UVAFinance

Thursday, March 26, 2020

From Melody's Desk - A message to the UVAFinance Team

Dear Team,

I hope that you were able to relax this past weekend and maybe even caught the replay of UVA’s national championship win on tv – reigning champs for two years now! During this second week of telework, I wanted to share President Ryan’s message of appreciation to the UVA community for efforts last week as we moved to the unprecedented telework and virtual instruction environment in an amazingly graceful fashion: Pres Ryan 3/21 message

At the 2:17 mark, President Ryan makes a specific shout-out to the SFS team who has been working with Student Affairs for days, nights and weekends to award funds to students who needed financial assistance to travel home or to get equipped for online classes. At the same time, SFS worked with Business Operations to determine how to best get housing and dining refunds to students, with Admissions to deliver financial aid awards to regular decision applicants who were accepted last Wednesday, and with our payroll team to ensure that our students on work study will continue to get paid. This is service excellence and collaborative partnering, in a nutshell.

Thanks also to our AP team for coming into the office every day to process the financial aid awards, to the travel team who addressed a boatload of complex travel and expense reimbursement questions, to the contracts team who made easy work of several critical emergency procurements, and to our risk management team who is aggressively pursuing ideas to see how UVA may recover extraordinary costs incurred related to COVID-19.

I am so appreciative of efforts of ASG and our LSPs to ensure that we could all work remotely. A lot of normal operational work proceeded in not normal circumstances. The first academic payroll conducted under our new working conditions processed successfully on Friday. Work progressed on the FY20 year-end close and FY21 budgets. The treasury and endowments teams began to evaluate the impact of a volatile financial market. FST and Deloitte began to work collaboratively with team members located across the country to ensure that our finance transformation continues on schedule (see more of my thoughts on FST within the Online Community).

As we continue to adjust to this new world, be on the lookout for information from our UVAFinance training team on how to best work remotely, to hold effective meetings via Zoom, and to get the most from Microsoft Teams. I ask you to take advantage of this unusual time to think differently about how we do our work. What steps in our work are really not needed? How do we improve communications when we have to rely on new ways to connect? Can we take advantage of new tools (DocuSign and digital signatures) to streamline processes? Share your new ideas and shortcuts with your teammates.

Remember to stay connected with your colleagues through our various communication channels: UVAFinance blog, Finance Matters podcast, UVAFinance twitter, UVAFinance community

Thank you for all you are doing to keep UVAFinance moving smoothly. I am proud of everything that we are doing. Stay safe, maintain social distancing, and I hope to see you all in person very soon.

Best,

From Melody's Desk - A message to the UVAFinance Team

Dear Team,

Remember to stay connected with your colleagues through our various communication channels: UVAFinance blog, Finance Matters podcast, UVAFinance twitter, UVAFinance community

Thank you for all you are doing to keep UVAFinance moving smoothly. I am proud of everything that we are doing. Stay safe, maintain social distancing, and I hope to see you all in person very soon.

Best,

We're on week two of a vastly different working situation and a rapidly changing world. There's no telling what will happen next or how long the COVID-19 response will last. One of the few things we can control is our response to a stressful situation.

We've compiled some resources below that might be helpful. Please feel free to share resources that you have found helpful for future editions of the blog (you can comment below or email bv8h@virginia.edu).

Take care!

A special thank you to Cynthia Douglass, Danielle Hancock, Linda Leshowitz, UVA Today, and the FOC team for links they've contributed.

________________________________________________________________________

Online Exercise classes

(many are free or offer free trial)

Planet Fitness – United We Move Daily Class (7 ET)

Orangetheory Fitness at Home – free 30 minute workout every day

Corepower Yoga (not for beginners)

Barry’s at home workout (~24 minutes) on Instagram

NiaTV – body and mind fitness practice (30 day free trial)

Free online Yoga Classes on YouTube

Mindfulness & Meditation

Hoos Well - Mindfulness resources for coping with Coronavirus

eM Life – free to all UVA staff (online mindfulness platform)

UVA Contemplative Sciences Center Drop-in Classes (via Zoom, includes Yoga)

UVA Mindfulness Center Audio Recordings (guided meditation)

Mindful.org – resources to find calm & nourish resilience

Ten % Happier - Coronavirus Sanity Guide (meditations, podcasts, blog posts – all free)

Greater Good Magazine – resources for maintaining your well-being

A post from Chuck Dinerstein, MD: 4 points on handling everything going on with coronavirus; an excellent read.

