THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA

STAFF SENATE

(NORMAN CAMPUS)

Wednesday May 20, 2009

Chair Linda McCarty called the meeting to order at 1:34 p.m. in the Scholars Room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

Officers present — Linda McCarty, Chair; Diana Fitzpatrick, Chair-Elect; Beth Gatewood, Immediate Past Chair; Elaine Bradshaw, Recording Secretary

Staff Present — KeYonna Wynn, Student Assistant

Staff absent — Melissa Hosler, Administrative Coordinator

Representatives present — Hourly Employees Council: David Houck, Linda Smith, Tim Winkelman, Bobby Hardcastle, Carolyn Irons, Mary Peters, Troy Schmidt, David Kizer; Informational Staff Association: Michael Goodwin, Chris Cook, Debbie Copp, Dan Hough; Organizational Staff Council: Sandi Emond, Fran Stephens, Cathy Trujillo, Tami Kinsey;

Representatives absent — Hourly Employees Council: Connie Hall, Kim Haddad, Donna Stephens, Cindy Simpson; Informational Staff Association: Dick Trim, Debi Gentis; Organizational Staff Council: Luanne Howk, Nancy Matthews; Administrative Staff Council: Robbie Wahnee, Terri Sarsycki;

Guests present — Deb Wollenberg, Proxy for Administrative Staff Council; Margaret Vennochi, Chair of Personnel Policies Committee; Crystal Cushing, Member of Personnel Policies Committee; Margaret Smith, Chair-Elect for Staff Week Committee;

CHAIR’S COMMUNICATIONS

Linda said she met with Nick Hathaway on Monday and talked about budget, there are about $4 million dollars in stimulus and rainy day funds and hopefully the state has done a better job this year so there won’t be any cuts. There might be a possibility of furloughs but hopefully not, there has been no tuition increases through FY 2011. The retiree health committee should have a recommendation soon and they are going with age and service combined.

Changes in the Staff Senate office are being made, the Merit Award nomination forms are now online and you can start using the form June 1, 2009 through the end of February or March. Please do these nominations throughout the year. We are also going to start doing a lot of communications by e-mail so please let your areas know. We will be getting copies to the people in the Physical Plant that don’t have access to e-mail. Please start getting the word out to member groups.

The Walking Mishaps raised over $8,200.

ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES OF April 15, 2009

On motion by Fran Stephens, the minutes of the April 15, 2009, Staff Senate meeting were accepted.

OTHER COMMUNICATIONS

Hourly Employees Council: President David Houck said HEC met on May 13, 2009. The committee reported that their guests were Debbie Copp and Beth Gatewood. They talked about the ad-hoc committee formed for looking over constitutions. They also elected officers, David Kizer is President designate and Cecilia McEwen is the secretary. The elections are done and they have their representatives.

Organizational Staff Council: President Sandi Emond said OSC met on May 7, 2009. They talked about officer elections; they will do this at their June meeting. Zach Messitte, the Vice Provost for International Programs was the guest speaker. Debra Skeel reported that the ad-hoc committee for constitutions is in the process of scheduling their first meeting.

Informational Staff Association: President Michael Goodwin said ISA met May 6, 2009. They invited Merit Award recipients and nominees for a lunch of coke and pizza. They continue to support the Angel Food Ministries. The Staff Week Art Show was under budget this year. A donation ($100) was taken up for the All Sports Association in memory of Tom Gentis. Next meeting they will be electing officers.

Administrative Staff Council: Proxy Deb Wollenberg said ASC will meet on May 19, 2009. Dean Rich Taylor was the guest speaker. They elected officers, President will be Robbie Wahnee, Vice President Mechelle Gibson, Proxy will be Lezlie Pilkington, and the Secretary/Treasurer is Connie White.

STANDING COMMITTEES

Awards Committee: Chair Dan Hough wants to thank everyone that came, the ceremony went very well.

Communications Committee: They launched a new website, ou.edu/staff_communication

OU Staff Week Committee: Chair- Elect Margaret Smith reported that the week went very well. There are lots of pictures of all the events on the Staff Week website. They sold 60 sweatshirts in the fall and 623 t-shirts in the Spring. They collected $500 in canned and dry goods and they donated them to Food and Shelter for Friends. The Oklahoma Blood Institute received over 50 donations during the Health Fair there were also Health Screenings available. They had over 200 items donated from local businesses, 60 tables at the Health Fair (which required two large rooms), 800 people attended the Health Fair, 1,000 hamburgers were served, the craft fair had 50 tables, the art show had over 200 people attend, and 27 staff art entries.

Personnel Policies Committee: Chair Margaret Vennochi said they met on April 27, 2009. There was not a quorum, they had the Breastfeeding Policy up for vote and they have had overwhelming support.

Staff Professional Development: No report

CORRESPONDENCE

REPORTS

The following reports were linked to the May agenda:

Staff Senate Foundation account report.

Minutes of Employment Benefits Committee meeting for December 2008.

OLD BUSINESS

Ad Hoc Committee (for member group Website Guidelines): Website is still in development.

NEW, Ad Hoc Committee (for review of member groups constitution and bylaws): Chair Debbie Copp reported that they met this week. They talked about all of the constitutions of every member group and the things that need to be removed or changed. They are thinking about creating a template to make them consistent with all groups and each member is writing a portion of the template. The plan is to come back with a document with the changes that they would recommend and present them to the member groups and Staff Senate. The constitutions are not consistent with their purpose. They have decided that if they are going to ask the member groups to review their constitution then are going to also ask Staff Senate to allow them to make changes and recommendations to the Staff Senate constitutions. The next meeting is the first Tuesday in June.

NEW BUSINESS

Personnel Policies Committee has a Breastfeeding Policy that they would like the Staff Senate to review. After discussion and questions were answered Debbie Copp motioned that the policy be voted on by the Staff Senate and not be sent back to the member groups. David Houck seconded the motion. Voted on and the vote was in unanimous favor.

MISCELLANEOUS

ADJOURNMENT

As there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 2:13 p.m.

NEXT REGULAR MEETING: June 17, 2009 in the Scholars Room

Respectfully submitted,

Melissa Lane

Administrative Coordinator

Elaine Bradshaw

Recording Secretary