PSS -

Professional Staff Senate
Regular Meeting - May 3, 2002

Present: J. Carstens, S. Gardner, L. Brummels, P. Spethman, J. Vaughn, M. DeBoer, R. Smith

Absent: C. Polenske

Guests: President Stearns

Visitors: 4

The meeting was called to order at 9:35 a.m. Minutes of previous meeting
were approved as written on a motion by Carstens, second by Gardner.

There was no treasurer's report as there is not yet a treasury established.

Committee reports:

Mentoring (Brummels) - Mimi Moore has agreed to serve on this committee. Committee has not met yet.

Social (Spethman) - Members are Jason Barelman, Terri Heggemeyer, Becky Johnson, Kyle Rose, Adam Valencia, Mandy Benschoter, Jan Brumm. Committee has not met yet.

Recognition (DeBoer) - Karla Pick has agreed to serve on this committee. Derby Johnson and Mary Carstens have been working on a campus-wide recognition plan. Mitch will contact them to confirm their interest in serving on this committee.

Continuing Education (Gardner) - Members are Gail Poirier, Mandy Benschoter, and Eddie Elfers. Stan is hoping to get two more people. There will be a workshop in latter July to look at WSC webpages.

Membership (Polenske) - Mitch reported for Cheri that Jeannette Barry and Karla Pick have agreed to serve on this committee.

Hospitality (Vaughn) - Dorothy Weber has agreed to serve on this committee, and she is in the process of getting advice/information from Deb Whitt (hospitality person for the Faculty Senate) in regards to establishing contribution amounts, etc.

Policy (Carstens) - No members yet.

Communication (Smith) - Members are Maria Johnson and Elaine Balogh. Committee has not met yet.

President Stearns was welcomed. She congratulated the senators on being elected by peers to serve as representatives. Highlights of her presentation:

*she is always open to answer questions/discuss items of general interest to the institution

*listen to colleagues to learn their concerns and contact Lin or bring those concerns to senate meetings

*she may contact Lin from time to time to bounce ideas or get quick advice oncampus issues - some may require confidentiality

*in regards to budget, we will plan conservatively and will hold 3% in reserve (in addition to mandated 4%) in anticipation of future reductions by the legislature

*some areas may be asked to delay spending of budgeted funds

*because we held some funds in reserve this year, and because of the outstanding management of budgets by directors, we will have some money tocarry forward to next year

*preliminary enrollment figures indicate enrollment is down, and it appears Nebraska's economy is down. If enrollment doesn't grow, within a couple of years we may be faced with reducing the number of employees. We will need input from all campus groups as we go through that process.

*sees the role of the senate as that of team builder - we need to continue to improve quality, foster a sense of ownership of the campus. We want to be an organization of learners, figuring out how to serve students better.

*in regards to broadening our recruiting area, there will be an insert in the 'shoppers' within a 400 mile radius. The insert will include tuition comparison information, showing that we are quite a bargain. We have also gotten some response/inquiry from students who find us on the web.

*forgot to bring the draft copy of the Employee Recognition plan - will circulate copies to us. Hoping to begin recognition plan this fall with such things as cash gifts for outstanding service.

Continuing with agenda items:

Following discussion of the pros/cons of including assistant deans and assistant vice presidents in the definition of professional staff and therefore eligible to serve this body as a senator, a motion was made by Gardner and
seconded by Vaughn to approve. Motion carried.

A motion to ratify the constitution was made by Vaughn, seconded by Spethman. Motion carried.

A copy of the Tuition Waiver Request Form and the board policy covering tuition waivers (Policy 5511) was circulated. Discussion followed, and it was determined that we would like to request that the waiver can be used for personal growth classes as well as professional development and/or classes in a degree program. We would also like married couples (when both people are WSC employees) to have the option of using the spouse tuition remission. Both of these requests involve changing board policy. Lin will discuss the requests with Derby Johnson and Dr. Stearns.

There was discussion about the role and responsibility of the communication committee. Ruth will gather information about communication flow/patterns currently in place to determine where weaknesses exist. The suggestion was
made to talk with Chris Fletcher about the data collected by the AQIP committee.

Next meeting will be June 7th at 9:30 a.m. in the Bluestem Room, Student Center. Suggested agenda items for that meeting include: 1) discussing a plan for the fall general faculty/staff meeting, and 2) tuition waiver policy.

Meeting adjourned at 10:50 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Phyllis Spethman, Secretary

______________________________________