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Executive Board Meeting Minutes
Unclassified Professional
Staff Association (UPSA)
Executive Board Meeting
Tuesday, September 11,
2001
12:00-1:30, Alcove D,
Kansas Union
Attending: Eric Jeppesen (President), Thelma Simons, (President
Elect), Alisa Branham (Secretary), Mark Nesbitt-Daly (Chair, Governance
and Representation), Sandra Wick, (Past President), Kathryn Tuttle,
(Representative), Barb McClain (Representative), Mike Auchard (Classified
Senate), Pat Miller, Susan Sloop (Treasurer).
Agenda
Minutes from July 2001: Eric moved to approve; Sandy seconded.
Approved. Thelma noted that David has put recent minutes up on
the new web site, as discussed at the last meeting.
Treasurer's Report: Not in attendance.
President's Report: Eric discussed recent SenEx
meetings, including a change of governance at the Parking Department.
Eric and others have attended several academic meetings and the
University Council. Kathryn suggested we push to get unclassified
representation on two University Council committees, AP&P and
O&A. Sandy indicated that this would require changes
in the code. Everyone concurred that it was a good idea.
Sandy moved to ask David to activate the new web site, since we
have had a chance to look at it and make suggestions. The logo
can be changed later (Mark has made an initial contact at the Design
Department about this). Susan seconded. Approved.
Committee Assignments: Last year Governance and Representation
talked about doing a survey to collect data on unclassified employees
and positions. Susan believes she can gather much of this data
by working with HR and accessing it via PeopleSoft. She is interested
in doing the analysis. One problem is the inaccuracy of reported
education levels. The group discussed how best to gather data -
surveys, email, etc. - and what we need. Eric agreed with Susan
that "we need to revisit post-docs."
Barb reminded the group that Deb Teeter provided some comparative
data from other institutions previously. Susan suggested comparisons
to our peers in other professional organizations. Sandy suggested
we not look at averages, since the salaries of a few like Janet
Marguia or the General Counsel skew the whole, and others suggested
presenting two sets of analysis, perhaps with and without the top
and bottom 5%.
Alisa brought forward a concern from a colleague at UCES, who will
see his raise from last year completely erased by changes in premiums
and deductibles in our health insurance, and others joined in with
their concerns.
Mark will be drafting new members and setting the agenda for Governance
and Representation based on today's discussion.
Classified Senate Report: Mike said they plan
to follow up on last year's interest in moving classified employees
out of the "state" system into "Regents" employment. This didn't
have much chance last year, with no money to fund it, but it is
a good idea that state officials listened to in earnest.
Kathryn reported that she emailed CJ Brune regarding our interest
in revisiting the legislative strategy but they have not talked
further.
Alisa asked Eric about the meeting last Friday with Janet Murguia,
the new Executive Vice-Chancellor for University Relations. Eric
reported that Janet has general guidelines on her role but the position
is evolving. She is clearly KU's primary liaison to the Legislature
and wants to know what we are saying to them when we visit so that
our message from KU is consistent. Although some UPSA members felt
she wanted to discourage us from talking to legislators, Susan felt
encouraged by her to work with other universities as a group of
unclassified employees and to approach legislators that way.
An open meeting with UPSA and Janet Murguia will be held Monday,
October 8th at noon in the Kansas Union. Eric is scheduling
the exact location and Thelma reminded him that we should announce
this meeting, as well as the new web site, through the UPSA listserve
soon.
Human Relations Report: Eric will ask Ola Faucher to attend
the next meeting, since she may not have received notice for today.
New Business: Kathryn raised concerns from Lisa Leroux-Smith
(Assistant Dean, Business) about how decisions are made about staff
being defined as classified or unclassified. Alisa raised concerns
about unclassified staff at the School of Education and their designations
as exempt or non-exempt from overtime. We will ask Ola for clarification
at the next meeting.
Eric adjourned the meeting at 1:15.
Next Board meeting: Tuesday, October 9, 12-1:30, Alcove A, Kansas
Union
Remember the meeting with Janet Murguia on October 8th at noon!
Share this information with your unclassified colleagues!
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