President’s Annual Report

2001-2002

It’s been quite a year. We started with budget concerns and we are ending with the same concerns. Plus a whole lot has happened in between. Several things have come to a conclusion after what seems years in the making. ACTUALLY it has been years in the making. The P&S conflict management policies and the Budget Planning and Advisory Committee or as we fondly referred to it: BPAC. The P&S grievance revisions stem from recommendations that were initiated in the SC Human Resources internal committee to make the grievance policy more user-friendly and attempt to provide more informal methods of conflict resolution before resorting to the formal grievance policy. The 4 documents that came from this original recommendation are positive steps. The one remaining piece is to work with Faculty Senate leadership to collaborate on one University-wide ethics statement. This is something I would like to see us continue working on in the next year with Faculty leadership. Along those lines of Faculty/Staff collaboration, the two budget committees met as the Budget Planning Advisory Committee to give advice to University administration on budget concerns. The Staff Council leadership also met every other month with the leaders of Faculty Senate to discuss mutual concerns.

Some of the more controversial issues this year involved the early retirement incentive program, the air taser and of course the ever present parking issues.

We won some and we lost some. The ERIP was eliminated against our wishes, however we lobbied for a two-year extension, which we were happy to see, was adopted. It was disheartening to hear from those who had planned on participating in the ERIP and to miss the deadline by as little as 10 days. This is another issue I would like to see Staff Council pursue, the possibility of some type of provision in the current retirement program that allows early retirement based on a combination of years of service and age.

Some of the highlights of the year included another extremely successful Staff Celebration Day thanks to the hard work of the many volunteers from Staff Council. We also had a well-attended retreat in early May. This is one of the ways to get to know the other Councilors. I would encourage all Councilors, both old and new to attend this event. Not only is it educational, but it allows us to interact with each other away from the monthly meeting format. Another highlight, at least I think this was a highlight, I had the opportunity to address Board of Regents at their May meeting.

Something new this year was an organizational meeting of the Big 10 Staff Councils. Pat Kenner and I traveled to Chicago to the Big 10 conference center in June of last year and met our counterparts from the other Big 10 universities. This gave us an opportunity to share information on our organizations. We soon realized we are fortunate to have the relationship with Administration that we currently enjoy, not that there isn’t always room for improvement…

We now have Staff Council representation on the President’s Council for Strategic Implementation also known as PCSI. After having had only one staff member serving since it’s inception, we now have two staff serving. These two seats will be held by the President and the Past President of Staff Council each serving two years, the first year when President and the second year while serving as past president of Staff Council.

In August we welcomed our new secretary, Heather Weber. And yes, in case any of you are wondering but were afraid to ask, Heather has put on a little weight, due to the fact she is expecting her first child in June. We may all need to pitch in and help Dave through this, Heather will be fine, but Dave might need a little extra help…

Some other highlights:

Awarding over $27,000 in tuition scholarships

Met with state legislators to discuss concerns

Attended a reception for new BOR members at the Levitt Center

Staff Celebration Day – thanks to Nancy Noyer and all of those who volunteer to make this annual event such a success

Joint effort with SEIU and AFSCME to raise funds for 9/11 victims

Met with Governor Vilsack and other university leaders to discuss concerns

MLK Celebration

Road trips to BOR meetings with Sue Buckley and Dave Martin

IPTV Telethon

I will include all of the annual reports from the various internal committees in my “official” report which will be located on the Staff Council website. I would like to acknowledge and thank all of the chairs who make my job much easier by their willingness to deal with the various issues that arise. Thanks to:

MSEC: Vicki Brown and Karon Kolek

HR; Becky Stamy

Elections: Mark Long

Education: Tina Knutson

Budget: Pat Kenner

Univ Relations: Anne Tanner

Bylaws: Cathy Colony Bunnell

Committee on Committees: Hazel Kerr

Govt Relations: Michael Wichman

Diversity: Juan Parales

Peer Support: Diane Anderson

A special thanks to Sue Buckley who has worked closely with our Council and provides great insight and information to help us in our decision-making processes.

Finally, thanks to all of you who make this work. I hope all of you have had a positive experience this past year and that you are also glad you had this opportunity. I look forward to serving on Staff Council one more year and working with all of you in my role as past president. Thank you!!

Pat Arkema

President, Staff Council