Minutes

March 18, 2004

The meeting was held in Room 158 University Hall. USAC Chair, Donna Totten called the meeting to order at 2:33.  

Attendees included:
Mendy Beverly, CaTS
Todd Brittingham, Registrar's Office
Kathi Herrick, University Libraries
Curt Pederson, Psychology
Jen Rice, Admissions
Marianne Shreck, Research and Sponsored Programs
David Stuart, CaTS
Gary Sutton, Bursar/Student Loans and Collections
Donna, Totten, Business and Fiscal Affairs
Chris Watson, University Libraries
Susan Wehmeyer, University Libraries

APPROVAL of MINUTES

The minutes of the USAC meeting of January 15, 2004 were approved as posted on the website. 

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Athletics - Curt Pederson
Minutes of the meeting of 3/5/04

1.  Bob Grant, Director of Development for Athletics and Samantha Ault, Sports Promotion Director, gave an Athletics Marketing Update.  Average attendance at men's basketball games increased by almost 1200 from 4361 last year to 5502 this past season.  Both years were tops in the Horizon League.  In comparison, the average attendance this year would place WSU also first in the MAC and MVC and fourth in the A-10.  Several ideas from Marketing students are also being explored for implementation next year.  A "Slammin' Season Starter" similar to Fall Fest with team introductions and a band, Spirit Clubs, and Raider Plus Cards were three of the ideas highlighted.  In-game fan activities were also mentioned for other sports.  The athletics website has more details.

2.  From the Committee reports:  Academic Affairs is looking at 5th year scholarships for some student-athletes needing an extra year because of their major.  Education, for example.  Student Welfare is nearing a vote on a pregnancy policy.

3.  The Student Athletes Advisory Council (SAAC) reported they approved the pregnancy policy.  Involvement in community service continues with the Project Read program at Five Points Elementary, distribution of Valentine's Day bears at Children's Memorial Hospital, a May 8th Run/Walk at King's Island and plans for a Habitat for Humanity project in the spring.

4.  Rod Perry, Associate Director of Compliance & Academic Services, presented information on the definition of "athletically related activities" for in-season and out-of-season programs.

4.  Dr. Cusack summarized the winter sports teams.  The women's basketball team was young and finished the season strong.  On the men's side, the season overall went much better than some had forecast and Paul Biancardi was named Horizon League Coach of the Year.  Swimming & diving won their second straight Horizon League championship for both the women's and men's teams.  Matt Liddy did a tremendous job and was also named the Horizon League Coach of the Year for Swimming & Diving. The spring sports teams have started their seasons.

5.  The next meeting is scheduled for Friday, 4/3/04.

Dining - Chris Watson
View the official minutes of the Dining Services Committee meeting of 3/18/04. 

Chris reported that a new "casual catering" option has been added with lower prices for pickup and carry items such as cookies.  The new menu is online  http://www.wright.edu/admin/foodserv/catering/ccatering.html

The next stop on the culinary tour of the globe is the Australia. Spring quarter will feature a new item, Buffalo chicken pizza at Pizza Hut.  A smoothie cart has been added near campus recreation.  The Hangar will be closed this summer due to visiting camps.  WSU offers the second lowest cost board plan in Ohio and some students are running out of food dollars before finals.  An increase to $600.00/quarter is under discussion.  One of the student members of the committee conducted a survey of resident students. He reported that most complaints centered on hours of service on weekends.  A full report will be made at the next meeting.  Little siblings weekend will be April 24th.  Some lower cost food options for that weekend are being discussed.

Parking Services - D.R. Fannin

Meeting Date:  March 11, 2004

1. It was announced at the meeting that the committee would meet at least once a quarter.
2. Student Government representatives made a presentation to the Committee based on a study they recently conducted that tried to gauge the availability of parking at any given time in any given lot.  Briefly, their findings were that parking is readily available on campus at all times of the day.  
3. To alleviate the ongoing difficulty faced by students, Student Government made a recommendation to the committee that the University provide a moving van service to help students that live in dorms transport large, bulky items from remote parking to curbside.  The Committee took the recommendation under advisement. 
4. Discussion was made in regard to correcting some lot markings (painted lines) in the student areas of lot 7 and lot 10 and also adding a “No Student Parking’” sign to the existing signage for Dunbar Library’s visitor spaces in lot 11.
5. Next Meeting TBA

Recreation and Wellness - Bob Noss
March 9, 2004 Minutes

American Heart Association Walk will be held April 24 with a Kickoff Luncheon set for March 31 in Student Union E156 Noon-1 pm.  Great event that will include a 3-mile walk, a family health workshop and prizes (Aretha Franklin concert tickets, chair massages and others), starting and ending at the Nutter Center.  WSU had 51 walkers last year that raised over $2,300 and the goal this year is 100 walkers and $5,000.  The committee will issue challenges to reach the goals.  For more information, contact Kathy Arnett at ext. 5816 or by email at katherine.arnett@wright.edu.  Look for more details later through email and campus mail.

Euchre Night (March 13) was a success with at least 25 registered.

Cea Cohen, laughter in the work place luncheon March 10, was a success with almost 100 registered.

The Spring Healthbreak Lunch will be Terry McCoskey, a local chiropractor, on Wed., April 21.

A Lake Campus Employee and Retiree Picnic will be planned for the spring but a date has yet to be set.  The Main Campus Employee and Retiree Picnic will be June 22 with a rain date of June 24.  Look for more details.

Tentatively Terri Roselli, a Fairborn resident and Dr. Phil Weight Loss Challenge participant, will talk May 17

Poker Walk is May 19, National Employee and Fitness Day.

