Arkema faces challenging term

Pat Arkema

fyi: Last year’s Staff Council president, Pat Kenner, began her term during a stressful time, as she faced issues including the equitable assignment of parking spaces and concerns of racism on campus in the wake of the threats at the College of Dentistry. It seems like you’ll be facing a raft of tough issues of your own. Do you feel ready?

Arkema: One of the nice things about the Staff Council presidency is that you spend a year as president-elect, so that serves as a year-in-training. Pat [Kenner] has been a great mentor, and that’s increased my comfort level significantly. However, it looks like it will be a difficult year with all the uncertainty and concern due to the significant budget reductions in state appropriations.

Since August, I’ve served on the Budget Planning Advisory Committee. This is a committee of staff and faculty members charged by President Coleman with taking a look at the budgetary process and providing her with input on budget issues. Throughout the year we’ve heard from different offices on campus—on the way budget matters have worked in past years—and we examined budgetary models different from those used at The University of Iowa. In November, President Coleman asked us to help establish some guiding principles for creating budget cuts. Our recommendations were presented to the Presidential Committee on Strategic Implementation. Jonathan Carlson [professor of law] deserves a great deal of credit for chairing the group. Serving on the committee has been great preparation for the budget challenges we’ll face in this and future years.

In addition, the Staff Council Executive Committee meets monthly with President Coleman, and I’ve been very impressed with the interest the administration has shown in the concerns of Staff Council, and of the information sharing that’s gone on—it’s really a two-way street.

fyi: What other issues do you anticipate taking on this year?

Arkema: One of the issues that was started during Pat’s term was the revision of the P&S staff grievance policy. I have been working with a committee to revise the current policy. Our goal was to make it more understandable. In addition, we’ve created a review process that is more informal and that we hope employees will use before pursuing a formal grievance. We’re also working on a statement of professional ethics to accompany the grievance policy. We are presenting drafts to those who work closely with these areas, such as Affirmative Action and the Office of the Ombudsperson. In addition, we will be attending the University Human Resource representatives meeting in May for additional feedback.

Another concern is the current early retirement program. There are legal issues regarding age discrimination with the current policy that have to be addressed. The current policy ends June 30, 2002. We’ve expressed to the administration and the Funded Retirement and Insurance Committee (FRIC) that we’d like to continue some form of early retirement. By eliminating the option, we will penalize long-time employees. It’s something that many of them have been planning on and looking forward to.

fyi: But weren’t people informed that it would end on June 30, 2002?

Arkema: Yes, but it’s been in place so long that it’s considered something of an entitlement. Some people say that the stock market is so bad right now that people can’t afford to retire early anyway, but I’d like to see some sort of early retirement options so that employees can make that decision for themselves. We’ve been getting lots of feedback about that issue.

fyi: Anything else?

Arkema: Another concern that Staff Council will be dealing with is the issue of incivility on campus and in the workplace. We are looking at ways of dealing with this concern such as supporting Staff Development courses and presentations scheduled for May and June.

The Staff Council president from Indiana University has organized a meeting of Big Ten Staff Council presidents in June. It will be the first time this group has come together and an opportunity to brainstorm solutions to similar problems and to compare agendas for the coming year.

Programs already in place include the staff longevity recognition award program. It’s been nice to be able to recognize people across the campus for their years of work, and

President Coleman has been graciously hand-signing all the certificates. We’re in our fifth year of Staff Celebration Day, and that continues to be well-attended and a big success—it will be held May 30 this year.

In addition to my other duties as president, I try to attend the Board of Regents meetings whenever possible, making sure that staff needs and interests are known. Last year the Government Relations Committee was formed to identify ways to communicate with legislators and residents of the state to get the word out about the wonderful work being done at The University of Iowa and it’s impact on the entire state. Staff Council is also responsible for selecting staff members to serve on the University Charter Committees. I continue to be pleased at the number of staff members interested in serving on these committees—committees that are helping to make important decisions for the University.

fyi: Why did you decide to take on the Staff Council presidency, and what do you think will make it possible to meet your goals?

Arkema: I am able to take on this huge task because of the tremendous amount of support I’m receiving from my department. They felt it was an important opportunity and encouraged me to do it. They even had a surprise reception for me. [The Staff Council president officially devotes 25 percent of his or her time to Staff Council duties.]

All of my professional career has been at UIHC, and serving on Staff Council has given me an opportunity to see how the University functions as a whole. It’s been a great way to meet and work with people on the other side of campus and to find out about the issues that concern them. The University has provided me with a lot of wonderful opportunities both professionally and academically, and this is my opportunity to give something in return.

Article by Linzee Kull McCray