Posts by Leanna Laskey
NASPA 2012 Recap
On March 10th, six members of the OrgSync team traveled to Phoenix for the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Annual Conference. Since we had such a large team this year, we were able to attend educational programs, staff the booth in the Exhibit Hall, and visit with several of our campus partners.
The highlight of the conference for us was the Friends of OrgSync Social, where we hosted over 150 current and future campus partners at a local restaurant. It was great to see so many members of the OrgSync family in one place! Check out the pictures to see some of the fun.
The University of Arizona
Between meetings and the Exhibit Hall, I was able to attend a session titled Influencing Change from a Foundation of Authenticity. The session featured a panel of female vice presidents and professors. Each panel member shared a personal story in her professional life where either her personal values were challenged or she had to draw upon those values for strength. They also shared their personal platforms and walked us through the evaluative processes that led to values-aligned decision-making.
With March being Women’s History Month, it was especially empowering to be sitting in a room with and hearing about the personal stories that these amazing, highly respected and accomplished female leaders were sharing. It was very refreshing to see the panel so candidly and honestly sharing their experiences and it became extremely evident that each of these women is very in tune with who she is, what she believes, and who she wants to become. My favorite quote that summarized the session was “authenticity is a journey full of a lifetime of choices.”
Clemson University
Being the only female on the Leadership Team here at OrgSync certainly has its challenges, but I have found that staying true to myself and my personal values has been crucial to my success in this role. Every member of every team brings a very unique perspective and approach to the table, and hearing these women’s stories was a great reminder of the importance of staying true to myself as I approach my work.
Thanks to NASPA for another great conference full of strong programs and presenters!
To read the stories and to learn more about influencing change from a foundation of authenticity, visit Dr. Marilee Bresciani’s Blog. Dr. Bresciani is a professor of postsecondary education at San Diego State University and was the session facilitator.
Client Services Corner – September 2011
In this issue:
Welcome to the September edition of the Client Services Corner! We’re very excited to be sharing our insights, campus stories, and upcoming on-sites. If you’d like to be featured in this new series, feel free to contact us.
Campus Partner Spotlight:
The University of North Texas Health Science Center is this month’s Campus Spotlight! The UNT Health Science Center has done some amazing work with OrgSync over the past two years. This year, the campus will be continuing its expansion of OrgSync by taking advantage of several of OrgSync’s products and services: the Budget Management System for organizations to request budgets; the Service Management System in the Office of Community Engagement to replace their current system; card swipe to track attendance at events and service opportunities; and the API to pull involvement information from OrgSync into their student information system.
Currently, all – student organizations utilize many of the capabilities provided by OrgSync, especially service hour tracking and the calendar. Andy Axsom, Director of Student Engagement, along with two of his staff members, LaCresha Henderson, and Janice Hicks, have been instrumental in encouraging and promoting the adoption and integration of OrgSync on campus. They hold regular training sessions around campus for student leaders to better utilize OrgSync. Conversations have begun with several other departments on campus that will likely utilize OrgSync in the future as well. We are very excited to work with not only the UNT Health Science Center, but also UNT’s main campus in Denton, and its newest campus, UNT Dallas.
Best Practices: International Offices
As international student populations increase on US college campuses, it will be even more important to have a central location for communication, documentation, and socialization of international students. International Offices can utilize the OrgSync system to help manage international student communities and store regulatory paperwork for international students on campus. Creating an International Office umbrella can help you to…
Go paperless!
Move the international student check-in process on-line for easy accessibility and documentation storage. Create an OrgSync form identical to the international student check-in form. Have more than one form? Put them all together on different pages so it can be exported it into one excel file! Forms allow students to upload electronic versions of their regulatory paperwork (i.e., I-20, 1099, passport, etc). These forms and documents will be stored on OrgSync’s secured servers or they can be downloaded later. No more hard copies needed!
Create Cultural Communities!
