MINUTES
KSU STAFF SENATE
NOVEMBER 19, 2015
Call to order:
A general meeting of the KSU Staff Senate was held on the KSU Campus, University Room A, Marietta, Georgia on
Thursday, November 19, 2015. The meeting convened at 10:00AM, Chair Ann Lay presiding.
Members in attendance:
Lisa Bauer, Jeffrey Bernard, Christy Bohannon, Aisha Cheeks, Ashlee Clark, Donald Coleman, Alberta Cook, Elizabeth
Davis, Angela Evans Sarah Fanning, Jennifer Figueroa, Amanda George, Sharon Hodge, Traci Hubbard, Jessi Jones, Scott
Jordan, Ann Lay, Lisa Lewis-Fears, Debra Mahan, Ashley McClure, Cynthia Parkins, Kathy Rechsteiner, Levi Sexton,
Stacey Solomon, Sherida Studwood, Ann Vancza, Christine Zelt
Members not in attendance:
Tara Adams, Ana Baida, Brittany Bailey, Derek Brott (FMLA), Emmanuel Campbell, Timothy Dombrowski, Felex Griffin,
Vickie Moody, Tim Murphy (FMLA), Nicole Phillips, Cynthia True, Becca Tuck.
Approval of minutes:
Motion was made by Alberta Cook, and seconded by Jeffrey Bernard to approve the minutes of October 29, 2015 meeting.
Motion carried.
Officer’s report:
Treasurer:
Agency Account:
Foundation Gift:
Foundation Operating
Foundation Scholarship
Petty Cash
$
$
$
$
$
140.55
1,012.72
1,583.92
3,332.22
1.75
Will be filed for the audit.
New Business, Guest:
Dr. Jim Cope, Executive Director of KSU’s Distance Learning Center, spoke on the Policy Statement: Web Accessibility.
According to Dr. Cope, what this Policy is saying is that the University will follow Federal law in regards to web access for
students, faculty, staff and visitors.
Questions & Comments:
Why do we even need to have a policy stating that the University follows Federal law? Dr. Cope replied that this
law has been in effect since 1999. This Policy is to make it known, and to make sure, the University and BOR are
following Federal law.
Has a Compliance Officer been named? Dr. Cope answered no, not yet.
Will we need to revise the layout of screen imaging, headings, tables, etc.? Dr. Cope suggested that possibly this
will have to be done.
Has there been any other pushback from other governances? Dr. Cope answered no.
Motion: Should Staff Senate approve this Policy Statement as provided? Motion was carried and
approved.
University Committee Reports:
Athletic Board: Christine Zelt
 Nov. 4, 2015 Athletics Board Meeting
 Coach Keith Schunzel (Women’s Volleyball Head Coach) was guest speaker. He spoke about Core Values,
and how proud he is of the academic achievement of the team. Team has average GPA of 3.3 (when he
came on in 2013, the average GPA was 2.5). He also discussed the available resources for players;
programs like Vision and Flight Plan which assists with mentorships and internships.
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Athletics Director Vaughn Williams presented the State of the Department. He noted that our football NCAA
Division is being revised and a lot of factors are being considered. No specifics yet. He also discussed how
some of the fall season sports were finishing up – volleyball and football and how basketball was in the
beginning stages. He noted how impressed he was when he recently had the opportunity to watch about
20 minutes of a men’s basketball scrimmage.
Heath Senour, the Associate Athletic Director of Compliance spoke regarding the upcoming National
Signing Day held on Nov. 11. In the past, KSU had about 25-30 athletes that they expected to sign, but this
year they are expecting to sign over 50 athletes.
Next meeting for the Board will be held February 10, 2016.
Parking & Transportation:
Alberta Cook & Jeff Bernard
 KSU has purchased 10 new BOB buses replacing the old white BOB buses. Eventually, the entire fleet will
be replaced with new black buses.
 Bus service will not be running during the Thanksgiving Break for students, but will run on Black Friday
beginning 5AM-2PM at three locations – one is the old BrandSmart parking lot. Check the web for other
locations and times. The trolley will not be running.
