June 2021 Meeting

Staff Governance Action Updates:

In March the UA Staff Alliance Compensation Committee sent a memo to Interim President Pitney with FY22 compensation recommendations.  In May the President sent a response linked here.

In May the UAF Staff Council sent a memo to Interim President Pitney regarding the UA HR. In June the President sent a response linked here. 

UA Staff Alliance passed a  resolution Regarding Interim Phase C Operational Transition Guidelines sent to UAA, UAF and System Office Supervisors. 

The System Office Administrative Review Reportis now available. 

Vice Chancellor Queen Remarks:

Vice Chancellor Queen attended the June Staff Council meeting and gave updates on the June Board of Regent's meeting, FY22 budget, and shared services. The Board approved a structural change for the UA College of Education. It will be going back to a similar structure that it used to exist in. The eduation and health programs are some of the highest priorities in UA as part of meeting Alaska's workforce needs. Both of these areas get a lot of scrutiny from the legistlative level and across the state. The UAF School of Education will be specifically adjusted. All the education programs will be moved out of the College of Natural Science and Mathematics into a standalone School of Education. This same change was approved for UAA and UAS as well. The goal is for the structure to be in effect as of July 1.

VC Queen shared that the state operating and capital budgets are not yet finalized for FY22. The legistlature is in special session and it is scheduled to draw to a close on June 19. The House added back $15.7M to the operating budget and the Senate added back $10M to the operating budget. The House has a single appropriation structure and the Senate has a dual appropriation structure.  Both of these versions will go forward to the conference committee, and then we will wait and see what comes out of that.  On the capital budget, the conference committee is considering $31.6M in deferred maintenance for renewal projects. One of the major projects on the list is the plumbing and internal renovation in the MBS student residential towers. The Board has scheduled a special meeting on June 22 anticipating that we will have a budget on or before the 19th. The Board plans to approve the budget at the June 22 meeting. VC Queen shared that for FY23 budget planning the main themes are to work to reduce our fixed cost base and to get to a place of fiscal stability so that we are not constantly in this cycle of downsizing and restructuring. Things that will be discussed will be tuition,  the rate and enrollment expectations, modernizing our student IT environment, continuing with partnerships, capital funding, deferred maintenance, and better understanding of the state funding environment. 

VC Queen shared that David Bishko, the acting CHRO, has been engaged in updating UA's Goals and Measures. David has worked with several smaller committees to draft a structure and framework. They will be putting this out for feedback and UAF will be looking at what goals and measures are meaningful to us. They will continue to work on this as we approach the fall Board meetings. 

VC Queen shared about the federal relief funds for COVID.  There is a requirement for maintenance of effort in order for the state to receive these funds. Due to the university receiving cuts in the past, the state is looking at seeking a waiver in order to receive these funds or increase the funding available to the university so that K12 has access to the full funding for this type of relief.  The good news is that it may allow for some additional funding that UA has access to, in order for the state to meet these obligations if the waiver is not granted. 

The campus-wide shared services include travel, opt-in procurement, and a structure for proposal development. Travel has been busy to meet UAF's travel needs. The website is up and running. They are working on a survey to get user feedback. Amanda Lash wanted staff to know that she has an open door policy. They are working on a recruitment for a vacant position in the office right now. Procurement is an opt-in service that runs under Facility Services. It is not super busy but they have a few loyal groups that are using the service. They plan to do a lot more advertising to let folks know that this is available. They will be doing a communication blitz in the next few months. They are doing an annual customer service survey. They are open to suggestions for how to improve the service. Facility Services has a big blue button on the front of the website that will direct users to the survey for comments, conceerns, or kudos. The proposal development shared service is still in development. They are still actively engaging a Tiger Team that they will use as their advisory task force moving forward. They are still working through the structure. There are many ideas that are no cost or low cost suggestions. Vice Chancellor La Belle-Hamer shared that she is not planning to centralize proposal development in terms of structure, but they are looking at improvements so that they can ramp up proposal development resources.

Staff Council Business:

UAF Staff Council approved a motion and a resolution at the June meeting. The Council approved a motion to transfer UAF Staff Council authority to the Executive Board until the next Staff Council meeting in August. The Council also approved a resolution in appreciation of Mathew Mund for his service to staff governance.

June Events:

This Pride Month, the Nanook Diversity and Action Center is offering several events to celebrate all parts of the LGBTQ+ community. Check out this Cornerstone article for more information. 

UAF Staff Council will not be meeting in July. Everyone have a great summer!