PSS -

Professional Staff Senate
Regular Meeting - November 01, 2002
Location: Bluestem Room, Student Center

Senators Present: Ruth Smith, Phyllis Spethman, Lin Brummels, Cheri Polenske, Jeff Carstens, Stan Gardner, Rollie Bulock, Mitch DeBoer (arrived at 9:50)

Senators Absent: --
Guests: --
Visitors: --

The meeting was called to order at 9:30 a.m. because a quorum was present. The minutes of the last meeting were approved on a motion by Jeff, second by Ruth.

No Treasurer's report this month.

Committee reports:

Mentoring (Brummels) – sent an email containing the forms and information about the mentoring program; senators were asked to read through the information and be ready to vote on it at next meeting.
Social (Spethman) – no report
Recognition (DeBoer) - no report
Continuing Education (Gardner) – distributed a handout containing ideas for programs; asked for ideas from senators; would like to have a continuing ed opportunity available once a month; possibly use the Birch Room for convenience; people could bring their lunch.
Membership (Polenske) – no report
Hospitality (Bulock) – The Courtesy Club has a balance of $45.92; about 25 people have contributed; Ruth will send a reminder to all professional staff; might be helpful to have a contact person in each office to do the collecting; Rollie will contact Dorothy to learn more about this committee.
Policy (Carstens) – no report other than discussion of the agenda item below.
Communication (Smith) – working on a survey that will be available as a direct link on the website; don't have all the details worked out yet, but there will be a quick link called 'personnel' on the WSC front page; Stan suggested it would be a good idea to have a personnel directory on the WSC page that would list title, office, phone, and email.

Other Agenda Items:

Bill Long was not able to attend today's meeting. He will be the Support Staff liaison. Ron Whitt will be the liaison from Faculty. Lion has not talked with Student Senate yet.

Moved by Gardner and seconded by Carstens to forward to the full membership for approval 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. Motion carried. Lin will write the amendment, Ruth will create and distribute a paper ballot to all professional staff, Cheri will provide mailing labels. Ballots will be tabulated by Lin and the results presented at our next 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 will check to see if this currently addressed in board policy. Any action was tabled until next meeting.

Jeff attended the forum on file sharing, and he gave the Senate a brief overview of what was presented. Basically, the issue is how to maintain adequate bandwidth for the students to do legitimate academic work There is another meeting scheduled this afternoon to discuss WSC's options.

Lin distributed a handout that includes Dr. Fuller's definition of 'program viability'. There is no specific language for non-academic programs. A concern was expressed that there aren't numbers to support what happens in student services offices. Stan suggested (and there was consensus) that we support what Dr. Fuller presents in his definition as "another version of a mission included in the [WSC] catalogue." Lin will send a note to that effect to Dr. Stearns.

Lin distributed a handout regarding the mileage reimbursement when using a state car versus a personal car.

There was discussion of Board Policy 5511 – Tuition Waiver; Professional Growth; State College Employees. It was noted that recently an employee of WSC had been unenrolled from a class at close to midterm when it was determined the course did not fit policy guidelines. Further discussion of this policy will take place at our next meeting.

Mitch distributed a copy of the minutes from the Budget Advisory Committee.

Phyllis distributed a listing of Senate meeting locations through next August.

Cheri will be on pregnancy leave soon. She will designate someone to fill in for her while she's gone.

The next regular meeting will be December 6 at 9:30 a.m. in the Goldenrod Room in the Student Center.

Meeting adjourned at 11:05 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Phyllis Spethman, Secretary

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