Administrative services

Jody Maestas (jody.maestas@ucdenver.edu), HR & Operations Specialist, is responsible for the following areas:

• Payroll for lecturers and student employees
• Access for faculty, staff and students to 4th and 5th floors
• Support with issues related to copying, printing, telephony and faxing (e.g., copier codes, toner cartridge replacement, phone extensions, voice mail and long-distance codes)
• Support with facilities issues (e.g., light bulb replacement, temperature setting issues, building repairs, etc.)
• Office furniture requests
• Key requests
• Help in purchasing office supplies
• Projects/tasks for work-study students

Submit the School of Public Affairs Workorder form to request assistance.

Human resources in higher education is complex, and it involves keeping abreast of constant changes in policies and procedures. Whenever you have questions about CU Denver and SPA HR policies and procedures, contact Elizabeth Pae, Director of Human Resources, at elizabeth.pae@ucdenver.edu.

UCDAccess Portal & CU Resources

The CU Resources section of the UCDAccess Portal is your one-stop shop for all employee self-service actions and training resources. In the portal, you can:

• Update your address and your emergency contact information
• View and compare available benefits and enroll during the annual open enrollment period
• View paychecks and tax information
• Submit travel expenses for reimbursement
• Access Skillsoft and other CU training resources

Faculty Compensation Policies & Procedures

A number of complex policies and procedures pertain to your compensation as a faculty member on the CU Denver campus. Please become familiar with the Denver Campus Faculty Compensation Policy to avoid any issues with being paid correctly and on time.

9-month vs. 12-month Pay

Faculty annual pay is based on the traditional nine- month academic year. You can elect to receive your pay over nine months (the default) or over 12 months. Contract pay election changes are permitted once each year. Contract pay elections will be available in the portal in late spring, and you will have the opportunity to request changes prior to July 1 each year. 

For more information, visit the university’s faculty payroll website.

Rules and Limitations for Additional Compensation During the Academic Year

In most cases, faculty are paid for the workload set forth in your offer letter and paid out over the nine-month academic year. Under limited circumstances, you may be eligible for additional pay, but only with prior approval from the Dean’s Office and after submitting the required HR forms.

Below are the types of allowable additional compensation during the academic year. Please remember that the sum of all additional compensation paid during each academic year from these three sources is limited to 10% of your academic year salary.

• Teaching overloads: includes courses outside your regular teaching load, the development of new curricula, the development of a course compensated by CU Online, agreeing to take on additional students beyond a course cap, etc.
• Compensation for additional service: refers to service activities well above and beyond the typical faculty service expectations, such as serving as a program director.
• Compensation related to awards: refers to one-time monetary awards, such as those awarded for merit in teaching, research or service, or awarded under a pre-approved recognition program.

Your pre-approval process for additional compensation due to teaching overloads and service activities involves the following steps:

• Submit a SPA Workload Adjustment Form that has been signed by the initiating faculty member and the Program Director for review by SPA HR for eligibility and for approval by the Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs.
• Submit a DDC Faculty Additional Pay Pre-Approval Form that includes the type and dates of work performed, reason for additional pay and evidence of prior approval.

Payments for completed work that has been approved for additional pay are paid out in the month following the completion of the activity.

Rules and Limitations for Summer Pay

A separate summer appointment letter from the Dean is required for you to undertake research, teaching or service during the summer months: June, July and August. Please note that your monthly summer salary cannot exceed one-ninth of your AY base salary and that your total summer compensation is capped at three-ninths of your AY base salary.

If you are approved to receive summer pay, SPA HR and Grant staff will contact you in April to confirm your activities. In May, you will receive a summer pay letter that sets forth the terms of your summer pay.

Compensation for Work From External Sources

The “One-Sixth Rule” allows faculty to receive additional remuneration from external sources (such as funds generated from consulting) provided the income-generating activities do not exceed one-sixth of your total time and effort. There is no cap on the amount of pay from external sources, just on the amount of time and effort you are allowed to spend on these activities. You must receive pre-approval from the Dean and complete the Declaration of Outside Consulting Form to activate the one-sixth rule. If other consulting opportunities arise during the academic year, please submit a new form prior to starting the work.