All Contemplative Sciences Yoga and Meditation classes have gone online! Please check out their offerings and take advantage of this great opportunity to join by Zoom.

Wellbeats by Hoos Well

Just For Fun

VIA Survey – free survey to discover your greatest strengths

Audible – collection of free stories for kids

Storyline Online –streams videos of actors reading children’s books

Cape May County Park & Zoo (Virtual Zoo School 11:30 M-F)

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden videos

Monterey Bay Aquarium Live cams

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/you-can-now-download-over-300-000-books-from-the-nypl-for-free-031820

https://www.storylineonline.net/?fbclid=IwAR1ZMtNoXAnH85MMPIU51gw6OOQ0edV4Xh25vXLQAOlbsIGXCqwq8wjaEGg

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/joshbillinson/coronavirus-quarantine-things-to-do-at-home

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2020/03/16/coronavirus-quarantine-100-things-do-while-trapped-inside/5054632002/

Take care!

A special thank you to Cynthia Douglass, Danielle Hancock, Linda Leshowitz, UVA Today, and the FOC team for links they've contributed.

________________________________________________________________________

UVA Resources

Human Resources information page

Help with Remote Work

Finance Outreach & Compliance's Linked In Learning page (see especially this piece on setting yourself up for remote work success)
FOC's Telecommuting Resources
Virtual Liberating Structures: An Introduction to Online Interactions - 2-hour online practice session, offered over multiple dates
How to Actually Work When Working From Home - YouTube video by Paige Cohen, Harvard Business Review
How to get your kids to do their schoolwork while getting your own work done - UVA Today article with Education professor Gail Lovette
How to be productive working from home as a parent - Glassdoor article
Telework resources on the VA DHRM Coronavirus Information Webpage
Working from home tips from experienced remote employees
Guidance for Individual Contributors of Virtual Teams

UVAToday articles

Online Exercise classes

(many are free or offer free trial)

Mindfulness & Meditation

Hoos Well - Mindfulness resources for coping with Coronavirus
eM Life – free to all UVA staff (online mindfulness platform)
UVA Contemplative Sciences Center Drop-in Classes (via Zoom, includes Yoga)
UVA Mindfulness Center Audio Recordings (guided meditation)
Mindful.org – resources to find calm & nourish resilience
Ten % Happier - Coronavirus Sanity Guide (meditations, podcasts, blog posts – all free)
Greater Good Magazine – resources for maintaining your well-being
A post from Chuck Dinerstein, MD: 4 points on handling everything going on with coronavirus; an excellent read.
All Contemplative Sciences Yoga and Meditation classes have gone online! Please check out their offerings and take advantage of this great opportunity to join by Zoom.
Wellbeats by Hoos Well

Just For Fun

FST Updates

We may be working remotely, but the FST project is moving right along!

Want to hear FST updates instead of reading them? Tune in to WFST Radio's March 26 broadcast!

If you’re reading this blog post, you deserve a high five for the way that you and your team members have rallied together to continue making things happen even in a world that changes radically daily, sometimes hourly.

Finance Strategic Transformation is also moving right along. The team and our stakeholders have adjusted to working remotely – data gathering sessions, steering meetings, and team meetings have moved online and deadlines continue to be met.

FST Team leadership and our executive sponsors are working closely together to consider how the project timeline will be impacted if we are required to work remotely for longer stretches of time. In the meantime, we’re exploring ways to engage our stakeholder groups remotely.

We’re still hiring positions that need to be filled and onboarding new team members, too. The project team is close to hiring a technical lead, and we continue to bring in new folks. One recent addition you may interact with is Anthony Pearson, a new administrative assistant over at One Morton Drive.

The FST website will be overhauled by mid-April. Changes will include a new and improved FAQ fed by questions from the field, high-level summaries and ongoing updates for each area of work, including the budget pilot and change management, a complete team directory, and resources for our stakeholders to understand all facets of the project and to be able to share easily with their teams.

While you can always find all the details in the Online Community, as well as interacting with colleagues and sharing ideas and questions there, our aim with the website is to make it an easy place to get the basics.

