CofC Business Affairs Provides Updates for Faculty, Staff

The Division of Business Affairs (BUAF) consists of an array of different offices, departments and services that support the campus community.

BUAF is made up of:

Fiscal services (AR/AP, controller/accounting, the Office of Budgeting and Payroll Services and the Treasurer’s Office)
Procurement and contracting, including warehouse and inventory management
Office of Human Resources
Campus Services (Campus Housing, Dining Services, parking and transportation, vending, Cougar Card, the George Street Box Office and Sottile Theatre, insurance and lease management and Campus Services HQ)
Facilities Management, including capital project management and space management
Public Safety/Fire and EMS

The dedicated staff in the above departments have been busy making 2023–24 another successful academic year. Below are some updates from a few of the units making up the BUAF team.

Fiscal Services

Treasurer’s Office: The Treasurer’s Office welcomes Wesley Funsch, the new legal residency coordinator. Funsch brings a wealth of knowledge from his background in law enforcement in the Charleston area. He is familiar with the laws and regulations for residency and applies the rules fairly and timely as he receives the applications. Prior to moving to Charleston, Funsch lived in Guantanamo Bay. He graduated from Wando High School and earned a degree in business management from Clemson University. In his spare time he likes to cook, barbecue, fish and watch college sports.

Tuition and Billing Insurance: The Treasurer’s Office and TouchNet Information Services have teamed up with GradGuard to provide tuition and billing insurance to our students. This service started with the commencement of billing for the fall 2023 semester.

Each semester, the student can enroll in the insurance and receive $15,000 worth of coverage for $165. Coverage amounts can be increased or lowered depending on the needs of the student and their family. This coverage is offered until the end of the first week of classes. If a student must withdraw from CofC for a medical reason, all they need to do is fill out a simple form provided by GradGuard, have the Treasurer’s Office fill in the financial data and mail the form back to GradGuard. The insurance will pay the balance due to the College and will reimburse the student and/or the family for payments made out of pocket. This first semester covered 10.8% of our student body, and some claim forms have already been submitted to ensure that the withdrawn student is taken care of financially.

Controller’s Office: The Controller’s Office is now fully staffed, welcoming accountants Jayce Espiritu and Emilie O’Connor to the team.

A new travel system that will allow for enhanced travel planning and management is coming soon. Pilot testing is underway, followed by a phased rollout to campus. The new system will allow the traveler to track approval and reimbursement status, book flights, car rentals and hotel reservations online, and includes a mobile app.

The Controller’s Office is assisting the Office of Research and Grants Administration to implement WebGrants by Dulles Technology. The implementation is projected to be finalized in fall 2023/spring 2024.

The College received an unmodified opinion for its annual financial statement audit. The Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) can be found on the controller’s website. The College received the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the 30th consecutive year for the FY22 ACFR. The Controller’s Office is currently working on completing the Annual Single Audit of federal awards and the NCAA Agreed Upon Procedures engagements.

In FY23 the office processed:

14,773 AP invoices – a 10% increase over FY22
5,017 student refund checks – a 64% decrease over FY22
2,980 manual journal entries – a 4% decrease over FY22

Procurement and Supply Services

The Office of Procurement and Supply Services is proud to announce that Procurement Manager Susan Dick-McKeon has completed the Leadership Excellence Certificate Series offered through the Deer Oaks EAP and Cougar Ed and that Procurement Manager Traci Tokarczyk has earned the NIGP Certified Procurement Professional (CPP) certification. The CPP is a competency-based certification that includes strategy, policy, legislation and program oversight, planning and analysis, sourcing and solicitations, contract administration, leadership and business principles and operations.

Dick-McKeon, Application Analyst Hung Vo and Chief Procurement Officer Wendy Williams provided voluntary assistance to Campus Housing during 2023 move-in, and Hung also volunteered with Alumni Affairs at A Charleston Affair.

The Office of Procurement was awarded the Bank of America Innovation Excellence Award for our Pcard program.

Sean Van Hannegeyn, sourcing and travel desk manager, has been working tirelessly along with IT to transition our current Xerox-managed print program and Xerox devices to Managed Print Solutions, a new provider that will feature HP devices.

Procurement is currently undergoing an audit by the State Fiscal Accountability Authority, Division of Procurement Services team and providing a lot of documentation to demonstrate we are in compliance with the state procurement code.

Human Resources

Employee Experience and Success: The Office of Human Resources (HR) is pleased to welcome Shannon Bassett as the director of Employee Experience and Success, and Kendall Cage as the assistant director of Employee Experience and Success. Recently, the Employee Experience and Success team was invited to participate in a Student Affairs Leadership Team (SALT) retreat and conducted a lively session on professional effectiveness called “Purpose, Values, Mission, and Vision: A Journey Towards Professional Effectiveness.”

More great sessions that focus on building effective teams are being developed and will be available for department leaders in the spring. Please contact the Employee Experience and Success team for additional information about training and development opportunities.

