bber

Student Information

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES MANUAL FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT EMPLOYEES
BBER FACULTY & STAFF:

• Jim Skurla, Business Development Specialist, Acting Director, BBER
• Don McTavish, Survey Consultant to the BBER
• Jean Jacobson, Editor BBER   (Web-site)
• Vickie Almquist-Minko, Principal Secretary, BBER
• Carolyn Zanko, SBE 104 Dean's Office, Budget Officer BBER  (Web-site)
• Cindy Beaudin, SBE 104 Dean's Office, Payroll Personnel BBER 
• Duane Kaas, SBE Internship Director, SBE 115  

WELCOME
As a student employee of the University of Minnesota you will be expected to check the online information on student employment rules produced by the University of Minnesota. (See http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/policies/governing/student/appendixa.html) The student employment rules are general rules you should familiarize yourself with so you will be aware of your rights and obligations as a university employee.

Of particular interest:

Hours
Meal Periods: Scheduled unpaid meal periods interrupting a work shift shall be not less than 30 minutes nor more than one hour. If a work shift is extended to more than eight hours, additional or longer meal periods may be scheduled as warranted. Meal periods are unpaid.
Rest Periods: Student employees who work a minimum of four hours in one shift shall be granted a fifteen (15) minute paid rest period during each consecutive four hours of work. Rest periods for student employees working regularly-scheduled shifts of more than eight hours may be extended proportionally if only one break is scheduled during each half of the shift. Paid rest periods are not cumulative from one day to the next.
Holidays: Student employees paid on an hourly rate who are required to work on any official University holiday shall be paid at the rate of time and one-half for the hours worked. Student employees paid an hourly rate who are not required to work or cannot work because their department is closed on any official University holiday are not paid for that holiday.

University policy states that:

• You must carry at least 6 credits per semester to work as a student employee. If you drop below 6 credits for any one semester your employment with the university will be terminated immediately and that will be in effect until such time as you are registered for 6 or more credits again.
• In order to avoid having Social Security and Medicare taken from your payroll, you have to be considered a full time student (i.e. registered for 12 or more credits per quarter).

UNDERGRADUATE JOB CLASSIFICATIONS & DUTIES
UGRAs
OFFICE ASSISTANTS
INTERNS

Undergraduate Research Assistant (UGRA)

Qualifications and Experience:
Spreadsheet and SPSS computer application experience, statistical analysis, library skills, electronic file transferring, knowledge of Visual Basic is desirable, LSBE student preferred.

Duties:
Assist UMD Labovitz School of Business and Economics research bureau with projects. Create spreadsheets, run economic modeling software, and run SPSS computer applications; assist with statistical analysis for economic research; collect data from Internet sites, library, and other sources; execute electronic file transfers. Prefer LSBE major, sophmore or junior.

Office Assistant
As an office assistant in the Bureau of Business and Economic Research you will work closely with the faculty and staff, performing such duties as word processing, photo copying, distributing daily mail, answering phones, filing, and serving as office receptionist.

While working in the department office, Jean Jacobson will be your supervisor. She will work with you at the beginning of each semester to establish a work schedule conducive to both your schedule and the needs of the bureau. Once the schedule is established, you are responsible for meeting that schedule. Should something come up for you that you cannot come to work as expected, you need to email Jean and let her know.

Word Processing/Typing
Accuracy is the most important factor in producing documents for the department. Word Perfect, Microsoft Word and Excel are the programs you will most likely be using to complete your assigned tasks. 

Receptionist
Directing Traffic

Some days, the traffic flow into the office is almost constant. People want to know a wide variety of things (i.e. how to find a classroom or borrowing a paper clip); you are here to answer these questions. The most important thing to remember is that you do not have to know all the answers to their questions - just where to get the answers for them.

Answering the Phone (see this link for the telephone such as forwarding calls, etc.)

The manner in which the phone is answered is important, since it is sometimes the only contact a person has with the bureau. The bureau phone number is 726-7244.   You will receive inquiry calls, calls for other faculty/staff and wrong numbers.  (Note that our phone number 7244 will ring if callers forget to dial nine while on campus.)   Phone calls for faculty/staff members should be noted as a message and put in the appropriate mailbox or office. 

Photocopying
Bureau copying is done in the SBE copy room on the Xerox copier.   Jean will give you the bureau access number.  Short copying jobs can be done on the front fax machine if single copies of poor quality will serve.

Filing
You will be asked to file incoming mail in BBER mail boxes and incoming BBER publications and documents in archive folders. 

Other Duties as Assigned
This catch-all heading for office assistants includes such things as delivering something to another area on campus, taking inventory of supplies, watering plants, unpacking a delivery from the storehouse, etc.

Interns

Qualifications and Experience:
Spreadsheet and SPSS computer application experience, statistical analysis, library skills, electronic file transferring, knowledge of Visual Basic desirable, GIS desirable, LSBE students preferred.

Duties:
Assist UMD Bureau of Business and Economic Research with research projects. Create spreadsheets and run SPSS computer applications; assist with statistical analysis for economic research; collect data from Internet sites, library, and other sources; execute electronic file transfers.

Students have an opportunity to participate in funded research projects. Team activities involve working with the School of Business and Economics faculty and staff; economic modeling and analysis; primary data gathering; and familiarity with economic, demographic, and statistical data sources. Students most often have the opportunity of adding bureau research publications to their resumes, and gain hands-on experience with specific software applications, and research management skills.

MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
Keys: If you find yourself locked out of the office, please see the LSBE Dean's Office, SBE 104.