Welcome to the Financial Flash! We’ve got lots of exciting news to share with Finance & Campus Services.
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| In the Neighborhood — Free Rec Center Access in NYC
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Now that we're back in the office, there's no better time than the present to take advantage of everything New York City has to offer. There's tons of outdoor dining, opportunities to explore, and even ways for us all to work on our physical fitness.
If you've ever considered joining a recreation center in NYC, now is the time! Free memberships to NYC Parks Recreation Centers are available to New Yorkers who sign up between September 7 and December 31, 2021. The membership term will last for one year from the date the individual signs up and will grant access to citywide facilities.
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| Global Spotlight — NYU Abu Dhabi Turns 10!
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Within Finance & Campus Services, we try to stay up to date with NYU's many global sites. NYU Abu Dhabi just celebrated its 10 year anniversary in September! The team in Abu Dhabi put together a 10 year anniversary website complete with the origin story of NYUAD, a film premiere, and even a time capsule.
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Coming Backby Stephen Kaldon
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It’s OK. You can admit it. Working at home was a slice of heaven. The lemon in the meringue. The cherry on the cheesecake. The commute to your home office in your fuzzy slippers. Spending more time with the family (dog, that is).
March 2020. We started working at home, in tiny city apartments, or maybe airy back porches in our summer homes. Laptops and Jabber and VPNs. The requisite Zoom meetings revealed bits of our private lives in the background. A favorite team’s bobblehead. A book we were meaning to read, that our workmates saw and were now meaning to read. Cats lounging on plush sofas. Sirens blaring in the background.
Ahh, but then the days started running together. Time was getting fuzzy. Was it Tuesday or Thursday? It was some day that started with “T”. I wonder who Kelly has on her show today. That rosebush could use a little trimming. Did I forget to buy coffee again? How could it only be 9:30 am?
Some of us were required to report onsite. Essential workers kept the wheels turning to maintain the NYU infrastructure, provide services, and keep security tight. The mail was still coming in and needed to be delivered. PPE distribution was essential to creating a safe campus environment. Thousands of pieces of “Stay Safe” signage needed printing and installing. Testing sites needed workers to distribute and receive testing kits.
Through this sudden change and disruption, we adapted and kept NYU running, from home and onsite. Paychecks came without interruption. IT ensured that remote work and learning could become the norm of the school and workday. Our efforts continued. We barely skipped a beat.
And now the Fall semester, and we are onsite again. Welcome back, NYU! Students are filling the dorms, classrooms, and Washington Square Park. The surrounding restaurants are springing to life once more with the sounds of joy and reunion. The streets are alive with pedestrians and empty subway cars are filling up with workers eager to get back to their offices. We are seeing our NYU colleagues face to face again, and it feels good.
It is good to see you again, my friends. Let’s get a spot of tea or lunch and catch up. Let’s share our stories, the good and the bad, of pandemic life. The lockdown and isolation. Those we may have lost. The privilege of being able to work from home. The talents and skills we’ve acquired with our imposed free time. New friends made and online groups joined. Embrace each other with the knowledge that we kept it together and are still here and part of this NYU community. And here’s to the hope that things will continue to improve, and we will be part of an NYU that is stronger than ever!
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Meet the LeaderBrian DefuriaChief Administrative & Business Officer
Q: Do you have any hobbies?
A: I enjoy a round of golf - especially in the Fall. Will never pass up a nice cigar on the weekend.
Q: Do you have any pets?
A: I have a dog named Lucky who is 13 years young. Her and I have really bonded in the pandemic - lots of walks!
Q: What has it been like working at a University compared to previous organizations?
A: I have been fortunate enough to work in many industries - and the guiding principles are the same. Build strong working relationships & collaborate with others to continuously improve processes.
Q: What was your first job?
A: I was a caddy at Forest Hill Country Club - great job! One of my favorite binge movies of all time is Caddyshack - it's so real. You will find plenty of characters on a golf course.
Q: What is your favorite quote?
A: "You can control attitude and effort."
I don't know who wrote it - but there have been plenty of times where I have had to take a deep breath and come back to those words...
Q: What is your favorite sport?
A: My favorite sport is football and I am a Jets season ticket holder. In general, I root for anything NY or NJ, regardless of the sport.
Q: Are you part of any charities?
A: I donate my time to youth sports in town when needed. I have 2 sons who have played a variety of sports growing up in my town - have always respected the coaches. It takes a lot of time and effort working with kids - I try and do my part.
Q: What did you do with your first paycheck?
A: That's a long time ago - there is a good chance I owed my parents some money. I do remember having a sense of accomplishment though.
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Memories & Photo Sharing
We reached out to all the teams across Finance and Campus Services asking to see what you've been up to since we've been away. We got an incredible array of photos of activities, pets, gardens, and delicious food!