 The Staff Senate has asked the committee to look into the reduction of parking fees for part-time staff since
the reduction in parking fees was extended to part-time faculty. The question arose because part-time staff
work anywhere from 10 to 20 hours/week opposed to part-time faculty who are only on campus 2-4
hours/week.
 E-vouchers are up and running. Departments can send voucher forms to pay for visitor parking.
Public Safety: Lisa Bauer
 No report. They meet quarterly.
Faculty Senate:
Jennifer Figueroa
 After observing how the Faculty Senate conducted themselves, and the items that they covered on their
agenda, Jennifer thinks that the Staff Senate should aspire to direct their activities more toward that model.
 Academic Administrative Review is underway. All full-time, permanent faculty and staff in academic units
should have received a survey to participate in review of their respective Department Chair, Dean, and
Provost. If you did not, please e-mail Andy Pieper. After complaints from the Faculty Senate, the policy was
adjusted so that all administrators in their position for at least 1 year, regardless of their employer prior to
consolidation, will be up for review. For each administrator, a review committee is formed and contains one
staff member. The committee reviews the survey data, summarizes it, and presents it to the supervisor of
the administration under view. As committee members are not tasked with providing their own personal
opinion, Jennifer encouraged staff members to serve on the committee if they are contacted.
 The ad-hoc committee on Centers and Institutes formed by Dr. Harmon and chaired by Dr. Leeds has been
working to identify, define, and certify al centers at KSU. This will lead to a standing committee that
recertifies all centers on a yearly basis.
QEP:
Elizabeth Davis
 Meeting was held Monday, November 14. Basically, Dr. Papp went over the mission of the QEP Selection
Committee, and to select the new QEP. This is a part of the Reaffirmation Plan that is due to SACSCOC in
2018 and be in place in 2019. The current QEP is Global Learning for Engaged Citizenship. This will
continue even with a new QEP in place going forward. Right now they are looking for proposals and then
the committee will review the proposed papers to narrow down which topic will be chosen. The proposals
will also go out in a campus survey for the campus to have their voice heard. However, the QEP Selection
Committee will be the final decision maker. The new QEP will be announced during Dr. Papp's State of the
University address in May.
Food Advisory Committee:
Stacey Solomon
 Meeting was held November 11.
 New restaurants: Grand Openings: Subway (both campuses), Create, The Village Skillet, Zaya
Mediterranean Grill (KSU campus in Spring), Chick-fil-A changing to paper cups, full-service Starbucks,
and Seriously Cheesy (food truck opening). Additional seating added to The Commons and Stingers.
 CRAM JAM will be held Dec. 7 on both campuses. The theme will be Star Wars. Marietta Movie Night will
be held prior to Cram Jam over a span of two days. Each day will consist of playing three Star Wars movies
on a big screen that will be set up inside of Stingers dining hall, along with having a popcorn machine
available to students.
 Sustainability Food Fair will be held April 21 on the Campus Green from 11-3 with a variety of educational
and food tables.
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Owls Against Hunger – Student volunteers come into the dining hall after hours to package items to give to
food banks.
Project Clean Plate – Project where the campus is involved with decreasing food waste in the dining hall.
Simple Station – Work in progress. The simple station is an area that will accommodate Gluten-Free and
vegan patrons who come to the dining hall.
The Food Advisory Committee requested that Staff Senate delegate two people to be on the committee.
Ann asked for a volunteer. Ashlee Clark volunteered.
University Council:
Ann Lay & Kathy Rechsteiner
 Meets once a semester.
 Doug Moodie explained the purpose of the University Council.
 Doug Moodie stated that there is difficulty in communicating on campus. Everyone did not read the email
from Dr. Papp regarding pushing the external letters to 2018.
 Dr. Papp stated that the real pressure to push for external letters was from the system office.
 Dr. Papp mentioned that definition of what constitutes service will be worked on.
 The cost of joining Betty Siegel Fitness Center was discussed. Employees have the option of paying to
get access to all fitness centers.
 Proliferation of too many committees on campus was brought up as a concern.
 Keisha Love brought up faculty concerns about parking.
 Consolidation of various training modules was brought up.
 Ann Lay presented information regarding Employee of the Month award which begun in November by
Staff Senate.