Set up different portals for various international cultural groups so they can connect with others from their culture before they arrive in the United States. This connection will help ease their transition because they will be able to arrive in the country already knowing people at the university. Current students can also share experiences and recommendations based on their experience adjusting to U.S. culture.
Target Communications!
International Offices can stop worrying about constantly creating new listservs to communicate with specific international populations. Create different account groups in the umbrella based on visa status (i.e., F1, J1, etc.) and communications can now be targeted by cultural community or type of visa if needed.
Expand Opportunities!
Not only will OrgSync allow International Offices to set up, market, and track attendance for regular events, but it also allows the ability to add on-line components to offerings. Complement in-person English Talk Time programs with an on-line discussion board within OrgSync where users can practice their written English. Add a resource pages for files and videos to help students deal with culture shock. Additionally, International Offices can take quick surveys of students with the polls feature. The possibilities are endless!
Did You Know about Service Management?
We are excited to announce the launch of our Service Management System! After lots of input from our Campus Partners (particularly Georgia College & State University) and many hours of hard work from our Development & Design Teams, we rolled out our initial version of the add-on feature. Using the module, your Service or Volunteer Center staff will have their own umbrella to manage and promote opportunities, track hours, and connect students to the local community. Each Community Partner will have its own portal where they can post their service opportunities for approval and fill out any necessary forms the department may require.
OrgSync is very excited to streamline the process of service management and will continue to enhance the module over the next few months. If you have any questions regarding the Service Management System or are interested in learning about pricing options, please contact your Campus Consultant for more details.
Upcoming On-Site Trainings
view all upcoming OrgSync events
OrgSync Virtual User Conference Recap
On July 26th and 27th OrgSync hosted its first ever Virtual User Conference. Over 100 Student Affairs professionals from around the country joined the OrgSync team to share best practices and innovative ways to use OrgSync. Over the course of two days, members of the OrgSync team and our campus partners discussed eleven different topics including the new user interface, our upcoming service management system and strategies for achieving campus-wide adoption. Here is a full recap of the entire two-day conference.
| Time | Tuesday Topic | Wednesday Topic |
| 10:00 AM | Case Study: Large Campus Adoptions | Service Management |
| 11:00 AM | Train the Trainer | Card Swipe & Event Assessment |
| 12:00 PM | New User Interface Features | |
| 1:00 PM | OrgSync Expansion Across Campus with Multiple Umbrellas | Case Study: ePortfolio & Co-Curricular Tracking for the University of Wisconsin System |
| 2:00 PM | Case Study: Student Leadership Challenge | Budget Management System and Treasury Tools Overview |
| 3:00 PM | Co-Curricular Data Project | |
| 4:00 PM | Marketing Strategies |
Large Campus Adoptions
| Recap | Learn how Georgia State University was able to break out the implementation of OrgSync into multiple phases to achieve a high percentage of student adoption. |
| Presenter | Ebony Rose, Georgia State University | Position | Student Organizations Advisor |
Train the Trainer
| Recap | Hear from an OrgSync expert training about how you can become an effective OrgSync trainer and resource for students. |
| Presenter | Allison Kuty, OrgSync |
| Position | Campus Consultant |
New User Interface Features
| Recap | Take a tour of Next Generation OrgSync, released in July 2011. |
| Presenter | Stephanie Thompson, OrgSync |
| Position | Campus Consultant |
OrgSync Expansion Across Campus with Multiple Umbrellas
| Recap | Learn about how the newest optional feature of multiple umbrellas within a community allows OrgSync to be implemented in departments across the entire campus. |
| Presenter | Leanna Laskey, OrgSync |
| Position | Vice President of Client Services |
Case Study: Student Leadership Challenge
| Recap | Hear from our campus partner at University of Tennessee – Martin to learn about how the Student Affairs office integrated OrgSync into their Student Leadership initiative. |
