Staff
Assembly Minutes
April
2, 2002
Present:
Judy Alter, Jean Andrus, Karen Baker, Chris Briones, Emily Burgwyn, Alice
Carter, Nancy Carter, Rafael
Chavez, Carlene Coover, Kay Edmondson, Roger Fisher, Terri Gartner, Rebecca
Glass, Julie Graver, Nancy Grieser, Ida Hernandez, Jack Hesselbrock, Dorothy
Holland, Sharon Hudson, Harriet Hunt, Roger Ivy, Donna Jackson, Pam James,
Jacobo Juarez, Mary Kaszynski, Mary Lane, Joe Laster, Tommy Love, Jennifer
Lowrance, Jake Martinez, Dennis Odom, Tara Pope, Barbara Savak, Bob Seal,
Kathy Smith, DeVonna Tinney, Esco Weatherspoon.
Guests:
Brandon Ortiz (Skiff), Mary Patton, Chancellor Ferrari, John Weis.
Absent:
Victor
Baeza, Ross Bailey, Elaine Brown, John Butler, Lela Cardona, Chris Drake,
Marilyn Eudaly, Laurie Fetter, Marshall Gordon, Debbi Mar, Milton Overton,
Joan Owens, Alison Trinkle.
The
meeting was called to order at 3:38 p.m. Minutes were read and approved as
written.
Chair’s
Report: Bob
reported that the joint meeting of the Faculty Senate, Staff Assembly and
Student Government Association was a success.
Paul Harrel, writer for the Star Telegram spoke on “Community.”
Bob later met with Carolyn Cagle of the Faculty Senate and Chelsea
Hudson of the Student Government Association to discuss suggestions received
during the brain-storm session. It
is hoped that the joint meetings will continue once or twice a year in the
future.
Bob
also announced the approval of an annual award for Staff to be given at the
fall Faculty/Staff luncheon. He
appointed a committee charged with creating guidelines for the award.
The committee consists of John Butler, Chair; Chris Briones, Emily
Burgwyn; Laurie Fetter, Julie Graver; Jacobo Juarez, Karen Baker (Executive
Committee); and Donna Jackson.
Also,
Bob e-mailed Larry Lauer about getting the Faculty/Staff Handbook on-line and
also translated into Spanish. Bob
noted that the suggestion was well-received and Larry will look into it.
If
ten or more people are interested, Bonnie Frederick (Spanish) will
offer a class in the fall for English speakers to learn Spanish.
There will be a modest fee.
Chancellor’s
Report:
Chancellor Ferrari began his report by stating some of the high points of the
past academic year: The energy
and strength of the faculty and staff continues the momentum of the last
couple of years; good financial strength of the University; adjustments to
staff salaries; faculty work on the core curriculum; self-study for
accreditation; new hires at all levels; visability of TCU in the community;
facilities projects over the last year; undergraduate requests for admission
still increasing; and he thanked the Staff Assembly for doing such a great
job, incuding recommendations concerning salary increases and improved working
conditions.
Dr. Ferrari continued by outlining some of the challenges that we, as a University, face in the coming year(s)—financial issues, rising tuition, competition for students (with other private institutions); additional capitol improvement projects; etc.
Did
You Know? Dr.
Mary Patton of the School of Education spoke to us concerning day-care on
campus. She will take some
suggestions and questions back to a Task Force she is involved in concerning
this issue.
Human Resources Report: John Weis reported that during their last meeting, the Trustees allotted $100,000 for salary increases for long term employees. This has resulted in a 3% base salary increase for employees having 15 or more years of service and satisfactory performance.
Paid
Time Off - a focus group (11 people) representative of each division and
with 4 Staff Assembly members will begin the process of looking into PTO as
opposed to our current system of sick leave and vacation allowances.
Committee
Reports:
Community
Service—Mary Lane reported on the success of Reading Frogs.
Also, there were 14 volunteers who helped with the RISE School Easter
Egg hunt. An oak tree is still
needed to plant for Arbor Day. It
was reported that 13 people volunteered and helped last Saturday with Habitat
for Humanity.
Committee on Committees—Rebecca Glass informed us that as soon as new
members of Staff Assembly are announced, nominations are due for officers for
2002-2003, so that elections may be held at the next meeting.
Elections—Carlene Coover said that those who didn’t vote on-line on the
final ballot should have received paper ballots.
Counting of votes will take place on Friday.
Recreation Center—An advisory board of staff, faculty, students and alumni
is meeting and drawing up guidelines on various aspects of rules for the new
Rec Center that is expected to open in January 2003.
In the fall we hope to have some of the Rec Center staff at a Staff
Assembly Meeting to make a presentation and perhaps have a walk-through of the
facility.
Meeting
adjourned at 4:45.