THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA
STAFF SENATE
(NORMAN CAMPUS)
Wednesday December 19,
2012
Chair Chris Cook called the meeting to order at 1:37 p.m. in the Scholars
Room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union.
Officers present – Chris Cook, Chair; Amanda
Pai, Chair-Elect; Fran Stephens, Immediate Past Chair
Officers
absent – Cathy Trujillo, Recording Secretary
Staff
present – Melissa Lane, Administrative Coordinator
Representatives present – Hourly Employees Council: Linda Smith, John
Bishop, David Kizer; Informational Staff Association: Shawn Gralla, Connie
Smith, Priscilla Crawford, Bruce Alcock; Organizational Staff Council: Reta
Tarver, Nancy Matthews, Jackie Downing, Betty Love, Chris McNabb; Administrative
Staff Council: Jennifer Doughty
Representatives absent — Hourly Employees Council: Carolyn Taylor, David
Houck, Cindy Simpson, Cecilia McEwen, Jack
Shoopman, Laura Shoopman, Carmen Eppler, Kim Haddad, Sena Golden; Informational
Staff Association: Gordan Carrie, Elaine Bradshaw; Organizational
Staff Council: Justin Daniels; Administrative Staff Council: Robbie Wahnee
Guests present — Debbie Copp and Dan
Hough
CHAIR’S COMMUNICATIONS
Chris attended the Faculty Senate meeting of December 10th, 2012, where,
the Faculty Senate took up the Staff Senate resolution supporting Domestic
Partner Job Protection Benefits. The faculty unanimously voted to support the
resolution without debate. The Chair received a copy of the letter indicating
their support; it was also sent to President Boren.
Chris was not able to meet with Nick Hathaway, Vice President for
Executive and Administrative Affairs this month.
Informational Staff Association has requested Staff Senate look into
reported changes to the leave accrual policies. The Chair will investigate in
January and set a course of action for the January meeting.
REPORTS FROM MEMBER GROUPS
Administrative
Staff Council: President Jennifer Doughty reported that they had
their holiday meal; worked on the staff week picnic budget (the same as last
year), the staff week menu (the same as last year), and Nick Hathaway spoke to
the group.
Hourly
Employees Council: President Carolyn Taylor reported by email that they counted the
raffle ticket sales and had a total of $1,200.
They then voted on the disbursement of funds. A donation will be made of $50 to the
Salvation Army at the request of one of our recipients, $300 to the Oklahoma
Regional Food Bank that provides food for the Norman Backpack Program and the
remainder of funds will go to the individuals from the Help yOUr
Neighbor Fund. They will receive Wal-Mart gift cards along with holiday dinners
provided by Housing and Food Services.
Informational
Staff Association: President
Elect Shawn Gralla reported that they collected
donations for participation in the Citizens' Advisory Board "Secret
Santa" program.
Organizational
Staff Council: Representative
Betty Love reported that they invited representatives from the two charities
that the council sponsored this year. Mikaela Borecky from Big Brothers Big Sisters and Katie Fitzgerald
from The Center for Children and Family gave an update on all the work being
done at their organizations. OSC completed their fall raffle fundraiser and
have started the OU family’s holiday drive. They have three OU families that they
will be collecting donations for, through December 20th. They are still working on creating a new
website, but the Facebook page is up and going.
REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES
Awards
Committee: By email Chair Liz Cooley reported that they did
not meet.
Communications
Committee: By email Chair Gina Powell reported that they did
not meet.
Staff
Initiatives Committee: Chair Dan Hough reported that they discussed
three items: 1. Training for Robert's Rules of Order; Michael Kramer,
Communications Department Chair, has agreed to teach a 1 1/2 hour course for HR
in the spring. They are working on
getting that scheduled. 2. Career
Progress Paths; they discussed a proposal for the University to encourage staff
ability to progress in their career during University employment. They are not necessarily looking at salary
increases, but ways that staff can find ways to advance their careers with help
from HR. The plan would include Norman
Campus and HSC positions (and maybe Tulsa as well). Several ideas were discussed and a more
specific proposal will be discussed at the next meeting. 3. Time off for blood donations; following up
on a discussion from OSC, they are looking into adding time off from work for blood
donations to the staff handbook section on organ and bone marrow
donations. They would like to clarify
and/or standardize time used for blood donations. 4. The blood donation discussion led to the
idea of a policy encouraging other volunteer activities during working
hours. They will discuss this further at
the next meeting.
Staff
Week Committee: By email Chair Terri Smith reported that they
discussed subcommittee reports and as of now, everything is moving along as
planned. Almost all of the volunteers to work concessions have received
their food handler’s permit, which is required. They discussed
alternative options for the spring fundraiser with the Chair asking the
committee to come up with some ideas and send them to her for the January meeting.
REPORTS OF SPECIAL (AD HOC) COMMITTEES
Employee
Benefits Committee: Debbie Copp reported that
they did not meet.
OTHER REPORTS
The
following reports were linked to the December agenda:
Staff Senate Foundation account report
Minutes of Employment Benefits Committee meeting
for September 2012
OLD BUSINESS
NEW BUSINESS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
ADJOURNMENT
As there was no further business, the meeting
adjourned at 2:00 p.m.
NEXT REGULAR MEETING: January 16, 2013
Respectfully submitted,
Melissa Lane
Administrative Coordinator
Cathy Trujillo
Recording Secretary