Iowa State University
Professional and Scientific Council
Regular Session
Council Meeting Minutes
Friday, July 25, 2003
McFarland Park, Ames
2003-2004
President: Kevin Kane
Vice-President: Lynne Mumm
Secretary/Treasurer: Brenda Van Beek
Call to Order and Seating of Substitutes
The meeting was called to order at 8:45 a.m.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Bahr, Deb
Becker, Tom
Brink, Marcia
Brinkmeyer, Linda
Brotherson, Dave
Darrow, Mary
Doty, Ann
Good, Cathy
Heer, Rex
Jensen, James
Kane, Kevin
Karsjen, Steve
Marks, Del
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Mayer, Marie
McCool, Kelly
McCroskey, Barry
McManus, Barb
Mumm, Lynne
Nelson, Mark
Pacheco-Ortiz, Yanira
Patton, James
Peters, Beverly
Peterson, Teresa
Popelka, David
Riedemann, Trevor
Roberts, Kurt
X
X
X
Sorensen, Jeffrey
Strah, Pat
Strand, Judy
Van Beek, Brenda
VanGinkel, Margaret
Whalen, Bonnie
Woodin, Dan
X = Present
A = Absent
S = Substitute
Guest was Ellen Rasmussen, Assistant Provost. There were no substitutes.
Establish a Quorum
A quorum was present.
Presentation of Committee Motions
None
Approval of the Agenda
The agenda was approved as presented.
Approval of the Previous Meeting’s Minutes
The minutes of the June 5, 2003, Council meeting were approved as corrected. Corrected minutes have been
forwarded for posting on the Council web page.
Council President’s Report
At President’s Council there was a brief discussion of items on the report (see handout): our tuition and fees are still
a bargain compared to our peer institutions and compared to institutions in neighboring states. As tuition becomes a
greater percentage of the university’s revenue stream, enrollment numbers gain in importance. So far we’re 400
students down from last year. ISU had another record year for sponsored funding. The cost of attendance (which
includes room & board) is also lower than most of our peers.
Kevin discussed several topics that were covered during his meetings with the Provost and President:
 Academic Calendar: Geoffroy presented a draft timeline for the decision process this fall. He wants input
from P&S Council this fall, preferably in October. We will either provide a time during the October Open
Forum or at a separate, well-publicized meeting.
 Reformulating the Budget & Planning Committee: Geoffroy decided to change the membership for this
coming year. This coming year, it will be a strategy committee (with implementation delegated to Task
Forces or working groups, not done by the committee), and membership will be Geoffroy (as Chair), the
Faculty Senate President and President-elect, Presidents of GSP, GPSS, and P&S Council, a few extra

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faculty selected by Geoffroy, and Mark Chidister. The change will take effect 9/1/03. Ellen is no longer
on the committee, so Kevin will be the only P&S representative. Ellen reported that any Task Forces
appointed would likely report to the appropriate VP. There will be a total of 7 members plus the faculty
selected by the President (and Kevin thought that would be a fairly low number).
Cytation Award: Geoffroy is excited about it and offered to present all 8 quarterly awards personally (not
just 4 as we had suggested).
Report on P&S Salaries: Trevor noted that it wasn’t on the web in May as usual, and noted that some
supervisors who use it as a budget tool could not use it this year. Kevin reported that it should be posted
soon.
Council Secretary/Treasurer’s Report
Brenda Van Beek reported the following balances:
General Fund: $3,325.00 Campus Organization: $150.00
Professional Development: $845.03
Council Officer Reports
Dan reported on the Campus Leaders Breakfast held on June 26. Geoffroy reported on several topics: search for
MU Director and CIO, the Iowa Values Fund, a new Alliance for ISU, and his upcoming appearance on Iowa Press.
Topics covered in the question-and-answer session included: the Arrival of Children Policy which has been held up
by a lawsuit at the U of I, a new policy on Capital Improvements at the Board of Regents (BOR), outplacement
services through Human Resources for those dismissed due to financial conditions, whether negative Athletic
publicity will affect enrollment (unlikely), the cost of the AFSCME contract, average salary increases (actual, not
budgeted) for various employee groups (results were published in the press this week), cuts in the Agriculture
Experiment Station, and a question on what the President’s top issues will be this coming year (he deferred this topic
to the September breakfast). Council members are encouraged to speak to a member of exec if they would like more
details.
Lynne reported on the June BOR meeting and their short discussion on the Arrival of Children Policy. The morning
of the meeting, Regents learned of a lawsuit brought by a U of I faculty after he was refused sick leave for the birth
of his child. At U of I, both adoptive parents can take sick leave, but only birth mothers can use sick leave. Ellen
reported that some Regents are interested in seeing this pass, and don’t want to see the lawsuit hold it up. The
questions ISU had about the policy earlier have been repeated to all three institutions, and will be provided to the
Board Office before the September meeting. Ellen also reported on the Associate Vice President for Student Affairs
search – they hope to bring candidates in for interviews early in the Fall semester, and fill the position by November
or December. Rex reported that the MU Director position has also been filled & will be announced soon.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Awards
Kurt – No report.