New on the Online Community:

Read some thoughts from Melody Bianchetto on the Project Timeline

From Allison Holt and Thomas Schneeberger: Getting the Foundation Data Model Right

Updates on Changes to the Business Officers Council and Fiscal Administrators

A new, dedicated space for Continuous Improvement

From James Gorman: Challenges are Opportunities for Improvement

We may be working remotely, but the FST project is moving right along!

Want to hear FST updates instead of reading them? Tune in to WFST Radio's March 26 broadcast!

New on the Online Community:

Read some thoughts from Melody Bianchetto on the Project Timeline
From Allison Holt and Thomas Schneeberger: Getting the Foundation Data Model Right
Updates on Changes to the Business Officers Council and Fiscal Administrators
A new, dedicated space for Continuous Improvement
From James Gorman: Challenges are Opportunities for Improvement

Listen here:

For most of us, working remotely due to COVID-19 related restrictions has been an adjustment, to say the least.

Not only are we coping with a new way of getting things done, but also, the complications that come from being in close proximity to our family members and finding new ways of connecting with our colleagues.

On this podcast, Patty and Brandi get together (remotely of course) to discuss ways to navigate this new world we're working in -- from engaging with your team members to working with Zoom and Office 365.

Resources Mentioned:

Marcus Buckingham's post: https://www.marcusbuckingham.com/rwtb/if-you-lead/

FOC's Telecommuting guidelines: https://foc.virginia.edu/telecommuting-resources

Communication Best Practices: http://uvafinance.blogspot.com/2020/03/communication-best-practices-during-our.html

LISTEN HERE

Listen here:

For most of us, working remotely due to COVID-19 related restrictions has been an adjustment, to say the least.

Resources Mentioned:

Marcus Buckingham's post: https://www.marcusbuckingham.com/rwtb/if-you-lead/

FOC's Telecommuting guidelines: https://foc.virginia.edu/telecommuting-resources

Communication Best Practices: http://uvafinance.blogspot.com/2020/03/communication-best-practices-during-our.html

LISTEN HERE

Getting the Foundation Data Model Right

An FDM update from Allison Holt and Thomas Schneeberger, Chart of Accounts/Foundation Model Co-Leads, Finance Strategic Transformation

Now that the Finance Strategic Transformation (FST) project is in Phase 3: Implementation, we’re acting on information gathered about the chart of accounts (COA) to inform design of the foundation data model (FDM), Workday’s term for COA. During the past month, we determined the worktags that we plan to use in the tenant, defined preliminary fund values, and decided how program, project, and activity will be used.

See the FDM page on the Community:

https://communityhub.virginia.edu/docs/DOC-1973

Through engagement sessions with the FDM group and follow-up sessions with the Business Officers Council and unit contacts, we’ve discussed how the program, project, and activity worktags might be used for future managerial reporting.

We also launched the FDM Community Page to provide a location for our partners across the University to see updates on FDM topics and review user scenarios, proposed programs, and our outstanding items list. We encourage you to regularly review this site and provide feedback and additional scenarios as you think of them. As we progress through phase 3 and begin working in the tenant, it will be critical that we capture user stories from across the organization to model and test.

Work has commenced building our foundation tenant in Workday Financials. With our unique instance of Workday established, in the next few months testing will be planned and started. We’ll be able to work with UVA data and the user scenarios discussed above to assess what changes need to be made, further refine our understanding of which worktags we’ll use, and develop a clearer understanding of how our current-state approaches will effectively evolve in the future state.

Getting the Foundation Data Model Right

An FDM update from Allison Holt and Thomas Schneeberger, Chart of Accounts/Foundation Model Co-Leads, Finance Strategic Transformation

See the FDM page on the Community:
https://communityhub.virginia.edu/docs/DOC-1973

Continuous Improvement is at the heart of Finance Strategic Transformation, and UVAFinance's mission.

UVAFinance strives to meet the needs of the University community, and a big part of that is maintaining a culture of continuous improvement. We focus on better training and process standardization in order to produce results more effectively and better support our stakeholders and the University's mission.

The UVAFinance Continuous Improvement Committee (CIC) works to guide UVAFinance to meet these goals while minimizing the burden on faculty and staff.