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Many thanks to Elizabeth Buchanan, Mark Cariaso, Amy Coombs, Lisa DeSalvo, Sunita Devi, Leigh Fisher, Stephanie Gallagher, Tim Hesler, Vincent Iaropoli, Mia Larrabee Rubel, Karen Mercer, Alyson Miller, Owen Moore, Claudia Perdomo, and Joe Sierra for submitting photos!
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Metrics Corner — Working Hard with the Bursar!
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Our University Bursar, Anthony Bonano, and his whole team in the Office of the Bursar have been working very hard! Here are some key metrics from FY21.
The Office of the Bursar is comprised of the following teams: Cashiering, Data Integrity, Operations, and Student Services. There are tellers located at the StudentLink Centers at 383 Lafayette Street in Manhattan, 5 MetroTech Center in Brooklyn, and at the NYU College of Dentistry, which provides services for all students and staff.
Here are some exciting metrics!
- Processed and recorded over $2 billion dollars in student tuition payments
- Processed $31 million dollars in departmental deposit funds
- Issued 191,466 e-bills
- Issued over 171,000 refunds, including Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund for over 36,000 students
- Processed 1,405 SPS non-credit credit card refunds
- Posted over 696,000 transactions
- Resolved over 182,000 inquiries
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A Spotlight on CybersecurityCybersecurity and Fraud Prevention – Maintaining Vigilance
by Tim Hesler
In this quarterly series of articles, we continue to highlight certain cyber risks and ways to fight the fraudsters, both at work and at home. They should always be top of mind.
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Selecting Strong Passwords
I was recently reminded of a simplified interpretation of Zipf’s Law in the Wall Street Journal - humans always expend the least possible effort in carrying out tasks. This principle can be applied to the onerous process of selecting (and constantly changing!) passwords for your computer, your banking and investment apps, and websites. Folks will always find ‘shortcuts’ to simplify, and often end up repeating their passwords across their frequently used sites and work access portals. Hackers will take advantage of this. This is not a good practice for tight cybersecurity.
Complex passwords are meant to drive enhanced security, with a ‘minimum of eight characters’, including at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, a number, and a special character. Sound familiar? It becomes too much for many of us. I started using passphrases or a string of words for better memorability. Passphrases are usually longer than a traditional password and add an additional layer of safety since they are not easily guessed by a fraudster. This may be something to consider although there is no sweeping solution to maintain tough passwords.
Also: People save their passwords on websites for convenience, with your browser often prompting you to do this. Don’t save, and don’t shortcut your security. And as written before, use multi-factor authentication!
To keep up to date with the latest risks or if you have any questions on cybersecurity, I am happy to help. You should always ask NYU IT as well.
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News Across Campus Servicesby Barbara Espinoza
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NYU Eats Update- Cluckstein officially opened at the Upstein (5 University Place). Cluckstein is now the most visited location for Washington Square meal plan holders with over 1200 customers per day.
- Cafe 370 at 370 Jay Street is NYU Eat's newest location in Brooklyn, featuring fresh coffee beans from local Roaster City of Saints. Two representatives from the New York Transit Museum helped us secure the photos that are now a part of the mural at the entrance of the café.
- Other recent dining events include: a cupcake giveaway at Jasper Kane Cafe, stress balls handed out at Downstein, a farmers market at Kimmel, Superfood Tuesday, and a "Regional Mash-Up" at the Innovate Station at Downstein, where students were served 588 Philly Cheesesteaks!
NYU SkirballScholasTix Update:
- You can access discounts to tickets for Broadway, sports, music, and more with your NYU ID. Check out our current offers.
- Discount movie passes for AMC, Regal & City Cinema can only be purchased in person at the NYU Box Office at 566 LaGuardia Place.
NYU Skirball Update: This semester, we're co-presenting performing arts events around town as part of our Skirball@Large series. Coming up soon:
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A Warm Welcome to New Team Members!- Sheri Shafir in Procurement
- Su-Yann Maynard-Ward in Insurance
- Victoria Renee Oluwole at the Bookstore
- Breanne Gosselin in Sponsored Programs Administration
- Caitlin Moonan in Global Financial Reporting
- Madeha Ali in StudentLink
- Kevin Cao in StudentLink
- Tiffany Ou in StudentLink
- Treesa Ouseph in StudentLink
- Kelly Zhong in Global Payroll and Tax Compliance
- Asees Islam in Sponsored Programs Administration
- Kelly Walsh in StudentLink
- William Tsang in Sponsored Programs Administration
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Many thanks to our contributors!
Brian DeFuria, Lisa DeSalvo, Thomas Elmo, Barbara Espinoza, Leigh Fisher, Tim Hesler, and Stephen Kaldon.
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