PSS -

Minutes Archive

Professional Staff Senate
Regular Meeting – April 4 , 2003

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

Senators Absent: Cheri Polenske, Stan Gardner

Liaisons from Other Senates Present: Bill Long, Support Staff Senate

Guests: none

Visitors: none

The meeting was called to order at 9:30 a.m. by Lin; a quorum was present.

Minutes of the last general meeting were approved as written. M-Ruth. S-Jeff.

No treasurer’s report.

Committee reports:

Mentoring (Brummels) – The mentoring program continues on hold for now.
Social (Spethman) – no report
Recognition (DeBoer) - no report
Continuing Education (Gardner) – no report
Membership (Polenske) – no report
Hospitality (Bulock) – Three baby gifts were sent this past month for the births of sons to Derek and Tracy Andersen, Tammy and J.B Tyson, and Brian and Kerrie Lentz. There is a balance of $61.34 in the courtesy fund – 37 of 89 professional staff have paid their dues.
Policy (Carstens) - no report
Communication (Smith) – Ruth distributed a written request from the committee asking that the Senate make a formal request to Dr. Stearns regarding the services of Human Resources Associates, LLC. The request is for a workshop that will cover topics related to the recent reduction in force notices that were sent to members of the professional staff who will not have their contract renewed. Suggestions for topics include: coping skills, resume writing, job search strategies, and morale boosters. Lin will contact Dr. Stearns.

Other agenda items:

According to our by-laws, new senators are to be elected by June 1. Those senators who will finish their term this year are Lin, Jeff, Cheri, and Rollie. After some discussion, it was determined that Lin would send an email notice to all members of the professional staff, explaining the election process and asking for nominations. She will compile a list of nominees to be presented at the next senate meeting.
The nine-member professional staff budget advisory committee has met with Dr. Stearns. The committee members present gave a report and expressed frustration with how this committee has functioned. The purpose or charge of this committee was not made clear at the first meeting, so no clear process for recommendations and/or decisions was established. It seemed as if rather than being advisory, this committee was used more as a reporting entity. It did seem as if the union representative had been kept informed, but not other professional staff. Why wasn’t a process used that was similar to the process used for faculty decisions? Because there was no process of reviewing program viability, it made the decisions related to lay-offs seem arbitrary, which is difficult for everyone. Lin will prepare a written response (on behalf of the senate) to submit to Dr. Stearns.
Some questions that were raised in regards to the budget/reduction in force process:
- What about those people who voluntarily reduced their time from 1.0 FTE?
- Will they be restored to fulltime when budget dollars increase?
- Who will prioritize the return/restoration of people/positions that have been RIFed?
Lin distributed a copy of the report of senate activities that she will present at the spring faculty meeting.
An official response regarding ‘bumping’ rights of professional staff has come from Carolyn Murphy and was distributed via email to all professional staff. Professional staff cannot bump into a support staff position, regardless of whether he/she held that or any other support staff position.

The next regular meeting will be May 2nd at 9:30 a.m. in the Bluestem Room.

Meeting adjourned at 10:20 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Phyllis Spethman, Secretary

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