COE STAFF ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
July 25, 2016
Attendees: Sally Buckner, Anyta Cavitt (via phone), Ronda Cox, Annette Cozort, Larry Dudley, Robin Farris, David Hough, Amanda Lee, Juli Panza, Teresa Steele
The meeting was brought to order at 1:00 p.m. by Dean Hough.
- Background and Purpose of SAC (FAC) (SAC) (CAC)
- Dean Hough explained that he has from time to time consulted with various advisory councils made up of different groups, e.g., Faculty Advisory Council, Student Advisory Community Advisory, and now the Staff Advisory Council (SAC). He noted the SAC was formed after a suggestion by the Faculty Advisory Council, i.e., staff could have important input and make valuable suggestions. He went on to give examples of the types of decisions the advisory councils had help make in the past. It is with this backdrop that Dean Hough chose to constitute a SAC to help with the decision-making process, as appropriate, and to offer suggestions for organizational improvement. He told the group that if they have ideas for agenda items they can send them to Teresa and she will put them on the agenda.
- Hill Hall renovations
- Dean Hough informed the group that COE will be vacating Hill Hall in May of 2017, but at this time we do not know where everyone will be housed during the renovation. Some of the possible locations are Glen Isle Center on Glenstone and PCOB downtown. It is possible that part of COE will go to Glen Isle Center and part to PCOB. A search is underway for a location on campus for Ed Advisement, as students need the professional advisors to be accessible. Greenwood has volunteered space at their location, but security is an issue. This won’t be settled for several months, and there will be more meetings to help make decisions. The SAC will be part of this process.
- Protecting Staff Time
Dean Hough asked the following questions: What things interfere with your ability to complete duties, tasks, and assignments? How might we work smarter, not harder? Is there things staff are required to do that interfere with jobs duties and assignments? Two members of the committee commented that they were required to do some shopping for supplies that took them away from their offices. Others noted they often attend meetings that are unnecessary and take them out of the office. The dean agreed to ask department heads and unit leaders to be sensitive in the use of staff time and not require them to attend meetings that do not apply to their job. The dean also asked committee members to email him with any others thoughts regarding the protection of staff time.
New FLSA guidelines were discussed. (See attachment.) Conversation centered around exempt and non-exempt employees and overtime. A plan will be in place by December to address these new FLSA guidelines.
- The university has developed a five-year long range plan, and in turn COE will develop a long range plan that will support the university’s plan. The dean discuss the “Complete College America” program and told staff they may be hearing more about this and other initiatives aimed at improving retention and graduation rates. Robin Farris suggested that students need to know about the Center City Counseling Clinic to help with anxiety, etc. Juli Panza noted that the CCCC was mentioned during SOAR, but thought that it should be mentioned again. She and the rest of our professional advisors do refer students they feel could benefit from the services at CCCC. Juli also mentioned that a student with a GPA of less than 2.75 does a SWOT analysis with them. This helps the student identify Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats and helps focus on what can be done to help obtain better grades. The advisors also suggest tutoring at the Bear Claw to students. Juli also suggested developing a program for peer mentoring. She felt it would be very helpful for a freshman to be mentored by a junior or senior. It was also suggested that we go to high schools to let them know what is going on at the Child Development Center. The dean thanked everyone for their suggestions and asked that if the members thought of any other ideas to please send them to him.
- SAC members agreed to meet on a monthly basis, with the idea that if there was nothing to discuss the meeting would be canceled, and that Mondays worked for everyone. It was noted that once school started, the current meeting time would be hard for some because of office coverage during lunch. The dean stated he would ask the Provost if he would approve the dean providing lunch to the members and if so, we would move the meetings to noon and enjoy lunch during the meetings. Dean Hough stated that he will try to send out the agenda in advance, but sometimes that will not be possible.
- The meeting was ended by Teresa reminding the committee how the members were chosen and letting each member know who they were responsible for representing. It was decided that Teresa would send out the meeting minutes to all staff, and that there would be a caveat that stated that if they had any questions they could go to their representative on the committee.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Teresa Steele, Budget Officer