NeSIS eNews - October 2024

Director's Report

HEUC 2024 

Wow – what an event HEUC 2024 was! A big thank you to all presenters - we can’t do it without you! I learned a lot and I’m hopeful you all did as well. I’m looking forward to seeing feedback from the evaluations and what resonated most with you. I’m thrilled that we held the conference at UNK and heard many people mention they appreciated being on campus. I heard that the Birds of a Feather sessions are highly useful for you to share best practices. What did you think about the timing (September vs October in the past) and length of 2 full days? What else did you think? Please provide feedback – positive, negative, constructive, suggestions for future sessions or whatever you want to say! 

Links to the session and conference evaluations are below along with a link to a short video wrap up.

WebFOCUS/SIS Reporting Discussion Follow-up

One of the general sessions during HEUC was a discussion of SIS reporting in general. Here is some more information as a follow up to that discussion.

The NeSIS team provides WebFOCUS infrastructure (licenses and servers), but our campus partners create 100% of its value. We've analyzed recent SIS reporting stats to understand our current state and placed ​the results in SharePoint.​

We want to be proactive and enable your future reporting needs. One step may include a "Request for Information" from vendors to gather trends from the commercial sector. Over the next year, we hope to have conversations on the 2026 WebFOCUS software renewal around the following questions:

• Strategy: What are your future reporting strategies? Are changes needed to meet your future information needs?
• Training: What improvements and efficiencies are realistic on training initiatives for employees who report on SIS Data?
• Succession: What is your experience developing business continuity and knowledge transfer from your experienced report writers?

This collaborative approach, where your input is highly valued, will ensure that SIS data remains a valuable and sustainable resource accessible to campus communities.

August 2024 NeSIS Award Winner

The NeSIS Employee Shining Impactful Superstar award winner for August 2024 was Dixie Teten.

As the NeSIS Admissions Functional Coordinator, each year Dixie works with the campus Admissions teams to review and update the almost 20 Admissions applications that NeSIS manages. The process starts typically in January, communicating with the campuses to gather requirements. She then tracks each item and works with the NeSIS and campus development teams to ensure the changes are made, and then spends countless hours with the campus functional teams to test each change. The updated applications for the next year are all ready to go by August.

This project requires a huge amount of time, communication, project management and organizational skills and Dixie does a masterful job of ensuring everything goes smoothly each year. Thank you Dixie!!

Campus Updates from HEUC 2024 Conference

The last session of the HEUC conference contained updates from each campus about what is happening on each campus. Since not everyone attended the session to hear about all of the great things going on, here are a few highlights. To view the entire presentation, click ​here​.

Chadron State College

• Expanding the use of the CRM that was implemented last January

• Continuing to refine the StarRez Housing Poral experience for students

• Several initiatives related to student Wellness, Mental Health and general support

• The new process for withdrawals/course drops went better than expected.

• Rolled out the Microsoft eform for Employee/Immediate Family Tuition Remission and it is… WONDERFUL!

• Awaiting the news of approval for a Technology grant that will pay for the purchase of Stellic & Coursedog

Peru State College

• Campus quad renovated in 2023

• Athletic ROAR project in full swing - Baseball/Softball complex

• Plans to renovate the old Industrial Arts building into a welcome center

• Created a remote online division with a director and four staff for the recruitment/retention of online students

• Added a third 8-week session within the semester

• Partnerships with other institutions for recruiting students

• Launched a new website in June 2024 hosted by TerminalFour

University of Nebraska Kearney

• Fall 2024 Enrollment - 5,881

• 1,467 degrees awarded in 2023-2024

• 4% increase in first year retention rate

• New Leadership

• Dr. Charles Bicak - Interim Chancellor

• Dr. Julie Shaffer - Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

• Dr. Paul Twigg - Dean of Arts and Sciences

• Douglas A Kristensen Rural Health Complex

• UNMC-UNK Nursing & Allied Health

• UNMC-UNK Rural Health Education building (Spring 2026)

University of Nebraska Lincoln & Curtis

• Fall 2024 Enrollment - 23,992

• Record Freshman to Sophomore Retention Rate at 86%

• 5,478 Degrees Awarded in 2023-2024

• New Leadership

• Rodney Bennett - Chancellor

• Dee Dee Anderson - VC Student Life

• Monique Snowdon - Interim AVC ASEM

• Clearthur Mangram - Director of Admissions

• Campus Projects

• Electronic Transcripts moved to NSC

• Digital Diplomas moved to Paradigm

• College of Law records converted into PeopleSoft

• Waiver of ACE requirements for External AA/BA degrees

• FAFSA Changes

• Parent Direct Deposit

• Inclusive Access

University of Nebraska Medical Center

• Fall 2024 enrollment - 4,702

• 24 consecutive years of record enrollments

• 1,617 degrees awarded (2023-2024)

