WCU Staff Senate Meeting Agenda
May 10, 2012 (8:30-10:30 am)
Cardinal Conference Room (University Center)
Members
Tammy Ammons-Hagberg
Present
Excused
Suzanne Baker
Kay Benson
Paula Carnes-Ashe (new)
x
Michelle Cooper (new)
x
Mike Corelli
x
Keith Corzine
Wiley Danner (new)
Pam DeGraffenreid (new)
William Frady
Phyllis Franks (new)
Sheila Frizzell
Leah Hampton (new)
Homer Harris
Robin Hitch (new)
Alison Joseph
Jason LaVigne
Amy McKenzie (new)
Jen Nickel (new)
Caden Painter
Joseph Philpott (new)
David Porter
Kathleen Prindiville
David Rathbone (new)
Will Shivers
Carrie Shuler
Jeff Tatham
Walter Turner
Andy Voelker (new)
Shawna Young
Dianne Lynch (Ex-Officio Member) – David Belcher
Kathy Wong (Ex-Officio Member)
Erin McNelis (Faculty Senate Chair)
TJ Eaves (SGA President)
x
I.
II.
III.
Not Excused
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Approval of the Meeting Agenda (Jason LaVigne)
a. Approved
Approval of the Minutes of the Previous Meeting (Jason LaVigne)
a. Approved
New Business
a. Open Nominations for Officer Positions
i. Treasurer
1. Nomination and voted in: Paula Carnes-Ashe
ii. Secretary
1. Nomination and voted in: Shawna Young
iii. Vice-Chair
1. Nominations: Robin Hitch and David Rathbone
Jason explained the role and responsibilities of the Vice Chair with some discussion
and clarification.
Robin: Works in the library has been at WCU for 14 years. It seems like a good time
to get involved and work to make the university a better place to work.
David: I’ve wanted to do this for 8 years but given Robin’s seniority I would like to
concede.
Robin unanimously voted in as Vice-Chair.
General discussion regarding the role of Parlimentarian.
David Rathbone voted in unanimously as Parlimentarian.
The 2012-2013 Executive Committee will begin July 1.
b.
Committees
Jason – Please review the roles of the various committees and let Shawna know which
committee you would like to serve on for the upcoming year.
IV.
V.
External Informational Reports
a. Office of the Chancellor Updates (Chancellor Belcher/Dianne Lynch)
b. Not present
c. Human Resources Report (Kathy Wong, ex-officio member)
d. Not present
e. Faculty Senate Report (Erin McNelis, ex-officio member)
The last Faculty Senate meeting was held 4/28 and passed a collegiality statement which will be
added to the Faculty Senate handbook. This addition places WCU in line with NC standards.
There was concern in the Faculty Senate regarding whether collegiality could be used as a
consideration during Promotion and Tenure review. The Liberal Studies subcommittee also
completed their review and work. The new Faculty Senate chair has not yet been named. Erin
will stay on until a new chair can be voted in. The vote will take place in late August or
September. Erin expressed her appreciation of the opportunity to serve ex-officio on the Staff
Senate. She said that the experience improved her ability to serve on the Faculty Senate and she
hopes the Faculty Senate can continue to work and serve with the Staff Senate. The Faculty
Senate does not meet in the summer.
f. Student Government Association Report (TJ Eaves, ex-officio member)
Not present
Internal Informational Reports
a. Treasurer Report (David Porter, Treasurer)
b.
Not present
Staff Assembly Report (Jason LaVigne)
The Staff Assembly meeting was cancelled and a telemeeting is scheduled for tomorrow. An in
person meeting will take place May 31st in Chapel Hill. The Flex Scheduling and Telecommuting
document created by the HR committee was distributed to the Staff Senate.
Jeff Tatham: The Staff Assembly asked WCU representatives to look at flex scheduling and
telecommuting policy best practices. There are formal OSP policies on both of these issues. The
committee recommends keeping these policies and further recommends that new leave hours
be established for those who would like to take classes. The new hours would be similar to the
community leave hours that we currently have. The committee recommends allocating 24 hours
for this.
General discussion on definition of ‘classes’. Senate recommends that the committee clarify the
definition of ‘class’ and add ‘for credit or audit’ to be inclusive and flexible.
Other discussion:
Michelle Cooper: Clarification regarding tying new leave hours to ‘current tuition waiver policy’.
Sometimes staff need continuing education credits that don’t go through the tuition waiver
system. Can we clarify the policy to include ‘professional development and enrichment’?