To aid in the development of continuous improvement in the finance community, the CIC has built a dedicated space for resources, interaction, and assistance in the online Community. Access it here: https://communityhub.virginia.edu/community/uva-finance-transformation/continuous-improvement

Learn more about the CIC by viewing the video below!

Continuous Improvement is at the heart of Finance Strategic Transformation, and UVAFinance's mission.

The UVAFinance Continuous Improvement Committee (CIC) works to guide UVAFinance to meet these goals while minimizing the burden on faculty and staff.

Learn more about the CIC by viewing the video below!

Now that we are well into Phase 3 of Finance Strategic Transformation, UVAFinance is hoping to repurpose a few monthly events to keep stakeholders informed about the latest goings-on of the project. The first event changing is the Business Officers Council. BOC members will now be a part of our Advisory Group (see more on project governance on the FST Website).

The second event affected will be the Fiscal Administrators meeting. Unlike the Business Officers Council, the Fiscal Administrators meeting will still take place each month. (You can see the meeting schedule on the Finance Reporting and Operations website.) However, from now until the end of the project part of each Fiscal Administrators meeting will focus on FST updates, demonstrations, and time for questions and discussion.

These changes are happening for a few reasons. Firstly, FST is hoping to encourage involvement in the project from everyone within the finance community. Secondly, this will allow for fewer meetings taking up your valuable time!

With that said, this is a time of transition and uncertainty. The next Advisory Group was planned for April 8th, in Bavaro Hall, and the next Fiscal Administrators meeting for April 15th, in Newcomb Hall’s South Meeting Room. However, it is unlikely these events will be on Grounds for the foreseeable future. Those invited to the meetings should look for updates regarding online meetings.

We look forward to seeing you on screen soon!

If you have any questions, please reach out to the FST team via the Community or send an email to financetransformation@virginia.edu.

We look forward to seeing you on screen soon!

If you have any questions, please reach out to the FST team via the Community or send an email to financetransformation@virginia.edu.

Working remotely means it's not as easy to give your colleagues a "shout out" when they do something exceptional. At the same time, our physical separation makes it even more important for us to stay connected.

While we can't use our Shout Out board in Carruthers Hall, it's still possible to share your kudos, appreciation, and compliments. Just email them to culturecrew@virginia.edu and we'll publish them in a "Virtual Shout Out Board" in every blog digest!

Note: Since we're participating remotely, we encourage our finance family all across Grounds to participate!

Your shout outs can be submitted to culturecrew@virginia.edu

Note: Since we're participating remotely, we encourage our finance family all across Grounds to participate!

Your shout outs can be submitted to culturecrew@virginia.edu

Now that most of our colleagues are working remotely, our tried and true methods of communication may no longer apply. Read on for some considerations to keep in mind as we navigate these unprecedented times.

The Basics

Set expectations with your team. We are not just working remotely; we’re working remotely within a uniquely complex situation. Your colleagues may be caring for children and/or family members (perhaps even ill family members). What has always been “a normal work day” may have radically changed on an individual basis.

Don’t forget one on one communication. These meetings are even more important now. Use them to your advantage and be more prepared than you normally might have been with in-person meetings.

Consider individual preferences. Find out what methods of communication work best for your team members/colleagues.

Strive more than ever to be concise. More of your communication than usual will be done via writing. Don’t make people wade through a ton of words to get your point.

Be as reliable as you would be if your colleagues could see you face to face. No matter where we are working, our colleagues still expect responses, collaboration, etc.

Communicate using the right method at the right time

Emails should typically be reserved for single/fairly straightforward messages. It can be easy for multiple details to get lost in a single email. Break those messages up if you must use email. Be clear in your email what your ask is (next steps, due dates, etc.), use the subject line strategically to reflect the desired action to be taken, and get to the point early in the message.

If the message is particularly complex and or there might be questions about tone, a phone call might be more appropriate. You can follow up with details via email if necessary.

Skype is best used for organizing lighter, more social aspects of a remote team, discussing certain aspects of a project casually or having brief catch-ups with an employee.

If you have something substantial to say, or it’s a topic that’s open to discussion, consider a phone call or organize a Zoom conversation.

Keep in mind that working remotely (especially in a changing situation such as ours) can involve details you haven’t considered before:

We may need to plan conversations and meetings more carefully to avoid the risk of interruptions. It can be more difficult to create a distraction-free zone in the new environments in which we find ourselves working, so we should plan carefully to ensure useful interactions.

