University Closure - Winter Break
The university will be closed December 24 - January 3 and all staff will be out of the office during this time. In addition, Advising Office Hours and Express Advising will conclude for the semester on Friday, December 18. We look forward to connecting with you when the university reopens on Monday, January 4, 2021.If you reach out toi-support@illinois.eduduring the break you will experience a delayed response, your patience is appreciated. Happy Holidays!

Update Your Grouping Preference Form
Completing group assignments is an integral part of the engaging online course work. The program creates groups for each course in an eight-week session, as well as specialization capstones. Please take a moment to go into the group profile form and update your preferences as well as your availability. Preferences must be updated one week before courses begin. The form can be found here; bookmark this link as it stores your preferences and will be continually used, unless otherwise updated. You do not need to fill out the form if there are no changes from your initial preferences.

Specialization Capstone Grouping Groups for all specialization capstones will be created by the program based on your student preferences form. Students completing their Program Capstone will have the opportunity to select their own groups and will receive information on how to create groups for MBA 591 in the spring semester.

Spring Coursera MOOC Deadlines
Starting in Spring 2021, students enrolled in Online Programs for-credit courses will note a different option in your Coursera Dashboard. For all Online Program courses, the Coursera platform will not allow you to reset your deadlines. This will ensure that students are in the correct session so that course staff can see their course completion within the degree session. To learn more about when you can expect to be added to your for-credit courses through autoenrollment on the Coursera platform, please read this onboarding course reading.

COVID-19 Study Led by Professor Denise Loyd
COVID-19 and unrest around social injustice have created unprecedented challenges and opportunities for business leaders in the US and around the world in 2020. We are interested in understanding leaders’ experiences in navigating these circumstances. If you are a leader in an organization of more than 500 people, we would love to learn how you have led your organization through this unique context. Your experiences will shed new light on the ways leaders make sense of crises; the ways in which they ‘process’ crisis circumstances; and how this informs their leadership behaviors, communication, and engagement with those they lead.

Please consider participating in a confidential 50-60-minute interview via phone or Zoom with a researcher from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Your participation is voluntary, and you can withdraw at any time. If you would like to learn more about this study, please contact Dr. Denise Lewin Loyd atloyddl@illinois.eduor Dr. Miriam Yates atmiriamy@illinois.edu. We understand that your time is valuable. As an indication of our gratitude, we will offer participants of this study the opportunity to enter a lottery. There will be two winners of the lottery who will be able to select a charity of their choice from a list. This charity will receive a donation of $150 in each of the winners’ names.

NOTE: We welcome all those who lead in an organization of more than 500 people. Please consider passing this opportunity along to leadership within your organization.

Course Assistant Application
We are currently accepting application for Course Assistants for the following courses: Strategic Management (BADM 544), Leadership & Teams (BADM 508), Statistics (BADM 572), Managerial Accounting (ACCY 503), Financial Accounting (ACCY 500) and Project Management (BADM 589).

Description: The course assistant positions will assist faculty in answering questions in forums. Course assistants are expected to work on average 10 hours per week for eight weeks. The program pays an hourly rate of $15.

Qualifications:

• Students must reside in the U.S. (due to the change in university tax code, we are unable to hire students that live outside of the U.S.)
• Students must be in good academic standing
• Students must have successfully completed the course (with at least a grade of A or higher) that they are applying to be a CA for, with the exception of Project Management (BADM 589) per the below information.

Project Management Course Assistant qualifications:

• Education in Project Management as required by PMI. Individuals do not need to have a PMPs but should at least have what PMI considers PDU’s. We are seeking content experts.
• If you choose to be a Course Assistant for Project Management, you will be unable to take the course for credit and as part of your degree plan.

Course assistants are employees of the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign; as such you will be required to complete new hire paperwork and an I-9. The I-9 can be done remotely. You will need to submit timesheets every two weeks. Reminders will be sent.

Students interested in being considered for available hourly course assistant (CA) position should complete the CA application. The deadline to apply is Friday, December 17.

Upcoming MOOC Revision: MBA 561 & MBA 563
The Coursera content for MBA 561: Introduction to Business Analytics: Data and the Firm & MBA 653: Data Toolkit - Business Data Modeling & Predictive Analytics will be undergoing revisions to make necessary improvements to the MOOC content. It is recommended that you do not begin working on these MOOCs until the revisions are completed. If you have previously completed the MOOCs for these courses, then you have met the certificate requirement of these courses.
Calendar

MOOC Completion Deadline
Tuesday, December 15
Be sure to complete your MOOC by Tuesday, December 15. MOOCs not completed by this time will result in a failing course grade. Due to university offices being closed December 23 - January 3, grade update requests will not be processed during this time period.

December Convocation
Saturday, December 19| 10:00 am |Join Here
Save the Date! Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person December Convocation ceremonies for Gies College of Business will not take place as scheduled. Our virtual Convocation for graduates of our online programs (iMSA and iMBA) will take place on Saturday, December 19 at 10 am US Central Time. We invite all students to attend and celebrate the incredible accomplishment of our iMBA and iMSA students. Join using the link above or with the following information: Zoom Meeting ID: 829 7227 4259;Zoom Meeting Password: webinar. Share the attached invitation with your family and friends who do not have an Illinois Zoom Account.

1st 8-week Course Registration Deadline: Wednesday, December 23

Final Grades Post: Thursday, December 24
Official final grades are due from faculty by December 23. You can log into Student Self Service December 24 and later to view your official final grade report. Unofficial grades may be posted in Compass 2g sooner. Gies Online Programs is not authorized to issue a program letter with a grade or grade reports.

1st 8-Week Courses Begin: Wednesday, January 13
16-Week Courses Begin (iMSA): Monday, January 25