Employee Advisory Committee Minutes

Thursday, February 17, 2000, 1:00 p.m.

Library Conference Room

Present: Christina Updike, chair, Ralph Alberico, Hugh Brown, Norma Burkholder, Jacqueline Ciccone, Alfred Francfort, Robert Hanson, Irma Housden, Lisa Knicely, Ted Pelikan, Kathy Shuler, Sandra Terry, Camilla Washington, and Milla Sue Wisecarver.

Absent: Donna Burch, Cassie Henry, Carole Paulett, Shelli Short, and Janet Smith.

  1. Office of Affirmative Action Request for Assistance: James Wadley, Director of Affirmative Action talked with the EAC about a seminar on diversity for faculty and staff being planned for Friday, October 20, 2000. He asked for committee feedback on the title of the event, specific issues that should be addressed in addition to topics already listed on the draft flyer, recruiting people to attend the seminar, assistance with planning activities, the time of the event and the fee to be paid. The event is tentatively planned for the CFW room, and Jane L. Buck and Reginald Wilson are the tentative speakers. Topics that James has already planned to cover in the seminar include the origins of prejudices, capitalizing on national research to resolve campus issues, and strategies for diversity hiring. Committee members suggested that the seminar focus on diversity in the workplace. James expressed a concern that there might be little interest from faculty and staff to attend this event and asked for the committee’s feedback and assistance especially with this. The committee will discuss this item further at the next EAC meeting.
  1. Approval of minutes from January 27, 2000 meeting: The minutes were approved with no changes or corrections.
  1. President’s Address Subcommittee Report: Tina thanked the committee members who worked on all aspects of the recent mailing to employees. She received two suggested topics from employees for the President to address in his speech during spring break: the issue of tenure-track vs. revolving-term appointments and the issue of teamwork at JMU, not just within offices but also within divisions across campus. Committee members added topics:
  • Plans for increasing diversity on campus among faculty and staff.
  • News from the Legislative Session, especially the budget negotiations and the possible shortfalls in funding and faculty/staff positions.
  • Plans to recruit and retain a qualified work force.
  • The status of the new State compensation plan for classified staff and its impact on employees and supervisors as JMU implements this merit pay reward system.
  • An update on the “All Together One” theme as it relates to staff employees.
  • An update on the People Soft technology problems. Implementation of this software has impacted staff with increased workloads, extra training time, added hours in performing tasks and stress in dealing with malfunctions.
  • Is the University looking into the issue of whether the number of classified employees is in proportion to the growth of students, faculty and facilities? The classified staff has expressed the perception of overwhelming workloads due to the growth.

The committee asked Tina to emphasize to Dr. Rose that the audience for his speech would be mainly staff employees and issues specific to staff should be addressed. A list of topics and concerns will be forwarded to the committee for final review.

Facility arrangements for the March 9th speech have been made. Kathy and Ted will get the silk ferns for the stage. An announcement of the speech is on the EAC web page and has been publicized in the “Extra.” Tina is also working with the “JMUniverse” to print a story on the new University Commissions and Committees nominations procedure for classified staff.

  1. Employee Appreciation Day Report: Kathy distributed copies of the Steering Committee’s meeting of February 3rd. She reported that Dr. Chuck Bilbrey, College of Business has loaned the Steering Committee a Pentium 400 computer to use as a server for the EAD web page. Joe Archer is developing the web page, and a link will be set up from JMU’s home page. She circulated a flyer, which will be mailed next week, announcing that EAD registration will be only web-based and giving instructions on how to prepare for that registration. The committee approved her proposal of sending the flyers addressed individually to all full-time and part-time classified and administrative faculty. Kathy also announced that the rain location has been changed to Godwin Gym, because of renovations scheduled in the Convocation Center. Glick and Phillips are confirmed as the lunch time entertainment at a cost of $500. Lisa Knicely will start the process to hire the wage Registrar, anticipated to begin around March 1.
  1. Proportional Growth of Classified Employees Subcommittee: Ted presented a preliminary report listing the growth of students, faculty (full-time only), classified staff (full-time only), facilities and acres maintained from 1995 – 1999. The percentage of change did not vary significantly in any of the areas. Ted may receive more relevant numbers from the Office of Institutional Research. Next month, the committee will discuss what to do next – conduct more/different research or a job satisfaction survey?
  1. Development of EAC Web Page Subcommittee Report: The web page is on line, and can now be accessed directly from the “Resources” page. Tina thanked Camilla for her efforts. Let Camilla know if other links should be established on the page.
  1. VPAA Search Committee: Tina submitted a report from Julie Love. The top eight candidates will be telephone interviewed in the next three weeks, then 3-5 candidates will be invited for on-campus interviews shortly after Spring Break.
  1. Other Business:

Update on request for an e-mail distribution list for classified employees: Dr. Doherty’s list of classified staff is to be used only for research purposes. Connie Minnick’s reply to our question indicated no list existed in her area and she suggested our committee contact Human Resources. This topic was tabled for further discussion at the next meeting.

Benefits Fair April 12th: The committee discussed whether we should again participate in the Benefits Fair. Kathy, Milla Sue, and Camilla volunteered to serve on a subcommittee to develop ideas on what the EAC could be present at the Fair.

  1. Adjournment and next meeting date: The meeting adjourned at 2:25 p.m. The next meeting was scheduled for Thursday, March 23, at 1:00 p.m. in the Library Conference Room.

Respectfully submitted,

Christina Updike,

Chair, Employee Advisory Committee