Faculty Funds

In certain limited circumstances, it may be possible to put additional funds into your professional development, travel or other accounts, or to use them for other purposes. Talk to Elizabeth or Kathy about your options.

Benefit Elections and Resources for Benefit Questions

Your total compensation goes beyond the number on your paycheck. The University of Colorado provides generous benefit programs, including health, life, dental, vision, retirement contributions and other insurance options that add to your bottom line. Learn more about your total compensation with the resources below:

• Benefits 101
• Total Compensation Calculator

You may enroll in benefits during the Open Enrollment period, which occurs in April of each year. Once you have elected your benefits for the year, you can only change those benefits outside of the Open Enrollment period if you have a qualifying life event, such as birth or adoption of a child, or marriage or divorce. Learn more information about your benefits. Employee Services administers all benefits for the university and can answer any questions about your benefits. Contact Employee Services at 303-860-4200.

University Training and Professional Development Resources

Skillsoft

The UCD Access Portal has resources for mandatory and optional trainings. All faculty must complete the following trainings in Skillsoft:

• Preventing Harassment and Discrimination
• Fiscal Code of Ethics
• Information Security and Privacy

You can access additional trainings on a variety of topics — including courses in information technology, business skills and stress reduction — by browsing the Library in Skillsoft. You can also view the campus HR website for a list of upcoming trainings.

LinkedIn Learning

The online learning and professional development platform, Lynda.com, has been upgrade to LinkedIn Learning. LinkedIn Learning retains popular Lynda.com features, while delivering a more personalized learning experience, helping employees learn new skills or refine current skills with greater ease. Despite the name change, all employees will still be able to connect to professional growth opportunities through the employee portal.

Colorado State Employee Assistance Program (C-SEAP)

Colorado State Employee Assistance Program (C-SEAP) offers professional assessment, referral and short-term free confidential counseling services to State employees (including CU Denver employees) with work-related or personal concerns, as well as a resource for supervisors and managers seeking individual managerial consultation, work-group organizational development, assistance with conflict resolution, or help with resolution of work-place traumatic events.

Contact C-SEAP at 303-866-4314 or 1-800-821-8154. 

Hiring a Student Employee

Receiving support from a student employee is a mutually beneficial relationship between you and the student. Please refer to SPA's Graduate assistant/Teaching assistant/Research assistant Appointment Policy to determine which employee type to request based on your needs. (Please note that lecturers are not eligible to request GA/TA/RA appointments.)

To request a student worker, please complete the Student Employee Request Form. It is the requesting faculty member’s responsibility to identify the particular graduate student they wish to serve as the GA/TA/RA. All student employee request forms must be received by the Dean at least one month prior to the beginning of the semester in which a GA/TA/RA is requested to serve. You will be notified by SPA HR whether the Dean has approved your request.

Students wishing to be considered to serve as a GA/TA/RA should submit a resume and cover letter to SPA HR. The student’s information will be added to the shared drive. Faculty can use this part of the shared drive as a resource for finding potential assistants.

Now that the Equal Pay Act is in effect in Colorado, student positions must be posted for a minimum of one week in the Handshake student employment portal.

Student Job Posting

1. Write up a small job description and requirements for the job
   
2. Go to: https://ucdenver.joinhandshake.com 
   
3. Create a new account 
4. Click on “Post a Job”
   
   1. Type in “Research Assistant” in the Job Title field
      
   2. Job Type: On campus Student Employee
      
   3. Employment Type: Part-Time 
      
   4. Duration Temporary/Seasonal
      
   5. Work Study Job?:  No
      
   6. Enter $/hour in the Wage/Salary Field
      
   7. Type in your Job Description/Qualification information in the appropriate fields

Sample student assistant job listing: 

Job Description: The School of Public Affairs is looking for a reliable, self-motivated, hard-working student to join our team. Responsibilities for this position include (but are not limited to): procurement/accounting, general clerical/office management duties, and heavy lifting/moving furniture.
Qualifications: Must be able to perform physical work and take direction well. This person must possess good customer service skills, and be able to work well with people, including SPA staff, students, and faculty. Applicants must have a work-study award.

