REFERENCE GUIDE

REFERENCE GUIDE

ACADEMIC ADVISING

The Weaver Units are very fortunate to have an Academic Adviser assigned to the History, CAMS, Jewish Studies, Medieval Studies and Latin American Studies Majors, and various minors.

Ben Whitesell is on the 2 ^nd floor of Weaver and typically available from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Ben advises students on all aspects of the majors and minors and assists with other student issues while working closely with the unit scheduling officers, and staff assistants.

You can visit Ben’s professional profile here.

CANVAS COURSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

In CANVAS, you can:

Easily distribute course content such as syllabi, announcements, homework assignments, documents in various formats (such as Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF), website links, slideshows, multi-media, and other course materials
Organize content by course week, course content, or course objectives
Manage assignments using drop boxes
Encourage student participation and collaboration through discussion forums, assessments, surveys, and teams
Facilitate communication using the course mail and announcement tools

Tutorials and Support

CLASS CANCELLATION POLICY

Please visit the College’s Policy on Cancelling Class (Need to be logged in through WebAccess) here under “Instructor Absences from Class”.

You may also find it necessary to cancel or delay class due to bad weather. This is at the Instructor’s discretion, but notification to the students enrolled must be handled by the instructor via email (LionPath or CANVAS). The departmental staff cannot be the communicator of the cancellation. You should also consider timeliness when notifying students of a cancellation. Many students commute, so learning that a class will be cancelled a few minutes prior to the start is a situation that should be avoided if at all possible. Please don’t ask staff to walk to your classroom and post a note on the door.

We understand that there are extreme emergencies that come up and we will determine the best way to handle those on a case-by-case basis.

CLASSROOM SCHEDULING FOR COURSES

You will receive an email from your Faculty Scheduling Officer when it is time to schedule courses for the new semester. You will communicate the following information to your scheduling officer:

Preferred days (MWF or TR)
Preferred timeslots
Preferred courses
If you prefer to teach back-to-back courses
Preferred technology (ITEC=full technology, PTEC=projector only)
Special requests

You will receive another notification message soon after the schedule is published on www.LionPath.psu.edu. Please examine your courses within a week of receiving this announcement to make sure everything is accurate. If there appears to be some kind of error, please contact your scheduling officer.

Honors courses and Special Topics courses must go through an approval process. To request one of these courses, please complete the appropriate form:

HONORS COURSE FORM (HIST/MEDVL/RL ST/J ST/HEBR)
SPECIAL TOPICS FORM (HIST/MEDVL/RL ST/J ST/HEBR)

If you need to schedule a classroom for a one-time event (review session, exam) please email the Undergraduate staff assistant with the following information:

Number of seats needed
Technology needed
Date and time range needed
Preferred location (not guaranteed)

If you have any questions in regards to scheduling classrooms, please email the Undergraduate staff assistant

COMPUTER SUPPORT

Liberal Arts has centralized computer support for faculty, staff and students. To learn more, including how to submit a help request, please visit: https://it.la.psu.edu

Please submit a help desk ticket prior to any type of computer peripheral or software purchase. If you aren’t sure whether or not your request requires a ticket, ask one of the staff about it.

CONFERENCE ROOMS

We have two conference rooms, downstairs in 102 and upstairs in 415 that can be reserved for group meetings by speaking to Lynn or any other staff member.

102 Weaver –

This room is NOT to be used for class.
Evening and weekend events will have to be approved by a secondary approver since a special key will need to be loaned out and for liability reasons, the event must be “university sanctioned”
Under no circumstances will a key to this room be loaned out for an overnight or weekend without an approved reservation.
This room is for speakers, meeting, and conferences.
The departments in our building have precedence over outside colleges and/or departments.

There is a phone in this room for conference calls. See directions under PHONES.
This room can be reserved for use by people outside our departments. In those cases, the event has to be over by 4:30pm and is with the understanding that you may be asked to find another room if a departmental function unexpectedly comes up.

415 Weaver –

This room may be reserved for holding classes.
This room is also used for meetings.
There is a phone in this room for conference calls. See directions under PHONES.

