MINUTES UAF STAFF COUNCIL MEETING #101 Wednesday, September 16, 1998 Wood Center Ballroom I Beverly Frey called the meeting to order at 8:35 a.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT: Anderson, L. Candler, R. Bales, P. Findlay, G. Bender, L. Martinez, R. Christensen, S. Stubsjoen, A. Comstock, S. Downes, I. OTHERS PRESENT: Duvlea, P. Aronow-Brown, L. Enochs, K. Hamilton, M. Frey, B. Holzmueller, M. Gieck, B. Kirts, C. Hazelton, G. Long, P. Oleson, B. Mosca, K. Parzick, J. Poole, J. Powell, D. Potrikus, L. Rogers, P. Richardson, J. Scalise, G. Schatz, M. Scholle, M. Wadlow, J. Segla, D. Williams, F. Swan, J. (for D. Leavy) Thomas, M. Twitchell, P. (for N. Murawsky) White, P. Wilson, K. York, R. B. The minutes to meeting #100 (May 29, 1998) were approved as distributed via e-mail. C. The agenda was adopted as distributed via e-mail. II Interim Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services Remarks - F. Williams New Appointments in Administrative Services - Kathleen Schedler was named the new director of Facilities Services. Ron Pierce will be heading up the Coal Water Fuel Project. Joe Trubacz, Diane Marshall, and Shannon Kristeller have joined a group that will focus on providing data and information for planning on campus. Deb Wells is the new director of space management. John Craven, past president of the Faculty Senate, is heading the Master Planning Committee. Representative Scholle asked if there is a plan in place for the Y2K problem. Vice Chancellor Williams stated that there is a coordinated statewide effort on this issue, led by Steve Smith. Also, there have been seminars with the Gartner Group. Last year the University asked for legislative funding to deal with this issue, but was not granted any additional funding. President Hamilton stated that each individual has to get involved and recommended running a dummy on specific programs and see what happens. Also, careful planning will be helpful and not be in the middle of a major plan when 2000 comes around. III Chancellor's Remarks - J. Wadlow There was a positive editorial in today's News Miner recounting the support the business community has given the University and winds up outlining the support for the Museum expansion. Supervisory Training - The Chancellor commended Staff Council for launching and expanding the supervisory training program. Personnel Services will be monitoring attendance this year. Chancellor Wadlow reiterated her support for this program and augmenting the program with the training - Celebrating Ability by Geri Jewell. October Board of Regents - President Hamilton will be presenting the overall FY00 budget request. The three chancellors will be highlighting a few items from the individual campuses. UAF has three general themes: first seek funds to restore and rebuild the talent at UAF. In the past few years there has been a number of retirements. Second, additional funding for areas on campus to ensure student success. Ensure that students have access to the technological infrastructure. Additional funding for educational assessment-learning outcomes. Expand and improve library services, both on the Fairbanks campus, as well as to the rural sites. Third, make full use of the facilities we have. Three major new facilities will be on line in 1998, Sea Life Center in Seward, Fisheries in Kodiak, and the International Arctic Research Center in Fairbanks. Additional faculty positions will be needed to fully utilize these facilities. Joint faculty appointments will also be utilized. Sixty-seven percent of Alaskans support research. Additional funding will be needed to carry out research projects at the rural sites that contributes to the economic development of the State. Overall enrollment is down 3% at this time, which means a more aggressive effort to sell UAF. On a positive note, Representative Thomas stated that TVC has increased their enrollment again this year. Chancellor Wadlow encouraged staff to go to the UAF web page and select News/Events and then select the item that says, To UAF Community. This item is a long progress report that the senior administration has developed reporting on progress towards the goals of UAF for 2000. Provide Chancellor Wadlow with your input prior to the October 13 workshop with deans, directors, and governance leaders. Representative Downes stated that the morale on campus has increased and the concept of working together has lead to this. A question was asked if there is going to be an effort to encourage faculty participation in the supervisory training sessions. Chancellor Wadlow thought that headway was made last year on this issue, but apparently this is not the case. This topic will be brought up with the Provost. Representative Scholle concurred with the earlier comments regarding morale and asked if the decrease in enrollment can be contributed to some students not being able to get student loans because of credit checks. Chancellor Wadlow stated that the negative comments last spring regarding programs continuing contributed to students selecting another university over UAF. The credit checks may be a very small factor in why students did not select UAF. Representative White commented that some departments circumvent testing requirements which may be diminishing the perceived value of a four year degree at UAF. This could be one of many factors that contributed to the decrease enrollment, also. IV Guest Speaker - Mark Hamilton, UA President President Hamilton commended Staff Council on their roll in the University system. An ineffective, confused campus would be predicted with all the budget cuts that the University has had over the last few years, but that is not the case because of the employees at the University who have hung on through the turbulent times. These employees have made an enormous contribution to the University by keeping it together and making it