Staff Assembly Meeting
December 2, 2003
Members:
Chris Arreguin, Ruben Ayala, Karen
Baker, McLeod Baker, Gay Boydston, Jonathan Brown, Emily Burgwyn, Jackie
Callanan, Alice Carter, Nancy Carter, Randy Cobb, Carlene Coover, Brad Davis,
Dan Dehart, Kay Edmondson, Craig Elders, Marilyn Eudaly, Roger Fisher, Ervey
Garcia, Rocio Garcia, Rebecca Glass, Julie Graver, Mesina Gray, David Grebel,
Nancy Grieser, Dorothy Holland, John Householder, Pam Hughes, Mary Kaszynski,
Mary Lane, Joe Laster, Tommy Love, Debbie Mar, Valeria McDougle, Amy McDurham,
Gabriel Perez, Tara Pope, Melinda Rubenkoenig, Emily Sullivan, DeVonna Tinney,
Hao Tran, Darron Turner, Robert Vann, Juan Varela, Shawn Wagner, Esco
Weatherspoon, Paula Work, and Richard Yantis.
Guests:
Chancellor Victor Boschini, Jim Mayne of Information Services, and Susan
Oakley and John Weis of Human Resources.
Absent:
Ross Bailey, Lois Biege, Terri
Chanlatte, Rafael Chavez, Josh Harmon, Sharon Hudson, Maria Leyva, Kevin
O’Connell, Barbara Savak, Donna Shepherd, Tracy Syler-Doctson, and David Yale.
Welcome:
The meeting was called to order at 3:31 p.m. by Chair David Grebel.
Minutes:
The November minutes were approved as
submitted.
Chancellor’s
Remarks:
Chancellor Boschini described the campus-wide strategic planning effort
that is scheduled to kick off tonight. The
goals are:
To
build upon the groundbreaking work of The Commission on the Future of
TCU.
To
more closely align strategic planning with multi-year budgeting cycles.
To
identify short-range institutional priorities.
To
fine-tune the case for the fund-raising campaign.
To
develop a longer-range institutional world-view.
To
create an ongoing university-wide planning process.
Dr.
George Kaludis, a consultant, will support the process, which will be led by Dr.
Leo Munson and Dr. Nowell Donovan. More
information is available at www.strategicplanning.tcu.edu.
Chancellor
Boschini is excited about TCU’s invitation to play in the inaugural Fort Worth
Bowl on December 23, and he hopes the 586 students involved are not disappointed
that the bowl game is not in another city.
Suggestion
Program: Susan
Oakley from Human Resources provided an update about the suggestion program
described at the November meeting. She
clarified that the program will accept suggestions from staff members about how
to improve the employee’s department, a topic that was discussed at the
previous meeting. Oakley
distributed a summary of the program and a draft of the suggestion form.
These documents will be finalized soon, and staff members will learn more
about how to submit suggestions when the marketing campaign begins in January.
Campus
Computer Security:
Jim Mayne of Information Services reported that this has been a difficult
year for maintaining computer security at TCU.
To improve security, he asked staff members to lock their computers when
away, or to set the screen-saver to automatically lock the computer after a
certain time interval. Leave the
computer on at night so that anti-virus software can be run and updated
automatically. (It is okay to turn
the monitor off.) For the good of
the network, infected machines will be disabled until they are fixed. A guest network will be created for visitors who are making
presentations on campus. By next
fall, TCU hopes to have an automatic process that scans and updates student
computers as many of the problems this fall were caused by students plugging
infected computers into the network.
Committee
Reports:
Committee
on Committees:
Chair Nancy Grieser reported that there were two nominees for the
position of chair-elect: Emily
Burgwyn and Darron Turner. No
additional nominations were made from the floor.
Rebecca Glass and Julie Graver of the elections committee passed out
ballots. (Nominee Emily Burgwyn is
chair of the elections committee, but she was not involved in the election
process.)
By-laws
Committee:
Melinda Rubenkoenig presented the chancellor’s recommended change to
the proposed change in by-law IV.B.2. about releasing employees for Staff
Assembly committee meetings. She
emphasized that this is a change of wording rather than intent.
The proposed by-law reads as follows (changes in italics):
“Staff Assembly Committees shall meet on the second Tuesday of each
month during the academic year at 3:30 p.m. unless otherwise scheduled.
Assembly members shall obtain appropriate supervisory approval for
released time to attend committee meetings.”
The by-law passed as proposed, so it will be forwarded for staff
approval and then forwarded to the chancellor’s office for approval. Committee chairs were reminded to schedule committee meetings
well in advance so employees are able to arrange time off work for the meetings.
Executive
Committee:
Emily
Burgwyn, one of the representatives to the university’s Budget Committee,
reported that the primary goal is the implementation of the new core
curriculum, which includes hiring fewer adjunct and more tenure-track
professors. Another goal is to
increase financial aid at a rate greater than just keeping pace with the
amount of annual tuition increases. There
are no decisions yet about next year’s tuition increase or salary
increase.
Craig
Elders, a representative on the university’s Traffic Committee, reported
that construction of apartments will begin in March on a parking lot on the
east campus (often called the “Perotti’s lot”). During construction 307 spaces will be lost, but that is
partially offset by 163 new spaces recently created nearby.
When the apartments are complete, approximately 500 spaces will be
available for residents, presumably TCU students.
The committee has discussed using buses, particularly as it is
TCU’s long-term goal to become a pedestrian campus and move all parking to
the perimeter. The building of
a security fence along the edge of the football parking lot near the creek
is being considered.
David
Grebel reported that the tuition benefit proposal recommended by the Staff
Assembly in October has been sent to the Cabinet and is under review.
David
Grebel reported that Chancellor Boschini is receptive to the idea of a
compensation task force and has asked the Assembly to formally request its
creation, which the executive committee will do.
Professional
Development Committee: Chair
Mary Kaszynski reported that 30 people attended this morning’s seminar by
Connie Hurn on interpersonal communication.
Elections
Committee:
Julie Graver announced that Emily Burgwyn won the election as new
chair-elect. She will complete the
2003-04 term as chair-elect and will serve as chair in 2004-05.
Burgwyn’s election as chair-elect means that there is now a vacancy for
assistant secretary for the remainder of 2003-04.
The primary responsibility of the assistant secretary is to manage
elections. Nominations should be
sent to Nancy Grieser, chair of the committee on committees.
Elections will be held at the next Staff Assembly meeting in February.
Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 4:30 p.m., and members held a holiday reception in the foyer.