UNIVERSITY OF HARTFORD
STAFF ASSOCIATION MEETING MINUTES
April 11th, 2012, Gengras Student Union Room 345 – 12:00 pm
PRESENT:
Evelyne Haldimann, Kathleen Hayden, Holly Stevenson, Barbara Dessureau,
Valerie Gilleran, Cindy Oppenheimer, Karen Degrace, Nancy Clubb, Jillian Holt, James
Auciello, Nancy Fields, Ben Ide, and Jay Stewart.
MINUTES: Meeting minutes for this meeting and the March 14, 2012 meeting will be presented for
approval at the upcoming May, 2012 Staff Association Meeting.
UNIVERSITY COMMITTEE REPORTS
BAT
Sharon Scorso provided an email list of bullet points to Evelyne Haldimann. The Budget
Advisory Team met on April 5, 2012. Discussion on the five year University budget plan
and the 2013 budget was held. Discussions included the strategic funding initiative,
Foundations of the Future savings to reinvest in the operating budget, and five year
budget assumptions. The assumptions included increasing student enrollment, reducing the
discount rate, and keeping the tuition, room and board, and fee increases to current range.
WELLNESS
Barbara Dessureau reminded everyone that the cardio workouts seemed to be a big
success. They are being held on Tuesdays from 5:15 to 6:30 am in GSU and will continue
until May 29th. Plans for the Hawk Walk are underway. Kathe Snow is still gathering
healthy recipes for a healthy recipe cookbook. Please continue to submit your healthy
recipes to Kathe.
BTF
DeLois Lindsey was not present, so there was no report.
Foundations of the Future Evelyne Haldimann provided a recap of the most recent town meeting which
was open to all faculty and staff. There were many questions posed by meeting attendees.
Many of the questions were specifically related to individual program report
preparation. The hope is that the University will be able to re-allocate between 6 and 8
million dollars as a result of important realignments. It was discussed that the same
percentage of re-allocation from overall budget is being sought from both the academic
and administrative sides. A question was also raised from attendees regarding
transparency of the reports/decisions (the right to know which programs might be
dropped) versus the damage that transparency could do to the current near-term
operation of departments and enrollments. It was suggested that staff attend both town
hall meetings being offered as much of the first town hall meeting session was a
question/answer format. As there could likely be different questions posed at the next
meeting, it might be prudent to attend both sessions.
SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE
– No report.
STAFF ASSOCIATION REPORTS
WEB ADVISORY COMMITTEE – Barbara Dessureau reported that the committee didn’t meet last month
but has begun requesting that departments on uhaweb redo their web sites to the new
look. Purchasing is now doing theirs. Hopefully, the Staff Association will also redo our
web site. Evelyne again requested someone to volunteer to be our “Web Master.” If you
are interested in helping with this, please contact Evelyne at uhartstaf@hartford.edu.
FACULTY SENATE – Ben Ide reported that the Faculty Senate will hold elections next month. He also
reported that the Faculty Senate was very supportive of the Staff Association’s position
and attempt to investigate the health care benefit tiers (see the March 2012 Staff
Association meeting minutes for more information about benefit tiers). The Faculty
Senate has asked for a recap of the 2011 Staff Association Staff Satisfaction Survey
results and recommendations. Unfortunately, Evelyne was asked to attend and present
the day before the Faculty Senate scheduled meeting and her calendar for that day was
full. She offered another date/time to meet with the Faculty Senate to provide an
overview of the survey results.
Another topic of discussion is the new “culture based urban design plan for Downtown
Hartford,” called The iQuilt Plan. This initiative promotes walking in Downtown Hartford
to and from the many civic and cultural landmarks. “Way finding” signs have been installed
at the intersection of Trumbull St. and Asylum St. which provide pedestrians with
information about locations of key destinations to help them chose a safe and interesting
walking route. For more information about The iQuilt Plan, log onto
http://theiquiltplan.org.
COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE – Kathleen Hayden reported that the committee hopes to work with
Barbara Steinberger of the Office of Communications to generate a mass email to all
staff that will ask about which forms individuals use most often and where those forms
are found now.
TREASURER’S REPORT – Cheryl MacMath reported that there was no change since the March report.
The budget balance is $3,138.75.
MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Members.
– Nancy Clubb reported that there are 169 Staff Association
EBOARD ANNUAL REPORT – Evelyne provided a “Year in Review.” The Staff Association Executive
Board has been very busy!
Revisions to the Constitution and Bylaws were created, reviewed extensively in many
general meetings, and ratified. This was a significant undertaking.