a viable institution. The results of the staff survey have been received. President Hamilton stated his approach to a staff survey is believe them and listen, as well as take note of the comments. Communication is the single greatest issue that President Hamilton needs to look at. Having a voice is not the same as having a time slot, speaking specifically of the communication with the Board of Regents. Talking to people and letting them know that they are being heard is a very important component of an effective University. President Hamilton stated that remarks by Vice Chancellor Williams and Chancellor Wadlow at the Staff Council meetings is a good example of effective communication. Human resources at the University needs to be addressed. During trying fiscal times, buildings are one of the first things to go. Human resources at a University is an essential component of an effective University. You have to build the program to the student load you want. We need to fully utilize the buildings we have, fully staffed, and the appropriate number of faculty to utilize the facility. There is reason for enormous optimism for this University. People of Alaska care about the University. We don't need cheerleaders, but informed advocates. Communicating what the university is doing is a key eliminate in effective recruiting. Eighty-five percent of school superintendents come from outside and the University president comes from outside. Hopefully this will be the last time for that. The University prepares people for the future and the next few years will be very exciting. Representative Downes asked if those staff who did not fill out a survey be given the opportunity to do so and what steps is the President going to do to fix the problems. President Hamilton stated that WE are going to fix the problems. Only by working together can these problems be solved. The survey results will be out shortly. V Governance Reports A. Faculty Senate - M. Schatz Madeline Schatz mentioned that the Faculty Senate, ASUAF, Sun Star, and Staff Council are all governed by women this year. The President Hamilton referenced the need to increase faculty in order to fully utilize the facilities and provide quality programs. This is an essential component to meet the needs of the students. We need to build the faculty and the students will come. The Faculty Senate meet on Monday, September 14. The coming year will be an interesting year for the Faculty Senate with the two union contracts. The Promotion and Tenure Committee was deleted and a new committee will be developed that works within the constraints of the AAUP and ACCFT contracts. President Hamilton was a guest speaker at the meeting. The post tenure review process is a major issue this year and there is a lot of dissatisfaction with the structure. The policy on intercollegiate athletics was postponed and the Senate wanted to have a representative from Athletics speak on this issue. Madeline Schatz urged that both ASUAF and Staff Council have a member at the monthly meetings to address questions that may impact their constituents. B. ASUAF - J. Richardson Jean Richardson, president of ASUAF introduced herself. The ASUAF Senate meets each Sunday at 6:00 p.m. in the Senate chambers in Wood Center. The Coalition of Student Leaders recognized ASUAF as the most active student government lobbying last year. ASUAF plans to continue this effort. There will be tables on Wednesdays and Fridays at Wood Center to register voters for the November election. ASUAF is working with the League of Women Voters on this. ASUAF disbanded their Department of Computing and will not be in the business of staffing the computer labs. The Department of Mathematical Sciences has taken over the lab in Chapman and the Department of Computing and Communication has taken over the other computer labs. Jean Richardson attended the Alaska Commission on Post Secondary Education meeting September 11 and spoke on the changes in student loans and how the communication between them and the Business Office and Financial Aid Office has affected students. The Commission was not very helpful and suggested that ASUAF form a committee to investigate the problem and let them know their findings. The Coalition of Student Leaders met recently and discussed intrasession classes, which are classes held between fall and spring semesters. The Coalition was interested in this issue and will discuss it further. The next Coalition meeting will be on September 30 and then there will be a student government retreat on October 3 in Fairbanks. C. Alumni Association - J. Poole This past summer the Alumni surveyed primary candidates in conjunction with System Governance. The information is posted on the web and was also distributed to alumni. Alumni is working with ASUAF on the voter registration. The alumni reunion was held this summer and approximately 100 alumni returned. The alumni were pleased with the changes on campus. Alumni was involved with the new student orientation this year and working with parents who will be leaving their children here on campus. Alumni will continue work on lobbying the legislature with a positive attitude and a positive approach. Alumni is working with Admissions to help increase enrollment. Admissions and Alumni will be speaking with secondary principles and counselors regarding the benefit of students attending UAF. Of the 32 principles in the North Star School District, 16 are alumni of UAF. The brown bag lunch will be continued this year, where an alumni speaks with students in an informal setting. A new project this year will be raising funds for improving the quality of life of students on campus. The big goal this year is to increase alumni membership. Alumni is working together with the University and the Chamber of Commerce regarding acquiring funding from an account as a result of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. A