To: University of Iowa Non-bargaining Staff

From: Michael D. Wichman

Subject: The University of Iowa Staff Council 1999-2000 Annual Report

Serving and representing staff at The University of Iowa as President of Staff Council has been a definite honor, and I certainly have been privileged to be associated with the staff at this University. We experienced many accomplishments, some setbacks, and continue to have many projects that can only be classified as "in progress" as this year comes to a close.

I have been fortunate to be supported by the many outstanding committee chairs, executive committee, and fellow officers, Past-President Diane Anderson, VP/Princess-in-waiting (but not for long) Pat Kenner, and Secretary Barb Spence, and our indispensable Office Manager Kristin Baum. All of these people were always willing to help when needed, answer or find answers to various questions, provide gentle reminders when necessary, and identify my incorrect day/dates on various agendas.

At the beginning of this year I listed several possible new issues for Council consideration as well as many on-going projects. New issues included review of tuition assistance for faculty, staff and their families available at other similar institutions and review of the P&S grievance policy. On-going projects and issues included continuing to work on increasing the visibility of Staff Council to our constituents, the Governance Center, on-call, overtime and P&S salary increases, P&S salary compression, child and elder care, and joint projects with Faculty Senate and Student Government. Many of these activities are joint efforts with UI Human Resources.

We have done a lot in short period of time with a lean Staff Council. With the recent elections we achieved nearly full representation of 44-45 staff representatives on Council. This year we have accomplished much with a final tally of 28 representatives.

I am simply listing many of our accomplishments during this past year including the few setbacks or disappointments and the ever-present list of ongoing projects as follows:

• We were a major component in the Regents voting for 100% Conversion of CREF Retirement funds for the State of Iowa Regents' Institutions this past year.

• The Staff Council University Relations committee hosted the Staff Retirement Reception in June. Nearly seventy retiring staff members attended the reception. Staff Council was also invited to participate in the UIHC Retirement recognition ceremony for the first time thanks to Donna Muller.

• Another very successful Staff Celebration Day was held last June. Approximately 800 persons attended and the quality of the ninety plus booth displays was very high. Staff Celebration Day 2000 is scheduled for May 24 from 3:00-6:30 p.m. in the IMU.

• We experienced sadness at the loss of Jim Goldman, Staff Councilor and Director of Faculty and Staff Services who passed away unexpectedly on Monday, July 19, 1999. Jim had planned on retiring last December.

• We received approval to hire a permanent part time Staff Council Office Manager - initially Jackie Kjaer (July and August) and Kristin Baum (started October 18, 1999). We are very pleased to finally have a permanent Office Manager but disappointed that this position was identified as a Secretary II rather than a Secretary III by Central Human Resources. Kristin has assumed many additional responsibilities, taking care of printing, mailing, and tracking expenses, that were previously performed by University Benefits in support of Staff Council elections, Staff Council and Regents' Excellence Awards, and charter and non-charter committee application forms. Due to these and other additional unexpected responsibilities, we are requesting increasing Kristin's appointment from 50% to 75% time. Kristin has gone way above and beyond the "call-of-duty" inorder that we could manage these tasks. We are extremely pleased with the addition of Kristin as Staff Council Office Manager.

• The Faculty/Staff Governance Center in 380 IMU became a reality. We are very pleased to have a permanent office location after many years of requests including to the best of my knowledge former Staff Council Presidents Laura Reed, Ken Moore, and Diane Anderson. The center is a reality although we continue to patientlywait for an adequate meeting table and some computer equipment.

• We continued the "Open Forums" with President Coleman with fall forum on September 30 on the east side of campus in the Terrace Room at the IMU. The next forum is scheduled for March 28 on the west side of campus in the Seebohm Conference room, 283 Eckstein Medical Research Building (EMRB).

• Mary Jo Small Fellowship recipients and Staff Council and Regents Staff Excellence Award recipients were recognized at the annual University Convocation. Staff Council once again provided "brief" closing remarks immediately prior to the Convocation reception.

• Staff Council discussed at considerable length whether or not to support the proposed Student Fee Separation and Tuition Increase. Ultimately Council voted unanimously to support the fee separation proposal only. A letter supporting separation of fees from tuition was sent to each of the Regents.

• The Peer Support/Referral Committee has become a part of Staff Council Bylaws thanks to Ken Moore's initial proposal and Diane Anderson's continued diligent efforts to make this group a reality. The selection committee is in the final stages of choosing staff who will serve two-year appointments with the Peer Support/Referral Committee.

• The Bylaws/Policies & Procedures Committee, under the leadership of Sherry Pech, included the Staff Council Peer Support/Referral Program as Section 7 of Article X in the Bylaws following approval from the Council at our November meeting.

• The Diversity Committee, under the excellent leadership of Billie Townsend, once again sponsored and hosted the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. and University Human Rights week Kick-off Celebration in January. Also, Billie Townsend's efforts on behalf of staff were recognized as she received the first Affirmative Action Catalyst Award this past year.

• The Budget Committee, under the leadership of Diane Anderson, continues to allocate distribution of Coca-Cola funds distribution. Those funds provided substantial financial support to Family Services for lactation pumps, child care scholarships to low income families, assisted with development of an elder care program, and provided money to supported sick child care expenses for low income families. Thirteen staff members received Mary Jo Small Fellowships from financial support provided by Coca-Cola funds, the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Provost's Office, and the University Foundation. Pat Kenner, Kristin Baum, and others in UI WorkLife and the selection committee managed and provided Staff Council Staff Tuition Scholarships to seventy staff members from Coca-Cola funds. The funds from the Coca-Cola contract also provided financial support for many events on campus including, WOW, Minutes Matter, Prepare our Sons and Daughters for Life events, the Women's Lives, Voices, Solutions teleconference, and others. We requested additional funding from Coca-Cola revenue which was unfortunately denied, but we will submit a request for additional funding earlier next year before the funds have all been allocated.

