Student Officer Transactions for Summer Appointments Due by May 5
TO: Departmental Administrators
FROM: Carmen DeLeon, Associate Provost for Academic Appointments
James Lindner, Associate Vice President - HRIS
Zeid Sitnica, Associate Provost for Academic Appointments
Electronic rosters for student officer reappointments for Summer 2023 are now available through the PAC Worklist. Please refer to the March 24, 2023 email from CUHR for further information.
Electronic rosters and the remainder of the transactions for June 1 appointments must be submitted no later than Friday, May 5, 2023, to ensure that student officers receive paychecks on June 15. We urge you to submit as many of your appointments as possible by May 26, and any outstanding transactions as soon as possible after that to ensure that student officers get paid properly and in a timely fashion. All appointments except those with truly exceptional circumstances must be submitted by May 26 to ensure that individuals are paid properly in June.
Those units which submit their transactions through a dean or executive vice president should complete them even earlier. Joseph Werst and John Kerwin in the Arts and Sciences and Randy Torres in Engineering must have all their electronic rosters and transactions no later than Friday, April 28, 2023.
The PAC TBH/REH, Visa/Contract Renewal and Paper Transactions modules should be used for transactions for student officers who cannot be reappointed through the electronic roster. Electronic roster logic has been expanded to include all departments who have had student officers appointed during the Summer 2022 term. The purpose of the expanded department list is to reappoint as many student officers as possible using the electronic roster process and reduce the number of other PAC transactions. E-Term should be used to terminate student officers with active appointments who will not be reappointed as of January 1, 2023 and who are not on the electronic rosters.
Electronic Roster
- Each unit will receive an electronic roster for their student officers who can be reappointed from June 1, 2023. The NEW APPT EFF DT and the NEW APPT END DT are available for edits.
- Each student officer appearing on the electronic roster will have two rows of information. The top row will contain appointment information related to their last Summer 2022 active appointment. For those student officers who were not appointed during the Summer 2022 term, their last appointment in either Fall 2022 or Spring 2023 will appear in the top row. The second row is available for completion.
- Student officers whose visas have already expired or whose visas will expire by June 30, 2023, should not be reappointed, or rehired by the electronic roster. They should be deferred on the electronic roster, rehired by the TBH/REH module, or reappointed through the Visa/Contract Renewal module. Those whose visas will expire between July 1, 2023, and August 31, 2023 may still be reappointed via the electronic roster with the modification of the proposed appointment end date through the visa expiration date. Please be sure not to reappoint anyone on the electronic roster beyond their visa expiration date.
- The POSITION NUMBER, POSITION TITLE, APPOINTMENT EFFECTIVE DATE, APPOINTMENT END DATE, PERIOD SALARY, ANNUAL RATE, FULL BASE SALARY, and ADD NOTES fields are all available for data entry.
- Indicate “DEFERRED” if you need to use another module to appoint or check the “TERMINATED/TERMINATE” column to terminate the person.
- ADD NOTES Field:
- Approvers should use the ADD NOTES field to identify transactions that require clarification.
- This field should be used to indicate “IA on file” if a student officer is switching to a research appointment.
- All the required supporting documents should be submitted as one PDF in alphabetical order which is the default way the names appear on the electronic roster.
Once you have submitted your electronic roster, do not initiate any change in PAC for student officers whom you have recertified by the electronic roster until the electronic rosters are processed. You must use the transaction generated from the electronic roster for any additional modification. Otherwise, the person will not be paid properly.
Appointment or Reappointment Letters and Other Relevant Attachments
Schools, departments, institutes and centers are responsible for giving all salaried student officers appointment or reappointment letters stating the title to which the person is being appointed, the period of the appointment, the general scope of the anticipated responsibilities of the appointment, including, at the hiring unit’s discretion, the estimated weekly hours and hours limitation. As a reminder, per University Policy, students on appointment may not work more than 20 hours per week total, inclusive of this appointment and any other positions they hold on campus or outside of campus for which they are compensated. The appointment/reappointment letter should also include the name of the school/department/institute/center and contact information, the name of the anticipated faculty supervisor, the salary for the period of the appointment, including tuition remission, and/or remuneration for services. If the appointment is for a year, then the annual salary should be provided.] If the appointment is for less than a year, the exact salary for the period of the appointment should be stated. The letter should also include a statement that the appointment is covered by a collective bargaining agreement between the University and the Student Workers of Columbia SWC-UAW. The agreement can be found at https://humanresources.columbia.edu/content/swc-uaw.
Non-salaried (zero salary) student officers should also receive the appropriate zero salary appointment/reappointment letter from their respective school/department/institute/center.
Revised letters should be given to student officers if any of the required information from above changes within the period of the original appointment. The revised letter should refer to the date of the original letter. Please feel free to contact your dean’s office if you have any questions about the contents of the appointment or reappointment letter. Student officers must receive these letters before any transaction is submitted.
Copies of the appointment or reappointment letters must be sent to the next approver in the PDF mentioned above in alphabetical order which is the default way the names appear on the electronic roster. No appointments or reappointments for student officers will be approved without a copy of the appointment or reappointment letter.
I-9 Forms
Employment is contingent upon verification of identity and eligibility to work in the United States. The verification process requires that a Form I-9 be completed in compliance with the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. For further information about the process of completing the Form I-9, please see the I-9 e-Verify section of the CUHR website. Please also refer to the June 24, 2022 email from CUHR for more details.
New I-9s: Please refer to the March 15, 2023 email from CUHR about Summer 2023 and Fall 2023 Student appointments.
Ongoing employment/reverifications: If the student officer has worked at Columbia University within the past three years, and completed their original I-9 less than 3 years ago, they should not need to complete this step again unless their visa is expiring or has expired.
Assignment of Inventions to Columbia University
Student officers (Departmental Research Assistant, Graduate Research Assistant) switching from teaching appointments to research appointments must sign the "Assignment to the University of Certain Inventions, Discoveries and Associated Technologies." No appointment should be processed until the department or school has received a completed Invention Agreement. Copies of new Invention Agreements must be sent to the next approver in the PDF mentioned above in the order in which the names appear on the electronic roster. The original Invention Agreement should be maintained in the departmental office.
Student officers who have already completed an Invention Agreement do not have to sign another one (unless the original one can no longer be located in the department’s files), nor do copies of Agreements already submitted need to be attached to the appropriate paperwork. The only exception relates to student officers switching from teaching appointments to research appointments. If they have completed the form previously, please indicate "IA on file" (no date required) in the ADD NOTES field of the electronic roster.
Additional information and the Invention Agreement addressed to Provost Mary C. Boyce can be found at https://techventures.columbia.edu/forms/faculty-handbook-ip-policy. Again, student officers who have already signed an Invention Agreement do not need to redo the document unless the original one can no longer be located in the department’s files.
Updated Data in PeopleSoft (PAC)
It is crucial that you review the data in PeopleSoft (PAC) to ensure that they are accurate and that student officers will receive correct checks. If you find any discrepancies with the information you submitted or if a record has not been updated within a reasonable interval, please contact the HRPC Service Desk.
If you need further assistance, or if you have any questions about these procedures, do not hesitate to ask for clarification. If you are in the Arts and Sciences, please feel free to contact Joseph Werst or John Kerwin. In Engineering, please contact Randy Torres. Other units should contact the HRPC Service Desk.
cc: Sheila Amato
John Kerwin
Gloria Moreno
Randy Torres
Joseph Werst