MINUTES UAF STAFF COUNCIL MEETING #110 Wednesday, September 15, 1999 Wood Center Ballroom I Bev Frey called the meeting to order at 8:35 a.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT: Baergen, A. Anderson, L. Bender, L. Aslam, D. Candler, R. Barnebey, T. Comstock, S. DeKerlegand, D. Downes, I. Evans, C. Duvlea, P. Gieck, B. Enochs, K. Heineken, H. Hazelton, G. McClellan, L. Martyn, P. Murawsky, N. Parzick, J. Wilson, K. Powell, D. York, R. Rogers, P. Scholle, M. OTHERS PRESENT: Simmons, H. Bauer, T. Sowell, P. (for P. Rounds) Estes, S. White, P. Hagen, D. Mosca, K. Poole, J. Sturm, C. Williams, F. B. The minutes to meetings #108 (May 12, 1999) and #109 (June 2, 1999) were approved as distributed via e-mail. C. The agenda was adopted as distributed via e-mail. D. Bev Frey passed the gavel to Irene Downes. E. President's Report - I. Downes President Downes' first order of business was the following resolution of appreciation for Bev Frey, which recognizes the outstanding service Bev Frey has provided the Staff Council. The resolution was passed with unanimous approval and a big round of applause. RESOLUTION PASSED (unanimous) ================RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION Presented to BEV FREY WHEREAS, Bev Frey has served as the UAF Staff Council President from June 1998 through July 1999; and WHEREAS, Bev Frey has also served as UAF Staff Council President- Elect from June 1997 through May 1998; and WHEREAS, Bev Frey continued the exchange of information with the program in which the Chancellor and Vice Chancellors appear before the UAF Staff Council with a welcoming attitude and appreciation; and WHEREAS, Concerns and wishes of the UAF Staff were represented strongly and enthusiastically by Bev Frey; and WHEREAS, Bev Frey has lead the UAF staff through turbulent times with sincerity and professionalism; and WHEREAS, Bev Frey has unconditionally supported the chairs of all UAF Staff Council committees; now THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, That the UAF Staff Council wishes to acknowledge the many contributions of Bev Frey and expresses its appreciation for her exemplary service as she concludes her term as president. DATED THIS FIFTEENTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 1999. ******************* President Downes outlined her goals for the coming year, which includes a very active Staff Council. These goals include parking and the concerns expressed regarding the increasing fees; salaries and those staff red lined. Career ladders is another area to look into. Also the UAF Advocacy group which provides community awareness on the importance of a strong university within Alaska is another goal. Staff Affairs will be addressing some of these issues. Student Retention - President Downes spoke with Mike Mills regarding staff involvement in retention and the key roll staff plays. There are a number of committees working on this issue and another committee would be redundant. Mike Mills recommended some activity with the UAF scholars, and President Downes is open for suggestions. Sarah Comstock reminded representatives that the first training session will be on student employee recruitment and retention. Board Meeting Areas which will affect staff this year include the rewrite of human resources policies. The rewrite is a matter of housekeeping because of the redundancy in the policies and to consolidate some policies. Janet Jacobs, executive director of Statewide Human Resources presented a report to the Board on the tuition waiver. Legislator John Coghill has introduced a bill to abolish this benefit. The Board supported a yes vote on the dividend issue. The budget does not look positive. The UAF Advocacy group is essential to get support for the University. Staff Alliance will also be working on grass root efforts. Legislators want to hear from their constituents. Get the word out to your constituents and neighbors and speak to your legislators. The Information Technology policy P02.07.01 is in draft form and the board will be addressing this. Thank You - President Downes thanked the representatives for electing her and encouraged representatives to contact her if they have comments or questions at fneid@uaf.edu or 474-7339. II Committee Reports A. Rural Affairs - H. Simmons Rural Affairs will have their first meeting on October 4 at 11:00 a.m. in Wood Center Conference Room A. Student recruitment and retention will be one of the items on their agenda this year. B. Staff Affairs - L. Anderson Lydia Anderson was unable to attend the meeting. Kathy Mosca gave a brief report. Representative Anderson drafted a survey to acquire input regarding Staff Council from staff across the campus. An ice cream social was recommended after the October 8 Staff Council meeting, where staff would receive free ice cream in exchange for filling out the survey. The survey is very basic and includes questions such as have you attended a Staff Council meeting, what concerns do you have, etc. Faculty and students would only be charged 50 cents a scoop for the ice cream. Representative Scholle expressed concerns about the low number of turn out at the first meeting. President Downes stated that she would contact the representatives who didn't attend the meeting today. President Downes further stated that Staff Affairs will be looking at red line salaries, paid time off, career ladders, and marketing Staff Council. C. Staff Training - D. Powell The committee has meet several times during the summer to formulate the fall supervisory training schedules. Topics for the fall include student employee recruitment/retention, appropriate computer usage, how to deal