Playstation 3: A Discount Supercomputer

Wow! You heard it with Cheryl Hile first.

Over the weekend, I heard a story on the radio about PS3s being bought by academic institutions for research purposes. They take the PS3s and turn them into supercomputers.

If I hadn't heard Cheryl talk about it first, I might have turned the dial. But, because I had the benefit of the Financial Administration Career Panel, this story resonated with me.

Maybe it'll resonate with you too...

Check it out: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100969805

Setting Goals

Setting Goals was the name of the game at Wednesday, February 18th's UExplore session. Claire Solario returned as a featured guest presenter and laid out a few great tips/tricks to help us:

1) lay out short- and long-term goals
2) prioritize those goals
3) be prepared to take action and face road blocksOne of the activities involved a stream-of-consciousness brainstorming session where we wrote down any and all goals we had in the categories: physical/health, family, socially, mental/intellect, financial, vocational, spiritual, other.Jane Peterson, Ricardo Escalante, and Brian Pierini thought critically about their goals.Wow! And what a lot of goals we had. How could we possibly accomplish all of these goals?
One way to prioritize is through "tournamenting". With tournamenting, UExplore participants made forced choices. Pitting one goal against another, the participants had to choose the goal that was more important. After doing this over and over again, the participants would end up with a few of the most important goals.

For some in the session, tournamenting was a useful tool for honing down objectives and taking selective action on the ones that mattered most.

Survey Monkey's Itchin' For Ya...

All of your opinions are important and help shape our program.

Please consider answering both of these surveys by today.

Career Connection: Goal Setting by Claire Solario
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=hOUzcrFtGkCEELMuB6ULKw_3d_3d

Financial Administration Overview & Career Panel Presentation http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=qLUzu3TSuTBZW3zKAS_2fMuA_3d_3d

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Typical Financial Administration Tasks

Details matters...

And, boy oh boy, did I find a whole lotta them for all of you.

Here's a link that breaks down the major tasks involved in fiscal administration: http://www-hr.ucsd.edu/classification/caguide/cataskfiscal.pdf.

And, you can see how the tasks vary in complexity and responsibility at different classification levels (_Asst II, _Asst III, Specialist).

The major task areas are:

• pre-award administration
• intramural fund administration
• post-award administration
• revenue administration
• purchasing administration
• general administration

So, if you want to know more about what "managing funds" and "work on a proposal" means, then enjoy the feast of words that lies behind the click of a button.

Important Note: Keep in mind that one job card can host tasks from various levels of classification. Ultimate classification of a job card depends on the predominance of duties, scope of responsibilities, level of independence, knowledge required, difficulty, purpose, supervision exercised, guidelines used in the performance of duties, and innovation/originality.
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TIP: Get funding for career development training?

I love the Staff Equal Opportunity Enrichment Program (SEOEP)! And, now it can be your best friend too!

The Staff Equal Opportunity Enrichment Program (SEOEP) program provides individual awards up to $500 for training activities to help cover tuition/ book expenses for career development activities.

While the application period is not open yet, I feel it in my bones that it's going to happen really soon. So, why not get a head start by perusing the application requirements and selection criteria....
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We're famous!

On February 16, 2009, This Week@ UCSD published an article about the award winners at the 14th Annual Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action and Diversity Awards. And, in the article, UExplore is highlighted as a new program that promotes staff diversity across all of Academic Affairs. Through our considerable efforts and hard work in the areas of staff outreach and training and development, we have greatly contributed to the campus' progress in achieving diversity goals.

Woo hoo!

The February 16th article doesn't have this picture, though....

(left to right) Assoc Chancellor/Chief Diversity Officer Sandra P. Daley, Academic Affairs Human Resources staff, and Chancellor Marye Anne Fox.

Survey Monkey!

Please consider answering both of these surveys by Friday, February 20th.

Tell us what you thought
about yesterday’s presentations focusing on
Goal Setting and the
Financial Administration career field.

Career Connection: Goal Setting by Claire Solario
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=hOUzcrFtGkCEELMuB6ULKw_3d_3d

Financial Administration Overview & Career Panel Presentation
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=qLUzu3TSuTBZW3zKAS_2fMuA_3d_3d

TIP: The S.T.A.R Method

You all have great ideas!

In the evaluations for last month's session, one of you pointed out that using the S.T.A.R. Method would be a good technique for answering questions during an interview.

• SITUATION - give an example of a SITUATION you were involved in that resulted in a positive outcome
• TASK - describe the TASKS involved in that situation
• ACTION - talk about the various ACTIONS involved in the situation's task
• RESULTS - what RESULTS directly followed because of your actions

As an extension of that idea, it's also a good tip to use the S.T.A.R. method for your professional portfolio. For example, start by anticipating a question you might be asked in the interview for that career field. Then, think about an experience that answers that question. Try to describe the experience using the S.T.A.R Method. Write it down using the S.T.A.R method. You don't need to write down a long narrative; just write down enough to help jog your memory.