COPY POLICY

1. A “copy request form” is available on the shelf at the front desk in Weaver 108. The form should be filled out and placed in the bin on top of shelves at the front desk. Email requests are not possible. *24 HOUR NOTICE PLEASE.
  1. IF you missed the 24 hour notice window, you may do your own copying at the faculty copy machine. This would count toward your total allotment for the year.
    1. IF you are using the faculty copier, you MUST be finished by 4:45 pm before the office closes. Policy states that we may NOT allow anyone inside the office when we lock up for the night.
2. Amber or work study CANNOT copy chapters in books (copyright policy) https://policy.psu.edu/policies/IP05 unless it is a book or article the instructor has written themselves.

NOTE : Exams and Quizzes need to be given directly to a staff person. Work study students CANNOT copy these.

You may pick up your copies either in your mail box (if syllabi) or in back of the front desk in 108 (if exams or quizzes or if copy job is too large to fit in mailbox). There will be a slip put in your mail box if you need to pick them up in 108.

Using the faculty copier in back of 108:

Your code for the copier will be the last 4 digits of your (9 digit) PSU ID. This will be already in the copier. This code is used for both copying and scanning.

*(WEAVER BUILDING POLICY, effective July 1 ^st, 2012)

The only documents for classroom use that will be photocopied by the office staff are syllabi and quizzes/exams. Mary Jo will not accept any other documents for duplication. Requests for copying MUST be submitted in person in 108 Weaver Building. All handouts and other documents that you wish to distribute to your classes should be digitized and uploaded to CANVAS for student use, or be organized into a course packet to be purchased by the students. If you are not yet using CANVAS, please start doing so. Please see page 2 of this guide for the link to tutorials for using CANVAS. Although faculty have access to the faculty copy machine for the purposes of research, faculty should not use their research copy account for classroom purposes, as we continue to enforce the 200 page/month or 2400 page/yr maximum and charge faculty for any copying in excess of those numbers. Along with continuing to go green, a goal of the University’s sustainability plan, these limits produce savings of at least $5,000 a year. This money is reinvested into facilities improvement for Weaver common areas and faculty offices. Thank you for helping us reinvest in benefits for the whole Weaver community while also helping the environment.

EVENTS

Weaver staff is available to assist you if you will be holding an event (special workshop, guest speaker, etc.). To get started, you should complete an Event Information Form. This form is submitted to the Weaver event staff (Lynn Carey). Upon receipt of the completed form, you will be contacted by a staff member to begin the planning process.

Forms can be found at the following locations:

History Event Information Form

EXAM SCHEDULING

Each semester, you will receive an email from the Undergraduate staff assistant asking if you would like to schedule a final exam for your course. You only need to let the Undergraduate Assistant know whether or not you would like an exam scheduled; the department has no control as to when or where the exam is scheduled.

Once the schedule is published, you will be sent a link to view it.

Make-up exam room reservation

PLEASE NOTICE CHANGES TO THIS POLICY EFFECTIVE 3/10/2017

This policy has been put in place to provide accommodations for instructors when a student must take an exam separately from the rest of the class for any reason.

Please carefully read the University Exam Policies. For students requesting accommodations due to a documented disability, please read the instructions to students and faculty.

Instructors are responsible for making adjustments for students who request accommodations.

Don’t forget to check into the Testing Center since this can be a valuable resource and offers solutions to exams with special accommodations.

Make-Up Exam Procedure for exams held in Weaver Building

Beginning on March 10, 2017, all Instructors must submit the form located here for HIST and here for CAMS: at least 24 hours prior to the requested date of exam. On the form, Instructors must indicate whether the exam is simply a make-up (for a time conflict or a one-time special arrangement), or an accommodation due to a disability. The type of arrangements needed should be added to the “accommodations” text box.

When the form is received, the staff assistant responsible (Lynn Carey is the primary lead on this, Amber is the back-up), will reserve a room for you during the time and day you specify.

If the student is requesting an accommodation due to a disability, a general purpose classroom or 415 Weaver will be reserved for that time period (depending on availability). The instructor will need to proctor or arrange for a proctor. It is important to know that staff cannot serve as proctors for your exam.

Please do not expect staff to monitor back-packs, check on students, or ensure no Academic Integrity violations occur. Staff cannot “time” exams. You must return to collect the student’s exam at the end of the exam period.

Please contact Lynn Monoski if you have questions or concerns regarding the policy or procedure.