• $252.7 million in total research expenditures (FY 2023)

• Five campuses reach across the state:  Scottsbluff, Kearney, Lincoln, Norfolk and Omaha

• New programs:

• Doctor of Medial Science

• Doctor of Nutrition and Dietetics

• Doctor of Public Health, Advocacy and Leadership concentration

• Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Sciences (starts Fall 2025)

• Kearney campus expansion = Rural Health Education Building under construction (expected Spring 2026)

• Expansion of UNMC programs at Kearney campus

• Campus residential facility

• Project Health - $2.19 billion project

• Leadership Changes:

• H. Dele Davies, PhD - Interim Chancellor

• Jane Mez, PhD - Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

• Kendra Schmid, PhD - Interim Dean of Graduate Studies and Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

• Kyle Meyer, PhD - Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor for Health Care Workforce Education & Relations

University of Nebraska at Omaha

• Student body of 15K students

• 40% undergraduates are first generation

• New Transfer Enrollment growth of almost 13% fueled by initiatives like TransFERmation Project

• Almost 4% increase in Student Retention in fall-to-fall cohort

• New growth in Research in Biomechanics and National Counterterrorism Innovation, Tech and Education (NCITE)

• Expansion of PKI Building - College of IS&T and College of Engineering

• Both expected to double enrollment by 2030

• New BS in AI degree

• New STEM TRAIL Center

• Developed Omaha Urban Rate for 15 other states

• Awarded 1st Microcredential Badging in 2023-24

• Secured more than $57 million in private philanthropic support

Wayne State College

• Fall 2024 - 4th largest freshman class; 200+ transfers

• New programs:

• Master of Arts in Teaching

• One Health Studies

• Biomedical Science

• Stearns Hall - New dorm opening January 2025

• New Athletic & Recreation Facility - Planned completion by January 2025

Fall 2024 Maintenance Update - Ready, Set, Test!!

The Fall 2024 maintenance application project is officially underway. TSTNU/SC has been upgraded and is available for testing. The remaining schedule is as follows:

• 10/11 - 10/28 - TSTNU/SC Open for Testing

• 10/21 - QANU/SC Refresh

• 10/22 - 10/23 - QANU/SC - Apply Fall 2024 Maintenance

• 10/24 - 10/25 - QA Load Testing

• 10/28 - 11/13 - QANU/SC Open for Testing
• 11/13 @Noon - Signoff for Fall 2024 -> PRD
• 11/17 @8pm CST - 11/18 @6am - PRDNU/SC - Apply Fall 2024 Maintenance
• 11/24 - Fallback PRD Date

A page is available in SharePoint with all things related to Fall 2024 maintenance such as release notes and documentation and the schedule of group testing sessions along with links to testing resources. The page will continue to be updated with known issues, other changes and any changes to the schedule. As always, we thank you in advance for your testing efforts and helping to identify and resolve any issues as soon as possible.

Friday, 10/11 - Friday, 10/25

TSTNU/SC Open for Fall 2024 Testing

Monday, 10/14

10am - NU/SC Immunization Form Testing - TST

3pm - Admissions Team Fall 2024 Testing - TST

Tuesday, 10/15

9am - Financial Aid Team Meeting

10am - Financial Aid Team Fall 2024 Testing - TST

10:30am - Student Records Team Fall 2024 Testing

3pm - Admissions NU Shared App Fall 2024 Testing - TST

4pm - Campus Community Team Fall 2024 Testing - TST

Wednesday, 10/16

9am - Admissions Team Meeting

Thursday, 10/17

9am - Enterprise Tools/Dashboard Team Fall 2024 Testing - TST

2:30pm - Student Financials Team Fall 2024 Testing - TST

Friday, 10/18

1pm - NU/SC Reverse Transfer Form Testing - TST

Monday, 10/21

8am - QANU/SC Refresh

Tuesday, 10/22 - Friday, 10/25

8am - QANU/SC - Apply Fall 2024 Maintenance & Load Testing

Tuesday, 10/22

11am - NU Change of Campus Testing - TST

Monday, 10/28 - Wednesday, 11/13

QANU/SC Open for Fall 2024 Testing

Monday, 10/28

3pm - Campus Community Team Fall 2024 Testing - QA

Tuesday, 10/29

11am - NU Change of Campus Testing - QA

1pm - NU/SC Reverse Transfer Form Testing - QA

3:30pm - Enterprise Tools/Dashboard Team Fall 2024 Testing - QA

Wednesday, 10/30

NU/SC Immunization Form Testing - QA

Thursday, 10/31

9am - Admissions Fall 2024 Testing - QA

1pm - Admissions NU Shared App Fall 2024 Testing - QA

Wednesday 11/13

NOON - Signoff for Fall 2024 Maintenance → PRD