Klein: Staff Council is the University's voice

Kathy Klein, a secretary in the Graduate College, is only the second UI merit staff member to serve as Staff Council president. She takes the helm in the council's 40th anniversary year. 

Kathy Klein, secretary in the Graduate College, will serve as Staff Council president for 2007-08. Photo by Tom Jorgensen.

Klein started at The University of Iowa in 1966, a year before the University’s first staff council met. Her first UI job was working as a travel clerk in the business office. She transferred to a position in the student activities office during the height of campus unrest over the war in Vietnam—the office stayed open “24-7,” she recalls, to let students crank out their stencil-mimeographed protest leaflets. She left the University in 1970 to stay home and raise her children, and returned in 1989 to work in staff support roles in the history department in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Honors Program, the College of Nursing, and, since 2000, the Graduate College. This is her seventh year on Staff Council.

Klein recently sat down with fyi to talk about what she has in mind for Staff Council’s anniversary year.

fyi: The University has an interim president almost a year after the last UI president, David Skorton, left office. It’s been a rather unsettled—some might say, unsettling—year, in regard to the search for a new president. What are the effects on staff? And what is Staff Council’s role in this time of transition?

Klein: It is a very unsettled time. But it must be for the interim president [Gary Fethke], too. He’s trying to keep all cylinders firing, all the while facing at least some of the resistance that anybody in a temporary leadership position must face. He has a tough job.

Changes in leadership are never easy. They make people feel uneasy. For staff and for Staff Council, we can use this opportunity to come together and take advantage of the progress we’ve made in how we communicate with central administration.

We will continue to look for ways to expand our communication with staff; our web site is set up so staff members easily can write to us. Our regular meetings with the president’s office will continue with interim President Gary Fethke, and with the next president after he or she is named. And we will continue to work in the best interests of UI staff. We have 50 Staff Council members representing approximately 5,000 nonorganized Professional & Scientific and Merit Supervisory Exempt staff. We’re also working on increasing recognition and awards to outstanding staff, among many other issues.

fyi: Are there any budget concerns affecting staff this year? And what can Staff Council do in this regard?

Klein: The state budget looks better for us than it has in some time. But we’re also aware that faculty members are concerned about shrinking resources on the federal level. National Institutes of Health funds, National Science Foundation funds—they’re not going up. There’s concern that there’s not as much of this money to go around.

We endorse a commitment to raising faculty and staff salaries. We don’t want to lose good teachers, researchers, and other staff members. We have to be proactive in making sure the administration, legislature, and Regents are aware The University of Iowa has outstanding people who should be compensated fairly. The best thing we can do is to make as many people as possible aware of the contributions staff make in a large public research university.

And we need to make people aware that it takes a lot to keep a big university going, and faculty can’t do a good job without a strong support staff in place.

fyi: How is interest in Staff Council these days? Any thoughts or plans about boosting participation in this anniversary year?

Klein: We would like to get the founders of Staff Council back on campus for interviews and public relations events. It would be great to honor past presidents somehow, maybe in a special presentation in halftime at a football game.

As I mentioned, Staff Council regularly meets with University leaders and is asked to participate in many events and decisions occurring on campus. And I think that people naturally want to be a part of this collaboration.

Nevertheless, we have to think about areas on campus where staff might not realize the positive impact that Staff Council has University-wide. We’ll consider additional steps to increase communication with UI staff members this year.

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

Klein: I’m the second merit-supervisory exempt staff member to serve as Staff Council president. There are many staff members on campus who are qualified to lead. Staff Council members include some of the most dedicated, outstanding, talented, intelligent employees of the University. I’m passionate about the University and care what happens to people here.

We need to make sure we keep our dialogue going strong with the administration, the Board of Regents, and the new president. We meet regularly with the provost, the president, Human Resources, and they are all interested in listening to us and keeping the lines of communication open.

Staff members want to have a voice. That’s our motto—“Staff Council, your voice.” 

by Gary Kuhlmann