Updates from VPFO
- Notice of Acting Comptroller August 12-28: Karamjeet Heer, Interim Vice-President, Finance, will be away from Aug 12-28 inclusive. During her absence, she has designated Matt Boydston, Assistant Comptroller (matt.boydston@ubc.ca), as the “Acting Comptroller”. Karamjeet will resume responsibility as Comptroller effective Monday, Aug 29.
Operations updates
Facilities
Building Operations, Custodial Services, Customer Services & Informatics, Energy & Water Services, Infrastructure Development, and Municipal Services
- Closure of East Mall at Hospital Lane: East Mall between Hospital Lane and Biological Sciences Road will be closed due to District Energy System repair work from Aug 24–31. Any access for deliveries or service vehicles will be accommodated via East Mall from the North of campus. Learn more
Finance
Comptroller, Finance & Operational Excellence and Treasury
- New Lean Six Sigma toolkits & templates: Operational Excellence has created two additional toolkits for Project Management and White Belt. The toolkits and templates on the Operational Excellence website have also been reorganized for better accessibility and clarity. Learn more
- Claiming unidentified wire transfers and direct deposit: Please check through the list of unidentified wire transfers and direct deposits (updated as of August 17) to see if any payments belong to your department.
- New and Expanded Costing Allocations Information in the Workday Knowledge Base: The ISC has recently added additional topics and updated our existing information on Costing Allocations in the Workday Knowledge Base. Costing Allocations are used to charge payroll costs to the appropriate worktags for budget management and reporting purposes. Learn more
Operations & Advising
Communications & Engagement, Human Resources, and Safety & Risk Services
- Wastewater monitoring for COVID-19 at UBC: For Winter Term 2 and Summer Session 2022, UBC scaled up wastewater monitoring. The testing plan includes sampling and analysis of four building-level sites on the UBC Vancouver campus with sample processing performed at BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC). Learn more
- Updated guides and checklists to help with local onboarding: UBC HR has some updated resources to support local onboarding, available on the New employee checklist and orientation page. To support new hires who may be searching for information online, there is also a generic onboarding checklist on the Your First Days page.
- Discontinuing GatherContent: Content management tool, GatherContent will be discontinued on Aug 26. Users will have until then to export any content from the platform. Going forward, please email Samantha Tsui, Communications Coordinator for web updates.
People of the VPFO
Shout outs
At the VPFO, we love celebrating success! Join us every week in recognizing the great work our VPFO team members are doing to support the university.
Facilities
- Paul Harris, Stores Manager – Kudos to Paul for providing leadership and support to your team members as they go through their Lean Six Sigma program. Your support has been instrumental in the successes of Lean Six Sigma projects coming out of Facilities’ Stores team!
Finance & Operational Excellence
- Andrea Sherrington, HR Functional Analyst – Shout out to Andrea for demonstrating leadership and service excellence by ensuring her changes are always easy to follow and clear for those who aren’t familiar with Workday. Great job!
- Cristine Estrada, Procurement Sourcing Manager & Jason Lee, Buyer – Over the weekend during the heat wave, there was an urgent request for a critical part to fix damaged cooling equipment at the Life Sciences Centre. Thank you to Christine and Jason for working outside of your regular hours to support the community and minimize impacts on critical research and animal care!
- Gauri Garg, Buyer – Shout out to Gauri’s prompt response, expertise in procurement, and ability to explain things clearly. Thank you for demonstrating excellent customer service!
- Judith Forester, Manager, UBC Travel Program – Thank you for your work in conducting a thorough analysis of UBC’s per diem rates. This work resulted in UBC securing the needed approvals to implement the change to increase per diem rates to reflect today’s market prices and improve our processes for claiming per diems. Nicely done!
- Julie Chou, Buyer – A big thank you from the Faculty of Education for your support and thoroughness. Great work, Julie, and thank you to Grace Cobankiat for passing the message along!
