MINUTES

UAF GOVERNANCE COORDINATING COMMITTEE #50

Monday, October 8, 2001

Rasmuson Library, Room 341

 

I        Derek Miller called the meeting to order at 1:35

        

A.            Roll Call

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

MEMBERS ABSENT:

Chukwu, G.

Bird, R.

McCrea, S.

Carrothers, A.

Miller, D.

Combellick, M.

Swazo, N.

Ledlow, L.

 

 

 

 

 

OTHERS PRESENT:

 

Solano, E.

 

         B.      The agenda was adopted as distributed via e-mail.

 

II        NEW BUSINESS

 

A.            Election of Chair 

 

After a brief discussion was held on the tradition of having the student representative as chair, Derek Miller was nominated.  The vote was unanimous.

 

B.            Discussion:  regarding adding sexual orientation to the Nondiscrimination Policy

 

Scott McCrea speaks of some of the history regarding this issue.  First went to the Board of Regents (BOR) in 1993, but did not pass.  Currently the school board is thinking of adding it to policy and have heard public testimony a couple of times.  They are hearing some of the same testimony the BOR heard when this first came up in 1993.  Scott McCrea feels the university should look at this, being an institution of higher learning, and should serve as a model for the rest of the State in terms of respecting and welcoming people.  Wanted the GCC to discuss issue before taking it before Staff Council.  Norm Swazo is not sure where Faculty Senate would stand on this issue and in the years that he has sat on the senate has not received any indication of any interest in this issue whenever there has been discussion of nondiscrimination policies.  Derek Miller hasn't brought this to attention of the students, other than the senate chair.  Will bring it up at next meeting.  Norm Swazo suggests the GCC adopt and then send forward to respective governance groups.  Scott McCrea suggests that once it goes through UAF channels try to involve other governance groups at MAUs to try to make this a collective statewide effort.  Godwin Chukwu would prefer this issue go before the other governance groups for discussion and then bring it back to the GCC.  Scott McCrea will discuss at upcoming Staff Council meeting and draft a motion that will be forwarded to other governance groups.  Discussion held on whether the motion on the nondiscrimination policy should be a blanket statement or include of list of specific issues. 

 

Nondiscrimination Statement

                                                                                                                                                  P04.01.020

 

In accordance with federal and state law, illegal discrimination in employment against any individual because of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, veteran status, physical or mental disability, marital status or changes in marital status, pregnancy or parenthood is prohibited. Decisions affecting an individual's employment will be based on the individual's qualifications, abilities and performance, as appropriate.

 

(11-19-99)

 

C.            Motion to approve Proposed Academic Calendars for 2002-2003 and 2003-2004

 

Discussion on was held on the proposed academic calendar.  The motion passed with unanimous approval.

 

MOTION PASSED (unanimous)

===========

 

The UAF Governance Coordinating Committee moves to approve the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 Proposed Academic Calendars:

 

         EFFECTIVE:  Upon Chancellor’s Approval

 

UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS

ACADEMIC CALENDAR

2002-2003 AND 2003-2004

 

 

FALL SEMESTER-2002

 

Labor Day                                                         September 2, 2002

Fall-1st day of instruction                                  September 5, 2002

Last day to register                                          September 13, 2002

Thanksgiving holidays                                        November 21-24, 2002

Last day of classes                                           December 13, 2002

Final exams                                                       December 16-19, 2002

 

 

SPRING SEMESTER-2003

 

Martin Luther King / AK Civil Rights Day            January 20, 2003

Spring-1st day of instruction                              January 16, 2003

Last day to register                                          January 24, 2003

Spring Break                                                     March 17-23, 2003*

All Campus Day                                                 April 25, 2003

Last day of classes                                           May 5, 2003

Final exams                                                       May 7-10, 2003

Commencement                                                May 11, 2003

 

 

FALL SEMESTER-2003

 

Labor Day                                                         September 1, 2003

Fall-1st day of instruction                                  September 4, 2003

Last day to register                                          September 12, 2003

Thanksgiving holidays                                        November 20-23, 2003

Last day of classes                                           December 12, 2003

Final exams                                                       December 15-18, 2003