GRADES

The LionPath system is used in order to post grades. Final course grades are required to be submitted no later than 48 hours after the final exam period and are submitted using LionPath. Because this is a web-based application, grades can be submitted from any computer with internet access. Please see the Undergraduate staff assistant with any questions regarding grades.

Please visit the registrar’s page for the policies and procedures related to grades.

GRANTS AND CONTRACTS

At the beginning of the process of submitting a proposal for a grant, please contact the college’s research office ( https://la.psu.edu/research). They provide services that may be helpful to you.

Please also inform Lynn Monoski as soon as you become aware that you will be awarded a grant or fellowship. Many times there is required paperwork and processes that need to take place in order for the funds to be directed appropriately.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARS AND FACULTY VISA SERVICES

International Scholar Advising periodically holds an orientation session for new international scholars and faculty. The session covers various topics, including campus safety, child care, US cultures and customs, and health matters. Lynn Monoski handles departmental VISAs.

LISTSERV

Each department has several listserv groups (mass email lists). Please send announcements to be sent to a group to a staff member. Please note that only official, university-approved events will be announced on the Weaver listserv. If you need to be added to a certain group, please contact Amber.

MAINTENANCE ISSUES

If you have a maintenance problem in your office, contact Amber and she will call Physical Plant to put in a work request.

If Amber is unavailable, any staff member will be happy to assist you.

MEALS

If the department asks you to go out to eat for a meal, with job candidates, visitors, or a lunch meeting you should arrange beforehand among the faculty participating who will pay for the meal. (The College will not approve group meals for just PSU employees unless there is a special justification, which is very rare.)

Be sure to bring back TWO receipts: the itemized receipt and the credit card receipt to turn in for your reimbursement. Please sign and date the bottom of both receipts and list the names of the other attendees on the back of one receipt. Return the receipts to the staff person you are working with (i.e. Keshia if it is a faculty search, Lynn Carey if it is an event, etc).
Meetings over meals with more than four people (three plus the candidate) in attendance will not be supported by University funds because of both cost and logistics—it is hard for a group of five or more to have a meaningful conversation. Any meal that is scheduled for more than four people must be approved in advance by Jeff Lieb. (jsl17). The cost of the meal must also be approved in advance by Jeff Lieb if it is anticipated that the meal will cost more than $56 per person or $224 in total including alcoholic beverages (see below) and tip.
If you are dining at the Nittany Lion Inn, you can request a direct bill charge slip be typed up by the staff. Take the slip to the Inn and they will directly charge our budgets. Please bring back the back page of the slip.
Alcoholic beverages: Faculty must pay for their own alcoholic beverages at dinners with candidates/speakers. Until further notice, no alcoholic beverages should be charged to University Funds. If you have questions about this, please speak with Lynn Monoski or your Department Head.

For the official university policy.

EARLY PROGRESS REPORTS and MID-SEMESTER PROGRESS REPORTS

Starfish allows instructors to provide feedback to students at any time of the semester through the Flag and Kudos buttons. At critical times of the year, a subset of Flags and Kudos are packaged into progress reports. See the complete set of alerts and their associated messages available to instructors.

Your feedback matters to students:

Article about a report on the role of faculty members in student success efforts
Article about positive feedback to students
A perspective on evaluating student participation

OFFICE HOURS

The main office is open from 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday. During the lunch hour, one staff member will man the front desk. This is the ONLY staff member who is working during the lunch hour, so please do not disturb any other staff who may be sitting at their desks. The lights will be turned off to help visitors to the office remember.

OFFICE SUPPLIES

Contact Amber to purchase office supplies. We use Penn State General Stores for most office supply purchases. We also have a supply closet where we keep frequently used items. Please see any staff person for access to the supply cabinet. If we don’t have what you are looking for, we will order it.

ORDERING BOOKS FOR YOUR CLASSES

You will receive an electronic textbook order form 2-3 weeks prior to required date March 1 for fall semester, September 1 for spring semester, and February 1 for summer session (According to Penn State policy The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008) by email from Amber Guenot. Once you have filled this out you may return the form to Mary Jo by email or by dropping off the form in 108 Weaver Building.

