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SERAP Program Description || Previous
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SERAP
2008 Recipients
March 18, 2008
EMPLOYERS OF UCSC STUDENTS
Re: Career Center Student Employee Recognition Award Program (SERAP)
2008
The Career Center is pleased to announce that campus
supervisors will once again have an opportunity to publicly reward
and recognize their outstanding student employees who have and continue
to dedicate their abundant talent and skills to UCSC!
The purpose of the award is to provide UCSC's top
student workers with a cash award that may range from a minimum
of $100 to a maximum of $2,000. Students receive a certificate of
appreciation signed by the UCSC Chancellor, the Vice Chancellor
of Student Affairs, and the Career Center Director and an official
public recognition of their excellent service to the University.
These honored student employees will also receive a written acknowledgment
of their excellent service to the university.
This award gives the opportunity to student employees
to note this achievement on their resume and will provide them with
a well-earned advantage as they seek future employment. Discretion
should be used when selecting student nominees. This award is only
for those students who have demonstrated exemplary work performance
in accordance with award program criteria. Please review the eligibility
criteria prior to making your decision to nominate a student.
It is important to note that eligible student employees
must be in good academic standing. It is best not to inform your
student nominee of their nomination until their academic status
is confirmed. Upon receipt of the unit's nominations, the Career
Center will verify the student's academic status and inform the
supervisor if the student is ineligible to participate.
Divisions have the option of participating in
the SERAP program. Detailed instructions on how to request a SERAP
award for your student(s) can be found at the HR
web site. Please note: All awards are charged to unit funds.
NEW! Nomination and Funding
approval Power
Point presentation
Deadline to nominate students is April 18, 2008.
I encourage you to take advantage of this excellent
opportunity to recognize those students whom you believe meet SERAP
eligibility criteria. If you have questions, please feel free to
call Pete Nortonat 459-4024 or email phnorton@ucsc.edu.
Sincerely,
Barbara Bedford, Director
Career Center
|| SERAP Q&A || SERAP
Program Description || Previous
Events ||Back to Top||
CAREER CENTER
STUDENT EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION AWARD PROGRAM (SERAP)
Questions and Answers Regarding the SERAP Program:
Note: Principal Officers should contact their HR
Service Team Representative if their division/unit will be participating
in the SERAP program this year.
Q: Who receives the SERAP announcement letter?
A: All UCSC staff, via email.
Q: How are one-time payment transactions entered and incorporated
into unit's existing financial processes?
A: Supervisors select and recommend the outstanding student employee
award recipients according to Principal Officer's award program
procedures and award program guidelines. Supervisors submit the
names of student nominees on-line using the ER system. The
Career Center will notify the supervisor and service team only if
the student is ineligible to participate. If the student
nominee is found to be in good academic standing, the service team
will, at the appropriate time, enter the one-time payment transaction
in OPTRS according to the award program procedures, as well as their
Principal Officer's approval procedures.
Q: Is the cash award limited to $100 as it has been
in previous years?
A: No. $100 is the minimum cash award a student may receive. A SERAP
awardee may now receive a maximum of $2,000, if the Principal Officer
deems it appropriate.
Q: Must supervisors use the on-line nomination form?
A: Yes. This form is very important. You must use the on-line nomination
form in the ER
system. Clearly document the student's exceptional work performance.
The SERAP link will only be available to supervisors if the principal
officer has notified the
HR Team that their division/unit will participate in the program.
Q: Will the Career Center provide the "certificate?"
A: Yes. An award certificate signed by the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor
of Student Affairs and the Career Center Director will be provided
at the award ceremony.
Q: How will the Career Center ensure that "good academic standing"
is verified?
A: Submit your nominations on-line before the deadline date of April
18, 2008. Nominations submitted after this date will not be
processed. The Career Center will verify the student's academic
status. If the student does not meet the "good academic standing"
criterion, the HR service team will receive a phone call or e-mail
as soon as possible. It is best not to inform your student nominee
of their nomination until their academic status is confirmed.
Q: Will cash awards be taxed?
A: Yes. All awards will be subject to the withholding of federal
and state taxes (currently 25% federal and 9.3% state). This is
an IRS regulation for these types of payments.
Q: Will checks be released in July 2008?
A: Yes. Award checks will be issued July 8, 2008. Please make student
employee(s) aware of the paycheck release date in order to allow
students to make arrangements to have their check properly forwarded
to their summer address; adjust their SurePay distribution for deposit
to their current account; or pick up their check. You should
encourage your student employees to enroll in the SurePay direct
deposit program if they are not already enrolled so that their award
check will be deposited into their bank account automatically on
pay day. SurePay enrollment forms are available on the Payroll
Office web page: http://finaff.ucsc.edu//resources/pdf/payroll/PayDispo.pdf.
