We are excited to announce the opening of the, Westborough Suite, , a dynamic new multi-purpose space located on the 2nd floor of 50 Washington Street! This innovative area is designed to support our evolving work environment, promoting collaboration and flexibility among all UMPO staff. In celebration of this launch,, we invite everyone to attend an open house on October 8 from 1:00 – 1:30pm., This is a great opportunity to tour the Westborough Suite, discover its features, and see how it can enhance your work experience. What Makes the Westborough Suite Special? The Westborough Suite embodies a hybrid workspace concept, merging the benefits of office neighborhoods and hoteling models. Here’s a glimpse into how this space can be utilized: , Neighborhood Suite:, A dedicated area for teams to collaborate on projects, fostering teamwork and building a strong sense of community. , Mini-Hub for Onsite Events:, A flexible space for hosting larger gatherings and facilitating cross-team connections in a welcoming atmosphere. , Overflow Workspace:, During busy times, the Westborough Suite will also serve as an overflow workspace when the third floor reaches approximately 90% capacity, ensuring that everyone has access to a productive environment. Amenities Include: Ten desks in the open area for collaborative work Two private offices, each with two desks Westborough Conference Room: A Zoom-enabled room for up to 12 people, perfect…
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This summer, the UMPO Department of Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, and Equity (Academic Affairs) hit the road with its “Let’s Reconnect” Campus Summer Tour—an energizing initiative aimed at reintroducing the Academic Affairs team and sharing strategic priorities for the 2025–2026 academic year. Led by Nef Walker, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, the tour emphasized the department…, Leadership Highlights , Each Assistant Vice President shared updates on their portfolio: , Academic Affairs & Research, Gabriela Weaver spotlighted efforts to streamline academic program approvals, foster multi-campus research collaborations, and develop the Academic Affairs Interaction Portal to enhance data management and reporting. , Equity & Access , Sheree Ohen discussed expanding early college pathways, strengthening compliance with evolving federal DEIA regulations, and finalizing a comprehensive systemwide strategic plan for equity and access. , Strategic Analytics & Decision Support , Tom Beraldi shared progress on several initiatives, including a pan-system survey on Open Educational Resources, assessment of the Intercampus Course Exchange, and the development of a systemwide data mart under Project Zeno. , A Successful Summer of Connection , , The tour reinforced Academic Affairs' dedication to collaboration, transparency, and innovation across the UMass system. Feedback from campus colleagues was overwhelmingly positive, with many expressing appreciation for the opportunity to connect in person with team members they typically see only on screen. As the academic year begins, Academic Affairs remains focused on advancing student…
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We're thrilled to share highlights from our recent Coffee Hour with UMPO , which provides a fantastic platform for our campus community to gather critical information about procurement, travel, business expenses, treasury, and other A&F-related activities. , Growth of Coffee Hour, Since its launch in February, this initiative has grown significantly, with five successful events in FY25 that attracted 795 unique participants. Feedback has been invaluable, confirming that the Coffee Hour serves as an effective resource for informing users and providing essential system support. Based on this, we are excited to continue these sessions into FY2026! Our latest Coffee Hour on…, Looking Ahead for Coffee Hour, In response to the insights shared, our Access Team is following up with participants on specific needs, having opened over a dozen support cases to provide additional assistance based on questions submitted before, during and after the session. We invite all UMass colleagues to join us for the upcoming monthly Coffee Hours throughout the academic year! Our next session on October 16th will…, Upcoming Dates: , October 16, 2025 November 20, 2025 December 18, 2025 Did you miss the previous Coffee Hours sessions? No problem, we record and share presentations with everyone on the Coffee Hour with UMPO Administration & Finance (A&F) webpage (Please note: You will have to login). If you have any questions or would like to suggest a topic for future discussions, please don’t hesitate to reach out at A…