| Presenter | David Taylor, University of Tennessee, Martin |
| Position | Coordinator for Student Organizations |
Co-Curricular Data Project
| Recap | Learn how our campus partners at Indiana State University are utilizing OrgSync to further develop their strategic initiatives as well as gather, store, and analyze valuable student data. |
| Presenters | Nolan Davis & Mike Snyder, Indiana State University |
| Positions | Associate Vice President of Student Affairs & Project Manager, Strategic Initiatives |
Marketing Strategies
| Recap | Learn some basic marketing strategies and examples from some campus partners that will help to improve student adoption across campus. |
| Presenter | Alex Morales, OrgSync |
| Position | Vice President of Marketing |
The Service Journey
| Recap | Learn how Georgia College & State University started the GIVE center and how they have been working with OrgSync to develop a robust service management system. |
| Presenters | Tom Miles & Kendall Stiles, Georgia College |
| Positions | Director of Campus Life & Director of the GIVE Center |
Card Swipe & Event Assessment
| Recap | Learn how creating events using OrgSync’s card swipe and assessment tools can help campuses understand the outcome of events and ease the strain of creating events for campus staff. |
| Presenters | Adam Cebulski & Bricklin Bernard, OrgSync |
| Positions | Campus Consultants |
Case Study: ePortfolio & Co-Curricular Tracking for the UW System
| Recap | Learn how the University of Wisconsin system partnered with OrgSync to build new functionality including eportfolios and co-curricular transcripts, as well as their findings from student evaluations and focus groups. |
| Presenters | Darrin Witucki, UW-Stout & Paul Shepherd, UW- River Falls |
| Positions | Interim Director of University Centers & Director of Student Life |
Budget Management System and Treasury Tools Overview
| Recap | Learn how to effectively use the budget management system feature and OrgSync’s treasury tools. |
| Presenters | Michael Krieger & Stephanie Thompson, OrgSync |
| Positions | Logistics & Support Specialist & Campus Consultant |
Thank you to all of our campus partners who contributed to making our first Virtual User Conference a success!
Client Services Corner – August 2011
In this issue:
- VP Update
- Campus Spotlight: University of Akron
- Best Practices: Recreation Sports
- Did You Know about Technical Integrations?
- Upcoming On-Site Trainings
Welcome to the August edition of the Client Services Corner! We’re very excited to be sharing our insights, campus stories, and upcoming webinars. If you’d like to be featured in this new series, feel free to contact us.
VP Update
I am very excited to welcome two new team members to the Client Services Team this summer! With sales soaring and so many new campus partners joining the OrgSync family every day, we are quickly expanding our Client Services team so we are able to continue provide the excellent service and support we are known for. Meet our newest team members:
Michael Krieger joined the OrgSync team in June from Indiana State University, one of OrgSync’s newer campus partners. During his graduate career at ISU, he was the OrgSync Implementation Coordinator, which is a perfect experience for our team! He has led student and administrator trainings and created several training materials for ISU. Michael is now our Logistics & Support Specialist, where he is using his project management skills to oversee several Client Services projects, including the new and improved OrgSync HelpDesk. Michael will also be helping with technical support, so you will probably meet him over the phone when you call the support line.
Adam Cebulski is also joins us from a partner campus, Illinois Institute of Technology. He served as the Director of Student Engagement at the Stuart School of Business, where he developed the Student Affairs division and implemented OrgSync. Adam has extensive experience with strategic planning and assessment and he holds his master’s degree in Higher Education Administration and Policy from Northwestern University, where he also opened the Office of Student Life. Adam will be working with our campus partners in Canada and the North Central/Midwest region of the U.S.
In addition to our four new team members, J.D., Allison, Bricklin, and myself are also all here to support you. Our Client Services Team has grown from three to six team members in the past 18 months and I couldn’t be prouder of the team we have built. Thank you for being a part of our family and we hope you enjoy working with our newest team members!