 

 

SPRING SEMESTER-2004 (LEAP YEAR)

 

Martin Luther King / AK Civil Rights Day            January 19, 2004

Spring-1st day of instruction                              January 15, 2004

Last day to register                                          January 23, 2004

Spring Break                                                     March 15-21, 2004*

All Campus Day                                                 April 23, 2004

Last day of classes                                           May 3, 2004

Final exams                                                       May 5-8, 2004

Commencement                                                May 9, 2004

 

*To be coordinated with the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District

 

******************

 

III       COMMITTEE REPORTS

 

         A.      Health Issues - M. Combellick

 

Not present.  Report sent via email.  The committee has not met this fiscal year as of this time.  Looking for one or two student representatives for the committee.  Working with Ruth Olsen and Randy Pitney, Director of Athletics and Recreation for financial support of the program offerings and advertisement of the program during the summer of 2001.  Hope to reach more students this year as well as faculty and staff.  A new fee has been added to the consumer to help with programming of the program.  The cost per semester has yet to be set, but expect the amount to range in the $30-40 range.   Hope to increase the number of non-credit fitness classes within this fiscal year.  Short-term goal:  Making this program more visible to all faculty, staff, and students.  Long-term goal:  Adding this program into the UAF Benefits package for faculty and staff.

 

B.      Intercollegiate Athletics - R. Bird

 

Not present.  No report.

 

IV      GOVERNANCE REPORTS

 

A.      ASUAF – D. Miller

 

ASUAF has been extremely busy and working hard this year.  Derek Miller recently went to Anchorage and met with other student body presidents of the university campuses.  All directors have been hired for ASUAF and the senate is full.  Looking to having 20 elected senators instead of 14, 6 appointed.  Held a retreat earlier this year and set out goals.  Working with Scott McCrea regarding relationships with TVC and working on tying in TVC, ASUAF, and UAF as a whole.  ASUAF is also working on childcare and providing more information for students.  Will invite other governance presidents to future ASUAF meetings.

 

B.      Faculty Senate – N. Swazo

 

Faculty Senate will be having discussion on classified research.  Planning to have Roger Smith give presentation on what the Geophysical Institute plans are for the next year.  Also will have Ted DeLaca give presentation on the Vice Provost research perspective on classified research.  Faculty Alliance met with President Hamilton and his staff regarding the issue of the direct appointment of Karen Purdue.  The first Faculty Newsletter will be sent out this month.

 

C.      Staff Council - S. McCrea

 

Staff Council is involved in many different things this year.  Staff Training, which is a companion piece to the training Human Resources completes for new staff, will introduce new staff to the university as a whole.  The goal is to educate new staff on what UAF does, what UAF past is, and make them aware of some of the hidden benefits.  The first New Staff Orientation was held on September 28, 2001 and went very well.  Good feedback has been received and those in attendance highly recommended the orientation for other new staff.  Scott McCrea has started an ad hoc committee through Staff Alliance to explore adding volunteer leave as a benefit for University of Alaska employees.  In January/February timeframe the ad hoc committee plans to give presentation to Human Resources and President Hamilton answering all questions as to why this program will not work.  The ad hoc committee hopes to advance to BOR some time next year.  Basically what the volunteer leave will cover is for employees to have ten hours per year for volunteering.  Staff Council is also working on paying better attention to rural staff and to address their concerns.  Scott McCrea will be visiting the rural areas sometime next month.  Staff Council approved an endorsement from Staff Alliance motion for 2% staff pay increase for next fiscal year.  Also approved an endorsement from Staff Alliance motion asking that statewide allocate the funds and resources necessary to the statewide office of Human Resources so that they can complete classification project by the closing of the fiscal year.

 

V       COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS

 

VI      The next meeting will be held during the week of November 13-15, 2001.  Exact date to be determined via email.

 

VII     The meeting was adjourned at 2:25

 

         A tape of this Governance Coordinating Committee meeting is available in the Governance Office, 312 Signers' Hall, if anyone wishes to listen to the complete tape.  Submitted by Elizabeth Solano, Governance Coordinating Committee Secretary.