Once completed this form, with a voided check attached, may be turned
in at the Career Center.
Q: Will students receive an invitation to the reception? Is an RSVP
necessary?
A: NO, only the supervisor receives an invitation. The supervisor
should extend the invitation to all their student employees who
were selected to receive an award. Reception date TBA.
Q: What form of written acknowledgement will students receive?
A: All students who get an award will receive a letter of congratulations
from the Career Center Director along with their certificate of
appreciation.
Q: Can a different account/fund be used for the award than is currently
paying the student's salary?
A: Yes. Any appropriate payroll account number (FOAPAL) can be used
for the cash award. Supervisors may enter a FOAPAL in the on-line
nomination form. Principal officers may change the FOAPAL when approving
the awards.
Q: Is there a mechanism for recognition if funds are not available,
for example receiving the certificate and participation in the reception?
A: Under campus award program policy, SERAP awards must be a minimum
$100. If funding is not available for SERAP, unit supervisors are
encouraged to be creative in finding other ways to reward students.
Q: Are graduate students employed as Teaching Assistants and Graduate
Student Researchers (as well as other appointments not made through
the Career Center) eligible to participate?
A: No, SERAP is a student employee award program for undergraduate
or graduate students in titles covered by Personnel Policies for
Staff Members. Funding to cover the cost of administering this
program (other than the cash award) is provided by the Career Center
and the Student Affairs Division under which the Career Center is
housed. Therefore, this program is mainly for undergraduate student
clientele employed in non-academic jobs.
Q: Do you need to complete the RSVP form?
A: Yes. The form provides the Career Center with attendance information
needed to plan the award ceremony. The form provides us with the
total number of supervisors who plan to attend with their student
nominee(s). Also, the form requests the names of those student recipients
who will not be able to attend the ceremony but will be receiving
a Certificate of Appreciation. Again, if for some reason your student
nominee(s) does not meet the "good academic standing"
criterion and will not be eligible to participate in this year's
program, the HR service team will be contacted no later than May
21, 2008.
What Are the Key Changes in SERAP, 2007-2008?
A reception will be held to honor the students. Time and date TBA.
REMINDERS:
- Submit one RSVP form per student nominee.
- Please do not use the (F) code when preparing the SERAP award
one-time payment. Work-study funds cannot be used to cover the
cost of any cash award.
- Students hired under academic title codes are not eligible
to participate in the LAP awards programs.
- When preparing one-time payment transactions, clearly identify
the appropriate paycheck release date-- July 8, 2008.
- Minimum award is $100, awards can be larger ($2,000 maximum)
at the discretion of the Principal Officer.
- All awards will be subject to the withholding of federal and
state taxes (currently 25% federal and 9.3% state). If the award
payment is paid with regular pay the calculation of withholding
taxes will use the federal and state graduated tax rates using
the information from the employees current W-4 form.
- One-time payment (or Additional Pay) transactions in OPTRS
must be entered by the Service Team in time to meet July 8 paycheck
release date.
- No job descriptions are required in the nomination process.
- All undergraduates and graduate students hired under Personnel
Policies for Staff members are eligible to participate.
|| Letter to Service Teams || SERAP
Program Description || Previous
Events ||
||Back to Top||
- SERAP -
UCSC's Student Employee Recognition Program
I. Overview
II. SERAP Award Name
III. Purpose of the Award Program
IV. Type of Awards
V. Eligibility for Award
VI. Timing of Awards/Locations
VII. Cash Award Funding and Deductions
VIII. Criteria of Performance
IX. Examples of Accomplishments, Skills or Special Qualities
X. Publicity
XI. Award Ceremony
XII. SERAP Task Group
------------------------------------------------------------------------
OVERVIEW
Over 14,000 students attending UCSC represent an amazingly skilled
and diverse labor pool from which departments can draw almost any
required degree of ability and competence. Students have become
critical partners with the UCSC administration in providing delivery
of a wide variety of services to campus clientele. In recognition
of their service, employers of students often ask how they can reward
their employees. There is a formal method of recognizing outstanding
UCSC student employee contributions: the annual Student Employee
Recognition Award Ceremony.
Among the brightest and most motivated in California, many of our
UCSC students possess skills, work experience, extremely specialized
experience and/or training which makes them invaluable assets to
many campus units. Often a strong relationship is forged between
a well-qualified student and a particular UCSC employing department.
This close relationship naturally allows student employees to assume
increased job responsibilities. Those students who have recognized
the importance of acquiring professional skills as they prepare
to enter the job market find this college work experience invaluable.
Through their hard work and productivity, many students show the
same dedication to quality service at UCSC as do regular staff and
faculty.
The Career Center of UCSC recognizes that students' top priority
must be their academic pursuits. The Center supports this priority
by providing students with valuable work experience while helping
to supplement their educational expenses through on-campus employment.