Establish communication norms in your new remote work lives. We may find ourselves working more outside of “normal” business hours. Set up clear expectations with your team and colleagues on expectations for a response to messages after hours. See the email guidance above and consider putting the expected response time in your subject line.

Avoid bombarding your team with messages. Whereas you might be able to chat more freely and quickly/easily share information when you’re in the same place physically, this can get overwhelming over digital media. Don’t abuse the access points you have to your team/colleagues.

Watch for the unconsciously different way you process written interaction vs. text-based communication. In the absence of contexts like body language and tone, written communication can be easily misread. Your colleagues and team members may also express themselves differently than accustomed in a different format (emojis, abbreviated text speak, etc.).

Be intentional about the softer things. The chat you might’ve done in the hallways that builds rapport will have to be done differently, but it is still important to team bonding and our own sense of wellbeing. We still need to appreciate one another, interact socially, check on our colleagues, recognize achievement, etc. It can be easy to forget these things when we are not physically together, but we can keep the connection if we prioritize it and think creatively.

Take advantage of the tools we have within UVAFinance

Office 365 Teams: File sharing, collaborative work, skype messaging (with GIFs, even!), tracking tasks and projects through Planner, and so much more! If you haven’t already become familiar with this resource, now is definitely the time. See FOC's resources here: https://foc.virginia.edu/telecommuting-resources

We have a variety of communication channels that suddenly carry much more weight when we aren’t all occupying the same space. Stay plugged in through the UVAFinance blog, our podcasts, and the online Community. We also have a short form podcast dedicated to the FST project that you can tune in to.

The Online Community is a fusion of an intranet and social media. If you haven’t already been an active member, take the plunge. It is one of the best ways to stay in the know about Finance Strategic Transformation; plus, conversation is informal and open because it is behind NetBadge. Go in and ask questions, share ideas, and interact with colleagues while staying plugged in to the FST project.

The Basics

Don’t forget one on one communication. These meetings are even more important now. Use them to your advantage and be more prepared than you normally might have been with in-person meetings.
Consider individual preferences. Find out what methods of communication work best for your team members/colleagues.
Strive more than ever to be concise. More of your communication than usual will be done via writing. Don’t make people wade through a ton of words to get your point.
Be as reliable as you would be if your colleagues could see you face to face. No matter where we are working, our colleagues still expect responses, collaboration, etc.

Communicate using the right method at the right time

Emails should typically be reserved for single/fairly straightforward messages. It can be easy for multiple details to get lost in a single email. Break those messages up if you must use email. Be clear in your email what your ask is (next steps, due dates, etc.), use the subject line strategically to reflect the desired action to be taken, and get to the point early in the message.
If the message is particularly complex and or there might be questions about tone, a phone call might be more appropriate. You can follow up with details via email if necessary.
Skype is best used for organizing lighter, more social aspects of a remote team, discussing certain aspects of a project casually or having brief catch-ups with an employee.
If you have something substantial to say, or it’s a topic that’s open to discussion, consider a phone call or organize a Zoom conversation.

Keep in mind that working remotely (especially in a changing situation such as ours) can involve details you haven’t considered before:

We may need to plan conversations and meetings more carefully to avoid the risk of interruptions. It can be more difficult to create a distraction-free zone in the new environments in which we find ourselves working, so we should plan carefully to ensure useful interactions.
Establish communication norms in your new remote work lives. We may find ourselves working more outside of “normal” business hours. Set up clear expectations with your team and colleagues on expectations for a response to messages after hours. See the email guidance above and consider putting the expected response time in your subject line.
Avoid bombarding your team with messages. Whereas you might be able to chat more freely and quickly/easily share information when you’re in the same place physically, this can get overwhelming over digital media. Don’t abuse the access points you have to your team/colleagues.
Watch for the unconsciously different way you process written interaction vs. text-based communication. In the absence of contexts like body language and tone, written communication can be easily misread. Your colleagues and team members may also express themselves differently than accustomed in a different format (emojis, abbreviated text speak, etc.).
Be intentional about the softer things. The chat you might’ve done in the hallways that builds rapport will have to be done differently, but it is still important to team bonding and our own sense of wellbeing. We still need to appreciate one another, interact socially, check on our colleagues, recognize achievement, etc. It can be easy to forget these things when we are not physically together, but we can keep the connection if we prioritize it and think creatively.

