Approved Minutes For Meeting On January 15, 2014

Date: January 15, 2014

Program:

1. The meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m. by the Chair, Kathy Jones. Visitors and guests were welcomed.

2.  Roll Call

Members Present:  Todd Bryson, Jeannie Killian, Don Castle, Angela Cummings-Hunter, Jon Geiger, Jill Gobert, Kathy Jones, Colleen Kuczynski, Charlotte Sarao, Rod Sievers, Valerie Brooks Wallin

Members Absent:  Matt Sronkoski

Visitors and Guests:  Tracy Bennett, Jason Hartz, Michele Rushing

3. Minutes

J. Geiger suggested that Jones be changed to K. Jones in the New Business section of the minutes. Motion to approve the minutes of the Council meeting on December 18, 2013, as amended, was made by Todd Bryson and seconded by Jon Geiger, minutes approved as amended.

4. Adoption of Meeting Agenda:  

Chair Kathy Jones pointed out that we have gone back to the previous style of agenda listing current council members. Changes were made to the contacts on the new agenda. K. Jones added two items to the agenda: Human Health component of Core Curriculum under Old Business; under New Business, UCOL 101 suggestions. Angela Cummings-Hunter added Student Services Building hours under New Business. Charlotte Sarao moved to adopt the agenda as amended; seconded by Valerie Brooks Wallin. Motion carried.

5. Reports            

5.1  Chair
K. Jones reported that the Constituency Heads met on December 18th.  The Chancellor announced that the 40 faculty positions that have been opened for next fall are strategic hires to increase the number of tenured faculty, providing more manpower for disciplines where there is high demand. The Chancellor also talked about getting the budget together. There will be fee increases, a total of $20 altogether. Effective spring semester, GAs can only be a maximum 50% time or else they become employees and the University will have to cover benefits for them.  K. Jones also noted that the Chancellor remarked that research funding is on par with last year.  There are more submissions for research dollars this year than last year. Research has been affected by changes in personnel and a spike during the stimulus package; after the stimulus was gone, research declined. The Chancellor announced a $1 million gift to scholarships and a $1 million gift that was given for disabled students in the STEM fields. The Chancellor mentioned she would like to have an administrator at the A/P Staff Council meetings.  The Chancellor also reported Admissions is adhering to the 16 ACT scores for admission, and any student with a 00.00 GPA in the fall semester will not be allowed back in the spring.

K. Jones reported we have started working on elections for spring.  Currently the terms for J. Geiger, K. Jones, D. Castle, and V. Brooks Wallin will expire. J. Geiger and K. Jones announced that they would be willing to run again. The Election Committee will compare the number of A/P staff to last year and will see if the sectors are still aligned with the same number of representatives on the Council.  Call for Nominations will go out February 26th and will be due by March 12.            

5.2 Board of Trustees
K. Jones noted the next meeting is February 13th in Edwardsville.

5.3 Human Resources (HR)
Tracy Bennett reported that Mary Nippe encourages everyone to keep checking the HR website for new information on pension reform. There will also be new information on SIU Today.  T. Bennett remarked there will be changes to the way Performance Evaluations are done for A/P staff. They are now going to put something on SIU Today that says it’s that time of year, and supervisors will need to do the evaluations. Evaluations should be done between January-April for the previous employment year.  Keep watching SIU Today for any HR announcements. W-2s are being worked on and will be available online before the 31st and mailed on Jan. 31st.             

5.4        Representatives to University Committees

5.4a      Chancellor’s Planning and Budget – Michele Rushing
The Committee met on January 14th. Some items discussed were the campus closures, cold weather damage, retention meetings proceedings, Research Advisory Committee regrouped, research, and budget planning for FY14 is on track and FY 15 is in the early stages.  A full report is attached (attachment A).

5.4b      Presidential Search Advisory Committee – Charlotte Sarao
The committee met at SIUE on January 9th. Active applicants were reviewed and names were forwarded to Trustee Manering for submission to the Board of Trustees. The PSAC committee’s duties are now complete. C. Sarao’s report is attached (attachment B).