• * Eligibility for international students (non-US citizens or permanent residents) No
  
• Required Documents: Resume          
• Fill out the other fields and Save.
• The posting will not automatically go live.  It needs to be reviewed. Once it has been accepted, you’ll receive an email letting you know it is active.
• The posting will be removed on the date of its expiration date.
  

Once you have identified a student employee using these posting instructions, please complete this student employee request form with the student’s name and contact information so that we can run the background check etc. before the student starts work:

https://ucdenverdata.formstack.com/forms/spastudentrequest 

Supervising a Student Employee

If your request for a student employee is granted, you and the student will sign a Student Employment Agreement setting forth your respective responsibilities. Before your student employee begins the work, please make sure you are familiar with the policies and procedures in the University’s Student Employment Handbook.

Hourly employees are required by federal law to take a 30-minute unpaid break during each consecutive 5-hour stretch that they work. These breaks cannot be taken at the beginning or end of a shift, so please keep this in mind as they are clocking in/out and completing their time sheets.

If your student is scheduled to work outside of normal business hours (before 8 a.m. or after 5 p.m.), please be sure that they list the duties performed after hours in a note in the comments section of their timesheet (e.g., “assisted with setup for evening SPA event”).

If you have questions about hiring or supervising a student employee, please contact spa.hr@ucdenver.edu. 

Student employee payroll

Your student employee is paid on a bi-weekly basis, based on a timesheet that they submit in MyLeave and that you approve. Please become familiar with this process so that your student can be paid on time.

STEP 1: Review the Timesheet Deadlines Calendar (available on the shared drive in the Human Resources folder) to view the pay period dates, timesheet deadlines and pay days for the upcoming semester.

STEP 2: Students will track and submit their time using MyLeave in the CU Resources portal during each pay period. After their last shift of the pay period, the student will submit their timesheet and you must review and approve it in MyLeave. The complete list of MyLeave resources can be found here: https://www.cu.edu/employee-services/payroll/self-service/my-leave

If you have any trouble approving the time sheet, or you have questions, please email spa.hr@ucdenver.edu.

Anticipate the amount of lead time you will need to review and approve your student’s timesheet and develop a timesheet submission and approval schedule that meets the payroll deadline.

(Consider having your student submit their timesheet on the Friday prior to the Monday deadline to give you the weekend and all of Monday to e-sign it.)

STEP 3: Supervisors must approve their students’ timesheets in MyLeave by the timesheet deadline for processing.

Faculty & Staff Searches

Serving on a search committee is an important service to SPA. Learn more about serving on a search committee, and note that all search committee members must complete search committee training in Skillsoft prior to starting the search.

The Dean will appoint a chair/co-chairs for a faculty search committee and solicit volunteers from among the faculty to serve on the committee. Generally, the search process takes place during the fall semester with the committee identifying one to three candidates who are invited to campus to make a presentation to SPA faculty and staff. SPA faculty and staff will discuss the candidates and provide feedback to the Dean at the faculty meeting following the interviews. The Dean will then make an offer to the top candidate, typically in December or early January.

SPA HR uses a variety of search options to attract qualified staff talent to best support the school. Most often, the hiring authority and the supervisor of the position being recruited will invite both faculty and staff to serve on a staff search committee. The committee is responsible for establishing a diverse and qualified applicant pool and will forward the most qualified candidates as finalists.

Typically, hiring authorities do not serve as search committee members. This is structured so the search process will avoid inadvertent bias and yield the greatest diversity of candidates.

Dao Vue is SPA's Finance and Accounting Manager. Please contact him at dao.vue@ucdenver.edu for questions related to this section.

Professional Development Funds

SPA makes funds available for your professional development. The funds expire, and any unused balance will be forfeited after the given deadlines. Examples of how professional development funds may be used are listed below. Please note that this list is not all inclusive and that each category might have restrictions.

