PSS -

Professional Staff Senate
Regular Meeting – December 6, 2002
Location: Goldenrod Room, Student Center

Senators Present: Ruth Smith, Lin Brummels, Jim Hansen for Cheri Polenske, Jeff Carstens, Stan Gardner, Mitch DeBoer (arrived at 9:50)

Senators Absent: Phyllis Spethman, Rollie Bulock

Guests: David Fuller

Visitors: Bill Long (Support Staff Senate Representative), Bev Buhrman, Frank Teach, Dorothy Weber, Kathy Mohlfeld, Terri Heggemeyer, Jason Barelman

The meeting was called to order at 9:40 a.m. because a quorum was present. The minutes of the last meeting were approved pending revisions, which will be relayed to Phyllis.

No Treasurer's report this month.

The agenda was reordered to allow Dr. Fuller to make comments to the Senate.

Dr. Fuller provided the follow information about Academic Affairs at WSC.

The issue of using vacant positions to meet the budget reduction was addressed as a concern because this process in effect makes cuts in programs without benefit of those programs being able to prove the viability of the programs. Dr. Fuller expects to face budget cuts again next year and wants to conduct program reviews so that any additional cuts are based on program viability.
The issue of hiring a new Dean of Admissions was addressed. A concern had been voiced to Dr. Fuller that WSC shouldn’t hire a Dean at the same time that other positions were cut. The need for a strong leader in Admissions was emphasized. The new position of Dean of Admissions was created to attract a good candidate from a university setting to a college setting.
Title III grant is due February 23, 2003. There are two faculty committees working on plans/reports about the two main topics of (a.) freshman year experience and (b.) student/civic engagement.
In the program review area, WSC needs to improve the assessment process. This will include general education and academic programs. The general education review will become an annual process.
Dr. Fuller acknowledged the importance of the Professional Staff Senate. Support was offered for the proposed Mentoring Program.

A discussion followed about the issue of animosity between staff and faculty that has become more pronounced as a result of the budget cuts. Dr. Fuller suggested more conversations between the groups, particularly between Student Services and faculty. Frank Teach expressed concern that fewer full-time faculty in the future will reduce the amount of involvement possible with student groups. Dr. Fuller acknowledged that this could be a problem and explained the addition of faculty since the last North Central accreditation. At the last accreditation, it was noted that there are too few full-time faculty and too many adjunct faculty. A conscience effort was made to hire more full-time faculty. So there are now 28 more faculty than 10 years ago, but the same amount of students are enrolled.. WSC has 135 full time faculty and an equivalent of 20 FTE adjuncts (this includes all off-campus part-time faculty).

A note was received from Dr. Stearns indicating that she was unable to attend the meeting today and would reschedule for a future meeting.

Committee Reports:

Mentoring (Brummels) – The Mentoring Proposal has been sent to the Faculty Senate, Support Staff Senate and handed out at the President’s Council meeting. Comments should be forwarded to Lin Brummels.
Social (Spethman) – Terri Heggemeyer reported that the Social Committee is planning a Friday evening social for late January.
Recognition (DeBoer) - no report
Continuing Education (Gardner) – summarized a survey that had been distributed to professional staff. The first educational meeting will be a January 8, 2003 lunch meeting with Roger Larsen, professional staff union representative to discuss contracts, staff lay-offs, etc. The other items in order of importance that will be arranged in the future include: (a) computer software, esp. Excel and Access (b) communication skills (c) supervisory training (d) professional ethics and (e) financial planning/insurance benefits
Membership (Polenske) – no report (on maternity leave)
Hospitality (Bulock) – Dorothy Weber reported that the committee had no activity in the last month, but will be sending a gift to Cheri Polenske on the birth of a baby girl this week.
Policy (Carstens) – no report
Communication (Smith) – distributed a preliminary copy of the survey that will be available as a direct link on the website.

Other Agenda Items:

The amendment to the constitution that will allow members of the support staff who have supervisory responsibility to be non-voting members of the professional staff general membership was voted on by the membership and approved. Ballots were distributed to the members by Cheri Polenske, returned ballots received by Senators and forwarded to Lin Brummels. The final vote was 56 in favor of the amendment and 7 votes against. A sufficient number of members voted to exceed the 2/3 membership voting required in the constitution. Lin will re-write that portion of the constitution and submit it to Dr. Stearns.

At the November meeting Lin distributed a copy of a memo she received from Derby Johnson regarding what happens to seniority when an employee changes from support staff to professional staff. Derby had contacted the Nebraska State College System legal counsel and included the response from that office in his memo. (Secretary's note: copies of this and all handouts distributed at meetings can be obtained by contacting either Phyllis or Lin.) The question was raised about what happens when it is the position that gets the upgrade.

Jeff directed the Senators and others present to look at the professional staff union bargaining agreement section 4.5 that addressed this issue.

The next regular meeting will be January 10, 2003 at 9:30 a.m. in the Bluestem Room in the Student Center.

Meeting adjourned at 10:30 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Lin Brummels for
Phyllis Spethman, Secretary

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