WCU Staff Forum Meeting Minutes
January 11 , 2007
UC Cardinal Room
Members Present: Lisa Surber; Kathleen Franks; Carolyn Parris; Nancy Carden; Michaelle
Finch; Walter Turner; Mike Stewart; Dawne Coward; William Frady; Cale Wilson; Jeff Gunter;
Pete Lloyd; Homer Harris; Roseanna Belt; Tamrick Mull; Tim Inman; Jed Tate; Ronda Bryant;
Elizabeth Frazier
Members Absent: Bill Studenc (excused); Donna Welch (excused); Sue Grider (excused)
Ex-Officio Members Present: Kathy Wong; Dianne Lynch
Guests: Linda Haney; Matt Brown
Welcome: William welcomed everyone to today’s meeting.
Approval of Agenda: The agenda for today’s meeting was approved as given.
Approval of Minutes: The minutes from December were approved as submitted.
Information Items:
The next Executive Committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 1, 2007, 2:003:00, HFR 453.
The next Staff Forum meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 8, 2007, 8:30-10:30 a.m.,
Cardinal Room, UC.
Guest Speaker: Linda Haney was present at today’s meeting to explain “Community Service”
(CS) leave. This leave is approved by the Office of State Personnel for State employees. Each
employee is granted 24 hours of CS leave in a calendar year. The two primary goals for usage of
this time is 1) volunteering for activities that benefit the citizens of North Carolina and 2)
attending academic events such as field trips, mentoring in a classroom, etc. for the public school
systems. This leave is approved for any organization that falls under the guidelines of a 501(c)3
IRS code. CS leave cannot be granted for religious activities or athletic events. Some exceptions
are possible, but anyone with questions should contact Linda for guidance.
Office of Human Resources: Kathy reported on the following:
Banner HR: Yesterday, the HR module in Banner went live. Discussions have now begun
concerning electronic formats for paperwork such as timesheets, etc.
Employment Eligibility Verification Checks: Beginning 1/1/07, we were mandated to comply
with Homeland Security guidelines.
PeopleAdmin: This is up and running, so all recruiting is now strictly done on-line. The process
thus far is going relatively smoothly.
Career Banding: Kathy asked Matt Brown to attend today’s meeting to update the group on the
status of Career Banding. Phase II implementation kicked off in the summer of 2006 and
approximately 72% of WCU’s SPA positions will be banded by 2/1/07. A total of 453 positions are
going forward in Phase II. These will be “mapped” into bands. This brings us to a total of 543
banded positions, and we have a total of approximately 780 SPA positions. WCU needs
approximately $2.8 million to move SPA employees to the correct salary level. At this time, we
are exploring possibilities for salary adjustments. Focus groups have been conducted with
administrative support personnel, and some focus groups have been started with Facilities
Management as well as Institutional Services. Communication and training will be important
topics for the spring and summer training sessions. Three sessions of recruitment and selection
training have been scheduled so far. SPA supervisors will conduct competency assessments that
will be due on June 1, 2007.
Chancellor’s Office: The Chancellor and his staff are very much involved in enrollment
management issues as well as development of the millennial campus and budget processes. The
Chancellor is attending the Board of Governors meeting today and tomorrow. The Chancellor
Office anticipates moving back to their 5 th floor office sometime within the next week. Finally,
advertisements are out for the new Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs as Bob Caruso has
announced his retirement in June 2007. The goal is to have someone in place before VC Caruso
leaves Western.
Campus Committee Reports: UAC – This committee has not met recently.
Staff Forum Committee Reports:
Human Resources
No report.
Resource & Environment
This committee is waiting to hear from Wiley Harris on costs for the picnic tables.
Public Relations
No formal discussion has been held among the committee, but they will be talking about better
communication for Staff Forum events such as town hall meetings, etc.
Scholarship
This committee is preparing for the yard sale in March to raise money for our scholarship.
Governance
This committee is preparing for elections in March, and committee members will meet soon with
Jeff Bewsey to seek his guidance with this process.
Old Business:
Indoor Yard Sale – The sale is scheduled for 3/17/07 from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM. We will have two
spaces for our items. We will need to start a sign-up sheet for volunteers to work both the night
before and the day of the event.
Support for Staff Wellness & Staff Development Time – This item will be tabled until our next
meeting when Jed will have more information available.
Staff Center – William said that he would like to try to find a small office space somewhere on
campus where the Staff Forum can keep files, Staff Forum information, etc. This way, when SF
leadership changes from year to year, people will have a central location where they can go to
access this information and it won’t have to be physically passed from person to person. This is
something that will take time to complete, but it is a goal towards which we can work.
New Business:
Upcoming Staff Forum Elections – William encouraged everyone to talk with their coworkers
about serving on the Forum, as the time is drawing close for our elections.
Open Comments:
Jed has received some responses for services that are needed in the staff intranet environment,
but he needs more suggestions. He will be sharing this information with the Staff Forum via email
in the next few weeks.
Meeting adjourned at 10:00 a.m.