• Memberships
• Conference registrations
• Conference travel expenses
• Educational books
• Workshop registrations
• Trainings

Each quarter, you will be provided with a customized report outlining your available professional development funds and the deadline by which you must use the funds or forfeit them. The sources of these funds vary depending on your activities, and these funds are accounted for on speedtypes. It is your responsibility to review your reports and verify that your expenses have been charged correctly.

Booking Travel & Travel Reimbursement

The university pays for most expenses incurred by employees who travel for university business. The trip must have a bona fide business purpose, and in order for expenses to be reimbursed, they must comply with the university’s policies and guidelines. You may apply for a University Travel Card and use it to pay for travel expenses, or you may pay for travel expenses using your own personal forms of payment and seek reimbursement after the trip.

Below are some of the guidelines that you should follow when traveling on university business. For a more complete list of travel/reimbursement policies, please visit the University’s travel policy page. If you are traveling on grant funds, please see the section on 'Grants & Contracts Procedures' for additional information.

Booking Your Travel

Prior approval is required for all university travel. Before making travel arrangements, please complete the School of Public Affairs Travel and Procurement Authorization form. When a trip is approved, Dao will provide you with the speedtype to use for expenses related to your trip.

Airfare

The university requires that employees book airfare through Christopherson Business Travel (the university’s designated travel agent) or directly through through the Concur travel and expense system located on UCDAccess.

You may only purchase outside airfare if the outside airfare meets one of these circumstances:

1. The fare is not available for purchase through the University Travel Program. 
   1. Limitations could be related to international in-country travel, remote travel, etc. 
   2. Exceptions for fares that are not available for purchase through the travel program must be approved prior to purchase by emailing an exception request to psctravel@cu.edu
2. Significant cost savings are demonstrated to the University
   1. For an internet airfare purchase to demonstrate significant cost savings, all of the following requirements must be fulfilled:
      
      1. Obtain a comparison quote from Concur dated on or prior to the date of the internet purchase
         1. Comparison quote must be for the exact itinerary – same travel dates, times, routes, and airline/s as the planned internet purchase
   2. When compared to the quote from Concur, the cost of the internet airfare must be:
      1. $50 less for domestic flights
      2. $200 less for international flights.
         

Christopherson Business Travel
Toll Free Phone: 1-855-462-8885
Local Phone: 303-694-8744
Fax: 303-741-6329
Email: cutravel@cbtravel.com
Emergency after hours: 1-800-954-0023 (Must reference service code VP-JOO after 5:30 p.m. and during weekends)
International After Hours: 682-233-0916 (Must give ID Code VP-JOO (letter O, not Zero)

Car Rental

To ensure that your rental car is covered under the university’s rental car insurance policy, car reservations should be arranged with the approved university travel agency or state approved car rental vendors. View the list of vendors and the corporate rate code.

Lodging

Lodging can be arranged independently from the approved travel agency. The university allows for the cost of a standard room, and the cost should be reasonable and/or necessary.

Per-diem

Meal receipts are not required. You will be reimbursed the respective per-diem rate for the destination city. If the meeting/conference/workshop provides meals during your time there, the university will not reimburse for those meals. View the list of cities and their respective per-diem rates.

Travel Reimbursement

During your trip, make sure to obtain and retain receipts for lodging, trains, taxis, baggage fees and other university-business-related expenses you have incurred. The receipts must show whom you paid, what you paid for and how you paid for it. You will be reimbursed using Concur.

Receipts

Please submit your itemized receipts (with proof of payments) and the conference/meeting/workshop agenda to the School of Public Affairs Workorder form.

When you combine personal travel with your business travel, you are required to reimburse CU for the difference in airfare if extended days result in an increase in airfare. An airfare quote must be obtained and submitted with your reimbursement claims.

Purchasing & Reimbursements

If you need to purchase office supplies, books and other non-travel expenses, please submit the School of Public Affairs Workorder form. SPA’s A-Team works hard to ensure that you have the items you need when you need them. The A-Team takes advantage of discounted pricing due to the university’s price agreements with vendors.

If you make a purchase with your own funds, the university will reimburse you for any business-related, out-of-pocket expenses that you incur. Please note that you have 90 days from the date of the purchase to be reimbursed tax-free. Please submit your reimbursement request using the School of Public Affairs Workorder form.