with difficult people, alcohol and drug awareness, grievance policy, and legal liabilities. Representative Simmons asked about web based training that the rural sites can utilize. President Downes stated that Carone Sturm from the Center of Distance Education and Independent Learning will outline these training opportunities. Also, Carolyn Chapman, director of UAF Human Resources will be traveling to the rural sites to provide training again this year. The first supervisory training session will be Student Employee Recruitment and Retention on Thursday, September 23 at 10:00 a.m. in Wood Center Conference Room C. Todd Wheeler and Tonya Trabant from Career Services will be the presenters. The fall training schedule is located on the web at: http://www.uaf.edu/uafgov/www/ST-www/schedule.html Representative Powell met with Janet Jacobs, executive director of Statewide Human Resources to address the leadership training. This training will be supervisory training and Representative Powell outlined the UAF supervisory training program and offered the assistance of the Staff Training Committee. D. Elections, Membership & Rules - R. Gieck Representative Gieck is out-of-town and Representative White gave the committee report. Nominations were open for the position of president-elect. President-elect will be elected from the staff at large by the representatives at the October 8 meeting. Pam Sowell was nominated. Nominations will remain open until the October 8 meeting. If you are interested in serving as President-Elect and would like more information, contact Irene Downes at fneid@uaf.edu or the Governance Office at fystaff@uaf.edu. F. Staff Alliance - I. Downes The Alliance met on August 10 and Marie Scholle was elected vice chair. Janet Jacobs, director of Statewide Human Resources spoke on the tuition waiver, grievance handbook, UA2000 plan-- the RFP is closed now, and the draft information technology policy. The president's retreat will be on September 20 and 21 in Fairbanks and will include a presentation on parliamentary procedures, and the development of a grass roots advocacy campaign. Representatives expressed concerns over Chancellor Lind's comment at the convocation that he had no vision for staff and specifically the low number of staff positions replaced as a result of the RIP. Approximately 180 staff took part in the RIP and only 23 staff positions were rehired, while 50% of the faculty positions were filled. Concerns were also expressed that the workload remains and is just passed on to the remaining staff. This will be added to the agenda for Staff Council, as well as President Downes will bring this concern to the Chancellor at their next meeting. G. System Governance - R. Candler Rudy Candler from AFES-Palmer will be the UAF Staff Council representative to System Governance. System Governance is the governance body for faculty, staff, and students systemwide. Due to some technical difficulties in the lab, Rudy was unable to attend the first meeting. H. Technology Advisory Board - P. Sowell Pam Sowell from Printing Services is the staff representative on the Technology Advisory Board. The Board has not met yet this fall. I. Food Advisory Board - D. Powell Vice Chancellor Kirts is chairing this committee now. The RFP will go out in October. There have been improvements to the food service here and hopefully the staff have seen these improvements. Wood Center received some new furniture and paint. Food items have also changed. The pub will not be serving alcohol during lunch for the semester. A number of concerns were expressed about this. The pub had been losing money and some type of change needed to be made. III Other Business A. Motion to establish an Ad Hoc Calendar Committee After a brief discussion the following motion was passed with unanimous approval. Also, the following people volunteered to serve on the committee. The committee will be soliciting slides and transparencies for the 2000 Staff Council calendar. MOTION PASSED (unanimous) ============= The UAF Staff Council moves to establish an ad hoc committee to organize the 2000 Staff Council calendar and the following people have volunteered to serve on the committee: 1. Darleen Masiak, Chair 2. Bev Frey 3. Patty Duvlea 4. Debra Hagen EFFECTIVE: Immediately RATIONALE: Work on the 2000 Staff Council calendar needs to begin immediately in order to meet printing deadlines, so that the calendar can be distributed at the December 3 meeting. ****************** B. Motion to establish an Ad Hoc Committee On Parking The Council amended the rationale to state that the committee will investigate the use of parking fees. If you are interested in serving on this committee, contact the Governance Office at fystaff@uaf.edu. MOTION PASSED AS AMENDED (unanimous) ======================= The UAF Staff Council moves to establish an ad hoc committee on parking. The following people have volunteered to serve on the committee: 1. Parker Martyn 2. Alice Baergen 3. Irene Downes 4. Pam Sowell 5. Laura Bender EFFECTIVE: Immediately RATIONALE: The committee will investigate the use of parking fees. Duration for this committee will depend upon the speediness of the committee. However, the committee will provide a report at the February 2 Staff Council meeting. C. Motion to establish a University Advocates Ad Hoc Committee Vice Chancellor Williams was strongly in favor of this ad hoc committee. After a brief discussion, the rationale was amended and the motion was unanimously approved. If you are interested in serving on this committee, contact the Governance Office at fystaff@uaf.edu. MOTION PASSED AS AMENDED (unanimous) ======================= The UAF Staff Council moves to establish a university advocate ad hoc committee. The following people have volunteered to serve on the committee: 1. Sarah Comstock 2. Irene Downes 3. Julia Parzick 4. Heidi Simmons 5. 