Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

April 18, 2003

Announcements

Noise Awareness Day April 30
As part of International Noise Awareness Day, occupational medicine staff will provide literature, samples of hearing protection and tips to protect your hearing, as well as help you determine if you have a hearing loss, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 30, in G11 TASF, next to Spedding.

Allen open forum April 23
Vice president for academic affairs and provost Ben Allen will participate in a campus forum from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 23, to talk about his leadership of the university's academic units and respond to questions. Because Allen wasn't a candidate for provost at the time three finalists visited campus last fall, he wasn't provided an opportunity to meet with the university community. The Professional and Scientific Council organized the forum; all staff, students and faculty are welcome. It will be held in the Memorial Union Gallery.

Time to reserve course readings at library
Instructors who plan to place required readings on reserve for summer and fall semesters should submit their requests now. More information is available online at http://www.lib.iastate.edu/class/ers/ereserve.html.

All-electronic U-bill statement coming soon
You'll no longer receive your U-bill statement in the mail after July 31. Instead, you'll get an e-mail message when your bill has been updated on the online AccessPlus system. Eliminating paper statements will save approximately $100,000 annually in postage and printing costs. More information is available online at http://www.inside.iastate.edu/2003/0418/ubill.shtml.

Don't send cash through campus mail
Those who prepare departmental cash reports are reminded not to send cash through campus mail. Those who mail cash are accepting responsibility if it is lost or stolen. Deposit cash at the Treasurer's Office, 1220 Beardshear. If checks are included with your deposit, write your fund account number on the back of each check and include an adding machine tape of all checks with the deposit.

Faculty, staff awards to be presented in the fall
Been searching the calendar for the spring convocation? As part of plans to both enrich the university's fall convocation and save money, the fall and spring convocations will be merged into one event, beginning in September. Recipients of faculty and staff university awards -- once recognized during a spring event -- will be honored at the fall convocation. This fall and at subsequent fall events, new appointees to named faculty chairs also will be recognized. The date for the fall convocation is Monday, Sept. 29.

Honors students show off work
The campus community is invited to the spring 2003 poster presentation of graduating Honors students' Honors projects from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Monday, April 28, in the Memorial Union Great Hall. Refreshments will be served.

Reiman Gardens open house focuses on teaching, research
The Reiman Gardens Academic Advisory Team will host an open house for faculty at the gardens from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 29. Faculty looking for ideas for course field trips, laboratory exercises and study projects are invited. A brief program will begin at 4 p.m. Refreshments will be served. Call 4-8994 or e-mail lnaeve@iastate.edu if you'd like to attend; participation is limited to 50 faculty.

Learning Community Institute to be held in May
The fifth annual Learning Communities Institute will be held May 12-13 at Scheman. More information and registration are available online at http://www.iastate.edu/~learncommunity/institute2003.html. Registrations are due April 30. Questions should be directed to Jane Jacobson, jrjacob@iastate.edu, or Shari Ellertson, sellert@iastate.edu.

Health care privacy policies required April 14
Enforcement began April 14 of a federal law regarding the use of and restrictions for personal medical information. (The law is known as "HIPAA" -- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.) Health care providers of all kinds -- medical clinics and hospitals, pharmacies, group health plans, dentists, nursing homes, insurance companies -- have written policies outlining how they will protect and use client information, and are required to share their policies with their clients. ISU, as a group health plan provider, has its own policy and has mailed a copy to all employees. Campus units that give support services to employee health benefits (benefits office, ADP, accounts receivable, risk management, university counsel) will follow the policy.

HIPAA comes in response to the proliferation of electronically stored data and the need to protect that information from misuse or theft. Clients will receive a copy of others' policies the next time they visit a health care provider.