Another very important initiative was the Staff Satisfaction Survey. The survey was
completed, compiled and presented to many different audiences on campus. Presentations
were made to University Administration, as part of a special Staff Association general
meeting, as part of a special request from a specific college for inclusion in one of that
college’s staff meetings, and in response to a request from the Faculty Senate.
EmPOWER, a new and unique training/tracking vehicle was created and launched with
support of Staff Association Chair, Evelyne Haldimann, and in part due to responses
obtained via the Staff Satisfaction Survey. This was a collaborative effort with Staff
Association, HRD, ITS, and University Administration.
Executive Board members have met several times with President Harrison, Provost
Vasquez, Lisa Belanger, and Arosha Jayawickrema to discuss pertinent issues for staff.
The Eboard continues to follow through with issues identified by the Staff Satisfaction
Survey as well as bringing forth issues that are identified by individuals through
Association meetings and/or emails. University Administration is listening and responding
to concerns that are brought to them. Recently, Fred Sweitzer wrote to Associate Deans
and Department Chairs regarding inappropriate additional duties requested by faculty of
their office staff. Specifically, Fred’s letter addressed the inappropriateness of having
office support staff enter student grades and proctor exams.
The Eboard has begun “rebuilding” and “refocusing” the Staff Association:
 Meetings have been held with community representatives to redefine their roles.
 A grievance officer position description has been written and will be presented to
the membership for permission to add it to the Bylaws.
 A grievance officer has been appointed.
 It has been agreed to bring back some of the social aspect of the Association.
A presentation regarding Sustainability was provided to members and a Staff Association
representative to the University Sustainability Committee was appointed.
A presentation regarding designated “smoke free” areas on campus was provided to
members and we voted to support the initiative to designate the area by Mortensen
Library as a “smoke free zone.”
The Staff Association helped Aramark become involved with the annual Faculty/Staff
versus Students Softball game and encouraged more staff involvement in this event.
Please note that Aramark generously provides the food for this event. Sincere gratitude
is extended to Aramark for this support.
A new Communications Committee was created which will address the issue of creating a
single website for forms most commonly used at the University for Administrative
Processes.
The Staff Association has increased its level of staff advocacy and has most currently
addressed with University Administration 1) mandatory break requirement for working
more than 5 consecutive hours, 2) changing the length of calendar days required to
request flex time schedules, and 3) asking that some form of clarification be made that
attending Staff Association Meetings is not to be recorded as use of personal time (i.e.,
lunch), but rather considered to be an important part of professional development.
OLD BUSINESS – regarding recent Eboard activities.
1. Mandatory break requirement for more than 5 consecutive hours – It was agreed at
the April quarterly meeting with University Administration that a paper waiver will be
created by HRD which will allow individuals to waive their right to a break after
working 5 consecutive hours. This affects part-time employees who currently must
report time worked via the on-line EmpCenter electronic time reporting system. The
system generates a red-flag for individuals who work more than 5 consecutive hours.
The paper waiver will ensure that persons wishing to forgo that break will be
2.
3.
4.
5.
appropriately identified and allowed to do so. The on-line system itself will not be
modified, but having the paper waiver on file will allow cross checking should the
system’s red-flag raise questions.
Flex schedule minimum length – This was discussed at length in the April quarterly
Eboard meeting with University Administration. (Please refer to December 14th
meeting minutes for a detailed description of this issue.) The current flex time
schedule requirements state that a minimum period of time for redefinition of an
employees work schedule is two months. This would seemingly preclude an employee
from redefining their work schedule for a shorter length of time to allow attendance
of and/or teaching in short semesters such as Winter Term, May Term, Summer Term
1 and Summer Term 2. Staff therefore requested that the minimum length of time be
shortened to allow for flex schedule changes to fit the length of academic terms
identified above. After extensive discussion the following was agreed to:
A). Provost Vasquez asked for some time to consider this more carefully. Winter
Term may have to be exempted from flexible schedules. Most Winter Term
classes run between 3 to 4 hours per day for a 2 to 2 ½ week period. The amount
of hours required for an employee to attend classes during a Winter Term session
would make it literally impossible for an employee to “make up” the hours lost in
each day. Therefore, Winter Term may be inapplicable to flex scheduling.
Employees wishing to attend Winter Term classes may have to do so on their own
time. The same may apply to teaching Winter Term classes as well.
