In the coming weeks, you'll receive various notifications from the Office of University Compliance regarding the 2023 Annual University Compliance & Ethics Training. In preparation, we wanted to share a bit about the role and scope of our office, along with additional resources.

The Office of University Compliance (OUC) works to promote and support a University-wide culture of compliance and ethics on all UConn campuses, including UConn Health, in several ways such as providing education, training, and resources; assisting decentralized compliance areas with monitoring efforts; and by offering channels for individuals to ask questions and report concerns.

A core component of OUC is to coordinate the compliance program by partnering with units across UConn and UConn Health with compliance responsibilities. Available on the OUC website is a matrix that highlights key compliance units and briefly describes what they do, and even how they can help you. Check out the current list of Compliance Areas.

OUC provides UConn and UConn Health with innovative and accessible opportunities to build awareness, receive training, and further develop an understanding of compliance-related topics. In addition to the Annual University Compliance & Ethics Training, OUC provides education through emails, webinars, video clips, and in-person training. To review other educational resources, check out our Resource Catalog.

As state employees, it is our responsibility to ensure we abide by The State Code of Ethics. Per the regulations, UConn maintains its own policy, titled: The University's Guide to the State Code of Ethics. OUC is led by Associate Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer, Kim Fearney, who also serves as the Ethics Liaison for UConn and UConn Health. Employees are encouraged to reach out to Kim and the OUC team with questions related to compliance and The State Code of Ethics.

Policies and procedures are essential to the daily operations of UConn and UConn Health, and are the foundation of the compliance program. OUC works to assist and facilitate the policy management process to ensure all policies remain updated, accessible, and in compliance. To learn more about policies at UConn visit policy.uconn.edu and for UConn Health policies visit health.uconn.edu/policies.

OUC welcomes and encourages good faith reporting of compliance concerns. Anyone can contact OUC directly to ask for guidance or to report a compliance concern. Additionally, OUC facilitates the University's Reportline as a mechanism for the community to ask questions or report concerns anonymously. OUC reviews every report, completes a review of each concern, and facilitates any appropriate follow up action. To review more information about reporting, visit our Website, or review our Compliance Clip on reporting.

OUC houses the University Privacy Officer who serves the UConn Storrs and Regional campuses with the oversight of important non-healthcare privacy policies and procedures. This includes providing guidance on compliance with FERPA, offering information on identity theft, managing records, and data sharing, among other areas. For more information, visit the Privacy Website.

Feel free to email the Office of University Compliance if you have any questions or concerns at universitycompliance@uconn.edu.