  In August, Budget Committee members were given the opportunity along with Faculty Senate Budget Committee members to attend a budget planning workshop presented by VP True and FUS staff. This workshop was quite beneficial to all who ere able to attend.

  At the present, the Budget Committee is working with Staff Council and staff to respond to issues generated by proposed cuts in appropriations to the Regents' Institutions by the Legislature.

• The Merit Supervisory Exempt/Confidential Committee, under the leadership of Karon Kolek, held a couple of successful "brown-bag" meetings with MSE/C staff in order to identify and address their concerns.

• The Committee on Committees under the leadership of Pat Arkema has continued to involve all committee members with the various University charter and non-charter committees as a liaison to Staff Council. They have also been quite busy with appointing staff to serve on the various committees when necessary due to resignations. This committee will soon complete selection of staff to serve appointments on the University charter and non-charter committees beginning with the next academic year.

• We continue to publish the Staff Council Newsletter News & Views with the generous support of the University of Iowa Community Credit Union.

• The Nursing Supervisor position pay grade upgrade became a reality due in part to the persistence of the Staff Council UIHC Ad hoc Committee and in particular Jan Christensen and Diane Anderson. Due to the confusion generated by this situation, we requested that Central Human Resources develop a written formalization of Position Upgrade procedure/policy for possible inclusion in the University Operations Manual.

• Charlie Eastham served on the Leave Policy Task Force as a representative for Staff Council. From that task force, four preliminary proposals were developed. Those four proposals have been reviewed and comments submitted to Sue Buckley by the Executive Committee. Once all comments have been compiled and reviewed, final proposed changes to the Leave Policy will be presented to Staff Council for comment.

• Education Committee, under the leadership of Al Young, reviewed tuition reduction remission programs available to faculty and staff at comparable institutions. It is interesting to note that several institutions in the Big 10 including Northwestern (private), Purdue, Minnesota, Penn State, Indiana, and Michigan State offer some type of tuition assistance to staff. Indiana, Purdue, and Penn State also provide some assistance to family members. I must thank Al and the other Education Committee members, Jan Christensen, Karon Kolek, and Mel Shaw for completing this review of programs offered at comparable institutions.

• Human Resources, under the initial leadership of Susan Snow and subsequent leadership of Joy Kross, continues to evaluate the current P&S Grievance Policy.

• Diane Anderson has been very busy this past year. She serves as a member of the Comprehensive Campaign advisory board, providing input on programs of interest to staff and keeps Council informed about the Comprehensive Campaign. She has also continued to serve the University as co-chair of the University United Way campaign and serves on the committee that is reviewing, evaluating and updating the Staff Handbook. Diane thought that she would not be as busy serving as past-president of Staff Council.

• Carol Vogt, Mark Long, and Kristin Baum helped to ensure that Staff Council Elections were quite successful this year. Staff Council represents just over 4400 staff, therefore we should have 44-45 representatives depending on how the numbers in the various categories are rounded. With the completion of the current election we are up to 45 representatives.

• The University Relations Committee, under the leadership of Dave Martin, has continued to present information about Staff Council at the monthly University Orientations for new staff. Currently the committee is heavily involved with the Staff Council and Regents' Staff Excellence Awards.

• We survived the fiscal year transition from the July 1/June 30 fiscal year to the April 1/March 31 fiscal year and only missed a few deadlines.

• I must thank Kristin Baum for coordinating the mailing lists, printing, and mailing of most Staff Council correspondence including meeting agendas, Staff Council elections applications/nominations and ballots, charter and non-charter committee applications, Staff and Regents' Staff Excellence Awards nomination packet request forms, etc. Much of the annual mailings were coordinated through University Benefits in the past.

• We continue to have an outstanding and up-to-date web page due primarily to the efforts of Janice Quinn.

New or ongoing issues for Princess Pat and FY2001 Staff Council:

Academic/Administrative Review Committee structure

Domestic Partner Flexible Benefits

State appropriations for Salary and operational expenses

Governmental Relations

Staff Service Recognition

I must thank the University Administration, particularly President Coleman, whose continued enthusiastic support of staff and staff issues is very evident as exhibited by her personal contribution to the University Foundation in support of the Mary Jo Small Fellowship Program. I must also recognize Marilyn Brown and Mary New for keeping Staff Council apprised of President Coleman's schedule and somehow managing to set up regular meetings and the occasional reception. I must acknowledge that the Budget Committee met monthly with Vice President Doug True and Associate Vice President Bob Foldesi. They both continue to be supportive of Staff Council and make genuine efforts to keep us informed about issues that may have an impact upon the staff that we represent. I must thank Sue Buckley, former Staff Council President, who initiated these monthly meetings with the University President and Chief Financial Officer. I realize that I am leaving out many people who have assisted Staff Council in one way or another in the past year, but I must mention Susan Lee who always found a way to schedule this or that meeting.

I must also acknowledge the staff at the University Hygienic Laboratory who continued to do their excellent work despite my frequent absences and in particular Dr. George Breuer, my immediate supervisor, who helped out in many, many ways.

This had been quite a year. We have accomplished much in 10½ months. I have enjoyed working with all of you. Thank you.