Minutes from
Unclassified Senate Executive Board Meeting
February 26, 2009
University of Kansas
Minutes transcribed by Allison Layland
In attendance: Paul Farran, Jeannette Johnson, Allison Layland, Phil Wilke, Allyson Flaster, Mike Krings, Jason O'Connor, Megan Gannon, Peggy Robinson, Mark Pacey, Ola Faucher
Excused: Megan Gannon
President Paul Farran called the meeting to order at noon.
Approval of January 29, 2009 Minutes
Minutes were tabled until next Executive Meeting
Reports
President: Paul Farran
Representation at University Senate: Currently the voting members include 39 faculty, 12 student, 3 unclassified and 3 support staff representatives. Paul opened for discussion increasing the number of unclassified voting members.
Discussion:
Paul would like to argue for more representation, as it would be advantageous, however it has been difficulty getting three representatives from our Senate, as it is time consuming.
Jason: Although many people are on the committee, many do not show for the meetings.
Jeanette: Be in favor of increased representation as many in unclassified are directly interested and impacted by education policies and procedures; suggested working with support staff as they were supportive in our efforts to secure representation; recommended representation be increased to 6.
Ola: question of unclassified membership distribution by department as there are many who are vital to the support of students and have direct contact with students.
Noelle: People do not understand what the University Senate is and does. Perhaps if more people new that they play a vital role as a representative they would want to serve.
Jason: How often does it meet?
Phil: meets every two weeks
Jeanette: Fall meetings are sometimes cancelled however in the spring it is quite a rigorous schedule
Paul: It is a lot for us on the Senate to cover.
Jeanette: Need to draft a proposal and present to full Senate
Conclusion: Paul will meet with Dennis for a discussion and draft a proposal that will be shared with full Senate at next meeting.
Secretary: Allison Layland No report at this time.
Treasurer: Noelle Kurth Recent expenditures include
$1000 for KC Corporate Challenge
$2800 on Professional Development
$957 on Wheatstate Tour
$100 on envelopes
Current balance is $705. There will be no carry over to next year.
Paul: Reminder that stationary is for all to use. For example it can be used to write letters to recipients of Professional Development scholarships. Also, Noelle’s report is an example of the type of documents we would want to include in the document repository.
Discussion:
Jason: Question regarding end of year luncheon
All: recap of what occurred last year
Conclusion: Follow-up will occur to have this happen again this year.
Paul: Suggestion of doing something to show appreciation to Kathy and Molly for their assistance this year.
Conclusion: All agreed and Paul will follow up.
Governance and Representation Committee: Phil Wilke
Legistlature outreach
First mailing completed. Phil will draft an e-mail to go out to all Senators requesting that if they should receive a response form their mailing forward on to Phil. Paul will send out the e-mail.
Second letter is in final form. The process will be the same as the first and will occur at the next Full Senate meeting on March 12. Two documents will be mailed, the letter and an enclosure with KU points of distinguishment.
Third mailing will be a seed packet co-branded with USS.
Discussion:
Phil: Should brochure also go in second mailing? Noelle: Brochure could go in third mailing.
Conclusion: Brochure will go in third mailing.
Phil: When should third mailing go out? Legislature takes a break for a couple of weeks in April and comes back to wrap-up.
Paul: Our next full Senate meeting is April 9. Will that be time enough?
Phil: We would not be late if we process mailing at the April 9 meeting.
Conclusion: Third mail will be processed at April 9 meeting.
Annual Reviews of unclassified staff
We worked with Ola and she conducted a series of workshops for members on the annual review process. Susan Corrigan initiated the e-mail reminder that Phil sent out.
Professional Development
Gail James would like to send a survey out with questions regarding equity issues and professional development opportunities. In the past we have used OIRP ? for this process however, their staff do not have the time and we do not have the funds to pay for this service. As a result she has requested to use Survey Monkey.
Discussion:
Paul: Due to time she needs to move ahead with this.
Phil; Last year we used Survey Monkey and it was free for the first 100 respondents and then $20 to continue with more respondents on that survey. Gail is looking into the cost.
Jeanette: Due to the need to follow the university process, OIRP? Will still look over the survey for us. They will review it and get back with us.
Jason: IT used to do it but they do not at this time, OIRP? does it now.