Council will decide how the $152 million will be distributed. One recommendation will be made to fund faculty positions (chairs) in research at the University of Alaska. The Chamber, in conjunction with the University has developed a preferred merchants program where UAF students will get a discount at participating local businesses. Jake Poole will be recommending that the Provost take his presentation on smart classrooms on the road and give a presentation to the Chamber. D. Staff Alliance - S. Christensen Staff Alliance met yesterday and Marie Scholle was elected chair and Bev Frey was elected vice-chair for the UAF campus. Leave share and health benefits will be major issues this year. The leave share program is not going away. The motion passed by UAF Staff Council on making changes to the leave share program has been tabled. Administration of the program is not a reason to change the program. There will not be any changes in health benefits this year. The Board of Regents approved the $300 bonus for non-bargaining staff. The results of the HayGroup preliminary base salary analysis was distributed to the representatives early September and representatives were encouraged to share this information with their constituents. The report says that by comparison to the market, University employees are underpaid. Grievance procedures as written do not conform to some collective bargaining contracts and will be an issue addressed this year. There will be a staff governance retreat on November 5 in Anchorage. If you have any items you would like addressed, send them to Shannon Christensen at fnslc@uaf.edu or Beverly Frey at beverly@gi.alaska.edu The University is working on a blanket license for faculty, staff, and students on Microsoft products. Holiday Closure - This item was addressed at the Staff Alliance meeting. The holiday closure has not been consistent throughout the University system. The Board will be asked to revisit this issue, is this still necessary, is it appropriate to require staff to use their annual leave, and finally develop a policy that is consistent across the University system. VI President's Report - B. Frey President Frey has appointed Irene Downes to the Technology Board, replacing Bob Gieck. Students have asked that staff only serve two-terms on the Technology Board. Committees are up and running and President Frey encouraged all representatives to take an active role on their committees. President Frey asked all representatives to increase communication with constituents. E-mail is an effective way of communicating. Representative Gieck stated that last year units reorganized and encouraged all representatives to touch base with their constituents. VII The Council took a five minute break. VIII Committee Reports A. Staff Affairs - L. Anderson Staff Affairs addressed the FY00 budget request and decided that this was an information item and no action was taken. Representative Anderson attended a health benefits meeting this summer and briefed Staff Affairs on the meeting. Now that employees are going to be asked to pay more for health benefits, a recommendation was made to have the SRC fee waived or reduced to increase wellness opportunities for employees. Michelle Combellick, chair of the Health Issues Committee will speak at the next meeting. Kurt Carlson from unit 10 asked what happened to the priority list of possible benefits changes to reduce costs. Kurt Carlson had a list of concerns regarding the HayGroup preliminary base salary analysis. Why was the report distributed in September when it actually came out in March? Why were technology positions excluded? What is going to done with the report and the issue of University salaries being 9-28% below market? The committee discussed the possibility of writing a resolution or letter to the Chancellor asking for action on this matter. Prior to a formal resolution, Patty Kastelic has been invited to the next meeting to address concerns and questions on the HayGroup report. Representative Anderson stated that concerns were expressed over Vice President Redman's comments regarding that there was no data stating that the salary schedule needs to be adjusted. Also will there be further study of salaries. Representative Enochs stated that she was not notified of any health benefits task force meetings over the summer. Representative Scholle stated that Staff Alliance was told that there will be no changes to the health plan at this time. President-elect Christensen asked for clarification on the health benefits committee. The Task Force is a statewide committee and not a committee established by Staff Council. The Task Force is made up of union and non-union employees, as well as members from Personnel Services. A recommendation was made to extend a price break to employees for use of the SRC. It was recommended to have Michelle Combellick, chair of Health Issues or Ruth Olsen, coordinator of the SRC, speak to the committee. B. Rural Affairs - B. Oleson Rural Affairs did not meet during September. They will start their monthly meetings in October. C. Staff Training - D. Powell Training for Rural Sites - Carolyn Chapman from Personnel Services will be traveling to Northwest, Kuskokwim, and Palmer to provide training for the rural staff. Dean Gabrielli is funding the Northwest and Kuskokwim training sessions, and Dean Husby is funding the training at Palmer. The training will be tailored to the individual sites. The Committee has begun work on the spring training schedule. Tentative topics include Excellence in Customer Service, Time Management, Stress Management, Union Issues, and Career Ladders. 1. Motion to amend FY99 Staff Council meeting calendar The meeting calendar was amended in order to coordinate the May meeting around the staff picnic and longevity awards program scheduled for May 13. MOTION PASSED (unanimous) =============== The UAF Staff Council moves to amend their 1998-99 meeting calendar as follows: UAF STAFF COUNCIL 1998-99 MEETING CALENDAR MTG.