- Lubna Shawwa, Continuous Improvement Program Manager – Thank you Lubna for your contribution as a member of AVPFO’s Social Committee. The Summer Social was super fun, well planned and organized with tons of fun activities. The ice cream truck was a great hit with everyone!
VPFO HR
- Amelia Libonao, HR Coordinator – Thank you to Amelia for going above and beyond to help our new team member navigate his first day despite technological challenges. You’re amazing!
Well done! Want to give someone a shout out in the next edition? Email communications@vpfo.ubc.ca
People in motion
- VPFO Communications & Engagement is pleased to welcome Geoffrey Daniel as the Manager, Digital & Creative on Aug 17. He will oversee the strategic direction of our digital and web initiatives and work with stakeholders across the VPFO to develop efficient digital solutions.
- David Rowswell joins Infrastructure Development’s Facilities Information and Inventory Systems (FIIS) team as the Space Inventory Data Analyst, effective August 29. He’ll be taking on tasks related to Archibus space inventory and reporting.
- Rachael Donovan joins Infrastructure Development’s Facilities Planning team in the new role of Reuse Initiative Coordinator today. This is a new, 2-year term position funded through the Climate Action Plan 2030 budget.
- Rashmi Chaudhuri and Antonina Skliarenko joined the ISC as Service Centre Representatives, and Mary Formby as Workday Functional Finance Analyst last week.
- Last week, the Payroll team within Finance & Operational Excellence welcomed Callen Mascardo as Manager, Payroll Operations & Control, and Bob Van Andel as Payroll Partner Analyst.
- Evelyn Ferrera, Erlinda Batiao, and Grace Dimalibot joined Facilities’ Building Operations as Service Workers.
Job openings
All positions at UBC are available on the UBC HR Careers website, or through the career application in your Workday account. Please note that applications will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. on the day prior to the posting end date. The following VPFO positions are currently open:
- Operations Manager (JR9171) – 08/26/2022
- Procurement Officer (JR9297) – 09/02/2022
- Manager, Treasury Contracts & Real Estate (JR9294) – 09/02/2022
- Supplier Setup Clerk (JR9296) – 09/02/2022
- Relief Shift Team Leader (CEC) (JR9276) – 09/05/2022
Don’t forget to apply as an internal candidate! Please review the Apply for an Internal Job Posting guide in the Workday Knowledge Base for instructions on how to apply. Reminder to attach a copy of your resume when you apply for a career opportunity in Workday.
Other notable updates
What better way to celebrate summer than with free ice cream?
This summer, UTown@UBC (part of Campus & Community Planning) has planned a series of free festivities and fun to help our community connect, relax, and enjoy the beautiful UBC campus together.
Last Thursday, some of our team members enjoyed Rain or Shine ice cream on Main Mall — yum!
For upcoming summer events, including yoga, outdoor concert, and movie night, visit UTown@UBC’s website.
Orange Shirt Day at UBC: Every Child Matters
Orange Shirt Day, September 30, is a day to honour and uphold Survivors and intergenerational Survivors of the Indian residential school system, and to commemorate those who didn’t return home.
Find featured events, resources, and more ways you can participate on UBC Indian Residential School History & Dialogue Centre’s website.
New website to support UBC faculty and staff organize conferences and events
The newly published UBC Event Diversity Toolkit seeks to support faculty, researchers, and staff in planning accessible conferences and events and to advance diversity in all academic events at UBC.
Helpful news
Some interesting news articles our team members have found informative, helpful, or fun! These are provided for information and entertainment only. Unless noted, UBC doesn’t specifically endorse or supply this content.
- Leading a change initiative can be an exciting opportunity. This short video by UBC HR explains how to conduct a stakeholder analysis for your next change initiative. Learn more
- Summer is almost over, but that doesn’t mean mosquitoes aren’t still searching for their next meal. UBC Department of Zoology professor Dr. Ben Matthews offers tips on the best repellents and other ways to avoid them. Read more