These are the minutes of the May 20th, 2008 Staff Senate Meeting. The minutes were approved at the June 17th, 2008 meeting.
Staff Senate Minutes
University of Nebraska Kearney
May 20th, 2008 – 10:30 a.m. in the Nebraskan Student Union – Sandhills Room
Present: Administrative: McQueen, Ballenger
Managerial/Professional: Schaffnitt, Petersen
Service: Geiger, Lester
Office: Meier, Wardyn, Williams
Ex-Officio: Lakey
Absent: Benitz, Heinowski, Kauders
Recognition of May Employee of the Month
Natasha Rethorst
Child Care Teacher in the Child Development Center
Recognition of Department of the Month
Emergency Operations Team (EOT)
Guest Speaker – Mike Pelster
Associate Director, Undergraduate Recruitment & Admissions
Mike Pelster talked with Staff Senate about SAE –Summer Advising & Enrollment.
It is a long running program at UNK. The major changes to this year’s program are the dates, there will be no July dates. The purpose of that is to enroll more students earlier. July can be used to chase down the students and ultimately set aside a date in July to enroll those students. The early SAE dates on April 19 and 20, had 107 Honors students.. So far SAE is up to 700 plus students as compared to 550 at this time in past years. The SAE Student Staff present a song and dance in the morning and one at noon during the lunch break. They worked very hard on the skit as well as the effort they put into the recruitment. The SAE staff is eight of UNK’s best and brightest and are chosen through a tough competition and interview process. Lakey asked why do the new students like UNK? Mike responded that UNK offers more personal attention, smaller class size, has more of “private” college feel, great location, and the new changes on campus including the new football field, residence halls, and Bruner Hall are a big plus. The current construction has been a challenge for SAE and campus tours but Mike says they are trying to paint a positive picture of the future at UNK.
I. Call to Order – Schaffnitt
II. Open Floor – Staff members are welcome to have open discussion with Senate
III. Adoption of Agenda – Members reported two names were misspelled and corrected
IV. Approval of Minutes – From May 20th meeting
V. Financial Report – Wardyn presented the May financial report to Senate members. Williams, Lakey
VI. Correspondence – None
VII. Unfinished Business – The Senate approved the changes in the By-Laws. Geiger, Petersen
VIII. Committee Reports –
A. Election Committee- No Report
B. Employee Recognition Committee – No Report
C. Performance Management Committee – No Report
D. Procedures Committee – No Report
E. Professional Development Committee – Petersen reported the Poker Walk will held Thursday, August 8,2008 9:30-12pm. The Staff Recognition Day will be 1/8/09 9-10am.
F. Mentoring Committee – No Report
G. Office/Service Dependent Scholarship Committee – No Report
H. Information Technology Advisory Committee – No Report
I. Strategic Planning Committee – No Report
J. Fundraising Committee (adhoc) – No Report
IX. New Business
A. Staff Senate Goals for 2008-2009
1. Update and Utilize Blackboard/Staff Senate Website - Lakey suggested putting the Staff Senate minutes out on Blackboard instead of e-mail for everyone to see. Petersen offered to get access to Blackboard for the Senate members who need it and to train the members on how to use Blackboard. Wardyn will have the Staff Senate website updated.
2. Enhance Staff Senate Exposure/Awareness - Schaffnitt proposed enhanced exposure and awareness of the Staff Senate
a. Introduction of members to visitors at each meeting
b. Staff Senate designation such as a name plate or addition to name tag
c. Assigning a mentor to new Senate member(s)
3. Change EOM/DOM announcement - Schaffnitt suggested adding a face to the name for Employee of the Month in e-mail announcement .
4. Utilize SAP - Wardyn will utilize SAP as the treasurer to pay bills and encourage more use of the Procurement Card for purchases
5. Treat Box Presentation - Schaffnitt recommended that the Treat Box presentation for the Department of the Month take place during the Staff Senate monthly meeting rather schedule two different presentations
6. 2008-2009 Budget – The Executive Committee is working on a draft of the budget.
7. University Online Calendar - Ballenger talked about the online calendar and that it can revitalized with the addition of UNK’s new web designer Nate Blazek.
8. UNK Day - Schaffnitt mentioned UNK Day, the transition from KSC to UNK will be July 1, 2008
9. Staff Senate Roundtable – Staff members update the Senate on events happening in their offices/departments
Laura Wardyn – auditors are on campus in the Finance Office
Lee McQueen – gave construction updates, MSAB fences to go up 2 weeks earlier, projects going well so far. University Drive to be closed for a period of time. Roy Alvarez is a member of facilities.
Jane Petersen – ITS has two new people, Matt in UNKConnections and Casey network analyst
Mike Geiger – Move out day is Thursday, International students move to Randall Hall, summer camps will begin in two weeks
Fauneil Meier – International Ed will get new Japanese and Chinese students, ELI starts next week
James Lester – Commons will open up today and Loper Express
John Lakey - State Auditors are on campus and they are affecting payroll. Verna Cope will be retiring on July 7, 2008. Finance is very busy in the summer.
Jami Schaffnitt – Planning for Blue & Gold, Family Day and Homecoming events. Handed out the Student/Parent Handbook
Renee Ballenger – Dwann Holmes is departing UNK, Karen Atteberry has retired, and Colleen Parmentor in the Copy Center is leaving in January. Soft intro to new UNK brand icon by Randy Mattley and Nathan Blazek is our new web designer. There is an imitative to determine whether or not continue with Affirmative Action
JoLene Williams - Admissions, Transfer Day is today and SAE starts tomorrow. The Honors Program is slowed for now but Gary is busy with the exchange program he has begun with Roosevelt Academy in the Netherlands, Amsterdam. We have one Honors student over there right now. One student from Roosevelt has been at UNK this spring semester and will be leaving tomorrow. Jane Christensen will be advising the Honors Students for SAE.
XI. Announcements
XII. Adjourn – meeting was adjourned at 12:00 p.m.