See the section on 'Technology & Information Management' for information on purchasing technology equipment and products.

Sponsored Projects

When you apply for and/or receive funding from external sources in which research or services are being completed, you are participating in a sponsored project. Lauren Goolsby, Director of Grants and Contracts for SPA, assists all faculty in applying for and managing their research activities listed below. Contact Lauren at lauren.goolsby@ucdenver.edu.

Pre-award

The time period prior to a project being awarded is considered the pre-award stage. All proposals are required to be routed through the Office of Grants and Contracts (OGC) prior to submission to receive institutional review and approval. Please notify Lauren to discuss deadlines and requirements as soon as you think you will develop a proposal.

In general, OGC requires all proposals to be routed at least 12 business days prior to the sponsor deadline. Routing is completed in the InfoEd system and the components must include:

• Detailed budget
• Budget narrative
• Sponsor’s request for proposal (RFP) and/or application instructions
• All form sets required by the sponsor
• All other documents that must be submitted to the sponsor
• Bio sketches, current and pending support, etc.

If there is a subcontractor, the proposal must also include a subcontract commitment form as well as the following:

• Subcontract detailed budget
• Budget narrative
• Scope of work

For submission of the proposal, OGC requires the final proposal four (4) business days prior to the sponsor deadline to submit.

Post-award

Once a project is funded, it moves to the post-award stage. Please notify Lauren of any awards so that you may begin the award and project setup process. OGC will complete a legal review and execute all award documents. Do not sign any award documents until they have been submitted to and reviewed by the OGC.

When the award is fully executed, a speedtype will be created to track all project-related expenses. Work with Lauren to ensure that all personnel effort setup has been appropriately charged to your project. (See the ‘ePER’ section below about certification of effort.) All project-related travel and purchases must be approved through a request in the School of Public Affairs Workorder form.

Principal Investigators (PIs) have a fiscal responsibility for all expenses charged to their projects. Lauren will send monthly financial reports to all faculty with funded projects. It is these faculty members’ responsibility to review each report and to verify that transactions are appropriate and correct. To ask questions and to provide corrections to the reports, contact Lauren at 303-315-2085.

Billing/Invoicing

OGC will handle all project-related invoicing and deposits unless the project is reimbursed based on deliverable completion. If your project does require invoicing based on deliverables, you must notify Lauren when the task is completed so that she can generate an invoice to send to the sponsor.

Project Close-out

The first day after the end-date of a project marks the beginning of the closed-out stage. Project close out includes final invoicing and reporting. Expenses cannot be charged to a project after the end-date; therefore, it is imperative that all project-related expenses are booked prior to this date. PIs should monitor your project balances at least 90 days prior to the end-date to determine whether a no-cost extension should be requested from the sponsor. Learn more about grants and contracts.

Auxiliary Contracts

Auxiliary revenue, or fee-for-service (FFS) contracts, are for providing consulting services to external sources when the work is not research related. Please discuss this type of work with Lauren to determine if the work can be considered FFS and to obtain the template for the contract. These contracts are also reviewed and executed by OGC.

Colorado Institutional Review Board

The Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board (COMIRB) is the administrative body established to protect the rights and welfare of human research subjects. If any of your work involves human subjects, the PI must notify Lauren and work with COMIRB to receive approval. Learn more about the Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board.

Electronic Personnel Effort Report (ePER)

If you are working on a sponsored project, you are required to certify your effort on that project. Certification provides assurance to the sponsor that the effort being put into a project matches the effort paid by grant funding. Project employees are required to certify their electronic Personnel Effort Report (ePER) at the end of each semester (fall, spring and summer). Any questions regarding certification of ePERs can be directed to Lauren at 303-315-2085. Learn more about electronic Personnel Effort Reports.

Conflict of Interest Disclosure

All faculty who conduct research are required to complete an annual Conflict of Interest (COI) disclosure so that the university can assess potential conflicts and take appropriate steps. Learn more about conflict of interest disclosures.