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New Hires, Name Hire Date Title Department Randall Maas 11/3/25 Associate Counsel Litigation OGC Robson Stewart 11/3/25 Capital Projects Manager UMBA Ryan Anderson 11/10/25 Supplier Relationship Specialist UPST, Promotions, Name Promotion Date Title Department Jacquie Kittler 11/17/25 Director, Emp/Labor Rels & Ben HR John Roy 11/17/25 Director, Recruiting/Comp HR
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DEIA Calendar, The DEIA Communications team keeps a calendar of upcoming diversity awareness months and days recognized either nationally or internationally due to their cultural, historical, or religious significance. , Date-Specific Events, Monday, December 8: Bodhi Day Saturday, December 13: National Guard Birthday Sunday, December 14 – Monday, December 22: Hanukkah Sunday, December 21: Winter Solstice Thursday, December 25: Christmas Friday, December 26 – January 1: Kwanzaa , Additional Awareness Communications this Month, The DEIA Communications team is sending out individual communications around the following awareness events this month: December 2025 Religious and Cultural Holidays National Guard Birthday
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As life events occur, both good and bad, it is important to keep your beneficiaries up to date. Consider the last time you reviewed beneficiaries for the following: Beneficiaries for your life insurance through GIC/MetLife Beneficiaries for your life insurance through ORP (if applicable) Beneficiaries for your state pension (SERS) account Beneficiaries for your 403(b) account with Fidelity or…
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End of Year Holidays (Offices Closed), Christmas Day Thursday, December 25, Offices Operate With Limited Personnel, Day before Christmas Wednesday, December 24, Personal Time for 2025 and 2026, Employees have until 1/10/2026 to use 2025 personal time. Employees will be granted personal time on 1/13/2026 for calendar year 2026. Employees may begin using 2026 personal time after 1/13/2026 for the week beginning 1/11/2026.
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GIC (Group Insurance Commission) to Discontinue Use of Online (Docusign) Forms, The GIC will be discontinuing the use of the DocuSign forms for enrollments and changes effective December 15, 2025. The only options for enrollments or making changes to GIC benefits will be to use the MyGICLink benefits portal or to complete and mail a paper enrollment form. Employees are urged to set up their MyGICLink benefits portal access if they have not already done so. The benefits…
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We launched the campusGenAI Playground pilot on August 4, 2025, and moved to a full employee rollout on October 1, 2025. In just over three months the playground has become an active experimentation environment for UMPO staff—supporting rapid prototyping, knowledge work, and safe exploration of generative AI capabilities while we scale governance and training. , Pilot launched:, 8/4/2025 |, Full employee rollout:, 10/1/2025 , Fast facts (08/04/2025–11/15/2025), Total queries: 10,144 Peak daily queries: 339 Top users: Nicholas Blinn; Amy Thompson; Andrew Buroni; Mike Durkin; Megan Momtaheni; John Andrews; Anne Zuev; Chris England; Pete O’Connell, Why this matters?, Rapid adoption shows real demand for AI-assisted work across UMPO. Early use cases (drafting, summarizing, ideation, contract reviews, training content) are boosting productivity and informing where to integrate AI safely. Top users are emerging as unit champions sharing use cases and best practices., Next steps , More hands-on lunch and learn sessions/workshops and quick start guides. Partner with Amherst for opportunities to extend data integrations., How to get involved, Try the campusGenAI playground, share a short success story, or join an AI learning opportunity in the future., Reminder, Don’t submit sensitive or personally identifiable data. Verify AI outputs and follow UMPO Acceptable Use Guidelines . Thanks to everyone who joined the pilot and early adopters — the momentum is strong. Contact AI Hub umpo_ai_hub@umassp.edu or join the Slack #umpo-campusgenai-playground to get started.
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Transforming College Teaching Evaluation: A Framework for Advancing Instructional Excellence is a newly published book by our very own President’s Office staff member, Dr. Gabriela Weaver, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs and Research. Gabriela joined us less than a year ago from the Amherst campus. The book is the result of her research, funded by the National Science Foundation and…
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