Noelle: There may be a couple of members who have skills and experience in developing surveys, perhaps someone in research working with a graduate student.
Conclusion: Gail will continue and Jason will look into other assistance with surveys.
Ola: Have you been notified about HREO putting together an advisory group for Professional Development and have requested representation form the Unclassified Senate?
Paul: No, but forward the communication to me and I will bring it up at the next full Senate meeting.
Conclusion: Paul will ask for representation on the HREO PD Advisory Group at next full senate meeting.
Professional Development: Allyson Flaster
Scholarships
All people have been notified. There is a deadline for them to accept. If anyone declines then we will select from the waiting list. 8 scholarships were awarded. The process included applications and a scoring rubric, 3 reviewers for each application (a process of recusal was used) with a one-week turnaround.
Discussion:
Jeanette: We need to get as uch publicity as possible out of this. It will demonstrate what we have done to support professional development. I would like to see us request that the University assist with travel expenditures for the scholarships next year.
Noelle: We should invite some of them to share at a future full Senate meeting.
KU Corporate Challenge
It is progressing, we have a mentor organization and the workgroup will coordinate the invitation and registration to participate. We can tailor teams after the registration as there are 30 events and we are unsure as to how many events people will participate in. Mid-March expect to see the invitation to register followed by informational sheets.
April 13 (Did not get much of this, something about a trip to the Smokey Hill Wind Farm.) Sign-up will be web-based. We will work with the process used in the past. Allyson will send the link to Paul and Mike.
Discussion:
Phil: Have you accounted for lunch? It is customary to pay lunch for the tou guide and bus driver. In the past we charged a fee for luch and that covered the extra lunches.
?: Yes, but in doing that we paid for 50 lunches and only 42 came.
Conclusion: Allyson will follow-up on this.
March 5 is the Outsourcing your Resources ? event. We considered having this webcasted? We contracted for this and was given a 60% discount on the initial one with the expectation that we would pay in full for any remaining requests. The full price would be $250. It was recommended that this not be webcasted?
Social Networking
We are working on a social networking event where people would bring their lunches and get to know other unclassified staff members. We know that we need to have something to entice people to come, realize we cannot purchase prizes so wondered if we could ask the Union for donations.
Discussion:
Phil: In the past bookstores have donated merchandise.
Allyson: I will pursue this.
Jeanette: I would suggest that next year we utilize the Alumni TGIF events to facilitate networking. They occur in the fall on Friday afternoons. The beverages are reasonable and they provide small appetizers. Most people already have them on their calendars.
All: Good idea to pursue if the Alumni Organization is able to continue these next Fall.
Public Relations: Mike Krings
Tom Ryan continues to work on the website since the last full Senate meeting.
Discussion:
Mike: When would you like the sight to launch?
Paul: It helps some people to have a deadline so I think it is a good idea for us to have one.
Mike: We should be able to have it done before the end of the semester.
? We could have it launch when the elections are over.
Paul: Our last meeting is May 14 and we could have it launch then.
Jeanette: Have it launch after the results.
Allison: Best to send launch announcement out in middle of week. People respond better to this.
Conclusion: Target for launch of site will be when election results will be announced. Mike will see if this can be done.
Elections
We worked with Megan on getting an article to announce nominations done. We are working on getting the site ready for the elections.
Discussion:
Paul: What is the process of getting our minutes posted?
Mike: Send them to me.
Conclusion: Paul will get all past minutes sent to Mike for posting.
Paul: Where are we with the document repository? Do you work with this?
Mike: I do not directly work on this but will follow up. I know it is getting closer to reality.
Elections Committee-Megan Gannon
Megan was not present due to an injury. Paul read her summary. There has bee a good response of nominations, however only one has been from the Senators. Please make it a personal goal to nominate or suggest nomination to someone. Nominations close March 5 and Megan has a list of the nominees. Executive Senate members can access this through Senate e-mail box. Each nominee accepts the nomination or Megan follows up.
Discussion:
Paul: Concern that several members are up for re-election and these members are also committee chairs. I realize this is a big commitment, however we have had a very successful year and we do not want to lose this momentum. Please think about seeking re-election and if not seek a replacement.
Jeanette: We have a number of people who ask to serve on committees, however they are not chosen. We always encourage them to consider serving on the Senate.
New Business No new business
Meeting was adjourned at 1:20 pm.