Campus Partner Spotlight: University of Akron
Check out what the University of Akron student leaders have been up to this summer! Student leaders recently participated in a two-day OrgSync On-Site Training. Thad Doyle, Associate Director, Student Life and Ali Doehring, Coordinator, Civic Engagement, have being working to spread the news about OrgSync on campus.
University of Akron began their partnership with OrgSync this past spring. During the summer training session, more than two thirds of the registered student organizations were present and their user base is rapidly growing.
All student organization forms are now paperless, along with their registration process. The University of Akron is also listing all upcoming events online as well as encouraging students to RSVP for these events through OrgSync. Currently, Club Sports and Fraternity & Sorority Life are utilizing OrgSync and other areas of campus are quickly coming on board.
Charlie Fey, Vice President of Student Affairs, was also invited to be a part of OrgSync’s inaugural Customer Advisory Council.
OrgSync is excited to see the great things that will continue to develop at Akron!
Best Practices: Campus Recreation
With the start of classes around the corner and freshman getting ready to be introduced to the college experience, now it is time to get everyone moving with your recreation activities on campus. Here are a few tips from our campus partners.
- Create program area portals (Intramural Sports, Fitness, Outdoor, etc..)
- Create Sport Club team portals and one Officer/ Leadership portal
- Set up appropriate account groups and permissions
- Populate the portals with:
- Events
- Discussions
- Files/Forms
- Polls
- Surveys (forms)
- Photos and Videos
- Invite student staff and current Listserv to portals
- Build a public website to advertise information
- Investigate the option to add Recreation as an umbrella and/or office on the community home
- Add the recreation to the community home event and news feed
Did You Know about Technical Integrations?
All the data that is collected in OrgSync regarding all of a student’s involvement can used to populate other systems on your campus. Through the use of API (Application Programming Interface), there is a secure and seamless process of collecting and auto-updating information collected in OrgSync. Through this integration, your campus can track and compare GPA’s of involved vs. uninvolved students, plus many other assessment components.
Using authentication/single sign-on for login purposes allows for your users to use the same login credentials they have already established for your campus to gain access to OrgSync. We currently support three different types of authentication: CAS, SAML, and Shibboleth. This will cut down on the amount of login information to memorize, but it will also allow for a closed community that is easy to limit users to your students.
Another integration that can be used in OrgSync is the Card Swipe system. This is our newest tool and it gives you the ability to track attendance at events or even track the amount of users that use a specific segment of campus. If you would like to learn more information regarding any of the three technical integrations currently provided, please contact your Campus Consultant.
Upcoming On-Site Trainings
OrgSync’s Virtual User Conference!
OrgSync is proud to announce our first Virtual User Conference! This conference will allow our campus partners to share best practices, learn how other campuses are creatively using OrgSync, and network with other Student Affairs professionals from across the country. The two-day conference is filled with 11 sessions and will be led by OrgSync team members and campus partners.
| When: | July 26th & 27th, sessions kick-off at 10:00AM CST (all times in CST) |
| What: | Virtual conference hosted by OrgSync and our campus partners |
| Who: | Anyone interested in learning more about OrgSync and the benefits it can provide to your campus |
| Where: | It’s virtual! Dial in and watch anywhere from the comfort of your home or office |
| Why: | To share best practices and creative uses of OrgSync with other users |
| Tuesday, July 26th | ||||
| Time | Topic | Presenter | ||
| 10:00 AM | Case Study: Large Campus Adoption | Ebony Rose, Georgia State University | ||
| 11:00 AM | Train the Trainer | Allison Kuty, OrgSync | ||
| 12:00 PM | New User Interface Features | Stephanie Thompson, OrgSync | ||
| 1:00 PM | OrgSync Expansion Across Campus with Multiple Umbrellas | Leanna Laskey, OrgSync | ||
| 2:00 PM | Case Study: Student Leadership Challenge | David Taylor, University of Tennessee- Martin | ||
| 3:00 PM | Co-Curricular Data Project | Nolan Davis, Indiana State University | ||
| 4:00 PM | Marketing Strategies | Alex Morales, OrgSync | ||
| Wednesday, July 26th | ||
| Time | Topic | Presenter |
| 10:00 AM | Service Management | Tom Miles & Kendall Stiles, Georgia College & State University |
| 11:00 AM | Card Swipe & Event Assessment | Adam Cebulski & Bricklin Bernard, OrgSync |
| 12:00 PM | —– | —– |
| 1:00 PM | Case Study: ePortfolio & Co-Curricular Tracking for the University of Wisconsin System | Darrin Witucki, UW-Stout & Paul Shepherd, UW- River Falls |
| 2:00 PM | Budget Management System and Treasury Tools Overview | Michael Krieger, OrgSync |
Register for the conference today!
