Employee Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
12:15–1:30 p.m.
316 Day Hall
Minutes

I. Call to Order

B. Cornell called the meeting to order at 12:20 p.m.

II. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

J. Seymour said the “Business of the Day”, a report about the Collegetown Master Plan, had been cancelled for today, so that is off the agenda.

III. Report from Employee Elected Trustee

B. McKinney stated that she is on a committee that will be planning a thank you/farewell ice cream social celebration for all those retiring this spring. It will be held on Monday, June 8 at noon, and it will be understated event featuring President Skorton, Mary Opperman. They will have a guest book for all to sign that will be archived in the library.

IV. Report from SA representative

J. Seymour said he had not heard from Emily Cusick, and so he had no report.

V. Report from UA representative

L. Lawrence said there is a meeting this afternoon.

VI. Report from EA representative to the Faculty Senate

A. Mittman said there have been no meetings, so he had no report.

VII. Report from Staff Climate Survey Steering Committee representative

B. Liddick said they had voted to delay the survey for a year since so many things are changing and up in the air now. They do not feel the results would be accurate.

VIII. Report from Chair

B. Cornell gave out the certificates from the Assemblies Reception last week to those who were unable to attend.

He also said he has submitted the report he will give to the Board of Trustees to the counsels office for their review. He said he has also emailed it to the EA members. He is willing to take changes to it if members sent them to him by the end of the day.

The final item he reported on was that he had sent the EA’s referendum to the president and to the EA members. He is looking forward to hearing back with the president’s approval.

He then ended by welcoming the new members of the EA and said there would be an official announcement out soon.

IX. Approval of Minutes

B. Cornell asked the members to take a look at the minutes, and then asked for a motion to approve.

a. -April 1, 2009

P. Korolov made a motion to approve the minutes. B. Liddick seconded. The members voted and the minutes were approved.

b. -April 15, 2009

B. Liddick made a motion to approve the minutes. L. Lawrence seconded. The members voted and the minutes were approved.

X. Committee Reports

a) Executive committee

No report.

b) Staff Recognition & Award committee

B. Cornell announced he had a resolution on a new award, called the “Unsung Hero” award. He explained the award briefly, and then answered a few questions from the members. G. Stewart encouraged EA members to be creative about this. B. Cornell said that each EA member could nominate one person per year, so a total of 13 people could be recognized. D. Stein suggested the award be given to someone for one particular action. A brief discussion about who would be invited to the recognition events, what if any gift/reward should be given, and some other particulars.

L. Lawrence made a motion to approve the resolution. G. Stewart seconded. The members voted and the motion passed.

B. Cornell said there would be information on the two George Peter awardees soon.

c) Communications committee

J. Seymour said there have been no recent meetings of the committee. He did say he is organizing a meeting for new members, as an orientation to the EA. A location will be determined soon, the time is 12:15–1:30 p.m. and lunch will be provided. B. Cornell asked that outgoing EA members be invited to the first meeting in June when officer elections will be held.

d) Finance

A. Mittman said he will be working on a budget for next year and he plans to have something for approval at a future meeting.

e) Emergency Grant Fund (CARE Fund)

P. Mahoney reported the committee met last week and discussed the possibility of moving the EGF/CARE fund from the EA to WDELQ. She plans to send an email to those members who missed the meeting to get their thoughts on this. She said she welcomes comments and feedback from the EA on this also. She plans to have a resolution for the EA to vote on very soon.

f) Personnel Policy

No report.

g) IOC

P. Korolov said we will be asking for nominations for officers at the next meeting. He said the elections for next years officers will take place at the first meeting in June. All five officer positions will be voted on. Nominees, if they wish, can be considered for the next position if they are not elected for a higher position. There was a brief discussion.

B. Cornell then told a personal story of how he became president of the EA. He then encouraged new members to ask questions about the officer positions if they were at all interested.

h) University Benefits

No report due to time constraints.

i) Employee Education

No report due to time constraints.

j) “Ad Hoc” Charter Review

J. Seymour said the committee’s work is done, and the letter of conveyance went to the President this morning. A. Mittman commended the Office of Assemblies for all their hard work getting the required number of votes needed to pass the referendum. He then encouraged the committee to look at membership next year.

XI. Old Business

G. Stewart asked about the Collegetown presentation. A. O’Donnell said the students who were going to make the presentation could not make it due to study week. G. Stewart then voiced his concerns that without the presentation the EA has no way of knowing anything about the plan, so he suggested the EA ask to be removed from the Student Assembly’s resolution. Members agreed with this, so J. Seymour said he would be in touch with Ryan Lavin about this.

XII. New Business

B. Cornell said he would be adding the “Unsung Hero” award info to his presentation to the Board of Trustees.

XIII. Open Forum

D. Stein said he will be retiring on June 30th. He suggested the members who go off the EA still get invited to meetings so they stay engaged since they have so much to offer. There was a brief discussion about how this could work.

XIV. Adjournment

Meeting was adjourned at 1:25 p.m.