Standing Committee Reports:
Budget & Finance Committee: Elizabeth Davis
 At Ann’s request, Lynda Johnson spoke to the Foundation and together they are giving Staff Senate $1,000
to use for whatever we need, i.e. refreshments and university wide events/workshops/endeavors, etc. We
were given $500 added to our Foundation Gift account budget first. Once it is exhausted, we can e-mail
Lynda for the additional $500 that will be transferred from the President’s office. This is not guaranteed for
next year.
 Relay for Life is offering $5.00 discounted registration through Friday, November 20. Instructions and
information were given as a handout at the front table. Please register and help us raise money for Relay.
Elizabeth asked the Senate to consider allowing some or all of their cookbook sales to go to the Relay for
Life team.
 Cookbook sales are going great, and we have made over $200.00 already, and still have about 70 to sell.
Please buy a cookbook.
 We need to purchase Thank You cards. We have a quote from More Business Solutions, and Lisa
suggested we make our own. The decision will be discussed with the Executive Board for their approval in
the coming weeks. These cards will be used to send to our meeting guests, donors, etc.
Communications:
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Ann Vancza
The committee reviewed the brochure, and thanked Becca for the great job she did in putting it all together.
Amanda George will be handling Facebook. She added the cookbook info and Relay for Life info.
Becca will be handling KSU Inform so they discussed sending items to her.
Discussed the website and list of senate members with IPEDs groups to be added to the website.
Angela will be researching give away items for next year’s Benefits Fair.
Elections and Nominations: Kathy Rechsteiner
 Based on the newly adopted Bylaws regarding terms for 2015-2016, the terms of office for senators is now
determined with a third of the senate falling off each year going forward and all new senators elected will
be on three year terms.
Policy & Procedure: Jeff Bernard
 Jeff presented a brief overview of Georgia Senate Bill 152 that would blend the Teachers Retirement
System and the Employee Retirement System of Georgia. It is not currently likely to pass, but it would be
detrimental to the TRS and we should be keeping an eye on it.
Staff Development & Recognition:
Ashlee Clark & Sarah Fanning
 The committee picked the first winner for Staff Member of the Month for November. There were several
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entries for nomination, but only 2 for November; the rest will be saved for when their IPEDs group is up for
nomination.
Reel Seafood donated the gift card to give to this month’s winner.
Fuji Hana Restaurant might be donating one for December.
December award winner pool will be out of IPEDs groups 5 & 6.
We received a lot of questions about what IPEDs groups are, and asked Levi to get the breakdown of all of
them on the website.
2016 Ad Hoc US Staff Council Conference: Kathy Rechsteiner & Alberta Cook
 We have lost a key person from the committee, Bobby Burk, who was taking care of the hotel arrangements.
Kathy volunteered and will now contact the hotels, and will possibly need to have someone from the
Marietta Campus to assist since that person will be more familiar with the hotels that are close by.
 Alberta is working with Brent Barron, catering manager on the Marietta Campus, to arrange for some pricing
estimates for the two days.
 The committee would like everything in place for the USGSC Quarterly Meeting in February. They need to
get costs so they can establish a price.
 The conference will be October 6 & 7, 2016, theme: Staff Make the Difference. It will be held on the Marietta
Campus.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO SEND YOUR REPORTS TO SHARON FOR THE MINUTES
Dates to Remember:
 Chili and Cheer
Dec. 10, buses leave Marietta at 11:00AM – 1:30PM
KSU Campus, University Rooms A&B
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Commencement
Dec. 15 &16, KSU Campus
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Staff Senate Gen’l Meeting
Dec. 17, 9:30AM-11:00AM
MC, Q202
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KSU & MC closed for Holiday Break:
Dec. 21, 2015……Reopen, Jan. 4, 2016
New Business:
 Stuff-A-Bus on the Marietta Campus – canned food and toys, deadline: Dec. 2nd
 CARE Center – Kennesaw Campus – donation drive, Nov. 16-20
Movement to Adjourn meeting:
Moved by Jeff Bernard
Seconded by Alberta Cook
The meeting was adjourned at 11:15AM
Approved: Motion by Alberta Cook, Seconded by Jennifer Figueroa
MOTION CARRIED
Sharon Hodge
December 17, 2015