Take advantage of the tools we have within UVAFinance

Office 365 Teams: File sharing, collaborative work, skype messaging (with GIFs, even!), tracking tasks and projects through Planner, and so much more! If you haven’t already become familiar with this resource, now is definitely the time. See FOC's resources here: https://foc.virginia.edu/telecommuting-resources
We have a variety of communication channels that suddenly carry much more weight when we aren’t all occupying the same space. Stay plugged in through the UVAFinance blog, our podcasts, and the online Community. We also have a short form podcast dedicated to the FST project that you can tune in to.
The Online Community is a fusion of an intranet and social media. If you haven’t already been an active member, take the plunge. It is one of the best ways to stay in the know about Finance Strategic Transformation; plus, conversation is informal and open because it is behind NetBadge. Go in and ask questions, share ideas, and interact with colleagues while staying plugged in to the FST project.

Catch Up With FST

Want to listen to this update instead of reading it? Tune in to WFST Radio!

Phase 3 Updates

We’re building the foundation tenant in Workday. This is our UVA instance of Workday Financials and provides us with something to work from when we start designing future state business processes and testing out the chart of accounts.

Thomas Schneeberger and Allison Holt continue to work hard and do a lot of outreach on the chart of accounts/foundation data model and have put together a blueprint and some use cases to work within the tenant. This will allow us to make sure the chart does what schools and units need it to do in terms of reporting and analytics. Later, in the fourth quarter, we’ll decide on worktags and move into data conversion.

Click image for a larger view

As of this week, over 250 total attendees will have represented their school or unit at a multitude of data-gathering sessions. Thank you to everyone who took part in those sessions!

The phase of FST we’re in now, through early summer, is the Architecture phase, where we really begin to work together to build the future of finance together. From there, we’ll move into Data Architecture sessions in late March through June– in those sessions, we’ll be able to see our data in the system as we design. We’ll review functional areas in Workday and required configuration, identify decisions for configuration, business processes, conditional logic, and workflow routing, and align on configuration, user stories, personas, and additional transformational opportunities.

Team Updates

We have over 40 positions filled and several more posted. We’re in good shape on the functional side of the project, in change management and in finance, but we still have work to do on the technical side. We’re exploring multiple channels to get those technical positions filled.

___________________________________________________________________

See more FST news on the Online Community:

https://communityhub.virginia.edu/community/uva-finance-transformation including:

Want to listen to this update instead of reading it? Tune in to WFST Radio!

Phase 3 Updates

We’re building the foundation tenant in Workday. This is our UVA instance of Workday Financials and provides us with something to work from when we start designing future state business processes and testing out the chart of accounts.
Thomas Schneeberger and Allison Holt continue to work hard and do a lot of outreach on the chart of accounts/foundation data model and have put together a blueprint and some use cases to work within the tenant. This will allow us to make sure the chart does what schools and units need it to do in terms of reporting and analytics. Later, in the fourth quarter, we’ll decide on worktags and move into data conversion.

Click image for a larger view

As of this week, over 250 total attendees will have represented their school or unit at a multitude of data-gathering sessions. Thank you to everyone who took part in those sessions!

The phase of FST we’re in now, through early summer, is the Architecture phase, where we really begin to work together to build the future of finance together. From there, we’ll move into Data Architecture sessions in late March through June– in those sessions, we’ll be able to see our data in the system as we design. We’ll review functional areas in Workday and required configuration, identify decisions for configuration, business processes, conditional logic, and workflow routing, and align on configuration, user stories, personas, and additional transformational opportunities.

Team Updates

___________________________________________________________________

See more FST news on the Online Community:

https://communityhub.virginia.edu/community/uva-finance-transformation including:

Rocket Launches, Portraits, and Landscapes (Oh My!): UVAFinance Photographer Does It All

Northrop Grumman Antares rocket and Cygnus resupply spacecraft launch

Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft launch

UVAFinance’s own Matt Bonham, an accomplished professional photographer, uses his camera to get closer to his interests. The latest adventure that’s taken him on was to photograph Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket and Cygnus resupply spacecraft launch, bound for the International Space Station (ISS).

