Staff Senate Minutes
University of Nebraska at Kearney
January 15th, 2008 - 10:30 a.m. in the
Nebraskan Student Union – Sandhills Room
Present: Administrative: Kauders, Bressington,
Managerial/Professional: Benitz, Schaffnitt
Service: Geiger, Heinowski, Gilbertson
Office: Meier
Ex-Officio: Lakey
Absent: McQueen, Beerbohm, Wardyn
Guests: Andy Jatczak (new executive chef at Chartwell’s)
Members of the Leadership UNK 2007-08: Julie Klahn, Rochelle Krueger,
Stacy Darveau, Michelle Widger, Bryce Abbey
Recognition of January Employee of the Month
Duane Espenhover
Building Mechanic, Residential and Greek Life
Recognition of Department of the Month
UNK Student Diplomats
Guest Speaker – Julie Klahn
Associate Director, UNK Health Care
Julie Klahn presented the DVD “Pandemic Flu, The Stage is Set” to Staff Senate members for viewing. This educational DVD was sponsored by UNK and Two Rivers Public Health Department. It describes how an influenza pandemic might occur and what the prevention methods are. Julie stated that fortunately a lot of the information in the DVD - in terms of the number of cases and the number of deaths - has not changed significantly since June 2007. She encouraged everyone to use the Two Rivers Public Health website as an excellent source of information. This web site provides links to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Also, the pandemic flu DVD is available to individuals, groups and departments for viewing. Julie said that is very frightening what might happen in a pandemic situation but being prepared is the key. She urged everyone to take precautions in dealing with the seasonal flu such as developing good hand-washing techniques, use of hand sanitizers, coughing/sneezing into the sleeve, and getting the flu vaccination.
I. Call to Order– Benitz
II. Open Floor– Staff members are welcome to have open discussion with Senate
III. Adoption of Agenda –Bressington, Kauders
IV. Approval of Minutes - Schaffnitt, Kauders
V. Financial Report – Kauders presented the January financial report to Senate members. Bressington, Schaffnitt
VI. Correspondence – None. Thank you cards were sent out to Vice Chancellor Barbara Johnson and Joni Weed from Staff Senate.
VII. Unfinished Business
A. Staff Senate Budget Approval for 2007-2008 – A motion was made by Kauders/Geiger to approve the 2007-2008 Staff Senate Budget. Motion was carried by Senate members.
VIII. Committee Reports
Election Committee – Benitz – Discussion was held among Senate members on how best to contact administrative and service personnel to encourage their involvement in Staff Senate. Brandon will attend staff meetings in Facilities and Residential & Greek Life to promote Staff Senate.
B. Employee Recognition Committee – No Report
C. Performance Management Committee – No Report
D. Procedures Committee – No Report
E. Professional Development Committee – No Report
F. Mentoring Office/Service Dependent Scholarship Committee – No Report
G. Information Technology Advisory Committee – No Report
H. Strategic Planning Committee – No Report
I. Fundraising Committee (ad hoc) – No Report
IX. New Business
Faculty Development Program to China Opportunity for Staff – Staff members are able to apply for the Faculty Development Program at Shandong University in Weihai, China this summer. Staff members that can show a job responsibility directly tied to the education of our students academically or in a life-long sense is eligible to apply for the experience. The supervisor for the applicant would have to provide a minimum of $300. If there is staff that meets these requirements, they are encouraged to apply for this program. Applications are due to the International Education Office by February 28.
Friday Afternoon Club for February – Staff Senate will host the Friday Afternoon Club on February 8, at the Alumni House.
Staff Senate meeting dates for 2008 and 2009 – Future Staff Senate meeting dates were distributed to members.
X. Staff Senate Roundtable – Staff members update the Senate on events happening in their offices/departments
Fauneil Meier – We just finished up arrival week in our office. There were 57 new students who arrived from countries such as Korea, Chile, Benin, Togo, Brazil, Angola, Malawi, and France. Thirty-three of these students are in the English Language program.
Mike Geiger – Took advantage of the Christmas break where students were not here. We got several projects done such as floors re-tiled, doors hung - some things that needed to be done and are difficult to do when there is traffic.
Wilma Heinowski – We have been busy with the start of school and the closing of Lot 7. The thing that everyone needs to remember is that we will eventually be a walking only campus. Keep in mind that when you are coming in late on campus, to have some options of where you will park. We are also in the process of doing a software update and, hopefully, with this new software you will be able to purchase parking permits and pay for parking tickets on-line.
