Alcalá View 1992 8.10

Survey Results Mixed The Alcala View drew mixed reviews from some 45 employees who participated in January's reader- ship s1,1rvey. · The View's new calendar format drew the most fire, with 22 respondents indicating they did not like the new format and preferred the old one. The majority of these employees felt the calendar took up too much room, leaving less room for stories a~ut employees and the university. Another common complaint was the timeliness of delivery, with several employees citing the January issue came out a day after a-featured event~ Jesse Jackson Jr.'s appearance in Shiley Theatre. Almost all respondents cited a desire for more articles about employees, and other suggestions in- cluded stories on different departments around campus, history segments, a segment on USD policy concerning certain issues, and more cultural listings. Below is a breakdown of the responses to the survey: (Percentages are based on actual responses. Not all surveys were complete.) 1. I am: Staff 56% Administration 38% Faculty 2% 2. The Alcala View's format changed this year. What do you think of the change? Favorable response· · Unfavorable response ~% ~% Other 4% No response 10% 3. Alcala View now comes out twice a month (except January and August). Is that... Good Too often Not often enough 32% 51% 0% 4. Do you think the Alcala View helps keep employees informed about what is happening at USD? Yes No Could do better 42% 10% 12% 5. Rate your intere~t in the types of articles published in the Alcala View. C~tagory . High Interest Moderate Interest Fair Interest Gen. campus news: 56% 36% 0% Employee Features: 51% 20% 18% Employee Benefits: 49% 18% 31% Upcoming Events: 42% 18% 29% Guest Speakers: 27% 22% 33% Passages: 11% 27% 33% New Hires, Promotions: 18% 24% 29% 6. Rate Alcala View in the following areas. Catagory Excellent Good Writing: 27% 53% Photography: 11% 60% Design: 13% 49% Artwork: 9% 56% Printing: 31% 47% Fair 13% 4% 11% 4% 9% Following are some of the written comments from the survey: Little Interest 2% 4% 2% 2% 7% 11% 16% Poor 0% 2% 4% 4% 0% "I like the menu!.. .1 hate the calendar.. .Very professional...Waste of time, money and trees. It is very women-oriented, very prejudiced to men.._.Basically a great job. Do you get paid to have all that fun? ...When you do a survey, please use an insert so we don't have to cut up the issue... Get rid of calen- dar and replace it with interesting employee inf<>rmation...This is too much paper to recycle...Truthful- ly, if it wasn't printed, I don't think people would miss it...Consider giving up the Alcala View and get- ting a 1/2 page in the Vista...Good work. Keep it up!" Thanks to all who participated in the survey. We are working to expand the content of the Alcala View and improve the timeliness of the delivery.

Benefit Briefs by Vicki Coscia

Maggie Davison has resigned her position as Benefits Assis- tant effective February 1, 1992. For the next few months Mag- gie will dedicate most of he.r time and efforts to completing the last requirements of her master's degree. Maggie, we wish you the best of luck in all of your future endeavors... Last October USO employees participated in the Air Pollution Control District of San Diego rideshare survey. Out of 918 eligible participants, 445 responded. Following are the results of the survey: 81 percent of USO employees drive alone; 8 percent car pool; 1 percent use the transit system; 2 percent bicycle; 5 percent walk; 3 per- cent unknown. Please help San Diego enjoy a smog-free year by ridesharing at least once a week. You would be surprised how much it helps... Human Resources is expecting to have information about the amount available for summer tuition remission by the end of March. Employees will be re- quired to complete the current version of the tuition remission application form and summer session questionnaire. Both the TR application and question- naire will be reviewed by the Tuition Remission Committee before awards are issued. The application and questionnaire will be available March 2 in Human Resources. Applications without the accompanying ques- tionnaire will be considered in- complete and will not be reviewed by ~e committee... 1991 Health and Dependent Care Reimbursement claims must be submitted for payment by March 31. Claims may ex- ceed the amount that is avail- able. The system will only pay the available balance. Any amounts remaining in the ac- counts after all approved claims have been paid will be con- sidered forfeited funds... The next issue of benefit briefs will ·have information on the availability of tuition remis- sion forms for Fall 1992.

-The Editors

University of San Diego Publications Office Maher Hall Room 274