Friday Focus: Thank you Policy Committees!

June 9, 2023

— By Nickole Conley, chief of staff

The sun is out and the end of FY23 is nearing! Things are always bustling at the end of each fiscal year as fiscal staff are working round the clock to close out accounts, create budgets for the new fiscal year, and clean up any last-minute financial pieces that support staff, faculty, and students.  Meanwhile, most students are on a break exploring what life has to offer while our student athletes enjoy some time off from their busy seasons. Faculty are teaching summer courses, doing community outreach, and conducting cutting-edge research from here at Troth Yeddha’ campus to all the way in Antarctica. Administrators and other staff are planning for the upcoming fiscal/academic year and working hard on all of the things that make UAF an amazing university and a place of belonging.

With the business of fiscal year-end, I wanted to take a minute and thank all the staff, faculty and students for all you do. Everyone has a million things going on and sometimes we forget to just take a minute, enjoy what's around us, and appreciate those we work with. I was reminded of this earlier this week when Marcia Cassino, executive assistant to the vice chancellor of student affairs and enrollment management brought in what she called “sunny Tuesday ice cream.” It was one of the first sunny days in Fairbanks (with hopefully many more to come), and Marcia reminded us all to stop and enjoy the sweetness - literally! It was a welcomed break to our busy summer schedules.

In addition to our regular duties on campus comes the responsibility of participating in a committee or task force. I have several committees assisting with policy creation and review running at any one time. I want to give a big shout out to all of the committees and their members that have convened to take part in the creation and review of policy over the course of this year. So many staff and faculty spend their time with me on policies as we write, review, and re-review to ensure a comprehensive document is in place.

To ensure UAF policies are updated and in-sync with our business practices, we will be releasing many new and updated policies in the coming months If you find a policy that you believe needs to be reviewed, updated or added as a campus policy, feel free to reach out to me. One thing to keep in mind is that all policies belong to the chancellor and not units or departments. If your unit or department has a policy, please contact me.

The policy process can be confusing; below is a short high-level overview of the process to help the broader campus with an understanding. A more detailed outline of the process can be found online.

1. Send a request to the UAF chief of staff for a new policy or revision of an old policy
2. Committee is formed unless the revision is minor and doesn’t alter policy intent
3. Policy is written, updated or revised
4. Policy is reviewed by the core cabinet, chancellor's cabinet, and governance groups for feedback
5. Chancellor approves the policy

Campus policies are reviewed every five to 10 years unless something has changed requiring an immediate update. If you're ever looking for a policy, you can find all updated policies on the UAF Policy page on the Chancellor’s website. On that page, you can also find a master spreadsheet of policies under review or being processed by a committee.

In closing, thank you to everyone for all you do, especially all of my policy committees. Your hard work, dedication, and time are appreciated.