Please make sure to include the following information:

Title
Author
Edition
ISBN number
Publisher
If it is a Required or Recommended/Optional book

* Note: If interested in finding out if a bundle (for textbooks) is an option you can contact the publisher (or they may contact you directly). If a bundle is available they will give you an ISBN# specifically for this bundle. You can submit this on the form that Mary Jo sends to you and she will submit to the bookstore.

* Note: faculty are responsible for ordering their own DESK COPIES. This can be done by contacting the publisher directly. Most publishers have automatic desk copy request forms online.

PARKING PERMITS

Please go to the Dean’s Office in 111 Sparks Building for information on parking permits. You must have your Penn State ID AND License Plate Numbers to get a permit.

An alternative to a parking pass is a CATA bus pass available for $5 a month that is automatically deducted from your paycheck. This can be obtained at the Parking Office in Eisenhower.

PHONE

The phone in your office is a VOIP phone. For instructions and information.

To access your voicemail, press the messages button, and follow the instructions.

To access your voicemail when off campus, dial 814-865-4090 then:

You will be asked for your ID, which is your 5-digit extension number, then enter your password.

Mary Jo is the staff person in charge of assigning phones and reporting issues to the Telecommunications Office.

Conference Calls

There are phones in 102 Weaver and 415 Weaver that are capable of making conference calls with up to six people.

Call your first number; after party answers
Hit the more button
Hit the confrn button
Call the next number
Hit the confrn button—this will connect your two parties
If you have more parties to add, repeat

If you need assistance, see Keshia or Amber.

PHOTOS

If you would like a photo taken for your directory page, please email Mary Jo at asg5500@psu.edu

PURCHASING BOOKS ON RESEARCH FUNDS

Please read the college’s book purchasing policy:

When you use university research funding to order books, you may do so with Amber’s assistance. Amber will use her purchasing card to complete the transaction, but you must provide budget and fund information for the charge. There is no “departmental” book fund, but faculty can use research funding for this purpose with prior permission (see your offer letter). Amber includes “book plates” as described in item B in this policy for each book for which she has placed an order once it arrives. If you do your own purchasing of books and submit receipts to be reimbursed, that is perfectly fine. Please just ask Amber for a few of the book plates to add to your books purchased with university funds.

SRTEs

The Student Rating of Teaching Effectiveness (SRTEs) are Penn State’s locally developed instrument for gathering feedback from students at the end of the course. SRTEs were approved by the University Faculty Senate in 1985 and are administered by the Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs. The Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence manages the SRTE process and helps facilitate appropriate use of SRTE data.

Students can access their SRTEs for their courses through their ANGEL profile page. The SRTE system generates an email to students to announce the availability of their SRTEs. This message includes instructions on where to complete and how long they are available. Email reminder messages are sent to students who have outstanding forms to complete.

For more information or questions on the SRTE process, please visit SRTE FAQs or see the Undergraduate staff assistant.

STUDENT RECORDS

NOTE: Student educational records are defined as those records (any format) which contain information directly related to a student and are maintained by the University or by a person acting for the University pursuant to University, college, campus, or departmental policy. (See also Policy AD11 .)

Student educational records are subject to the constraints of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (Buckley Amendment); you will invariably hear it referred to as FERPA. They do not include records of instructional, supervisory, and administrative personnel and ancillary educational personnel which are in the sole possession of the maker and which are not accessible or revealed to any other person except a designated substitute. Other exclusions include:

Notes of a professor/staff member concerning a student and intended for the professor’s/staff member’s own use are not subject to inspection, disclosure, and challenge.
Records of the University Safety/Police Services Records Division, except in those instances where they are transmitted within the University for administrative purposes.
Records relating to an individual who is employed by an educational agency or institution not as a result of his/her status as a student which:

Are created and maintained in the normal course of business;
Relate exclusively to the individual in that individual’s capacity as an employee; and
Are not available for use for any other purpose.

However, employment records relating to University students, who are employed as a result of their status as students, are considered educational records.

Records on students which are created or maintained by a physician, psychiatrist, psychologist, or other recognized professional or paraprofessional acting or assisting in that capacity are not subject to the provisions of access, disclosure, and challenge. Such records, however, must be created, maintained, or used only in connection with the provision of treatment to the student and are not available to anyone other than the persons providing such treatment or a substitute. Such records may be personally reviewed by a physician or other appropriate professional of the student’s choice.
Application records of students not admitted to the University; however, once a student has enrolled in an academic offering of the University, application information becomes part of the student’s educational records.
Alumni records.

