with various
student services office, I also work with with Human Resources, the
Financial Planning Office, Payroll, Academic Affairs and other offices that
use the HRMS side of the system. All of our projects are done cooperatively
with ITS and the user office that will use the enhancement.
Q: What are some examples of projects that have extended the efficiency
of these systems?
A: One is the InfiNet Web payment system for the Students Accounts
Office, GLSP and University Relations. A new online-registration system for
GLSP went live last week, and we have also developed a new Budget Management
and Planning System that allows senior staff areas to see and enter more
detailed information about their budgets. An application that will be live
this week is a new on-line compensation system where managers can make their
recommendations for the July 1 increases for their staff.
Q: How did you get into this type of work?
A: I have a master’s in higher education administration, and I spent 25
years working in financial aid offices at three other institutions. Working
in financial aid has given me a good perspective on how other departments
operate, so I learned what was needed in administrative systems. I may not
know the payroll process or how Human Resources does their budgeting, but I
am able to sit down with experts and figure out how to implement a useful
system that can make things easier for them.
Q: What is your involvement with the electronic portfolio, and how often
should people log into the system and why?
A: People should log in every day. From this portfolio, you can see your
time off or vacation time, change your address, elect health and life
insurance, establish retirement funds and see if there are any campus-wide
alerts such as snow parking bans. We established this system for faculty and
staff in 2003 to save paper and a lot of hassle. No more filling out papers
and physically brining them to an office, and no more calling around to
change your mailing address. People can submit all this information now on
the Web. Also, since you have to sign into your portfolio, we know it is the
right person getting into the system.
Q: Any upcoming projects?
A: We’re currently working on making a better system for all hourly
employees who have to report time. The one now works, but we can make it
better by extending capabilities for online time recording. We’re also
designing a recruiting module for new employees, so they can submit their
applications and resumes online. On the student side, we’re looking at
re-writing the student online registration system. That’s our big project
for next year.
Q: How do you spend most of your day?
A: I’m usually going to quite a few meetings or working on plans here at
my desk. I’m on the phone sometimes, but mostly I work through e-mail
communication.
Q: What have you liked best about working at Wesleyan?
A: I like the variety of people I come in contact with. I’ve met many
students and staff and faculty and it interests me to see the variety of
things people do. I also like the athletic facility and the cultural
resources here at Wesleyan. It’s a really good atmosphere.
Q: What about your job?
A: I like that I’m always working on something different and that can be
very challenging. And it’s nice to see how something I made improves the way
someone else works.
Q: Do you have family?
A: I am single, but I have two grown children. Molly is a grad student
at the University of South Florida in clinical psychology and Kate is a
paramedic in Hartford. She’s engaged to be married next summer.
Q: What do you do after work?
A: I am a singer. I’ve been singing about 10 years, three of which have
been with the Hartford Chorale. We put on about three to four concerts a
year and sing with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. I also like to see opera
in New York City. I play bridge every week and I like to just putter around
my house doing small projects. |