Bonham participated in the launch through the NASA Social program, which gives those interested in NASA who have a social media presence the opportunity to gain behind-the-scenes access to NASA facilities and experts. To get a “creative refresh” (as he puts it), meet new people with similar interests, and tour interesting places such as a NASA control room, Bonham applied for the program and NASA selected him.

“It was just one of those cool, once-in-a-lifetime type of experiences, and I’m grateful to have been a part of it,” Bonham says.

On Feb. 15, 2020, Bonham set up at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility here in Virginia for the third time, having been ready twice before when the mission got scrubbed. He prepped two cameras: one set up lower with a remote wireless trigger via phone app and another at a higher angle to shoot by hand. He’d arrived about an hour ahead of time to get his equipment ready. Since he shoots in manual mode, he adjusted the camera settings every minute or so. It was key to get the timing right. The countdown neared launch and at three seconds he triggered the lower camera, tossed his phone, and began snapping rapid shots by hand with the higher camera. As evidenced by the pictures, Bonham’s approach worked.

Illuminated rocket at night on launchpad

The launch was Northrop Grumman’s 13^th supply
mission with NASA, and Cygnus carried over 7,000 pounds of scientific experiments and crew supplies to ISS. In the future, Bonham hopes to photograph a manned launch.

Bonham started in photography in childhood, taking pictures of landscapes and family members. A self-described introvert, Bonham explained that photography helped him come out of his shell.

“I always felt I had weird ways of seeing the world. Among other ways, I also see the world in the rule of thirds,” Bonham says. In photography, the rule of thirds is an approach to composition where images are broken into three sections horizontally and vertically and that helps determine where to position the subject of the photo.

“Photography has helped me understand stories about people. It’s helped me capture things that I love and expanded my self-confidence.”

Transitioning from family photographer to professional, Bonham continued with landscapes and portraiture. His work branched into photographing concerts for several national publications. Taking pictures at the benefit concert: A Concert for Charlottesville and of Gregory Alan Isakov performing with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center were among some of his favorite experiences.

“I want to represent performers as they are as artists, their uniqueness,” Bonham says. “I don’t want just another music shot of someone eating a mic. I want my work to be different than others.”

Bonham advises aspiring photographers to take photos in manual mode. He started that way and made many mistakes but, more importantly, learned a lot. Doing so enables people learn about how the camera works and gain confidence. His other advice is to practice, and, when it comes to equipment, start small. Get the best gear one can to make the most of the investment, he suggests, but doing research and buying items when people are sure they need them will save them from trying to sell expensive unnecessary equipment later.

“A camera is one of the best ways for someone to express themselves creatively,” Bonham says.

To see more of Bonham’s work, visit his website at www.mattbonham.com.

Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft launch

“It was just one of those cool, once-in-a-lifetime type of experiences, and I’m grateful to have been a part of it,” Bonham says.

The launch was Northrop Grumman’s 13^th supply mission with NASA, and Cygnus carried over 7,000 pounds of scientific experiments and crew supplies to ISS. In the future, Bonham hopes to photograph a manned launch.

Bonham started in photography in childhood, taking pictures of landscapes and family members. A self-described introvert, Bonham explained that photography helped him come out of his shell.

“Photography has helped me understand stories about people. It’s helped me capture things that I love and expanded my self-confidence.”

“A camera is one of the best ways for someone to express themselves creatively,” Bonham says.

To see more of Bonham’s work, visit his website at www.mattbonham.com.

Thursday, March 26, 2020

UVA Resources

Help with Remote Work

UVAToday articles

Online Exercise classes

Mindfulness & Meditation

Just For Fun

UVA Resources

Help with Remote Work

UVAToday articles

Online Exercise classes

Mindfulness & Meditation

Just For Fun

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Learn more about the CIC by viewing the video below!

Learn more about the CIC by viewing the video below!

The Basics

Communicate using the right method at the right time

Keep in mind that working remotely (especially in a changing situation such as ours) can involve details you haven’t considered before:

Take advantage of the tools we have within UVAFinance

The Basics

Communicate using the right method at the right time

Keep in mind that working remotely (especially in a changing situation such as ours) can involve details you haven’t considered before:

Take advantage of the tools we have within UVAFinance

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Phase 3 Updates

Team Updates

Phase 3 Updates

Team Updates

Tuesday, March 10, 2020