Student records should always be destroyed by shredding. To have student records shredded, see a staff member.

SYLLABI

The following information should be listed on the syllabus:

Prerequisites
Grading, exam, and attendance policies
Academic Integrity Statement
Disability Access Statement

General Tips:

Be specific

Specify details about upcoming assignments, readings, grading policies, attendance, course goals and other information and expectations. This can include due dates, page length, samples and more. In some cases, it may be more sensible to provide some details later, but even specifying that details are coming in the syllabus can ease student anxieties.

Maintain a Friendly Tone

A syllabus should not frighten a student with excessive warnings or threats. A syllabus which clearly lays out policy but maintains a friendly tone will make students more comfortable from the beginning.

Review the syllabus on the first day of class

During your first class, you should discuss the syllabus. Even though your policies are carefully stated, they will often need clarification, and students appreciate your openness in discussing the rationale behind them. In some cases their questions may lead to a beneficial exchange about course goals and philosophies.

Announce Changes in E-Mail

If for some reason, a date or other item in the syllabus must be changed, you may want to consider a general e-mail message to your students so as to have a “written” record, as well as announcing it in class.

STATE MANDATED COLLECTION SYSTEM

The State Mandated Collection System (is a data collection system for collecting the average hours per week spent in university-related activities, stating specifically hours spent in undergraduate classroom contact and graduate classroom contact, hours spent for classroom preparation, hours spent in research, and hours spent in public service. This data is being collected via a web form. The SMCS forms have on them the minimum categories of information required to answer mandated requests from the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for faculty weekly workload data. Every semester, faculty activity data is collected by area and department in order to meet reporting requirements for our state appropriations. Faculty members will receive an email from Amber announcing that it is time to complete the forms and the links will be shared.

TEACHING SUPPORT

The Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence (SITE) offers services and resources to anyone who teaches at Penn State. It provides services for all campuses, not just University Park. Any and all instructors are welcome to visit the website at Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, which has recently been redesigned to provide a wide variety of tools to enhance teaching and improve learning. Every department, division, campus, and college has a designated contact within the teaching institute. The Institute offers a wide array of services including individual consultations, customized workshops, and test scoring services. All faculty, administrators, and staff are welcome to send queries to site@psu.edu.

TRASH/RECYCLING

The University recycles mixed paper & newspaper, glass, metal, plastic bottles & film, miscellaneous plastic, and compost. Bins for depositing these materials are clearly marked and centrally located throughout our building. Please use them and use them appropriately—that is, according to their labels. Please remove paper clips from paper before recycling.

A list of Penn State’s Recycling Guideline.

We have also created a Weaver Green Team. Green Teams are groups of faculty, staff, and students volunteering to take specific actions to help their organization (college, department, building, etc.) operate in a more efficient, innovative, and healthy way. Typically, Green Teams focus on making their operations more sustainable through the easy to follow Green Paws Program and other initiatives unique to their departments. Currently, the University has 102 Green Teams, with 22 of them at the Commonwealth Campuses, operating in various departments.

The Penn State Sustainability Institute sponsors the Green Team program and supports it with information resources and training. If you are interested in joining our Green Team, please see Keshia.

TRAVEL

ALL financial email correspondence should be sent to umg-up.cla.fola-oswald@groups.ucs.psu.edu. This email is sent to both Sharon & Denise. If Denise is out of the office Sharon will make sure your reimbursement is processed. By using this email you assure that your reimbursement will be reimbursed in a timely manner. Any questions on travel or other types of reimbursement may be directed to Sharon Laskowsky (srl14) or 865-7516.

Each department/program may provide funds for traveling to each standing faculty member. In some cases, faculty also have additional research funds available to use for travel. Please contact Lynn Monoski to inquire about travel funds available to you and the conditions of using those funds.

The University has Fleet Vehicles that can be reserved in lieu of using a personal car for University travel. Amber will make that reservation for you. You are provided with a University gas credit card. If you use a personal car, you may request reimbursement for mileage at the going University rate.

If you should need to use an actual rental car, the University has a contract with National Car Rental and you must make your reservations through them. You can reach their website through the link in the Travel Services website. If National is not available in the area you will be traveling to, you may use another vendor for the rental.

