THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA

STAFF SENATE

(NORMAN CAMPUS)

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Chair Beth Gatewood called the meeting to order at 1:35 p.m. in the Scholars Room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

Officers present — Beth Gatewood, Chair; Kathy Gross, Recording Secretary

Officers absent — Linda McCarty, Chair-Elect; Betty Love, Immediate Past Chair

Staff present — Barbara Perry, Administrative Coordinator; Ke’Yonna Wynn, Student Assistant

Representatives present — Hourly Employees Council: Diana Fitzpatrick, Ed Fontaine, Kim Haddad, Jack Shoopman, Dee Hayes, Carolyn Irons, Troy Schmidt, David Kizer; Informational Staff Association: Debbie Copp, Elaine Bradshaw, Michael Goodwin; Organizational Staff Council: Cathy Brister, Sandi Emond, Tami Kinsey, Cathy Trujillo, Jannie Porter; Administrative Staff Council: Sue-Anna Miller

Representatives absent — Hourly Employees Council: Robert Murphy, Melanie Wilburn, Donna Stephens; Informational Staff Association: Anna Love, Debi Gentis, Lisa Bowles; Organizational Staff Council: Matt Berry; Administrative Staff Council: Robbie Wahnee

Guests present — David Houck, Physical Plant; Linda Smith, Price College of Business; Cathy Yeaman, Advanced Programs; Theta Dempsey, Parking and Transportation Services; Amy Davenport, Recreational Services; Stephen Whiting, The Oklahoma Daily

Chair Beth Gatewood welcomed and introduced Amy Davenport

REMARKS BY AMY DAVENPORT, DIRECTOR, RECREATIONAL SERVICES

Chair of the Norman Campus Campaign Amy Davenport spoke to the group about the importance of giving back to OU. She said when faculty and staff participate in Campus Campaign, it demonstrates how much we care about where we work and what we do. She mentioned the Sooner Heritage Scholarships made possible through Campus Campaign and said that last year, every OU employee [or their dependent] who applied for that scholarship was awarded. She said the unsolicited funds received through Campus Campaign this year will be applied to the reforestation efforts. During the December ice storm, over 1,000 trees on campus were lost. Amy said the trees held many personal memories for her and are important to all of us.

Amy stressed that it is not the size of the donation that is important, but participation in the campaign that they are seeking, and that there are several ways to participate, from purchasing a t-shirt to participating in the online auction. Packets with information about Campus Campaign will be going out to staff within the next few weeks. The online auction will run from March 31 to April 4 and there will be many good prizes in the auction, including some wellness packages put together by Huston Huffman Center. Becky Tramel is the contact person and can be reached at 325-7873 for more information.

PRESENTATION OF BIG EVENT

Since the representative from The Big Event had not arrived yet, Beth moved on to the other business.

CHAIR’S COMMUNICATIONS

Beth said she had received a memo from Employment Benefits Committee Chair Darryl McCullough thanking Staff Senate for our letter concerning the inclusion of Goddard Health Center as a provider during the RFP process. (Staff Senate’s letter was linked to the agenda under Correspondence.) Beth reported that on February 14 she had met with Vice President for Executive and Administrative Affairs Nick Hathaway. They briefly discussed the budget which she said is not looking promising. She said the Executive Committee of the Norman Campus would be traveling to the Health Sciences Center on February 25 for a joint Executive Committee meeting with HSC and Tulsa.

ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES OF JANUARY 16, 2008

On motion by Cathy Brister, the minutes of the January 16, 2008, meeting were accepted as written.

OTHER COMMUNICATIONS

Administrative Staff Council: President Sue-Anna Miller reported that ASC did not meet in February.

Informational Staff Association: ISA Vice President Michael Goodwin reported that ISA met on February 13. Nick Key from Information Technology was the guest speaker. Michael reported that the campus will switch over to the use of the last 4 digits of the OU ID as part of the employee’s 4x4 instead of the last four numbers of the Social Security number. The group discussed the Staff Week art exhibit, named its awards selection committee and planned their March 5 meeting.

Hourly Employees Council: President Diana Fitzpatrick reported that HEC met on February 13. Their group is preparing for their annual election. This year they will do a survey in conjunction with their nomination ballot. The group discussed their ice cream social which is on track. The ice cream and cookies have been confirmed. Their Communications Committee is working on another edition of the Hourglass Newsletter. Diana said their Awards Selection Committee would get together soon to screen applications and make selections for the staff merit awards.

Organizational Staff Council: President Cathy Brister said OSC met on February 7. Joe Grego from the OU Federal Excess Property Program was their speaker. Cathy said it was a very interesting program. The group spent the remainder of their meeting discussing bingo and working out the logistics for that event.

STANDING COMMITTEES

Awards Committee: Awards Committee Chair Cathy Yeaman attended the meeting. She said the ceremony is set for April 22 and encouraged people to attend.

Personnel Policies Committee: PPC Chair Linda Smith said PPC met on January 24. Robbie Wahnee, speaking on FMLA, and Myla Bryant, speaking on Workers Compensation were the guest speakers. The next meeting will take place on February 27.

OU Staff Week: Administrative Coordinator Barbara Perry reported that the Staff Week t-shirt sales campaign would run from February 29 through March 14. A short sleeve blue t-shirt and a long sleeve grey shirt will be offered.

Communications Committee: Barbara said the Communications Committee met that morning. Kim Claxton from CCE gave a people skills database presentation. The committee is moving forward with this project.

REPORTS

The following reports were linked to the February agenda:

Staff Senate Foundation account report.

Minutes of the Employment Benefits Committee meeting of November 15, 2007.

NOTE: The PPC response to Staff Senate’s motion regarding funding for staff promotions was pulled from the agenda as a result of a request by a member of the Personnel Policies Committee so the item could be discussed further by the PPC.

NEW BUSINESS

Approval of recommended nomination to Budget Council: This item was linked to the agenda. Due to the retirement of Wanda Gress from the University, a vacancy existed on the Budget Council. Melody Astani, Office of the Bursar, was being recommended to fill this vacancy. Cathy Brister made a motion to approve the nomination of Melody Astani. The motion was seconded and passed on a voice vote.

Consideration of revision approved by Faculty Senate on February 11, 2008, to charge of Recreational Services Advisory Committee: The revised charge was linked to the agenda. Debbie Copp commented that the old description was outdated and made a motion to accept the revised charge. The motion was seconded and passed on a voice vote.

MISCELLANEOUS

Hourly Employees Council member Diana Fitzpatrick who is serving on the RFP Evaluation Committee said the committee would meet on February 22 to summarize what had been submitted by the vendors. She said the University’s consultant, Segal, would do a presentation and they will decide which companies would make presentations to the committee on March 12 and 13.

ADJOURNMENT

As there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 1:53 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Perry

Administrative Coordinator

Kathy Gross

Recording Secretary