Friday Focus: Recharged and looking forward to a new year

Jan. 20, 2023

— By Nickole Conley, chief of staff

The new year is well underway as we near the end of January 2023. I hope everyone had a wonderful winter break and the opportunity to take some time off, and spend time with friends and family even if it was 20 below. Whatever you chose to take part in, I hope it was refreshing and allowed you to set new goals for yourself and not just resolutions.

I personally do not make resolutions because this, per the Oxford languages dictionary, means to make a firm decision to do or not to do something. Instead, I choose to set goals that are the object of my ambition or effort, or a destination in my journey. I value setting goals personally and within an organization because those goals can change as we learn and grow.

In early January 2020, just months before COVID-19, I was asked to stand up a combined business office now known as the Signers’ Business Office. This business office would have a goal to create a structure that supported the Chancellor’s units (athletics, advancement, governance), Provost units (outside of schools or colleges), Institute of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Extension, and Student Affairs (with the exception of SA auxiliaries managed outside of SBO). Combining these units meant merging/changing processes and standardizing long-standing practices for more than 40 units and almost 700 employees.

SBO had a shaky first year while adjusting and adapting to change. The office experienced the effects of COVID immediately — we found ourselves hiring numerous new employees remotely, training remotely, and working to navigate a very complex organization remotely. As we all felt the newness of remote work, we were also all learning how to function within our jobs remotely. This was no easy task but SBO persevered and continued to move forward while creating small goals and pivoting to meet the needs of our customers. Amongst some of the goals SBO set was a goal to provide services across campus when units find themselves without staff due to turnover or obstacles that leave them with limited capacity to serve customers. This goal was important to SBO because we found ourselves in this same position and were asking for help across campus to meet our own customer needs.

Our service model can provide support in the areas of grant management, human resources, procurement, or any function a business office would provide. Since implementing this model SBO has been able to help the Vice Chancellor of Research Office, School of Education, College of Engineering and Mines, and Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration with human resource coordinator support. SBO has also stepped in to help the Office of Grants and Contracts with billing and set-ups of new and current awards due to staffing shortages and the Institute of Arctic Biology with procurement during times of transition.

SBO is still learning and growing and we hope to do this as a team with other campus units. It is important to all of us to have resources across the campuses and the ability to work together as so much of what we do overlaps at some point in time. If you ever find yourself in need of business office support, feel free to reach out to SBO or me directly. We are happy to discuss your unit's needs and our ability to help during any transition period. 

Speaking of transition periods, SBO’s fearless leader, executive officer Phillip Harrington has announced his transition into retirement effective June 1. Harrington is an alum of UAF and has over 30 years of service supporting faculty, staff, and students. Harrington’s 30 years have been spent in the finance sector throughout the UA system office and UAF central offices, colleges, and departments leaving the last bit of his legacy in SBO. Please help me in congratulating Phill on his service to UAF and the adventures that await him.

Lastly, a huge thanks to SBO for the service they provide and all the talented people working there. Thank you for all you do!

Friday Focus is a column written by a different member of UAF's leadership team every week.