Communications
Marcia & Barb – Barb asked new members to see her to pick up a name tag.
Compensation and Benefits
Jim & Teresa – No report.
Peer Advisory
Cathy – No contacts.
Policies and Procedures
Kelly – No report.
Representation
Del – Council has received two resignations due to job changes: Linda Brinkmayer & Yanira Pacheco-Ortiz. Both
affected representation areas had candidates from last election who have been contacted, and have agreed to serve
until next elections. We will deal with their appointment under New Business. We also need two retired P&S
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employees to serve on the Retirees Committee. We have invited six retirees to participate, and hope to report that
selections have been made soon.
Retention and Recruitment
Yanira – The Request for Proposals for this year’s Grant program will close August 15 at noon. The remainder of
this year’s timeline has been set in draft form. Kevin reported that Exec has encouraged Yanira to remain active
with the committee as a non-council member.
Ad hoc:
Officer Time (Kerry): Lynne reported that Kerry has promised a report in the next week or two.
Academic Calendar (Dan): Dan distributed copies of the report that has been sent to Geoffroy. The report was in a
question format, as many questions will be addressed this fall. The report was organized by the effect change would
have on different groups within and outside the campus community. There will be an open forum to allow further
input in October. Kevin provided a quick summary of the change being considered, “Option B”.
Old Business
No old business
New Business
Change in Council Representatives: Donald Reed, External Affairs, has agreed to replace Linda Brinkmeyer. Sarah
Cooney, Student Affairs, has agreed to replace Pacheco-Ortiz. Both will serve the remainder of the year, but neither
could attend due to the short notice. Both finished second in this year’s elections by a small margin. Kevin has
accepted those recommendations & presents them to Council for approval. Both candidates were approved by
unanimous vote.
Budget of Tuition and Grant Program to HR: Ellen explained why the change was made: the Merit Employees’
Tuition Grant program has always been managed by HR, and HR had to manage getting the money into employees’
payroll anyway. So, simplicity was the major factor in deciding to change. The program was occasionally
overspent, and the Provost’s office will likely still be asked to cover that situation. Ellen also answered some “what
ifs”: if HR or Business and Finance would like to cut the program, they would have to first gain approval of the
Provost’s Office, who would not support it. In addition, staff in Business and Finance have been promoters of the
program and have advocated making sure the budget keeps pace with tuition increases. It was asked whether the
program was “under the scope” this year, and Ellen answered that everything is under the scope this year. We also
need to be sure the program is effective, so Ellen agreed to provide Council with information on how many P&S
employees per year use the program, and whether data on repeat use can be gathered. She also agreed to gather
comparable information from our peer institutions. Kevin suggested that the information would be helpful to him as
he talks to various groups about the P&S Council & system. He intends to make as many of those types of
presentations as possible during his year as president to raise awareness of P&S employees. Ellen also suggested
that information on final degrees of P&S employees would be an interesting data point. She supports Kevin’s
priority of raising awareness of the P&S system. It is difficult to grasp the breadth of the P&S population, so
anything to educate various groups would be helpful. Dan Woodin pointed out that the Professional Development
Committee doesn’t meet as often because they have set a policy on the Tuition Grants and let HR run it based on
that policy. He thought that about 120 employees per semester take advantage of the program. He also reported that
the committee is discussing how to use some Professional Development funds held by the ISU Foundation. He
thought the funds are to come with a match from Provost’s office. If so, the committee would like to consider using
it for this spring’s Professional Development Day. Mary Darrow made an observation on the longevity of P&S
staff: in some places the P&S staff are the institutional memory for the unit because they have been there longer than
many faculty and administrators. Teri Peterson suggested we consider the Tuition Grant Program a benefit when
comparing ourselves to peer institutions. She also agreed that education on what the P&S Council does is needed.
Many P&S employees don’t understand it themselves. Kevin pointed out that we need to consider ways reach those
who aren’t already tuned into the big picture (i.e. members of campus groups).
Budget of Retention and Recruitment Program: Yanira is ready to go but is waiting for verification of the
allocation. There was some confusion whether this program was also being moved to HR’s budget. Ellen clarified
that it will be available this year and will be administered by the Provost’s office. However, the President’s office
had not held it back for allocation to the Provost’s office budget, so she is working with Mark Chidister in the
President’s office to get it allocated.
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P&S Professional Development – “The University – A User’s Manual”: Kevin summarized how the books came to
be and explained that Ellen offered to work with us on a monthly lunch ‘n’ learn to read through the book together.
Kevin & Ellen will work together to create a schedule.
For the Good of the Order:
Next Council meeting will be September 4 in the Pioneer Room, Memorial Union
Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 9:50 a.m.
Respectfully submitted by
Brenda Van Beek
P&S Council Secretary/Treasurer
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