# DATE DAY TYPE 101 September 16, 1998 Wednesday audioconference 102 *October 9, 1998 Friday face-to-face 103 November 4, 1998 Wednesday audioconference 104 December 4, 1998 Friday audioconference ***Change to a face-to-face meeting 105 February 3, 1999 Wednesday audioconference 106 March 2, 1999 Tuesday audioconference ***Change to a face-to-face meeting 107 *April 2, 1999 Friday face-to-face ***Change to an audioconference meeting 108 May 5, 1999 Wednesday audioconference ***Change to May 12, 1999 Wednesday face-to-face 109 *May 28, 1999 Friday face-to-face ***Change to June 2 Wednesday audioconference NOTE: All meetings begin at 8:30 a.m. in the Wood Center Ballroom. ***Revisions EFFECTIVE: Immediately RATIONALE: The change will allow rural representatives to participate in the staff longevity awards program and the staff picnic scheduled for May 13. ************* 2. Supervisory Training Sessions for September and October The following training will be offered in September and October. Fall 1998 Training Schedule is available on the web at: http://www.uaf.edu/uafgov/ www/ST-www/schedule.html September 30 - Fire Safety 10:00 a.m., Wood Center Conference Room C Instructors: Edith Curry, Fire Marshall Mike Supkis, Fire Chief Chief Mike Supkis will provide an overview of Fire Safety Philosophy at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Edie Curry, University Fire Marshall will discuss common fire hazards found on the UAF campus and how to prevent them. She will also give a short overview of the on-going code correction projects on campus and the impact they have on the campus users. She will also be willing to answer any questions you may have in regards to fire safety on campus. ************* October 8 - Supervising Staff Experiencing a Life Crisis 3:00 p.m., Wood Center Conference Room C Instructors: John Fellerath, Director, Health Center and Carolyn Chapman, Director, Personnel We spend some of our time at work and some of our time at home, and it takes some energy to separate the two successfully. Sometimes events and problems in our private lives begin to influence our work lives. When this happens, supervisors may have to get involved. This session will address a variety of problems and crises that can occur away from work and how supervisors can deal with these situations effectively when they begin to intrude on work. Divorce, family stresses, substance abuse, illness, and a variety of other problems will be discussed. We'll talk about ways to help staff keep personal matters separate from work time, how to recognize the signs that personal problems are interfering with individual work performance or the overall work climate, and how to be helpful and considerate of staff while maintaining a normal work environment. ************* October 15 - Reorientation to Employee Benefits 10:00 a.m., Wood Center Conference Room C Instructor: Jennifer Youngberg, Acting Benefits Coordinator University of Alaska benefits have been changing over the past several years. There are now three tiers to the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), two tiers to the Teachers Retirement System (TRS) and there is an Optional Retirement Plan (ORP) for faculty and certain administrators. Do you know which category your current or potential employees fall in? This will be a refresher to the orientation you may have received years ago and will keep you up-to-date with the information your employees are currently receiving at their new employee orientation. ************* October 22 - Conflict in the Workplace 3:00 p.m., Wood Center Conference Room C Instructors: Jim Camm, Assistant Director, Personnel Services Don Foley, Director Judicial Services/Associate Dean, Student Services It happens everywhere, it is inevitable, issues in the workplace will result in conflict between staff! What's important is how that conflict is processed, how staff are treated when there are a variety of opinions, and finding a way to encourage diversity of opinion while embracing and supporting final decisions. We will discuss ways to keep dialogue constructive, diffuse potentially explosive situations, and promote a positive work environment. Please bring your thoughts, experiences and questions so that we can learn from each other! IX OTHER BUSINESS A. Motion to establish an ad hoc committee to organize the 1999 Staff Council calendar An ad hoc committee will be established to begin work on the 1999 Staff Council calendar. MOTION PASSED (unanimous) =============== The UAF Staff Council moves to establish an ad hoc committee to organize the 1999 Staff Council calendar and the following people have volunteered to serve on the committee: 1. Darleen Masiak, Chair 2. Jeanette Swan 3. Barb Oleson 4. Kathy Mosca EFFECTIVE: Immediately RATIONALE: Work on the 1999 Staff Council calendar needs to begin immediately in order to meet printing deadlines, so that the calendar can be distributed at the December 4 meeting. The theme will focus on rural Alaska. ****************** X Comments and Questions President-elect Christensen stated that a number of issues are brought up at the meetings and asked that representatives also present possible solutions to these problems. XI Announcements A. Upcoming Meetings September 29 - Staff Affairs, 9:00 a.m., Wood Center Conference Room B September 30 - Administrative Committee, 9:00 a.m., Wood Center Conference Room A October 9 - Staff Council, 8:30 a.m., Wood Center Ballroom October 14 - Staff Training, 9:00 a.m., Wood Center Conference Room A XII The meeting was adjourned at 10:57 a.m. Tapes of this Staff Council meeting are available in the Governance Office, 312 Signers' Hall, if anyone wishes to listen the complete tapes. Submitted by Kathy Mosca, Staff Council secretary.