DES NEWSLETTER

The Division of Enrollment Services Newsletter
Southern Methodist University
An Electronic Newsletter of
Undergraduate Admission, Financial Aid, Student Financial Services, and the University Registrar

Volume III, Issue IV        April 2004

 

   

STAR ACHIEVEMENTS
Summer Enrollment
to date
 2769

CONGRATULATIONS
 Cindy Ruiz, named to Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities and received the Minority Academic Award.

STAFF LEAVING
Jared Potts - Information Processing

Sondra Pena Wright - Student Accounts

Sarah Parsons - Student Financial Services

STAFF MOVING
Stephanie Nonnemacher to Information Systems Specialist in FA

PROMOTIONS
Alison Odom - Team Leader for Information Processing

ANNIVERSARIES
Joe Papari - 24 Yrs!

Peggy Boykin - 20 years!

Paula Anderson - 5 years

Erin O'Neil - 4 years

Marcia Miller - 1 year

BIRTHDAYS
Cruz Lopez - May 3

Stephen Forrest - May 7

Norm Lieber - May 14

Lauren Hanson - May 15

Sarah Parsons - May 19

Patricia May - May 20

Irma Herrera - May 21

Jean Porter - May 27

If you are not on the list and should be, this is produced from the Employee Roster on the V drive.  Let Kathy know if there is an error.

UPDATE!!!  UPDATE!!!

Thanks to everyone, Jo Ann is finally beating Jim in his donations.

Her last hurdle is to get to her donation goal of $1500!

She has only $155 left to go!

You can donate online at http://people.smu.edu/jtupper

Jo Ann Tupper is participating in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.  Her team of 10 – Team MASH will participate in a relay on the Frisco High School track from 7pm on Friday, April 30 to 7am on Saturday, May 1 – 12 hours.  This is a fund-raising event in support of Jo Ann’s neighbor Chris’ mother who is a breast cancer survivor.  Contributions are tax deductible and will help Jo Ann beat the fund-raising efforts of her husband Jim. 

VIPs - Very Important Ponies 

 

Some of our VIPs this month are:
Lauren Hanson - Having more people like Lauren Hanson would encourage people to come in to Enrollment Services.  She was very helpful and willing to do everything in her power to better assist me.  Lauren was wonderful.

Daniel Herrera - Daniel is awesome!  He came down to my office (thrice) to show me how to use the headset for my phone.  I kept apologizing profusely for all the trips he had to make but he just kept saying, "That's ok."  And then after we finally had the phone working right, he told me I could call him if I needed any more help with it.  Thank you again, Daniel.  Kelly McMillan

Angie Flores - You have been sooooo wonderful in helping me sort this out.  I have never had a better, or expedient experience when dealing with Student Financials.   

Laura Phelps Retires

Laura Phelps retires after six years with the Records staff in the Registrar's office. 

Laura served as a Records Specialist, began to handle all of the processing for Transfer student records and was promoted to Manager of Transfer Processing.  Laura worked closely with Transfer Admission and the academic departments to determine transfer credit and equivalents.  By the time she took over Transfer Processing full-time, much of the processing that was delegated all over campus became centralized under Laura. 

John Hall said of Laura, "Laura Phelps arrived in the division in the early days of our PeopleSoft implementation project.  We thought heaven had sent her to us.  She simply did anything and everything that was asked of her!  Dependable is one word that can't be overused in describing Laura's work at SMU."

The Division of Enrollment Services showed it's appreciation for Laura's work at a reception on March 26th.

Student Financial Services Goes Paperless

With the new enrollment period, Student Financial Services will send notification of charges to student's SMU e-mail address ONLY.  Through March, statements and invoices were sent both electronically and on paper. 

The new eBilling system allows students to view their accounts online, print a statement of charges (if needed), and pay through the electronic payment system on QuickPAY.

Students also may set up a family member (or really anyone) as an Authorized Payer.  By clicking on this option in QuickPAY, the student allows the Authorized Payer to view the student's account of charges and make a payment to his/er account.  They also may ask that an electronic notification be sent to this person when the student is notified of charges to his/er account. 

In response to concerns from students and families, Student Financial Services continues to work to include more credit card options through a third party vendor.  Discover Card should be available soon.  One additional Credit Card company is nearing approval.

DON'T FORGET
  May DES Meeting
 May 5
 Blanton Meeting Rooms
 Cinco de Mayo!

Division Highlights
Important Dates
 Mustang Days - April 16-17
Last Day to Withdraw - Apr 20
Last Day of Class - Apr 27
Reading Days - Apr 28-29
 FAFSA Deadline - May 1
 Examinations - Apr 30-May6
 Baccalaureate - May 14
 Commencement - May15
Summer Pymt Due Date - May 20
 

Commencement - May 14 and 15
 Erin will need volunteers, so mark your calendar now.

FA Fiesta

 

(click on photo for more)

 

Quotation of the Month

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
Winston Churchill

 

SMU Trivia

What are these people doing and in what year?

Answer: 
Registration in 1915 was done by hand at a table in Dallas Hall.  As we approach the centennial, students now may register online.

 

Summer Recruitment Activities

Six Saturdays this summer, the Admission staff will be hosting information session on campus at 10am and campus tours at 11am.  Schedule for the summer is

July 10
July 17
July 24
July 31
August 7
August 14
      STAFF DEVELOPMENT

Student Employment  Daily Campus article