Nate Lambright Dale is SPA's IT Professional, and he supports faculty in the areas of computer ordering and set-up, system and device troubleshooting, hardware and software requests, and support for SPA classrooms. For support, please submit a ticket through the School of Public Affairs Workorder Form, or contact Nate at nathaniel.lambrightdale@ucdenver.edu.

Technology Purchasing and Selection

The university provides you with technology hardware and software to enable you to carry out your duties. The hardware and software remain the property of the university while you are employed at SPA and must be returned to SPA upon the conclusion of your employment. This includes IT purchases made with professional development funds, grant funds or contracts with external funding sources.

Full-time faculty members are issued computers that follow a replacement cycle of three to five years as needed, and as resources allow. Whenever new computers and/or software are purchased for you, they will be procured from university-approved vendors and will follow the configurations determined by the university. At SPA, the standard hardware configuration is a Dell desktop or laptop, monitor, keyboard and mouse. The standard software configuration is the Microsoft Windows operating system and Microsoft Office Suite.

Configurations that exceed the going-market-rate of the SPA standard configuration (including Apple hardware, additional software applications, etc.) can only be accommodated with the Dean’s approval. You must submit a written request that includes the justification or need for the hardware/software that supports the direct/indirect SPA missions related to teaching, research or service.

You may also request to use your professional development or grant/contract funds to cover the additional costs. Use of grants/contracts funds will require approval of the SPA Grants and Contracts Manager. Use of professional development funds will require approval of the Dean and must comply with any rules/restrictions of those funds.

All technology purchases must be pre-approved and made by the A-Team to ensure compliance with university vendor contracts.

CU Online and Canvas Support

For support for online and hybrid courses, please contact CU Online. The CU Online Helpdesk is available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and can be reached via email at cuonlinehelp@ucdenver.edu or by calling 303-315-3700. For Canvas technical support, contact Canvas directly at support@instructure.com or by calling 855-631-2250. 

Office of Information Technology (OIT)

OIT provides support for university-wide technology, such as networks, Microsoft Office systems, portals, website management, etc. Visit the Office of Information Technology's (OIT) website for a full list of services. For immediate assistance, contact them by phone at 303-724-4357, or visit their homepage for other contact information, including a self-service portal.

Classroom and AV Support

As discussed above, set-up and support for SPA classrooms is provided by SPA. Support for other CU Denver classrooms is provided by the Office of Information Technology’s Academic Technology and Classroom Support division. You can request additional AV equipment, audience response technologies such as clickers, and arrange for live streaming, among other things. Generally, services provided by OIT that are course-related are free (although there are exceptions).

If you are teaching in an Auraria classroom, there will be instructions in the room about how to use the equipment already in place, along with a phone number to call if you need assistance.

Working Remotely

Faculty often work from home or while traveling. You can access your work folder by installing VPN on your home desktop or laptop. For instructions, visit the OIT webpage on virtual private networks and working remotely.

Passwords

Your username and password are the same for applications across the CU system, from your email account to your access to university portals. To change or update your password, go to OIT's password webpage. You can also change your password directly from your computer using CTRL-ALT-DEL.

Outlook

Please use your university email account when communicating via email about university business, and ask your students to do so as well. 

Faculty are also encouraged to keep their calendars on Outlook to make scheduling easier. Having your calendar on Outlook allows other SPA faculty and staff to see when your calendar is open, making it much easier to schedule meetings. (This type of access only shows up as blocks of time shown as available and not available, and does not list any details about your schedule, such as the purpose of meetings or appointments.) This also allows faculty and staff to send meeting and event invitations that will go directly on your calendar if you “accept” them in Outlook.

University Computing & Technology Guidelines

All users of the University network (e.g., faculty, staff and students) have the shared responsibility to use these resources in an efficient, ethical and legal manner. The university provides access to IT resources in support of official university business and may revoke access privileges for reasons deemed appropriate by the Chief Information Officer (CIO) as specified by APS 6005 - IT Security Program.

Related Policies:

• University of Colorado Administrative Policy Statements (APS) 6001: Providing and Using Information Technology
• CU Denver Campus Level Policy: Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources