Draft
STAFF SENATE MINUTES
April 19, 2007
I)
Welcome and Call to Order: President Clacie Hubbard called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m.
In attendance:
Bill Allen, Lisa Gray, Lucy Hearn, Clacie Hubbard, Deana Karpavage, Inge Frost,
Judy Lowe, Pam Minkey, Todd Smith, and Janine Vienna.
Absent:
Colleen Kirby.
Guests:
Betty Crockett, Greig Mitchell, President Janet Dudley-Eshbach.
II) Approval of Minutes: The March 14 minutes were reviewed and corrected.
Judy Lowe moved to approve as corrected and Lucy Hearn seconded and the minutes were
approved.
III) Old Business:
a) Clacie Hubbard, Brian Polkinghorn, and Janine Vienna attended a USM meeting regarding alternate dispute
resolution. Various directors and officers from USM were in attendance to give advice, opinions and a
brochure about implementing a program. Clacie also reported that Brian Polkinghorn offered the Center for
Conflict Resolution as a place for mediation.
b) Tuition Pay Plan Accessibility – Not yet posted. Some staff members did not know about tuition fees
deadlines.
IV) Human Resources:
a) Inge Frost stated the open enrollment begins May 1 and that HRO would be sending out materials as soon
as they arrive. HRO will conduct open office hours three times per week plus two evening sessions for
Physical Plant. There is a benefits fair April 30.
b) Staff Recognition: The Staff Senate, President Dudley-Eshbach and Human Resources are pleased to
announce that a staff recognition program will soon be launched as the Employee of the Month program.
An outline of the program and requirements were discussed. The program will select one awardee per
category every quarter of the year. Nominees not selected will remain in the pool for up to one year.
V) President’s Report
a) PAT Meeting Updates:
i) Learn with SU – SU will launch a non-credit program for campus and community members 50 years old
or older. Clacie will forward the link and flyer.
ii) COLA / Merit – There will be a 2% COLA given across the board and a 2.5% merit to those who meet
standards on PMP.
iii) Budget – The General Assembly’s legislative session ended on April 9. The fiscal 2007 budget passed,
but there may be a 1.3 to 1.5 billion dollar deficit next year. SU’s adjusted base budget increased by
11.2%, but enrollment growth was not fully funded. Increased costs for the TETC building and planning
costs for the new Perdue School of Business were included in the capital budget.
VI) Committee Reports
a) Membership and Elections:
i) Forum Subcommittees – The subcommittees have not met this year and need some fine-tuning. It was
decided to re-elect for those committees this year.
ii) Meet/Greet – There will be meet/greet sessions scheduled in May to increase awareness.
VII) President Janet Dudley-Eshbach
a) Exempt Salary Study – Clacie Hubbard introduced President Dudley-Eshbach who was to address the
Staff Senate’s questions regarding the Exempt Salary Study.
i) Questions/Answers
(1) Why was the study denied?
(i) President Dudley-Eshbach agrees that a study needs to be conducted but there are some
roadblocks to going forward as the study was proposed. A couple of years ago, the University
brought in a consultant to look at Human Resources which cost the University $20,000. The
result of that study was to implement some changes which are ongoing. To use the same
consultant for the exempt salary study would cost $70,000 and the President would have other
priorities for that money such as salary adjustments. The President also feels that SU has
enough experience in-house to conduct a study, feels that the HRO issues should be resolved
first, and is concerned about campus disagreement with the HR consultant. The VPs were in
agreement that faculty salaries should be adjusted as we were at 55% of the American
Association of University Professors (AAUP) guidelines. The President feels a long-term
strategic plan over a span of years is needed to address salary issues.
(2) What is the status of a compensation program?
(i) We need a study, but not necessarily an external consultant. Also needed are resources for
implementation. The President felt that an ad-hoc committee should be appointed from inhouse constituencies (Admin/Finance, Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, HRO, Staff Senate
representative as a voting member but liaison to executive committee, and University Analysis,
Research and Assessment). The President asked Staff Senate to provide feedback whether
the Senate would recommend an in-house committee or an external consultant.
VIII) Vice President Greig Mitchell
a) COLA/Merit Discussion: The University wishes to place funding above COLA for exempt staff for
supervisors to make recommendations on how to distribute.
IX) Staff Senate Executive Follow Up Meeting
a) In regards to the Employee of the Month recognition program, the following details were discussed.
i) Any staff member is eligible who is not serving on the selection committee.
ii) Eligible staff must be employed for a minimum of 1 year.
iii) Awardees become eligible again after three years.
iv) Faculty members can nominate staff.
v) The first deadline is June 15 for months July, August and September.
vi) Selection committee composition:
(1) 2 Staff Senate representatives (chosen from: 1 non-exempt, 1 exempt), one collective bargaining
non-exempt member, Ellen Zinner, Betty Crockett, and as non-voting, one representative from
Human Resources.
vii) The term of service for the selection committee will be determined after the first round.
X) Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at Noon. The next meeting will be May 16, 2007, at 9:30 a.m. in the Manokin Room.
Respectfully submitted,
Deana Karpavage