The S.T.A.R. Method is a way for you to effectively respond to behavioral interviewing.
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TIP: Your Professional Portfolio

You can now access the Professional Portfolio ideas for career fields in Human Resources and Administrative support via the Academic Affairs UExplore website.

Start by entering the site: http://academicaffairs.ucsd.edu/staffhr/uexplore/2008.htm
Search by UExplore session topic/date
Locate the last bullet item to find the "Professional Portfolio Ideas" for that career field

There are two downloadable versions:

• Word 97-2003 version---so you can add ideas
• PDF version

If you have new ideas like Jill mentioned at last month's meeting (about volunteering), please let me know so I can keep our ideas growing.

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Online Enrollment for Multiple UExplore Sessions

Good morning!

I hope you all had lovely weekends and are as excited as myself about tomorrow’s presentations featuring the topics:

• Goal Setting
• Financial Administration Career Field Overview
• Financial Administration Career Panel

I’ve included a few links for upcoming UExplore events in February, March, and April.

Please register for all of them.

February
Goal Setting: https://enrollmentcentral.ucsd.edu/sed_course.cfm?&cdcrs=XCGSETUXPL
Financial Admin: https://enrollmentcentral.ucsd.edu/sed_course.cfm?&cdcrs=XUXPLORFIN

March
Academic Personnel: https://enrollmentcentral.ucsd.edu/sed_course.cfm?&cdcrs=XUEPLORACD
Your Listening Profile: Link is coming soon

April
Networking: https://enrollmentcentral.ucsd.edu/sed_course.cfm?&cdcrs=XNITPSUXPL
Program Admin: https://enrollmentcentral.ucsd.edu/sed_course.cfm?&cdcrs=XUXPLORPRG


***If these links do not work for you, please just sign in on the hardcopy sheet so that we can record your attendance
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Hoorah! Hoorah!

At yesterday's UC San Diego Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action and Diversity Awards Program, UExplore was commended as a program that:

• Celebrates cultural differences
• Promotes fairness at UC San Diego
• Makes UCSD a better place to work
• Demonstrates exemplary support of the UCSD Principles of Community

Senior Vice Chancellor Paul W. Drake was on hand to describe UExplore as one of the many efforts made by the Academic Affairs Human Resources Unit to celebrate equal opportunity, affirmative action, diversity, and the UCSD Principles of Community during 2008.

Also in attendance was Chancellor Marye Ann Fox, Chief Diversity Officer Sanda Daley, and Director of Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Paula Doss.

At least two of our UExplore peers, Michelle Viernes and Cindy Hsu, were also in the crowd of staff and faculty supporters in the audience.

Let's have a grand round of applause to all of us for this important contribution to the UC San Diego community.
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This is not homework

If you'd like to look at the Career Connection exercises ahead of time....

well,

then,

you are in luck!

I've posted the Career Connection handout for the topic Setting Goals and the Setting Goals PowerPoint Presentation on the Academic Afairs UExplore website

All in all, there are 7 pages of activities in the handout to help you plan your short- and long-term professional goals. The subject headings for these pages include:

• Identifying Your Values
• Identifying Your Future Accomplishments
• S.M.A.R.T Goal-Setting
• Goal Activity Worksheet (Qty: 3)

Getting a taste of these handouts before the next session may be your cup of tea if you're one of those folks who like to be "in the know" or enjoy having more time to complete a task.

This is definitely not homework--just a proactive response to meet the needs for various types of learners.

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Real Life Leadership: Thomas Jackiewicz

Have you checked out the Perspectives on Leadership series?

If not, then there's another opportunity coming up on March 4, 2009. On that date, you can participate in a dialogue that shines a spotlight on Thomas Jackiewicz, Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer, UC San Diego Health Sciences

This series centers upon conversations with leaders in the university, with the goal of providing an innovative and informative look at leadership. According to Grace Balch, Director of Staff Education and Development, the talks are modeled after the "Inside the Actors Studio" series offered on the Bravo network.

Through this knowledge-sharing, the series' efforts fit squarely within UCSD's succession planning initiatives.
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Point of View with Scott Paulson

We have a celebrity in our midsts, and I'd like to be the first in line to get his autograph!

Scott Paulson has made headlines once again, with a feature article on UC San Diego Blink's homepage. And, it's a goooood article, with great insights into the life and times of our dear friend.

Like, did you know that Scott was the live-in cook for Roger Revelle. Or, that he hosts a monthly live chamber music series and screens 16mm silent films?

We already knew that Scott takes requests to play the campus carillon, but did you knw that he was officially named the "University Carillonneur" by none other than the then-Chancellor Richard Atkinson himself?

And, who can resist an article with a picture of Scott with a rubber ducky? I knew I couldn't.

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