Archive for April, 2020

As a participant in the Abilene Christian University 403(b) Retirement Plan, we want to make you aware of the options available to you as a result of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. ACU has chosen to adopt the following CARES Act provisions for our retirement plan:

• Penalties and withholding are waived for qualified distributions from retirement plan accounts
• Optional suspension of required minimum distributions (RMDs) for 2020

In addition to these CARES Act relief measures, the deadline for 2019 Individual Retirement Account (IRA) contributions has been extended from April 15 to July 15, 2020. Read important details here.

With the worldwide concern over the Coronavirus, we are all understandably anxious about our health, job and family security. These are difficult times and want to provide you with resources to help ease your employees’ minds. Cigna created an on-demand webinar, Managing Anxiety: Coronavirus Fears & Concerns that offers helpful guidance on practical steps we all can take to protect our emotional health.

The 16th Annual ACU FilmFest Gala will stream live online April 23, at 7 p.m. For the first time, our entire community can enjoy this special ACU tradition from wherever you are. Visit www.acu.edu/filmfest for the link to watch.

Staff Senate has created a web page with tools and resources available to help you work from home.

Please save the date for New Student Orientation this summer! Incoming students will be completing online orientation throughout the summer and we will host one mega session on August 16th and 17th.

As the university prepares for the year-end close at May 31, the finance office wants you to have all the dates and process information to help you along the way. The Year End Memo includes new information about how to handle cancelled travel arrangements due to COVID-19 in Concur along with important deadlines.

Online Delivery Available with Free Shipping:
The Campus Store remains open for online business and ready to serve you through our app and on the web. We will keep delivering our products during this temporary store closure with no shipping charges, though you may experience longer shipping times than usual.

Textbook Rental Returns (faculty may get questions from their students):
For students who are not on campus, your rented textbooks (from The Campus Store) can be returned free by mail. Simply go to The Campus Store website (acu.bncollege.com) and follow the instructions to print a shipping label. If you have not set up an account please do so using the email address you provided when renting your textbooks.  You will then be able to print a shipping label.  Please email campusstore@acu.edu with any questions or concerns

Google Hangouts Meet is a video conferencing tool you can access with your ACU G Suite account at meet.google.com. You can create video conferences on the fly, or schedule them using your ACU Google calendar. You can invite people from the conference, send them the calendar invitation, or simply send them the information to join the conference. Check out our knowledge base article, How do I Use Google Meet, for more information.

The VPN lets you access on-campus network resources from off-campus. Some resources require you to be connected to the ACU network, such as administrative Banner, Cognos, and server network shares. The VPN is how you access these resources from off-campus. The VPN is available to ACU faculty, staff, and student employees. Check out our knowledge base article How do I Access the ACU VPN? for more information.