Human Resources News

SYS 1290 Guidelines, (Code of Ethics) Guidelines for Reporting Outside Activities under UWS 8.025

The revisions to these guidelines will be effective upon approval.

Summary of Guidance and Guidance Revisions

·         These guidelines support SYS 1290, Code of Ethics and describe specific requirements for reporting outside activities.  The proposed updates clarify that outside activities occurring at any time during the year, for which remuneration was received, are reportable. Updates to the Guidelines are as follows:

·         In Section 3, removed the phrase “for the period under contract to the UW System” from the first sentence.

·         In Section 4, added “remunerative activities” to the list of activities that must be reported is they occur at any time during the year.

·         In Section 4, removed the second and third sentences which stated that remunerative activities were only reportable if they occurred while under contact with the university.

·         In Section 5.A.I.1, revised the first bullet to read, “Professionally related outside activities occurring at any time during the year.”

·         Removed section 5.A.I.3, which described work at another nonprofit educational institution or research supported by a government agency during periods not on university payroll.

Affected Areas on Campuses

·         These updates clarify practices already occurring at the institutions. The departments primarily impacted include Human Resources, Compliance, and Faculty Departments.

Campus Implementation

·         No further guidance beyond the policy language update is needed.

Additional Communication

·         No further communication is planned at this time.

Academic and Student Affairs Policy, Procedure, and Guidance Approvals

On August 18, 2021, President Thompson approved the new Academic and Student Affairs policy SYS 138, Award of Credit by Prior Learning Assessment and the revised policy SYS 165, The Academic Calendar.

On August 13, 2021, Vice President Morrobel-Sosa approved the new procedure SYS 138.A, Award of Credit by Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) Procedure and the SYS 138 guidance, Award of Credit by Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) Guidelines.

For more information, see the summaries below.

SYS 138, Award of Credit by Prior Learning Assessment

SYS 138.A, Award of Credit by Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) Procedure

Award of Credit by Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) Guidelines

This policy will be effective upon approval.

Summary of Policy

·         This is a new policy and represents the elevation of a section of SYS 135 to a separate policy, set of procedures, and guidance. The policy outlines the definitions, evaluation and documentation practices for PLA.

·         As the prior learning assessment practices have grown across the UW System universities, it became necessary to establish some policy, procedures, and guidelines across UW universities to ensure fidelity and consistency to the current PLA work. A stand alone policy will promote a cohesive approach for this work to the benefit of all students across the System. As common understandings and evidence-based practices of PLA have emerged nationally, we saw an opportunity to create an updated policy to support this work across the system. A system wide policy will increase fairness, establish common standards and approaches to evaluate and ensure quality in the PLA process. The policy recognizes the various ways that students come to us and that is amore equitable approach to admission, student engagement, and student success.

·         The desired outcome is to create a cohesive pathway for students to engage in PLA and to have that work securely documented on a transcripts and understood in terms of transfer or completion of an academic program. The special focus on this work is on students who have some credit but no degree, returning adult students, and possibly students in the prison education work. Also, as we look at transitioning work training experiences into credit so that those in the workforce are able to earn portable credentials toward a degree or badge or certificate.

Affected Areas on Campuses

·         This policy would be applicable to all courses at all universities. Admission, advising, transfer coordinators, and registrars would be involved in this work as well as faculty members.

Additional Communication

·         No additional communication is planned at this time.

SYS 165, The Academic Calendar

Revisions to this policy will be effective upon approval.

Summary of Policy and Policy Revisions

·         The rationale for these revisions is to make clear the UW System adoption of the federal credit hour definition as a guiding principle for our institutions.

·         As a result of the recent Regent policy update and rescission of the Board academic calendar policy, it became necessary to review and update the System academic calendar policy. A review of the current system academic calendar resulted in the decision to eliminate material in the policy that is not related to the academic calendar. After consultation with System Legal and UW System Human Recourses and the creation of a policy analysis crosswalk with other system policies, several components of the policy were recommended for elimination.

·         Revisions aligned the policy with the new System policy format.

·         Removed provisions about faculty workload, period of appointment for faculty, overload payments, and compensation for faculty.

·         Added federal credit hour definition for award of credit.

Affected Areas on Campuses

·         The academic calendar policy will affect all students, faculty, staff. Although the content is not new related to the academic calendar, the federal definition of credit hour will influence the work of registrars. Note that this definition has not changed but needed to be solidified in policy.

Campus Implementation

·         The policy changes will not require any changes in practice and thus the impact is low. If a campus has not adopted the federal credit hour policy, they will need to document the definition in official materials.

·         Seeing that this is a federal compliance requirement already, the impact should be low.

Additional Communication

·         No additional communication is planned at this time.

Policy Effective Dates Reminders

There are a number of previously approved policies that have upcoming effective dates in the coming month. Please review the list of policies below and visit the links to familiarize yourself with the content that will be coming into effect. If you have questions about implementation leading up to the effective date, please contact the policy owner for more information and clarification.

The following policies will be effective on Wednesday, September 1, 2021:

·         SYS 807, Medical Withdrawal Policy

·         SYS 807 FAQ, Frequently Asked Questions About Medical Withdrawal

·         SYS 1035, Information Security: IT Asset Management

·         SYS 1035.A, Information Security: IT Asset Management Standard