Leah Hampton: Would 24 hours be enough for a full 3 credit class – can we extend to 40 hours?
General discussion on the merits of extending the hours and the likelihood of it being accepted
by decision makers when reviewing the policy.
Walter: Can we add something about ‘valuing lifelong learning’? It may be beneficial to include
2020 language. Also include a recommendation for supervisors to support their employees in
using this leave. For this policy to positively impact staff members, supervisors must support
their employees seeking professional development.
David Rathbone: Does this also include seminars and institutes?
Jeff/Jason: We can broaden this when we take it to the Assembly.
Leah Hampton: What if someone is invited to teach or conduct a training? Would this leave
category include that?
Jason LaVigne: We will need to be clear on that especially if an individual is being paid to teach.
Joseph Philpott: There’s a policy in place that specifically applies to that situation.
Amy McKenzie: In the ‘moving forward’ section of the document, it mentions the current flex
scheduling policy works smoothly – does it?
Jason LaVigne: What we’ve seen is that the policy is sound but it’s not well known or publicized
to campus.
Leah Hampton: What happens if a supervisor isn’t supportive – do employees have a grievance
process?
Jeff Tatham: The current policy states that supervisors have total discretion and can stop their
support of employee’s flex schedule at any time.
Andy Voelker: What about conference travel?
Jeff Tatham: We’ll broaden the language of the document.
Tammy Ammons-Hagberg: What did we finally decide on the number of hours we’ll ask for? I
think that leadership will balk at 40. We may want to consider beginning at 24 and increase
incrementally to 40? Or give a range 24-40.
Jason LaVigne: This document will be updated based on the conversation and turned in to SA at
the May meeting.
Committee/Council/Task Force Reports
VI.
Updates from Sub-committees
a. PR Committee (Alison Joseph)
i. New employee welcome letter – We have created a welcome and orientation resource
letter for new employees. The document is on the Sharepoint site for review and
comments
ii. June Newsletter – We are currently working on content for the June newsletter and
anticipate it being available June 1 for distribution.
iii. Ideas for 2012-2013, pitch for new members and a person who can update the Staff
Senate website – Will Shivers volunteered to handle the website updates
Discussion:
Jeff Tatham: I think you’ll get good turn out for an open forum.
Alison: The idea is to make sure the Staff Senate is inclusive of our constituents and open for
comments and feedback.
b.
Scholarship (Will Shivers)
i. Scholarship Winners – Adam Ray and Megan Bolton
ii. Scholarship review process was formalized
Discussion:
Jason LaVigne: Just for clarification, under Will’s leadership, we’ve received more applicants and
awarded larger scholarships than we have in years past.
Alison Joseph: Clarification on whether there is a Staff Senate discretionary fund.
Jason LaVigne: We have funds to cover Staff Senate nametags and snacks for open forums, etc.
c.
HR Committee (Jeff Tatham)
i. Flex Scheduling (covered earlier in meeting)
d.
Resources and Environment (Homer Harris)
The committee received a petition with an affordable parking resolution proposal. A staff
member wrote this resolution regarding the increasing parking fees and submitted it to Suzanne
Baker. This issue falls under the purview of the Resources and Environment sub-committee and
will be further investigated.
e.
Governance (Caden Painter)
No update
VII.
Old Business
a. Elections – Appointed Senators (Jason LaVigne)
b.
We still have 1 craftsman/skilled trades position open – please notify the Executive Committee if
you know of anyone interested in serving. It is important to have a full Staff Senate as we begin
the new year.
Suggestion Box (Jason LaVigne)
The results have been compiled and given to Dr. Belcher. Morale is the single largest category of
suggestions with IT, HR, and overall communication coming next. The results will be shared with
each senator and will be available on the Sharepoint site.
Alison Joseph: What are the next steps?
Jason: The review committee will meet again and create a document to share with the campus
community. We will be sharing comments, redacted to ensure privacy, but we won’t be adding
solutions to each suggestion the way UNC Greensboro did.
c.
Full Spectrum Farms – volunteer opportunity update
We have a list of things that need to be done from Full Spectrum Farms. May 25 th and June 1st
are suggested service dates.
Alison will send a survey so people can sign up for a day that works for their schedule.
Other:
Mike Corelli: The 2nd annual Leadership retreat will be held May 31st. There are 15-20 spots left so be
sure to register. It’s free and lunch will be served.
Adjourned 10:00
Information Items:
1.
Next Staff Senate Meeting:
[June 14, 2012] (8:30-10:30 am)
Dogwood Room (UC)