PSS -

Professional Staff Senate
Regular Meeting – October 4, 2002
Location: Multicultural Center

Senators Present: Ruth Smith, Phyllis Spethman, Lin Brummels, Cheri Polenske, Jeff Carstens, Mitch DeBoer, Stan Gardner, Rollie Bulock

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

The meeting was called to order at 9:35 a.m. The minutes of the last meeting were approved on a motion by Jeff, second by Mitch.

No Treasurer's report. Lin requested that the Hospitality Committee give a financial report at November's meeting. Rollie will talk with Dorothy Weber about the report.

Committee reports:

Mentoring (Brummels) – working on the application process and developing a flow chart of how the mentoring will work; the committee now includes four faculty members.
Social (Spethman) – will be meeting soon to discuss plans for a holiday event.
Recognition (DeBoer) - no report
Continuing Education (Gardner) – will be soliciting ideas from membership as to what training to make available; will probably do an email survey.
Membership (Polenske) – preparing an updated spreadsheet of professional staff employee list; still checking on including those who are support staff but also supervise.
Hospitality (Bulock) – Rollie is new and has not had a chance to meet with this committee; Lin reported that Dorothy has begun sending cards when she hears of any events/occasions. Members were encouraged to let Dorothy know when there is any news about employees.
Policy (Carstens) – Jeff is gathering information for the committee to consider when it meets; will be looking at the current campus committee structure now that there are two new senates.
Communication (Smith) – working on gathering information for the professional staff website; Lin noted that she still needs a description of the continuing education and membership committees.

Other Agenda Items:

Stan distributed a brochure about a traveling Smithsonian exhibit that will be on campus in the spring. WSC is the first of only five sites in Nebraska to host the exhibit. Stan is looking for people to help with planning campus events to coincide with the time the exhibit is here. He will write up an invitation to participate for Ruth to distribute to all professional staff.

There was discussion about the issue of some employees who are classified as support staff but have supervisory responsibilities. By virtue of their responsibilities, they have been excluded from participation in the Support Staff Senate. Because they are not professional staff, they are currently excluded from our senate and committees, too. Following discussion, it was determined to propose to our full membership that a change be made to our constitution to allow these individuals to participate in our organization as non-voting members. Jeff will write the proposed change and Lin will distribute it to all professional staff. A vote will be taken at our next meeting.

Lin will be sending an invitation to the chairs of the Faculty Senate, Student Senate, and Support Staff Senate in regards to having a liaison from each at our meetings.

Mitch provided an update on the President's Budget Committee. He reported that the committee has met twice; looked at the 97 suggestions submitted by people around campus; discussed President Stearns' charge for this committee to be a recommending body; looked at peer group institutions (there are 10) for what they offer, how many students they have, etc. as a basis for comparison with WSC; and studied the 10-year history of funding levels in each department. He said there is much work in front of this committee. The time frame is short for them to do their work – only about eight more weeks. Minutes for their meetings will be available to campus.

The next regular meeting will be November 1 at 9:30 a.m. in the Bluestem Room in the Student Center.

Meeting adjourned at 10:30 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Phyllis Spethman, Secretary

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