A blog on the latest news and events for ACU faculty and staff
Show off your ACU Wildcat spirit on Purple Fridays and take advantage of great discounts thanks to our campus partners:
More than 19 universities across the country have recently experienced swatting reports – false claims of emergencies that create confusion and disrupt daily life. While these calls are not real threats, they remind us of the importance of knowing what to do if a genuine emergency occurs on our campus.
At ACU, our Emergency Action Plan provides clear steps for responding to an active shooter or active threat. The response framework is Avoid | Deny | Defend:
When evacuating, remain calm, move quickly, keep hands open and visible, and always follow the instructions of police officers.
Preparedness is part of keeping our university community safe. Call 911 when it is safe to do so, and rely on first responders for guidance. For more information on ACU’s Emergency Action Plan please contact the Office of Institutional Compliance and Risk Management at risk@acu.edu.
The Halbert Center for Missions and Global Service invites you to participate in Missions Week 2025 from September 29-October 1 on the Campus Mall. Faculty, Staff, and families are invited to any events, especially if you plan to lead a Halbert Center trip this year (or want to talk about leading in the future!) Add your choice of these events to your calendar now.
For anyone teaching this semester, encourage your students to participate in Missions Week by sharing these slides before class September 24-26. Thank you for continuing to join us in fostering a missional spirit throughout ACU’s campus!
As a reminder, the Office of General Counsel (OGC) provides guidance to streamline the review, approval, and execution process of university contracts for the Abilene campus and outlines the contract signature authority delegated by the President to various university officers. This policy applies to all university employees.
For a complete overview of the policy and procedures, please visit the University’s Contracting Procedures web page. If you have any questions, feel free to contact the General Counsel’s office at ogc@acu.edu.
Per U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulations:
For any work performed on campus by a student holding an F-1 or J-1 visa—whether paid or unpaid—an employee-employer relationship is considered to exist. This means that all F-1 and J-1 students must obtain proper work authorization before engaging in any form of on-campus work, including internships, assistantships, and unpaid or volunteer roles. The requirement applies regardless of whether compensation is provided.
Students must work with the appropriate campus office to ensure they are authorized to work before any duties begin. F-1 and J-1 students are responsible for informing their hiring manager or supervisor of their immigration status prior to beginning any work on campus. This disclosure is essential to ensure proper hiring procedures and timely authorization.
Hiring managers are encouraged to include ACU F-1 and J-1 students in their programs. These students are eligible to work on campus, but they must be hired as student employees and paid hourly at a minimum rate of $8.00 per hour, in compliance with university and federal guidelines.
Failure to comply with federal regulations may jeopardize a student’s immigration status and could result in institutional consequences.For questions or assistance with employment authorization, please contact:
Cost-of-living payments are nominal stipends intended to assist participants with basic living expenses.
Please begin to consider any future impact to your budget now so that you can make adjustments for FY27.
Do you need to update the amount you contribute to your retirement account? You may change the amount of your contributions any time. All changes will become effective as soon as administratively feasible and will remain in effect until modified or terminated by you. You may discontinue your contributions anytime. Once you stop making contributions, you may start again at any time. You can find the Retirement Plan Salary Election Form here.
We are nearing the end of the testing phase in our Workday implementation project, where teams have been running hundreds of end-to-end scenarios to ensure the system works seamlessly across the university. This process has required extensive collaboration and communication across departments, strengthening both the system and our campus connections. As testing wraps up, we are preparing training, refining data, and building resources to support a smooth transition at go-live. To learn more about the Workday Project, visit our website at acu.edu/workdaytransition. We’ve recently updated the site with some live demonstrations of the Workday system so you can start getting an idea of what you can expect when we go live in December.
In response to many inquiries about approved AI tools for campus and related recommendations, we wanted to provide the following guidance. While the university does not prohibit the use of other AI technologies, the Office of Information Technology recommends using the tools available through our campus Google Workspace license, such as Gemini and NotebookLM. For Zoom meetings, we recommend use of the built in Zoom AI Assistant. These tools offer powerful features and are covered by our university’s existing licensing. Regardless of which tool you use, it is critical to remember that sensitive or confidential university data must never be uploaded to an AI platform not managed by the university. For more detailed information, security best practices, and links to the recommended tools, please check out our full support article.
In preparation for our transition to Workday, beginning October 1, 2025, non-student charges will no longer be billed to employee accounts. Tuition and fee charges for employees who are also students will remain on student accounts, but services such as Medical and Counseling Clinic visits, ACUPD parking permits or tickets, Bookstore purchases, and Off-Campus Housing rentals must be paid at the point of service. Employees should ensure that any existing balances on their employee accounts are fully resolved by May 31, 2026. For assistance, please contact the Accounts Receivable/Billing department.