5.5 Standing Committees                        

5.5a      Executive Committee – Jon Geiger
J. Geiger reported that the Committee discussed the agenda and minutes.  C. Sarao indicated that there is still one JRB position to be filled, and JRB training is set for the 16th of January at 1:00 p.m. The Executive Committee discussed the six items that Dr. Cheng gave the A/P Staff Council to help move the University forward.  J. Geiger reported that the Committee discussed having Rae Goldsmith come to a meeting to talk about branding of the University. Council decided the next Happy Hour will be on January 23 at Tres Hombres at 4:30 p.m. The Executive Committee also discussed drafting a letter to support keeping the Human Health component in the Core Curriculum, based on information from guest speaker Dawn Null last month.                        

5.5b      Committee on Committees – Charlotte Sarao
C. Sarao reported that there is still a vacancy on the JRB. If we get a volunteer from the Council, that is fine – if not, they will not pursue it since it is towards the end of the election year. It is such a big committee and they only meet if there is a grievance.

5.5c      Constituency Relations – Rod Sievers
The Committee did not meet, but one of their goals was to change the name on the listserv so that the email looks like it is coming from A/P Staff Council. R. Sievers reported that R. Ferguson had figured it out and it should now say A/P Staff Council. J. Geiger added that Moe Wallace’s dispute has been finalized, and the Procurement Dept. made the decision to take them off of the preferred caterers list.

5.5d      Operating Paper – Kathy Jones
No report.  

5.5e      Staff Benefits/Staff Welfare – Don Castle
The Committee had not met since the last Council meeting.  D. Castle did report that the JRB members have been invited to a training session on Jan. 16th at 1:00 p.m. Chad Trisler will be doing the training. The Committee still wants to review the term/continuing contracts. Some people were terminated in January after receiving a notice a year ago. D. Castle spoke about W. Wendler’s blog addressing the UCOL classes, that students are being required to take classes that are not taught by faculty. D. Castle stated there were some good points about how classes are managed and taught.

K. Jones asked about whether there was a new Dean of the University College. J. Nicklow is acting Dean of UCOL and M. Amos is still on campus. It was reported that there may not be a Dean appointed for the spring semester. Royce Burnett is still serving as Assistant Dean and Veronica Williams is Director.

6. Old Business

K. Jones reported at the December 18th meeting, the Council made a recommendation to endorse saving the  Human Health component of the Core Curriculum. The Executive Committee suggested we draft a letter to the Provost with a recommendation to save the Human Health component.  It would be a positive component to go with Well SIU and other health initiatives on campus, along with giving us another branding element that other universities don’t have. A motion was made by C. Sarao directing the Chair to compose a letter to endorse saving the Human Health component of the Core Curriculum, and seconded by R. Sievers. Motion carried with 10 for and 1 opposed.

7. New Business                        

K. Jones brought up the fact that the Executive Committee had discussed the concerns and frustrations of the A/P Staff about the manner of soliciting A/P staff to teach UCOL 101 courses. The process affects A/P Staff conditions of employment. Executive Committee wants to come up with some suggestions to help relieve or improve some of the burden on A/P staff who teach UCOL 101 courses.  A lengthy discussion followed. A/P Staff Council decided to discuss this further at the next meeting after some research into the topic.

The Council discussed the new hours of the Student Services Building.  Hours in the new building are being changed to 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., requiring current staff to work additional hours for the first two weeks of the semester.  Some of the issues discussed included: lack of students during those after hours, resources could be better spent to have one employee and one student worker to stay later; students could be encouraged to make appointments to visit with advisers; is there a need for extended hours every night, or could a different plan work better?  Other staff are being impacted by the later hours as well.  

8. Announcements K. Jones made the announcement that there will be a Happy Hour at Tres Hombres at 4:30 p.m. on January 23rd. 

9. Adjournment Motion was made by Charlotte Sarao to adjourn and seconded by Jeannie Killian. Meeting was adjourned at 3:05 p.m.