PSS -

Professional Staff Senate
Regular Meeting - April 5, 2002

Present: Lin Brummels, Jeff Carstens, Cheri Polenske, Jamie Vaughn, Stan Gardner, Phyllis Spethman, Ruth Smith

Absent: Mitch DeBoer

It was announced that Dr. Stearns was unable to attend today's meeting but sends her greetings, congratulations, and support.

The meeting opened with a discussion concerning eligibility for senate membership. The language in the current draft of the constitution, which has not yet been ratified, is not clear regarding eligibility of associate and/or assistant administrators. The concensus was to take any proposed language changes to the full professional staff during the annual meeting in August.

Election of officers was conducted by voice vote: Lin Brummels, Chair; Mitch DeBoer, Vice Chair; Stan Gardner, Treasurer; Phyllis Spethman, Secretary.

To comply with the provisions set forth in the constitution regarding term of service to the organization in this initial year, the following terms were established:

serving 1 1/2 years	serving 2 1/2 years
Carstens	DeBoer
Polenske	Spethman
Vaughn	Gardner
Brummels	Smith

Standing committee assignments are:

Mentoring - Brummels
Membership - Polenske
Social - Spethman
Hospitality - Vaughn
Recognition - DeBoer
Policy - Carstens
Continuing Education - Gardner
Communication - Smith

It was determined that each committee would vary in the number of members, but it was agreed that each should have a minimum of three people. Lin will send out an email to all professional staff requesting volunteers to serve on committees. Senators were asked to begin making personal phone calls after one week following the email, should their committee not fill. A list of all professional staff members was distributed to each senator. Committees will beresponsible for setting their own meeting schedule, time, and location.

Lin will request that our organization be placed on the agenda for the April 16th General Faculty and Staff Meeting, for the purpose of announcing senate members and committees.

It was decided to meet on the first Friday of each month at 9:30 a.m. Lin will reserve a room large enough to accommodate visitors. Any member of the professional staff is welcome at regular meetings.

It was decided that we would wait until fall to extend an invitation to liaisons from the Faculty Senate and Student Senate.

Requests to have items placed on the agenda should be forwarded to Lin at least four days in advance of the next meeting.

Our next meeting will be May 3 at 9:30 a.m., location yet to be determined. Agenda items suggested for that meeting include: 1) committee reports, and 2) process for addressing changes in constitutional language.

Meeting adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,
Phyllis Spethman

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