When booking a flight using departmental or research funds, you have the option of contacting our travel agent, Anthony Travel (NOTE THAT THIS HAS CHANGED AS OF 7/1/2019) to arrange the flight and use the departmental travel credit card which is in Amber’s name.

Kim will be able to charge the card for the flight, but you still must submit the itinerary to a Financial Staff person via email when you receive it.

If booking on your own, please use PSU Travel. You may book on another site such as Expedia or Orbitz, but you will not receive the assistance with re-booking or travel issues available when you use Travel OnLion. If you purchase a ticket on a personal credit card, you may submit the itinerary to the staff Financial Assistant in 108 Weaver, for reimbursement prior to travel. This is available for airfare only. If financially necessary for travel in the continental United States, you can obtain a travel advance for meal per diems only. Should you be traveling out of country you may obtain a travel advance for meals and lodging according to the rates found at PSU Travel. Once in the site, go to Reimbursement Rates and proceed from there to find the rate allocated to the area you are traveling to. These advances should be settled within five days of returning from traveling. Personal expenses such as: laundry, dry cleaning, pay-per-view movies, child care, and pet sitting/boarding, are not reimbursable or payable by University funds.

Please note that when you are traveling you do not need to keep meal receipts. The location you travel to will have an assigned per diem amount. The exception to this would be if you hosted a group meal while in travel status. A group meal cannot be charged for PSU personnel only.

Prior to inviting any job candidates, consultants, lecturers, speakers please check with either Denise or Amber as to the necessary paperwork that must be completed prior to making any arrangements for their travel to Penn State. All visitors, regardless of the purpose of their visit, must complete a Non-Employee Information Form and a Non-employee travel reimbursement form. For international visitors please consult the Non-U.S. Citizen Payment Guidelines found in GURU.

The staff Financial Assistant is the contact person for requesting reimbursement for travel for the Weaver Units. Her office is located within 108 (inside main doors, make a right at the reception desk and continue to the back corner. Her office is 108H. Denise and Lynn M. work closely together to match up faculty funding to reimburse travel. All paperwork is routed through Lynn M. for final approval of the charges.

FOREIGN TRAVEL

17 June 2015

It is REQUIRED that prior to faculty/staff/students traveling to a foreign country, they complete the form found on the TSN site. The finance office will not be able to reimburse expenses without the TSR that you receive from TSN. It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that prior to faculty/staff/students traveling to a foreign country, they complete the Foreign Travel Export Compliance Review Request Form. It can be found on our website under TRAVEL.

AND

It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that prior to faculty/staff/students traveling to a “restricted” destination, they complete a Restricted Travel Petition. Further information can be found at Travel Safety Network. If this is not completed, they will risk the possibility of non-reimbursement.

Foreign Travel Export Compliance Reviews

It is the stated policy of the University under RA18 that all University

academic and research activities be operated in accordance with applicable federal regulations governing export controls, including any foreign travel conducted for University purposes. Best practices in the educational research community are to perform a pre-travel review of all proposed foreign travel to confirm that the proposed foreign travel related activities will not result in any violation of the ITAR (Department of State), EAR (Department of Commerce) or OFAC (Department of the Treasury) laws, regulations or guidelines governing U.S. exports. Foreign travel expressly listed in existing Sponsored Research

Awards should have been reviewed at time of award acceptance. Any foreign travel in support of or funded under a sponsored research award, whether a part of a gift, grant or contract, not previously reviewed (either due to funding reallocation or changes in project scope or activities) should be forwarded to the Office of Sponsored Programs Export Compliance Staff for additional review. All other foreign travel review requests can be directed to the University Export Compliance Officer. To facilitate a

UECO pre-travel review for export compliance purposes, please provide at a minimum the following information:

Name and Department of PSU Faculty/Staff initiating the foreign travel;
A listing of all destinations, including, as known, any specific individuals with whom the PSU Faculty/Staff will be working with while abroad;
A brief description of the work/research to be performed and/or the area of research/academic focus for any research/academic activities to be conducted abroad;
A list/description of any equipment, materials, software, records, files or data which will be taken abroad by the traveling PSU Faculty/Staff.

In addition to the above, if known, please provide the following additional information:

For travel to international conferences, meetings or seminars, the name of the entity/institution or group sponsoring the event; and
The dates of travel, including any personal travel dates/destinations which precede or follow the University related foreign travel activities.

