Unclassified Senate
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Unclassified Senate

Minutes from
UPSA Executive Board Meeting
Thursday, December 9, 2004


Kathryn Tuttle, UPSA's representative to the Planning and Resources Committee, reported on the work of that committee.

The Board heard reports from the following: the President; Treasurer; chairs of the Professional Development, Public Relations, and Governance & Representation Committees; and Classified Senate Representative.

Minutes
Minutes from November 11, 2004 were approved, no changes. 

Treasurer's Report - Ray Hummert
We spent $166.50 for an UDK advertisement that ran 10/27/04. Our current balance is $2,456.50. It was noted that we will incur additional expenses for our second brochure.

President's Report - Dan Consolver

Committee Reports:

Professional Development: Pam plans to get the committee together to schedule spring semester events. In response to Pam's request, board members had the following suggestions:
  • Paul Carttar, the new executive vice-chancellor, to discuss legislative issues
  • Medical insurance issues with Sandy Praeger, the state insurance commissioner. It was agreed to invite classified staff to this event.
  • For late May, visual identity

Public Relations: Additional ads in the UDK are planned. Jill said that the new brochure will be ready to send to legislators before our visit as long as our trip was not before late February or early March, which the board felt was good timing.

Representation and Governance: Kevin is planning a meeting of the committee for early January to plan the trip to the legislature. Before the meeting, Kevin will contact the local state representatives. The board discussed possible talking points for the legislature visit, including salaries and health care insurance. The discussion of medical insurance seems appropriate in light of the Governor's appointment of a task force to look at health care insurance. Jeannette reminded us that the Provost had made it clear that trips to the legislature were on vacation time, not work time. Dan said that he would talk to the unclassified staff representatives from Wichita State about coordinating the trip to the legislature.

Classified Senate: The Classified Senate discussed the following topics at its last meeting: (1) Separating from state employment system, (2) planning their legislative day, (3) creating another committee to be responsible for communicating with classified staff electronically, and (4) reacting to the proposal to provide tuition assistance for the dependents of university faculty and staff.

The board discussed briefly how we could get feedback from unclassified staff on the issue of tuition assistance for dependents. Dan suggested that we put a questionnaire on this issue on the election ballot this spring and also discuss at a general meeting in the fall if the topic is still relevant.

The board discussed the restructuring proposal and the time line for the vote on the proposal. The board agreed to complete one of the following steps a month:

  • Publicize the proposal to all unclassified staff
  • Get feedback from staff
  • Incorporate feedback into a revised proposal
  • Submit a final document for vote

Pam will change the revised by-laws to reflect both the current university governance structure and possible changes to university governance. Dan mentioned that SenEx hasn't acted on proposed changes in awhile and he will check on the status of the proposed changes. The board agreed that the proposal should include the following meeting frequency:

  • Unclassified Senate: four per semester and one per summer meetings
  • Executive Board: monthly meetings during the academic year and two meetings in the summer

Reva Friedman-Nimz, chair of the Retirees Rights & Benefits committee, asked that the board send an UPSA representative to the next committee meeting to participate in the discussion of retiree medical insurance. Pam will attend the meeting as Dan has scheduling conflict.

Submitted by Pam Houston