MINUTES
Employee Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
12:15 - 1:30 p.m.
105 Stimpson Hall

I. Call to Order

T. Grove called the meeting to order at 12:18 p.m.

Present- D. Brooks, J. Boodley Buchanan, T. Grove, L. Meyerhoff, L. Morris, G. Osborne, L. Sayam, J. Seymour, G. Stewart

Absent- D. Brooks, M. Kitchen, L. Croll Howell

Also present- N. Doolittle, B. McKinney, A. O’Donnell

II. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

A report from the Board of Trustees and a report from the Communications Committee were added to the existing agenda.

III. Business of the Day

a)Appointment of new EA members

T. Grove said the first order of business was to appoint the new members to the EA. She introduced Bridget Cristelli, Brigitt Schaffner and explained Kappy Fahey was unable to attend, but would like to be appointed.

B. Cristelli talked a bit about herself and why she would like to serve on the EA. B. Schaffner then talked a bit about herself and why she would like to serve on the EA. The EA then voted unanimously to appoint them to 2-year “non-exempt” terms.

K. Fahey was not present, but would like to be a member, so it was agreed she would fill the 1-year “at large” seat.

T. Grove welcomed the new members, and explained the EA now has 15 members, and 4 vacant seats.

b)Election of EA officers for 2011–21

Introductions were made all around.

Chair — L. Meyerhoff nominated Tanya Grove to be Chair. G. Stewart seconded. The EA voted by acclimation to appoint Tanya as the Chair for the 2011–12 year.

Executive Vice Chair — G. Stewart nominated Brigitt Schaffner, T. Grove seconded. The EA voted by acclimation to appoint Brigitt as the Executive Vice Chair for the 2011–12 year.

VC for Internal Operations — T. Grove nominated Bridget Cristelli. L. Meyerhoff seconded. The EA voted by acclimation to appoint Bridget as the VC of Internal Operations for the 2011–12 year.

VC of Finance — T. Grove nominated Gemma Osborne. B. Cristelli seconded. The EA voted by acclimation to appoint Gemma as the Vice Chair of Finance for the 2011–12 year.

Parliamentarian — There was a brief discussion as to whether the EA needed to have a Parliamentarian. The issue was tabled until next meeting.

T. Grove then said as part of that same discussion, the EA will need to discuss whether the Chair of the Communications Committee should be a member of the Executive Committee of the EA. J. Seymour explained the Parliamentarians’ duties and suggested the Parliamentarian duties be included in the EVC position and then if the Communications Chair is included to be a part of the Executive committee, it will still be 5 members.

T. Grove then thanked Leslie Meyerhoff and Jason Seymour for their service on the Executive Committee this past year.

IV. Committee Reports

a)SEED event

T. Grove said she had one thing to discuss. She received an email from Deb Billups about the SEED event on 7/20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. She explained the event and said that usually the Education committee would be in charge, but since they have not had a chair, they have not met in a while. She is looking for someone to head this up. It is a good opportunity for assembly and committee recruitment. Jeanne Boodley Buchanan asked what it would entail, and Leslie Morris explained. J. Boodley Buchanan said she would take charge of it, and Lavanya and Bridgit Cristelli volunteered to help. G. Osborne suggested we have an official EA tablecloth for the table, plus chocolate to give away, and consider ordering some shirts for the volunteers to wear.

b) Board of Trustees report

B. McKinney said she is on the Buildings & Properties committee, and there are Lake Source Cooling discussion coming up between CU and the DEC. She also noted there are project funding guidelines in place now ever since the financial crisis hit — all the funding must be in place before any renovation or building construction can be approved. Employees need to know that any construction going on now, has been paid for from fundraising or department funds. Law school renovation going on now, bridges means restriction meeting coming up this week. The town and CU have to come to an agreement. Encouraged the EA to follow along on the website to know more. As for the Student Life committee, most of the focus was on Greek life and alcohol since the death of George Desdunes.

She gave a faculty report, and said that the big topic is that faculty have been asked to lay off giving the students work during the breaks according to Dean Frye. She said President Skorton will be speaking out nationally on alcohol and hazing as well as the decrease in funding for the Humanities. She said more applications came in this year, more than ever before — and 71 are students of staff/ faculty-hers is one of those. The board has a “Diversity Task Force.” In addition, Lynette Chapell Williams sends info to them. It will be more of a focus next year.

She said there was a written report about the EA’s accomplishments this year, and Tanya gave a separate 7–10 minute presentation to them also. This was more about what employees think about CU, uncertainty and civility were mentioned. Many board members said it was very good, and said they don’t want the issues glossed over. Hopefully, the EA has established having a breakfast w/ the trustees once a year now. G. Stewart commented that he thought Tanya did a good job, and the members really paid attention as it was unlike prior years reports. L. Morris said she thought it was a great speech also.

c) Report from the Chair

T. Grove said she had one other thing — two recent George Peter Awards were presented. Thanks to Leslie Meyerhoff for hosting one in the Vet College for Janna Lamey when Tanya couldn’t attend, and the other was for Nianne VanFleet from Gannett. She read a thank you note she received.

d) Communications Committee

L. Morris said the committee met last week and she said they are looking for some new members. They discussed elections, the upcoming survey, among other things. She said they have all worked really hard this year. Need to have a focus group at the retreat to discuss more about the survey. There was a brief discussion as to whether this should be part of the “climate survey.”

V. Approval of Minutes

a)May 4, 2011

T. Grove made a motion to approve the minutes. L. Meyerhoff seconded and the EA voted unanimously to approve the minutes.

b)May 18, 2011

A few small edits were suggested. G. Stewart made a motion to approve the minutes as amended. L. Meyerhoff seconded the motion. The minutes were approved.

VI. Old Business

a)Kudos lunch

There was a discussion on who should attend, where it should be held, the date (and other details).

T. Grove then gave out more certificates to the members who could not attend the reception in May.

G. Stewart suggested the EA move their meetings around. He said the Lake Source Cooling building has a nice conference room, also Anabel Taylor is a possibility. There are many locations that could get the group out of Day Hall to learn more about what is going on around campus and would help get others around campus to know about what the EA is working on.

L. Morris asked about the EA summer retreat, and the discussion was brief about where it could be held and what the content and schedule would be.

VII. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m. by Tanya Grove.