Before you start working in an office, it might be hard to believe how much of your workday can be spent sending emails. Even after you’ve gained enough experience to be comfortable drafting professional emails quickly and efficiently, email correspondence can still occupy a significant portion of your time.

Compliance Specialist Whitney Ames is quite the accomplished emailer. When creating Athletic Scholarship agreements for the Division of Student Affairs (DoSA), Ames had to send them individually to over 200 students, many of whom needed reminders and updates to get them to reply. Considering the time-sensitive nature of these forms, in addition to the numerous other tasks that DoSA staff must complete during the same period, it is clear that this system was not ideal for either staff or students. That's why DoSA has prioritized accessibility and quality service as they’ve replaced paper processes with digital workflow.

Working with UMBCs Division of Information Technology (DoIT), DoSA has converted many heavily used paper documents to DocuSign forms that can be signed and submitted electronically. Implemented in numerous departments including Campus Life and Athletics, these digital forms have made life easier for everyone involved. Instead of mailing incoming athletes 15 pages of health and permission forms, Athletics can send them out in a secure email that provides quick, easy access and signing ability on any device. The student athlete can then submit the form electronically, which relieves staff from having to sort and file lots of paper documents as well as scan and upload the document to their electronic medical records.

Assistant Athletic Trainer Kristina Miller says, “DocuSign has streamlined us to the point that our time is now better spent serving the student-athlete instead of dealing with papers everywhere.”

If a student doesn’t respond immediately, DocuSign automatically sends emails reminding them they have a form to sign. The document itself offers instructions and tool tips that tell the signer exactly what they need to know for each field, so DoSA staff do not need to spend a lot of time correcting mistakes. In addition, DocuSign Mobile allows signers to conveniently sign and submit electronic forms directly on their mobile device. DoSA can also track and resend documents when necessary.

According to IT Manager Ken Schreihofer,M.S. ‘11, Information Systems, these tools help meet student expectations of better service, with the first completed forms submitted within minutes of being sent out and total compliance approaching 100%.

Whitney Ames agrees, saying, “the most impressive change has been in our response rate. This year, we sent reminder emails to fewer than 10 students and most aid agreements were returned nearly a month ahead of their normal timeline.”

E-signature technology provides a robust platform with an easy-to-learn interface that can create solutions for numerous administrative concerns. Between DocuSign and Request Tracker (RT), Schreihofer says that DoSA is now running low on paper forms. With the help of automated digital workflows, any department can make gains in sensible efficiency and productivity.

More Info:

• Visit the DocuSign myUMBC Group

• Visit UMBC's FAQ knowledge base

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute is now accepting applications for their RADM Helena O. Mishoe Post-Baccalaureate Fellowships for Underrepresented Scientists. 

The purpose of the Mishoe Fellowship is to enhance career opportunities in biomedical sciences for post baccalaureate individuals, from health disparity groups, who are planning to apply to graduate or professional (medical/dental/veterinary/pharmacy) school with a career goal of becoming a doctorally-trained scientist or physician-scientist. 

See the attached flyer for more information or visit https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/node-general/radm-helena-o-mishoe-fellowship-underrepresented-scientists. 

UMBC’s Center for Social Science Scholarship has opened its doors this fall with Christine Mallinson, professor of language, literacy, and culture, as its inaugural director. The new center, which will promote faculty, student, and alumni research across multiple fields of study, is the result of many years of cultivating deep levels of scholarship on campus as well as collaboration and planning by the social science faculty.

“The Center for Social Science Scholarship answers a longstanding need at UMBC: to provide a hub, a connector, and a microphone for our extraordinary work on critical issues facing communities and societies today,” explains Scott Casper, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS).

The center will emphasize areas of research such as civic and political participation, global patterns of labor and migration, educational access, the relationship between humans and the environment, human behavior and health equity across the lifespan, the social context of technology, and policy impact.

Mallinson, who joined UMBC in 2006, researches the context of and mechanisms involved in communication within major social institutions, including education, the workplace, and the legal system. By working with teachers, lawyers, and judges to better understand how perceptions cause bias, Mallinson has developed research-based strategies to remove inequalities and barriers.

“Christine Mallinson’s innovative, collaborative scholarship has influenced academic debates, informed policy, and empowered communities. I look forward to her leadership on behalf of UMBC’s social science research community,” says Casper.

Through her interdisciplinary work in language, literacy, and culture, Mallinson said she has immersed herself in multiple campus partnerships and experienced first-hand the extent of dynamic social science research happening across UMBC.

“What I am most excited for with the Center for Social Science Scholarship is the ability to spotlight the depth and breadth of the social science research that our faculty and students commit to on a daily basis,” says Mallinson.

As part of these efforts, current social science programming—such as the research-based events and assistance offered by the Maryland Institute for Public Policy and Research (MIPAR), and the Social Science Forum lecture series—will be housed in and managed by the Center for Social Science Scholarship. Located in the Public Policy building, the center will also serve as a partner in connecting and sharing key insights and perspectives of social science alumni and community partners.

Mallinson sees this collaborative work as a continuation of UMBC’s values and commitment to applied research. “This is an opportunity at a pivotal time in our country,” she says, “to tackle some of the big picture questions that are significant in the social sciences, but that also have applicability to other fields, are relevant across UMBC, and matter to our communities.”

Featured image: Christine Mallinson. All photos by Marlayna Demond ‘11 for UMBC