University of Nebraska Kearney

Staff Senate Minutes
University of Nebraska at Kearney
June 19th, 2007 - 10:30 a.m. in the
Memorial Student Affairs Building – Sisler Room 

Present:  Administrative:  Bressington, Kauders
               Managerial/Professional:  Schaffnitt, Benitz
               Service:  Geiger, Gilbertson
               Office:  Beerbohm, Meier

Absent:  Osmanski, Morehouse, Heinowski, Wardyn, Lakey

Recognition of Employee of the Month
Dr. Lois Flagstad
Dean of Student Life

Recognition of Department of the Month
Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Office

1. Call to Order- Benitz
2. Open Floor–Staff members are welcome to have open discussion with Senate
3. Adoption of Agenda(with room correction) – Bressington, Kauders
4. Approval of Minutes(with room correction) – Beerbohm, Schaffnitt
5. Financial Report – Kauders presented a year-end report on the finances of the Staff Senate accounts.  Approved – Bressington, Schaffnitt
6. Correspondence – None
7. Unfinished Business

1. UNK Day – Benitz reminded Senate members that UNK Day is set for Friday,

June 29, 7:00 – 8:30 am, in the Student Union Courtyard.   Brandon will send out an e-mail to Senate members asking them to serve as hosts for the breakfast.

1. Staff Senate End-of-Year Report – Brandon has completed the Staff Senate 2006-2007 end-of-the year report.  The entire report, which consists of ninety-nine pages, will be posted on Blackboard.  Brandon has also completed a final draft of the 2006-2007 Staff Senate Executive Summary.  Brandon asked for comments and input on the summary from Senate members before it is sent out via e-mail to all employees.  Discussion was held on possible fundraising ideas.
2. 2007-2008 Goals Update – Benitz stated that fundraising is now the number one goal for this coming year and that we need to create an ad hoc committee within the Staff Senate for the purpose of fundraising.  Schaffnitt agreed to chair the ad hoc committee for fundraising.  Beerbohm and Bressington will also serve on this committee.

Benitz contacted the Kearney Hub about printing the names of our Employee of the Month and Department of the Month recipients.  Only the names of the KUDOS and SAFE Award recipients’ can be printed in the Kearney Hub.

1. By-laws/Officer Duties Update – Benitz has contacted Rochelle Krueger of the Procedures Committee about reviewing the description of duties for the Senate officers.  The description of duties for officers will have to be delineated or put in generic terms.
2. Addition of department affiliation to list of committee members –

Staff Senate committee members will have their department affiliation added by their names on the Staff Senate web page.  A list of staff representatives who serve on all UNK or university-wide committees will also be added to the Staff Senate web page. 

8. Committee Reports

1. Election Committee – No Report
2. Employee Recognition Committee – No Report
3. Performance Management Committee – No Report
4. Procedures Committee – No Report
5. Professional Development Committee – Cheryl Bressington

The Poker Walk will be August 2, from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm and will follow the same route as last year.

1. Mentoring Committee – Deb Gilbertson

There was some discussion about including faculty for Leadership UNK on alternating years.  Brandon stated that Pepsi only wants to fund staff development – faculty would need to coming up with their own funding.

1. Office/Service Dependent Scholarship Committee – No Report
2. Information Technology Advisory Committee – No Report
3. Strategic Planning Committee – No Report

9. New Business

A.  Staff representative for Women’s Studies Advisory Council – Benitz contacted Amy German in Academic Advising about serving as a staff representative for this advisory council.  Kauders nominated Amy German to serve on the Women’s Studies Advisory Council; Bressington seconded.

10. Staff Senate Roundtable – Staff members update the Senate on events happening in their offices/departments

Cheryl Bressington – Doing job searches and budget sheets.

Audrey Kauders – MONA is featuring the art work of Barbara Takenaga, a North Platte native, this summer.  They are also hosting the Sounds of Summer Concert Series in July and August.

Mike Geiger – Preparing buildings for the bigger camps, asbestos abatement.

Fauneil Meier– Second group of NCN (Japanese) students have arrived

Jan Beerbohm – Fiscal year end reports; update web tuition

Deb Gilbertson – Cleaning dorms

Jami Schaffnitt – Fine tuning Blue & Gold activities and student activities calendar.

Brandon Benitz – Promoting Blue & Gold Welcome Week to new students and to organizations.

Announcements

1. Staff Senate is always seeking nominations for Employee and Department of the Month!  All nomination forms are available on-line on the Staff Senate webpage
2. Anyone in the UNK community is encouraged to attend Staff Senate meetings
3. Next Meeting – July 17^th @ 10:30 a.m. in the Sandhills Dining Room of the Nebraskan Student Union. 

11. Adjourn – meeting was adjourned at 11:36 a.m. – Kauders, Beerbohm