Minutes from
UPSA Executive Board Meeting
Thursday, July 10, 2003

Attending:  Pam Houston (president), Thelma Simons (past president), Jeannette Johnson, Danny Kaiser, Eric Jeppeson, John Augusto, Ola Faucher, Mark Nesbitt-Daly, Ray Hummert (treasurer), Angie Johnson, Jason O'Connor and Donna Hultine (secretary)

Introductions & UPSA Materials:  New members Angie Johnson , Director of Recruitment KUEC; Ray Hummert, Public Administration/Government; John Augusto, Graduate School; and Jason O'Connor, Freshman-Sophomore Advising were introduced and welcomed.  Houston passed out an UPSA Executive Board Member list and a list of committees for FY 2004.

Minutes:  Minutes from the May 8, 2003 Executive Board meeting were approved as amended.  Cutting and pasting caused this humble secretary to report incorrect dates for the meeting!

Treasurer's Report: Hummert has not yet received this information.

President's Report: Houston advised that there is an UPSA Executive Board e-mail account to send messages out.  There is also an UPSA Board distribution list.  Simons will revamp and maintain the web site. 

SenEx - Working on developing charges for the various committees.  Houston is working specifically on charges for the Academic Procedures and Policies committee.  Houston reminded the Board that Simons was instrumental in getting UPSA representation on these committees.

Committees:

Governance and Representation - Nesbitt-Daly said they would need to meet sometime soon.  They will continue working with Wichita State.  J. Johnson wants to recruit more people to this committee.  She wants to work on making UPSA more representative.

Professional Development - Augusto is planning a meeting.

Public Relations - no report.

University Council: No big issues this past year.  They have registered their support for Dennis Dailey.  J. Johnson, Kaiser and Houston will represent UPSA on Council.

Classified Senate: Faucher reported that the work group on alternatives to civil service sent out a survey about the last vote asking what parts of the proposal they like best.  The survey wasn't getting a good response.  There was discussion about confusion that the survey started with the #9.  All classified staff got the survey.

Human Resources Report: Faucher wanted us to be aware that our merit pay was due to the tuition increase.  This was followed by discussion about merit increases.  We know our health insurance rates will go up.  Faucher advised that this year the plan design would change.  Hummert felt that the health risk assessment exercise was a good practice but perhaps a waste of time.  Faucher invited feedback.

Nesbitt-Daly thought that the Mid-America Health Coventry information distribution was bad.  Coventry bought out Mid-America Health.  There have been major changes but no information being provided to doctors or patients.  Faucher advised that the head of Health Care Administration Department is advisory to the Health Care Commission and that they hold public meetings and have an employee advisory committee.

KUCR is moving to university employee status.  This brings 44 additional UPSA employees.

New Business: We confirmed that Thursdays at noon would be good for these meetings.  We will meet the second Thursday of each month, beginning in September (skipping August).  We will need to set two general meetings for each semester.

A suggestion for a general meeting was Chuck Crawford, KU Security Officer, and Jenny Mehmedovic from Information Services regarding the University's security policy. 

Committee Assignments are as follows:

Academic Procedures & Policies - Houston
Organization and Administration - J. Johnson
Academic Computing and Telecommunications - Simons
Calendar - Kaiser
International Affairs - Steinle?
Libraries - Powell?
Planning & Resources - Pam will see if Kathryn Nemeth-Tuttle wants to continue.  Jeppeson volunteered.  Will also ask Consolver.
Judicial Board - Fizell?

Faculty/Staff convocation will be held September 11^th at 3:30 in Budig Hall.

Other ideas for meetings:

Dole Institute field trip
Edwards Campus field trip

Hummert wanted to thank the Chancellor and Provost for how they handled cuts to the university in light of the budget that so minimally impacted our operations.  Houston will draft a letter for feedback.

Adjourned at 1:35 p.m.