B). It was pointed out that flexing one’s work schedule for shorter than a two
month period does not require an official flex schedule change. A statement from
one’s immediate supervisor stating that an agreement has been reached between
supervisor and employee is all that is needed. Currently people do not realize that
they could be eligible, hence many may not be using the benefit. It was agreed
that “rewording” the Staff Employment Manual to add clarification on this topic
will be explored. Changes to the manual will most likely not be evident until
perhaps July of this year.
Staff Association Meeting Attendance – This was discussed in the April quarterly
meeting with University Administration. Staff requested that University
Administration find some way of communicating to immediate supervisors that it
supports attendance of Staff Association meetings without having to use personal
time (lunch) to do so. Both President Harrison and Provost Vasquez indicated that
they believe participation in and attendance of Staff Association meetings is an
important component of professional development. It promotes networking, broadens
familiarity of campus and community issues, strengthens collaboration, and in general
encourages a more informed organization. It was noted that there are departments on
campus that absolutely must have complete coverage throughout published business
hours and therefore there is some difficulty in creating a standard/unified policy.
They expressed strong support but asked for some time to think about how best to
approach their communication to supervision on this topic.
Appointing a University of Hartford Staff Association Grievance Office – A new
position description has been created for the Grievance Officer position. We are
asking members for permission to update the Bylaws with the following description:
“The primary responsibility of the grievance officer is to support and guide an
employee through the University of Hartford grievance process.”
Marketing the Staff Association – The Eboard is looking at ways to better market the
Association to the staff community and increase Community Representative
involvement. Efforts to date include:
A. A one-page document has posted on the Staff Association website which
outlines the Staff Association mission and provides contact information for
Executive Board members and Community Representatives, (The “one-pager”
will be provided to all new staff employees by HRD and will be distributed to
Employees at each presentation of the Extended Staff Orientation.)
B. The Eboard met with Community Representatives at two separate meetings.
Community Representatives were polled for their thoughts on what they see as
their main functions and what Association marketing events and/or techniques
would be most useful for increasing Association awareness and participation. A
meeting summary was provided to attendees at the general Staff Association
meeting (March 14th). A draft of a new job description for Community
Representatives will be created and provided to representatives for their
input. We will ask for the new description to be included in the Bylaws.
6. Fundraising and Social Events Committees – We need volunteers to head these two new
committees. Association members are asked to email Lynn Galvin
(galvin@hartford.edu) if they are interested in heading one of these committees. She
is willing to help reinstitute Staff Association support of the 1877 Club Thanksgiving
Luncheon.
7. Some Association members and Community Representatives have asked that the
meeting time for general Staff Association meetings be moved from the 12:00 pm
lunch time schedule. The result of the survey of Staff Association members was that
most members prefer a consistent meeting time of 1:00 pm. Therefore, beginning in
May 2012 all meetings will be held at 1:00 pm. Meetings will continue to be alternate
between GSU and Mortensen.
8. The Eboard is looking for a volunteer to be the Staff Association “Webmaster”.
Please contact Evelyne Haldimann at uhartstaf@hartfor.edu if you would like to help
with this position.
GUEST SPEAKER – Jay Stewart, Associate Professor A&S Sociology, provided a presentation on “Stash
It, Don’t Trash It” (http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/uhdonates/. This initiative is held the week students
move out of their dorms at the end of spring semester and is designed to collect items and food from
students that might otherwise be thrown away. The initiative began in 2004 as a one-day collection of
used furniture. Collected items were then sold and the revenue and/or unsold items were donated to
charity. The initiative was so successful that it grew to into a multiple day collection where collected
items were stored for several days. The volume of collected items can now fill a trailer up to 2 to 3
times. Throughout the collection period charities come and pick up items, but at the end of the collection
period you can buy what you want from any remaining items and your check can be used as a charitable tax
deduction. Currently it takes three to four persons to operate and Jay would like to see the scope
continue to grow. The biggest challenge the initiative faces is getting enough “human power.” UConn does
something very similar (but much larger) and operates with a huge staff volunteer work force. Jay would
like to see staff and perhaps student Greek organizations become more involved. One of the issues with
student organizations helping out is that most of the students, with the exception of seniors, have left
the campus. Jay has heard from Residential Life that students who would like to volunteer can stay for a
couple of days, but need to contact him first. Suggestions were made to Jay to contact the Sustainability
Committee, the Athletics Department, to get more information regarding some organizations with which
Dennis Gacioch works (for collection of scrap metal, etc.). Any staff member interested in helping with
Stash It, Don’t Trash It or who have ideas on how to recruit a larger number of volunteers should contact
Jay at jstewart@hartford.edu.
Respectfully submitted by
Nancy Fields, Secretary