Office of Equal Opportunity Programs: We are also pleased to welcome Alex Puatu Siebert as the equal opportunity programs professional. The Office of Equal Opportunity Programs is completing training for student-athletes on pertinent College policies, including Title IX, and conducted training on sexual misconduct prevention and bystander intervention for the Lambda Theta Pi national conference.

Please contact this team with any questions about the College’s nondiscrimination policies and procedures, including how to report.

HR Leadership: The HR Leadership team has conducted its first in a series of HR on the Road visits starting with the Student Affairs Leadership Team (SALT). These discussions centered around the support that HR can provide to employees, along with soliciting valuable feedback from managers on what they and their teams need or would like to see more of from the HR perspective. Additional HR on the Road visits will be scheduled throughout the academic year. We also continue our work to help implement new programs and enhancements in support of Pillar III.

Employee Relations: The Employee Relations team invites supervisors to reach out about any questions or concerns regarding employee conduct and is available to conduct training for supervisors about the College’s Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Actions Policy.

Employment Services: The Employment Services team has been working to update our PeopleAdmin recruitment and posting screenshot guides to make the process more user-friendly for our supervisors. We also successfully implemented an online onboarding system in PeopleAdmin for our new hires. To help us reach a more diverse pool of talent, we have been actively engaging at a number of job fairs, including events designed for veterans and those organized by the Department of Employment and Workforce.

Benefits: The Benefits team conducted a successful benefits fair for our employees earlier this month and will be working on open enrollment matters. Joe Nowjack, benefits counselor, has taken on responsibility for FMLA and Paid Parental Leave (PPL) administration. Please contact Joe with any questions on these or other benefits topics.

Additionally, we are planning an on-campus free health screening event for Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. Mark your calendars. More information on this event will be distributed to campus soon.

Operations: HR would like to send a special thank you to Dee Cole, former director of HR Operations and employment services, who retired at the end of September after 26 years of service to the College. We thank her for her many contributions to our campus community, our employees and to HR. Please join us in congratulating Andrew Bettis, who has been named director of HR Operations and has assumed many of Cole’s responsibilities.

The HR Operations team is now focused on implementing enhancements to increase efficiencies in our customer support services along with our HR systems and processes.

Campus Services

Campus Services includes seven offices, from Campus Housing to the Sottile Theatre, all dedicated to enhancing the College of Charleston experience. Campus Services HQ is one of those offices. Located at 162 Calhoun St., Campus Services HQ is your one-stop shop for information about the Cougar Card, meal plans and dining, Campus Housing, vending, and campus parking and transportation. The HQ team can also help with other Campus Services programs, including the College of Charleston Bookstore, George Street Box Office, the Mail Services and Sottile Theatre.

Campus Housing and Facilities Management (and hundreds of students and families) were thrilled about the reopening of McAlister Hall this fall. With the College’s record incoming class, several guest houses were converted into student residences and suites at Ripley Point were leased to help all our students find a home away from home.

Dining: The Charleston Culinary Group keeps adding food and fun for students – and employees – with themed events in the dining halls and our monthly Farmers Market, among other events.

Have you been by The Market, behind Liberty St. Fresh Food Co.? You can pick up quick snacks or groceries and, coming this winter, it’ll feature a full menu of Verde On the Go!

Get a Faculty/Staff Meal Plan to use at City Bistro, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Liberty St. Fresh Food Co., Marty’s Place (have you tried the Spartan Bowl?!), The Market and all P.O.D. Express locations! In a hurry? Try the Transact mobile app for Apple or Android.

College of Charleston Bookstore: Don’t forget that employees get a 10% discount using their Cougar Card for personal purchases and a 20% discount for departmental purchases at the College of Charleston Bookstore!

In a partnership with Academic Affairs, the College of Charleston Bookstore launched a new equitable access course material program called Cougar Complete. Students get value in both predictable pricing for their required materials (just $22 per credit hour) and the convenience of not having to shop around for everything before the first day of class. Read more about the program and how you can help students come to class completely prepared.

George Street Box Office: The George Street Box Office continues to provide ticketing services for all non-athletic events on campus, including events at the Avery Research Center, Chapel Theatre and Sottile Theatre. You can find events ranging from bodybuilding competitions to ballet at gsbo.cofc.edu. Sign up for the GSBO newsletter and never miss a beat!

If you are hosting a paid ticketed event, you must contact the George Street Box Office to get set up for ticketing services.

Mail Services: Save yourself time! You can ship or mail personal packages (think pesky returns) for multiple carriers (FedEx, UPS, DHL, USPS) at Mail Services. Don’t forget you can also handle any passport needs (including getting your picture taken) at Mail Services. Make your appointment today!

Visit Campus Services in person at 162 Calhoun St. or email campusservices@cofc.edu, call 843.953.1100 or text 843.825.1323. You can also get answers through the Campus Services web form and through MyPortal.