Staff Council Executive Committee Meeting with President Coleman

Monday, March 25, 2002, 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

101    JH  Conference Room

 

Present:  Pat Arkema, Ella Born, Cathy Colony Bunnell, Pat Kenner, Dave Martin, Bonnie McIntosh,             Xian Wu

Absent:   Janice Simmons-Welburn

Administrative Liaison:  Sue Buckley, Interim Associate Vice President of Human Resources

 

1.  President Coleman’s Comments

a.       President Coleman was out of town most of last week with trips to Des Moines, western Iowa and Washington, D.C.  She gave an education proliferation presentation, visited supporters in an effort to raise funds, and joined a congressional delegation to attend a reception honoring Senator Tom Harkin for his role in advocating research.

b.      President Coleman discussed a few items that are still being contemplated at the state legislature.  Thoughts were that a compromise had been reached regarding the cloning bill, but the way it reads now, the university would rather not have a bill at all.  There seems to be no real opposition to the bill that would allow bonding for the hospital, but they have not yet voted on it.  The request for funding for the Journalism Building hopefully will go through.

c.       President Coleman mentioned that she had received a memo from VP Doug True regarding the Senate File 551.

 

2.  Staff Council President's Comments

     Pat Arkema asked President Coleman if she has had a chance to think about the membership of a    joint faculty and staff budget committee.  President Coleman said that she has not.  President       Coleman also said that the current session of the state legislature is expected to end on April 14th.        However, it seems that Governor Vilsack will call a special session.

 

3.  Updates and discussion topics.

  1. Dave Martin reported that the plans for Staff Celebration Day are continuing.  The application for booth space has been distributed.  The decision was made to not have an art show.  Rather a few staff members will be invited to show/demonstrate their art.
  2. Ella Born announced that Staff Council had a successful election this year.  Seven new Councilors were elected, five current Councilors were reelected, and one Councilor is returning after a year off Council.  Charlie Eastham was elected Vice-President/President-Elect and Ella was reelected Secretary.   Ella also mentioned that the election for Executive Committee membership will take place at the April Staff Council meeting.

c.       Dave Martin mentioned a memo that the MSE/C Committee drafted objecting to the State Senate File 551.  There was a little more discussion about the provisions of this bill.  It was thought that VP Doug True also sent a memo to Greg Nichols at the Board of Regents office.  

d.      Pat Kenner informed President Coleman that Staff Council decided to move ahead on data gathering to measure interest in a Political Action Committee (PAC).  Pat said that it would be a joint effort by Faculty Senate and Staff Council.  Sue Buckley mentioned that she will be in touch with Mark Schantz just to be sure that a mass email for this purpose is appropriate.

 

e.       Ella mentioned that the Executive Committee has received a copy of the memo that went to Provost Whitmore from the Research Faculty Track Committee.  Ella wondered if President Coleman has had any experience with this issue at other universities.  President Coleman said that there were similar programs at two other institutions where she has been, the University of Kentucky and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.  President Coleman thought the programs seemed to work very well at both of these institutions.  However, she mentioned that the provision of non-tenure seemed to be troubling to some people.

 

4.  Comments by Sue Buckley

a.   Sue mentioned that as of Friday, March 22nd, the search committee has received 83 applications for the position of Affirmative Action Director.  There will be a two-stage screening process.  The search committee hopes to identify, by the middle of next week, those applicants who will be invited to visit campus.

b.   Given the extraordinary budget circumstances, Sue said that Human Resources will be sending out another letter to everyone who is eligible to participate in the early retirement program.  If it is in the best interest of the employee and the department, the employee may still be able to submit an application indicating their interest in participating in the program.  However, the cutoff date does remain 6/30/02, the same eligibility criterion must be met, and it must be mutually agreeable to the employee and his or her department.

c.   Sue also said that there are 980 faculty and staff who are eligible to participate in the early retirement program.  HR has received over 400 applications from people expressing interest in participating in the program.  She expects that the final number will be around 450 to 500.  President Coleman asked how these numbers compare with what was expected.  Sue felt that it was close to what was expected, though slightly higher.

 

 

 

Future Executive Committee Meetings:

Future Meetings with President Coleman:

Friday, April 26, 2002, 8:30-10:30 a.m.

Tuesday, April 30, 2002*

 

Tuesday, May 21, 2002

 

Tuesday, June 18, 2002

 

*All meetings with President Coleman are 8:00 – 9:00 a.m.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Ella Born, Staff Council Secretary