This plays a significant role in student retention and is particularly
important as students face the challenge of ever increasing fees
during uncertain economic times. In 2006-2007, approximatly 4000
students were employed on-campus. The Career Center places undergraduate
(and some graduate) students in a variety of on-campus positions
that range from clerical and administrative support to advanced
computer programming.
Overseeing the professional relationship between student employees
and campus departments is under the purview of the Career Center.
While we strongly encourage students to obtain work experience and
further their job skills, the Career Center also encourages guidelines
which recommend students do not work beyond a maximum number of
hours which might adversely affect their scholastic achievement.
We believe, along with many others, that it is important to fully
recognize our student employees as the important human resource
to the UCSC campus that they are, just as we do for our regular
staff and faculty. This exceptional performance award program is
an excellent mechanism for acknowledging outstanding student employee
service. As stated earlier, such commendations will give an additional
competitive advantage to our qualified students as they search for
professional opportunities outside the university. Their career
seeking repertoire will include a university degree, valuable work
experience, and a special acknowledgement by the university of their
special service and contributions
SERAP AWARD NAME
Outstanding Student Employee Performance Award (OSEPA).
PURPOSE OF THE AWARD PROGRAM
This award program acknowledges our student employees as an important
human resource component of the UCSC campus community. Its purpose
is also to reward and esteem student employees for exceptional performance
and/or contributions to the UCSC campus administration. It will
provide UCSC's top student employees with a minimum cash award in
the amount of one hundred dollars, (maximum two thousand dollars)
a certificate of appreciation, and an official public recognition
of their excellent service to the university. More importantly,
this award program will provide student recipients with a valuable
opportunity to note this achievement on their resume. An official
notation of superior service will provide our selected students
with a well-earned advantage as they seek future career employment
opportunities.
TYPE OF AWARDS
A minimum cash award of $100 (maximum cash award of $2,000), a certificate
of acknowledgement signed by the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor of
Student Affairs and the Career Center Director.
ELIGIBILITY FOR AWARD
All registered UCSC undergraduate and graduate students covered
by Personnel Policies for Staff Members, that are in good academic
standing, as well as work-study student employees under the Federal
Work-Study Program working on- or off-campus, are eligible for this
award. Chancellor's Undergraduate Internship Program (CUIP) participants
are also eligible. (Note: some CUIP Interns are not employed in
the payroll system. See UCSC's Accounts
Payable web site on how to process awards for CUIP student employees
that are not in the payroll system.) Students under consideration
for an OSEPA must have completed at least three months of part-time
student employment during the calendar year. Students working exclusively
during the summer months are also eligible for consideration.
CASH AWARD FUNDING AND DEDUCTIONS
Employers of students are responsible for covering the cost
of the cash award for each student who is selected to receive an
Outstanding Student Employee Performance Award. Please inform
your student employee(s) that checks for the award will be released
on or after July 8, 2008 (following the end of the academic year,
so that OSEPA's are considered "summer earnings"). Cash
awards are subject to income tax withholding. All awards will be
subject to the withholding of federal and state taxes (currently
25% federal and 9.3% state). This is an IRS regulation for these
types of payments.
CRITERIA OF PERFORMANCE
- Students who have made outstanding contributions to the achievement
of the unit's goals and fulfillment of its mission.
- The student employee must be in good academic standing. Academic
status will be verified upon receipt of unit nomination(s).
- Student employees exhibiting a high skill-level for their position(s).
This would apply to any level of student employment, highly skilled
programmer, manual labor positions, or the innovative file clerk.
- Students who demonstrate a willingness and an ability to seek
innovative solutions to problems and who articipate in streamlining
activities relevant to their positions.
- Students who exhibit superior ability to work effectively with
staff and faculty, and are seen as exceptional team players.
- Students who have served as positive role models. For example,
those students that demonstrate exemplary interpersonal skills
and who are consistently dependable, punctual and self-motivated.
EXAMPLES OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS, SKILLS OR SPECIAL QUALITIES
- Leadership, teamwork, mentorshipInnovative solutions to work
problems or special project(s)
- One-time and/or sustained contributions to the University or
employing unit.
- Improvements in practices that greatly enhance efficiency,
productivity, morale or initiative.
- Special or unique skills and more...
PUBLICITY
A list of award recipients' names will be publicized on a large
poster for all to see during the ceremony. Afterward, the poster
will be housed at the Career Center for those who did not attend
the ceremony to see. The recipient list will also be publicized
on the Career Center's home page.
SERAP COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Barbara Bedford, Career Center
Vickie Bencich, Career Center
Pete Norton, Career Center
Katie Trevino, Career Center
Rita Wright, Career Center, Chair
|| Letter to Service Teams||
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