Review requests may be submitted directly to the UECO or via the general export compliance contact email address. While most reviews are generally completed in less than 72 hours of submission, we recommend that you allow a minimum of 5-7 business days for processing of a review request. For additional questions about export compliance at Penn State or to arrange training for faculty, staff or students, please feel free to contact me directly.

VISITING SCHOLARS

It is the stated policy of the University under RA18 that all University academic and Research activities be operated in accordance with applicable federal regulations governing interactions with foreign persons/foreign nationals, including the invitation, processing and management of foreign visiting faculty/scholars. Best practices in the educational research community are to perform pre-invitation screening of all proposed foreign visiting scholars/foreign visitors to confirm that the proposed visitors/visiting activities will not result in any violation of the ITAR (Department of State), EAR (Department of Commerce) or OFAC (Department of the Treasury) laws, regulations or guidelines governing U.S. exports. Such screenings are separate from the internal iStart system or the U.S. Government Visa issuance process. Specific questions about export compliance considerations related to the invitation of Foreign Visiting Scholars/Foreign Visitors can be directed to the University Export Compliance Officer. Please visit their website for more information: The Office of
Ethics & Compliance

WAITLISTS FOR STUDENTS IN LIONPATH

A feature in LionPath to make the process of allowing students to enroll in a course that is full when another student drops is called the “Waitlist”. If a student wishes to enroll in a course that is already full, they can elect to be placed on the waitlist and the system will automatically enroll them when a seat becomes available.

Because this feature is designed to be fair, we (the staff) can no longer “override” the system to allow a student into a class that is full. If you are having requests from students to sign a drop/add form to allow them to enroll, please tell them that they should instead add their name to the waitlist. If many students are asking, it could indicate a need for offering additional sections of certain courses, and you should discuss this with your Department Head or Director of Undergraduate Studies.

WEBSITES

Each department has a website where you can find the following information:

Directory
News and Events
Graduate Program
Undergraduate Program
Faculty and student forms

For questions, please see Amber.

WHO DOES WHAT IN THE OFFICE

Lynn Monoski – Office Manager

Manage administrative activities
Establish policies and procedure in conjunction with Dept/Prog officers
Assist Heads and Director in planning
Act in lieu of Heads and Director when required
Act as Liaison with College and Univ offices
Manage budgets, grants and contracts for – HIST/JST/CAMS
Workload
Supervise and oversee all human resource functions
Recommend priorities/workload for staff
Office space allocation
Prepare summaries of admin activities (SRDPs) and salary histories for annual recommendations
Liaison to CLA Development
- Endowment Management
- Donor Relations
VISA Process for Foreign Nationals
Long term visitors

Denise Poorman – Financial Assistant

Back up: Finance Office

Responsible for expenditures in History, Jewish Studies, CAMS, Sociology, Criminology, and Political Science departments
Prepare/process travel/other reimbursements for departments
Prepare and reconcile purchasing card charges
Prepare and submit IDCC’s, SRFC’s, JVDP’s
Process wage payroll timecards

Kristi Brinker – Graduate Program Coordinator

Provide support to DGS/calendar, schedule meetings
Keep records and maintain contact with prospective students during admissions process
Appointments ft2 graduate students/summer
Assistantships
Reporting and data analysis
- Maintain database on graduate students
Travel arrangements for enrolled graduate students and visiting students

Lynn Carey – Department Head Assistant/Faculty Affairs Coordinator

Back up: Lynn Monoski

Assistant to All Heads
- Keep calendar for heads
- Backup to Administrative Assistant
Attend faculty meetings/minutes
- Tenure and Promotion dossiers
- Sabbatical Leave applications
- Appointments
- Annual Faculty Review reports
- Conducting/arranging faculty searches
- Hire/supervise work study/wage payroll

Jennifer Contreras – Undergraduate Coordinator

Back up: Amber Thomas

Counseling, referrals, recruitment, orientation
Graduation services
Student record maintenance
Administrative Course Cancellations
Final Exam Scheduling
Course Scheduling
- Honors and Special Topics Courses
- Classroom scheduling
- Adding/dropping courses
Reporting and data analysis
Major and minor proposals/curricular affair SRTEs

• SRTEs