University of Northern Iowa
Professional and Scientific Council
Employee Relations Committee
FY 15 Annual Report
Committee Members
Karen Cunningham, Co-Chair
Mark Rowe-Barth, Co-Chair
Ashley Brickley
Jocelyn Moeller
Jenni Colsch
Sean Willett
Brooke Croshier-Sidebotham
2015 Regents Staff Excellence Award
The nomination form on the P&S Council website is posted year-round for the UNI community to
nominate deserving candidates. An announcement was placed on Inside UNI, sent via email to P&S
employees, and this year, flyers were also created and distributed around campus to encourage
greater participation in submissions by any student, faculty or staff member at UNI.
The 2015 P&S Regents Staff Excellence Award Selection Committee was formed in May 2015 to begin
the process of award nomination and selection. At the time of this report, the committee has been
tasked with indicating their top 4 nominees by the end of June 2015. The timeline calls for final
recipient selection to be completed and forwarded to the President’s office by early August 2015.
Regents Staff Excellence Award Selection Committee Members:
Dan Schofield, Admissions and 2013 P&S Regents Excellence Award winner
Connie Hansen, Alumni Relations and 20+ year P&S Staff Member
Phyllis Beauchamp, Recreation Services and 5+ year Merit Staff Member
Paul Anderson, NISG Representative
Joel Wells, Emeritus Faculty and 1994 Faculty Excellence Award winner
All nominations are to be forwarded to the Director of Human Resources or designee and the
President’s Executive Management Team before review and selection by the Regent Staff Excellence
Award Selection Committee. The committee is reviewing 20 nomination forms to determine
eligibility, employment group, employment status, length of service, references, number of
nominations, and rating by each member based on nominations. Due to proximity and scheduling
conflicts, the committee is ranking the nominees via email to determine the winners. The selected
three P&S staff members will receive a personal phone call from President Ruud. This year there is
also one Supervisory and Confidential Merit recipient, in addition to the three P&S recipients. The
selected recipients will be announced as winners at a Board of Regents Luncheon during the 20152016 academic year, as well as at the P&S Council’s Meet the Pres event which will occur during the
fall 2015 term.
Meet the Pres Event
On Monday, December 8, 2014, President Ruud was present for the Meet the President program
hosted by the P&S Council. Jennifer Yarrow was our contact at the President’s Office for coordinating
the date and planning the program. Sean Willett placed the catering order. Karen Cunningham
coordinated the communication to P&S employees and the campus via the P&S Council website,
Inside UNI and email. Jenni Colsch arranged for the development and distribution of invitation
postcards to all UNI employees. Jocelyn Moeller worked on coordinating the entertainment with
Rolls and the Royce Tones (Chuck Pugh, Rebecca Burkhardt, Melinda Boyd and Sandy Nordahl), a
blues band of UNI faculty/staff members as well as arranging for special appearances by TC and TK.
Jocelyn also arranged for a special thank you of Scratch Cupcake gift certificates, complements of the
GBPAC, for Rolls and the Royce Tones band members. Mark Rowe-Barth worked with Catering and
Maucker Union to arrange for tables, table centerpieces and ensured that President Ruud’s powerpoint needs were met (laptop, mic, etc.). Karen also worked with the Greenhouse for podium
greenery and ordered flowers as decorations, which the award recipients were invited to take
following the event. Ashley Brickley ordered special UNI name badges that were given to all three
award recipients. P&S Council President Jean Wiesley provided the welcome and introduced
President Ruud. President Ruud gave his remarks and recognized each of the Regent Staff Excellence
Award winners with certificates and folders. Photographer Roland Ferrie from University Relations
was present to take pictures.
2014 Regents Staff Excellence Award Winners:
Heather Soesbe, Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships
Kristin Woods, Office of the Dean of Students
LaDene Bowen, Institute for Decision Making
Mark Rowe-Barth sent thank you notes to those who helped make the event happen.
Other work by the committee during FY 15
Members of the Employee Relations committee continue to be involved in the university-wide
Welcome Program initiative as a way to collaborate, share resources and build stronger connections
among all faculty and staff, and in particular, with new university employees. Karen Cunningham and
Mark Rowe-Barth represent the P&S Council on this initiative.
Respectfully Submitted on July 6, 2015,
Karen Cunningham and Mark Rowe-Barth
P&S Council’s Employee Relations Committee Co-Chairs