*The registration will be valid for any session of the conference.
Client Services Corner – July 2011
In this issue:
Welcome to the July edition of the Client Services Corner! We’re very excited to be sharing our insights, campus stories, and upcoming webinars. If you’d like to be featured in this new series, feel free to contact us.
Campus Partner Spotlight: Lamar University
Sustainability initiatives are very common amongst our campus partners, both as rationale and added benefit when choosing OrgSync as a solution. Sustainability entails multiple facets including financial, organizational, as well as environmental, all of which OrgSync can play a vital role within a campus office and all student organizations. Recently, Jason Lambert, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs, shared with us his cost savings after instituting OrgSync’s paper-based forms within the Campus Life Office.
“In our 1st year, Lamar University has transferred over twelve of our “paper” forms into OrgSync forms. This has resulted in huge savings in both paper and in printing costs. In our Student Center/ Activities office alone, we have seen our copy machine usage drop from a 2009-2010 usage of 81,095 copies to a 2010-2011 usage of 39,613. And, our outside printing cost dropped from $2,325 to $1,048.”
The statistics very clearly demonstrate how Lamar University has been able to assist with the environmental sustainability on campus within the past year. We would like to thank Jay for sharing, and encourage other campuses to explore the cost savings from OrgSync on their campuses.
Best Practices: Summer Checklist
What you should be working on in preparation for students to return to campus:
- Ensure that the OrgSync calendar is populated
- Utilize News posts to share important information with your students
- Work with your Campus Consultant to utilize the Account Import feature for all of your new students
- Complete the CSV file provided by your Campus Consultant to set up Card Swipe
- Create Marketing Materials to promote OrgSync
- Schedule your fall On-site training with your Campus Consultant by completing the On-site Training Planning form in the Admin Club
- Update annual events and forms to reflect the correct date and time
- Update organization registration questions and enable renewals
- Check to make sure Group Permissions are correct for your staff members
- Attend the OrgSync Virtual User Conference on July 26-27
Did You Know about Multiple Umbrellas?
Along with the release of our new user interface, we have also added the ability to have multiple departmental umbrellas in one campus community. This addition allows administrative staff in various areas across campus to manage their own specific organizations, create a custom registration process, and have their own departmental website. The administrators would receive training and support from their designated Campus Consultant to ensure that they understand how their department can be successful with OrgSync.
Some suggested departments or areas that could benefit from additional umbrellas are Fraternity & Sorority Life, Residence Life, Sport Clubs, Civic Engagement, Service Learning, Orientation, Academic Departments, and many more! If you think your campus could benefit from additional umbrellas, please contact your Campus Consultant for pricing information.
Upcoming Webinars
This Summer, OrgSync will be hosting our first Virtual User Conference! The conference will be held July 26th and 27th and you can attend from the comfort of your own office. Throughout the two day conference, we will be hosting sessions with varying topics about some of the newer OrgSync features, as well as how different campuses have utilized OrgSync with their students and offices. The sessions will be 45 minutes long, starting at the top of each hour, and will be broadcasted online between 10:00 am CST and 6:00 pm CST each day.
Remember to put these dates on your calendar and look out for the full conference schedule, which will be sent out in the upcoming weeks.
Upcoming On-Site Trainings