6. EFFECTIVE: Immediately RATIONALE: Create and implement a plan to educate the community about the University of Alaska Fairbanks. This group will help to get the Fairbanks community involved in supporting the University by communicating with community groups and their legislators and promoting higher education IN ALASKA. IV Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services Remarks - F. Williams Kate Fenton is the new director of Financial Services. Gary Yee has moved over to Grants and Contract Services and will be working on streamlining their services. David Woodall has accepted the position of dean for the College of Science Engineering and Mathematics and will be arriving in Fairbanks mid- October. Food Services Staff, faculty, and students are encouraged to forward their comments to the Food Service Advisory Board. Polar Express - The one card system at UAF is up and running. Sue Wilken and Scott Ebanez have spear headed this project. UAF acquired additional funding for the bachelor of education program, associate degree in nursing, rural workforce development, applied business, and graduate student stipends. Parking - Tim Bauer from the Business Office addressed how parking fees are utilized and passed out a brochure on Parking‹Here are the facts. Left over funds from FY98 were used to increase the number of parking spaces on campus. In FY99 just about every department, Physical Plant, Business Office, and Police, overspent their budget. Electricity usage increased in FY99. The stairway from the Taku lot needed major improvements. The number of regular decals also declined. The Police Department changed their philosophy on how they issue citations, thus the sharp decline in revenue. The Business Office purchased a parking program for their operations. The FY00 budget is the same as FY99. Tim Bauer stated that he will be out of town, but would be available to answer questions from the Ad Hoc Committee after October 4. V The Council took a five minute break. VI Guest Speaker A. Carone Sturm, Director, Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning The Center for Distance Education and Independent Learning web site is located a http://www.dist-ed.uaf.edu. The web site provides information on the programs that are offered. The Center for Distance Education has been operational for approximately 40 years throughout interior Alaska. In 1987, after a reorganization of the rural campuses, the Center came under the College of Rural Alaska. The Center also coordinates the delivery of courses between the rural campuses, as well as UAF. As technology improves the Center continues to enhance their operation. Instructors are encouraged to transfer their course material to some new software called blackboard. Independent learning courses are appealing to staff because they can further their education in a manner that is convenient with their own schedules. Courses are semester based or year long and tuition waivers apply. Another aspect of the Center for Distance Education and Independent Learning is NETg. The University of Alaska is one of five universities in the US to partner with Gartner Group, a recognized authority on information technology. Gartner's learning division was recently acquired by NETg, enhancing significantly the computer-based offerings previously available solely on UA's Electronic Learning Center. This unique partnership provides students, staff, and faculty access to a wealth of computing-related research and training. There are 400 titles available in subjects ranging from Microsoft Office products to Novell Netware. You can download an entire NETg course to your desktop computer, or you can use a standard internet browser to complete your course outline. The URL for NETg is http://netg.alaska.edu. VII Governance Reports A. ASUAF - S. Banks No report. Stacey Banks is attending a student leadership conference in Washington DC. B. Alumni Association - J. Poole Alumni Reunion - The alumni were thrilled with what they saw on campus over the summer from the supercomputing center to the botanical gardens. Awards were presented to Larry Duffy - alumni achievement award for professional excellence, community service award went to Terese Sharp, university support award went to Ann Tremarello, and former regent Mike Kelly received the distinguished alumni award. Jake Poole and President Downes met in early September to address how staff can get more involved with supporting the university and getting the word out. The new road opening up off the intersection of College and University has been named Alumni Drive. The new road will open on September 28. This spring a time and temperature sign will be added. If you would like to contribute to this new sign, contact the Alumni Relations at 474-7081. Also, the office manager for Alumni is going to graduate school and there is a vacancy. If you are interested, contact Jake Poole. VIII Comments and Questions - none IX Announcements Governance Office The Governance Office will be temporarily relocated to 221 Moore from September 27 through October 15 while third floor Signers' Hall is re-carpeted and the wiring is upgraded. Representatives were encouraged to get their updated constituent lists in as soon as possible. X The meeting was adjourned at 10:45 a.m. Tapes of this Staff Council meeting are available in the Governance Office, 312 Signers' Hall, if anyone wishes to listen to them. Submitted by Kathy Mosca, Staff Council secretary.