Audrey Kauders – We are starting something that I am not sure has ever be done at MONA before. One of the faculty members, Dr. Donna Alden, is teaching a methods class this semester that has three seniors in the class. Dr. Alden is partnering with us to offer a sequential art class for 3rd – 5th grades after school.
The three senior art education students will each teach a two-part session. They will be guided by Jill Norblade and Dr. Donna Alden. We are very excited about this at MONA and feel that there is a real need for a program like this in Kearney.
Brandon Benitz – UNK, in cooperation with the Kearney Chamber of Commerce, will be hosting a National Honor Society Conference on campus tomorrow. We figure at least 132 -145 National Honor Society students will be in the Student Union. Also, just for everyone’s awareness, I have been crunching the student conduct numbers and looking at a comparison between July 1, 2006-December 31, 2006 and July 1, 2007-December 31, 2007, I have found that our numbers are up 22% in terms of the number of cases that we have dealt with – arrests on campus, Student Code of Conduct violations, etc. This is due to the fact that faculty are requiring students to be held more accountable for their actions, Public Safety officers are proactive in their enforcement, as well as a more effective job of documenting student misconduct cases, however minor. At some universities, their numbers are up 70%.
Cheryl Bressington – We are working onfinalizing the funding for the diversity program on April 22. Dr. Steve Robbins will be here to do his talk on “Unintentional Tolerance”. He is a very dynamic speaker and I encourage you to attend that. I am working on another presentation where legal counsel will be coming out and talking to various groups or individuals that deal with students that have behavioral issues. This presentation will take place in February. Also, I will be working with a small group of females to do a Title IX compliance survey which has to be completed by April 1 to meet the NCAA regulations.
Jami Schaffnitt – The Cheer and Dance team have been working on their Kids’ Camp that will be held on January 26, at 10:00 a.m. in the Student Union. On January 31, Jim Wand, the hypnotist, will be appearing for his 20th year at UNK. We are going to celebrate with cake and ice cream with him. February 12 is the Peking Acrobats and if you are familiar with the group that performed at UNK several years ago – this is a little bit different, this company will be performing with a live orchestra.
John Lakey – The most significant thing happening now in my area is that SAP is going through an upgrade – which will go live on April 14. Users probably won’t see much difference in the screens this time. The biggest thing that will be happening between now and April 14 is the testing that staff in Business and Finance will be doing to make sure that the upgrade works like it should. End-users will see a new portal system which they are calling Firefly. ESS and SAP will be a part of the portal system. On January 30, we will have a couple of people here from Central Computing that will talk at one of our Spot Checks about some of the changes we might see to SAP and ESS. There will be three sessions offered and those session dates will be announced. Please put the date on your calendars.
Deb Gilbertson – In our department, we went up to University Heights and cleaned when we got back from Christmas and got those apartments ready. I think that most of us were glad that the students were back.
Leadership UNK Participants “Roundtable”:
Julie Klahn – We are involved with the international students that are arriving and that is exciting! We are working on a project that is university-wide which is getting immunizations on-line. This on-line record will follow a student if they transfer to UNO or UNL. We are also getting closer to having an electronic health record – which is in the future for us.
Rochelle Krueger – Our new technical services librarian started yesterday. I am also on the search committee for the curriculum librarian. We hope to be bringing a couple of people on campus next month.
Stacy Darveau – We are busy with the start of school and making sure all of the students get to the right rooms.
Bryce Abbey – In Health and Sports, we are kicking off ‘En-lighten Nebraska’ and hoping to be starting that on the UNK campus in the next day or two. On the exercise science side of things, we are bringing two faculty members on to campus for our Great Nebraska Physical Activity Initiative. We are hoping to do more intervention-type research and getting out into the communities – not just Kearney but the surrounding areas. We are trying to get kids more physically active and to stop the obesity levels we are seeing.
Michelle Widger – In Alumni, we have a south California gathering coming up and two in Arizona. If you want to know more about those – they are on the website.
XI. Announcements
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
Anyone in the UNK community is encouraged to attend Staff Senate meetings. Next Meeting – February 19th @ 10:30 a.m. in the Sandhills Room of the Nebraskan Student Union.
XI. Adjourn – meeting was adjourned at 11:52 a.m. – Kauders, Schaffnitt