Minutes from
UPSA Executive Board Meeting
Thursday, November 7, 2002

Attending:

Thelma Simons, president; Jeannette Johnson, Dan Consolver (treasurer), Kathryn Nemeth Tuttle, Ola Faucher, Pam Houston, Eric Jeppeson, Kathy Stiers (classified senate) and Jill Hummels

Minutes:

Minutes from the Oct. 10, 2002, were approved as submitted.

Treasurer's Report:

The Staff Development Grant for Steve Ramirez was processed, leaving the year-end balance at $12.90.

President's Report:

SenEx Meeting - Jonathan Ng presented a handout created for students that helps explain where the tuition-enhancement money is going. SenEx also met recently with Janet Murguia, executive vice chancellor for university relations, who will work on coordinating a KU presence before the Legislature.

On Nov. 5, SenEx entertained a presentation from Diana Carlin, dean of the Graduate School, and John Augusto, assistant dean of the Graduate School. The duo discussed recommendations from a KU task force on graduate education. Among the recommendations is a move toward a more centralized administration of graduate school activities, a systematic set of statistical measures and assessment of graduate students at all levels.

SenEx assigned charges to subcommittees and gave the subcommittees a deadline to report by Dec. 31.

Provost Meeting - Simons sent the UPSA Executive Board a memo following her meeting with the Provost. It contained information about a faculty and unclassified staff salary records request by the Journal-World, which plans to post the information online. The memo also discussed the creation of a search committee to fill the University Ombudsman position. Pam Houston will be the UPSA representative on the search committee.

Simons advised the provost that Janet Murguia has been invited to the December UPSA Board meeting to discuss staff meeting with legislators. In addition the UPSA Board will meet with Regent Lew Ferguson on Dec. 5. Simons also indicated to the provost, the board’s plan to create a brochure to identify the strong ties between students and unclassified staff.

Committee Reports:

Governance and Representation - There was no report.

Professional Development - There was no report.

Public Relations - Jill Hummels reported her communication with Dolph Simons Jr. And Ralph Gage of the Journal-World regarding their involvement in posting KU salaries online. She unveiled plans to create a campaign that stresses the role of unclassified staff in empowering students and faculty, their role in education and research and their impact on the state. More discussion followed regarding creation of a brochure to identify the student/staff relationship. Simons said she had discussed it with the Chancellor, who gave the favorable remarks. It was pointed out that this brochure should also point out that several unclassified staff teach courses at KU.

The release about the KU Info rumor control site is being prepared, however it is waiting for a favorable release date, as well as additional questions to be posted to the site.

University Council Report:

Council - Warren Corman made a presentation to the council that included details about the Campus Landscape Plan. The Parking Commission has received the charges, discussed in detail in previous UPSA minutes. It was stated that the Planning and Resource Committee has some say in the tuition-enhancement program that it is important for unclassified staff to play a role in the committee and have its voice heard.

FacEx meeting - FacEx has a subcommittee formed to look at tuition waivers for faculty and staff, however it has not met.

Ombudsman - The provost is working on a position description for the post. It will be filled internally. Candidates must be a member of the faculty. UPSA will have a representative on the search committee.

Classified Senate:

Kathy Stiers reported that classified senate is preparing a position paper that they plan to have available for Legislative Day in February. The piece will require some negotiation as classified staff at WSU does not agree with some of the point in the paper.

It was reported that new evaluation methods for classified staff will go into effect in 2004.

Human Resources:

Ola Faucher had several items to report.

• A move is under way to find out if classified staff are willing to look at alternatives to civil service.
• HR is also looking for means to make KU a more agreeable work environment. An e-mail survey/notice will be distributed soon.
• HR is currently reviewing unclassified staff who are on nine-month appointments. There are some benefits issues at play
• The office is working with people who are affected by the recent budget cuts. HR is also putting together a program on dealing with change and stress. Faucher requested volunteers to come to a prototype of the two-hour workshop to provide feedback.

Old Business:

UPSA Board members were reminded of the Nov. 13, noon meeting with Marilu Goodyear, vice provost for information services. An e-mail reminder will be sent to all unclassified staff on Monday, Nov. 11. It was discussed that a summary of this meeting should be posted on the UPSA Web site.

New Business:

Janet Murguia will meet with UPSA Board members at the next meeting, Dec. 12. Discussion will focus on a legislative field trip. It was also discussed that UPSA should use this meeting as an opportunity to educate people about her role in the university.

Simons reported that Marilu Goodyear is excited about the prospect of bringing motivational speaker David Allen on campus. Many UPSA Board members were not enthusiastic about this effort because of the budget situation. It was recommended that UPSA advise the university not to follow through with the effort right now. The feeling was that bringing Allen on campus was a good idea at the wrong time.

The meeting adjourned at 1:25 p.m.