Next Meeting is Tuesday, April 13 at 9 am.

University Diversity Advisory Council - Marianne Shreck

University Diversity Advisory Council (UDAC) Recruitment and Retention Subcommittee Notes from March 10, 2004, meeting: 

Brochure
Brochure for the recruitment of a more culturally diverse faculty and staff is on track.  It should be completed by the end of spring quarter and will be used the for summer recruitment. 

Internships/Co-op Placements/Job Fairs
Long term goal is a WSU job fair.  HR is currently looking into attending local job fairs, particularly the Dayton Urban League job fair, in the hopes of recruiting a more culturally diverse faculty and staff.

Revised classification system for Unclassified Staff will be put in place with the next fiscal year.

There will be central budgeting for internships and co-op placements. 

There are additional possibilities for temporary help besides Belcan, see Alan Boggs in HR for details.

A suggestion was made to use internships and co-ops to help departments who are losing staff to the Banner System implementation. 

Mentoring
They are looking at the several existing mentoring programs on campus so they do not duplicate effort.  

Strategic Planning Committee - Donna Totten
Donna is serving on a subcommittee to review progress on the plan.  They are looking at progress indicators.  She will give a more comprehensive report later.

OLD BUSINESS

Unclassified Staff Handbook
Communications and Marketing have reviewed the final draft.  It is now with Buddy Berry for preparation to distribute online.  It won't be much longer.  Really!  A few copies will be printed to distribute to new staff.

Holiday Hospitality Program
It was suggested that USAC sponsor a Holiday Hospitality program.  Such programs link willing hosts with faculty, staff or students to share a holiday meal.  Donna asked for volunteers to serve on a USAC committee to investigate options for next year and received a number of responses representing a mix of classified and unclassified employees and students.

Representation
The council discussed reorganizing the election of council representatives.  A motion to revise the constituencies as follows was approved unanimously:

USAC will be reorganized into 2 constituencies 1) Academics  2) Support, Student Affairs,
Business (i.e. all others).

Seven (7) representatives will be elected from Academics.  There are 472 members of this group yielding a 67.7 to one ratio. Five (5) representatives will be elected from Support, Student Affairs and Business.  There are 322 members of this group, yielding a  64.4 to one ratio.

The academics group will elect 2 members each year, and three members every third year.  Support, Student Affairs and Business will elect 2 members each year and 1 member every third year.  Overall 4 members will be elected each year.

Because CaTS now reports to the Academic division, Mandy Beverly and David Stuart will fill the openings left by Cheryl Lauricella and Susan Wehmeyer and 2 more representatives will be elected this year.

It was proposed that USAC should make it easier for representatives from smaller departments to get elected.  After discussion it was unanimously agreed that all nominees who agree to run will be placed on the ballot rather than just the top 3 choices.  Nominees will be asked to submit a paragraph indicating their interest and ability to serve which will be added either to the ballot or to the USAC website. 

Stipends
Donna addressed concerns which were raised regarding the stipends now being paid to USAC officers.  She apologized to the council members for not providing some background information at January's meeting in case they were approached about the issue.  She provided the following information. Officers of the Classified Staff Advisory Council have received stipends for several years.  Donna was approached by a USAC member asking why USAC officers were not compensated as well. As with all other inquiries she receives, she tried to find an answer.  The University Administration approved the stipends as an equality issue so that USAC officers would be compensated similarly to CSAC officers for the added duties these officers are assigned.  Staff who continue to have concerns about this issue should contact Donna Totten.

NEW BUSINESS

Campus Scholarship Campaign
Nan-c Moss spoke to the group about the campaign.  This is the last year of the Tomorrow Takes Flight Campaign.  This year incorporates the Wright State "Family" (faculty, staff, students, retirees, and parents) into the campaign.  Last year set a record high with 30% participation campus wide.  A record $233,000 was raised.  The theme this year is "Building Greatness From Within."  It will run April 5th to May 14th.  A website will show progress toward the goal and a list of donors from last year.  This year only, the Alumni Association will offer larger contributors the opportunity to have a paver inscribed with their name under the Alumni Tower.

President's Award for Excellence - Donna Totten
Nomination packets will be in the mail soon.  All unclassified staff are encouraged to complete a nomination form.

University Portal
Donna will request that the Unclassified Staff Council will become one of the available groups on the university portal.

University Staff Council

University Staff Council Meeting of 3/10/04
Follow up to the University Staff Council Meeting of 1/14/04
The council had discussed a concern that some staff may be expected to volunteer and some will be working on Labor Day (one of 10 paid holidays).  The cabinet is aware of the issue and is committed to a fair deal for everyone involved.  Staff who do not receive formal pay for that day will be compensated with leave at another time.  We should let Dr. Rickert know if concerns continue.

USAC discussed the issue of  2004 Christmas holiday when Christmas Day will fall on a Saturday.  According to policy the holiday will then move to Friday, Christmas Eve.  The floating holiday normally used for Christmas Eve could be applied to either December 23rd or December 27th.  Although many staff like to take vacation between Christmas and New Year's, the week of the 27th is already a short week because the New Year's holiday also moves to Friday.  If the university were closed on Monday as well we must consider whether departments would have difficulty getting ready for the start of class the following Monday, January 3rd.  USAC and CSAC were asked to survey staff regarding preference.  Donna will send out an email that will collect USAC responses.  Donna has not been able to send out a email, but will work with CaTS to get it done shortly.

New USC Business
Allan Boggs discussed three levels of training:  compliance and regulation training, skills training, and training for personal development.  The strategic plan makes a commitment to training for all staff.  Human Resources and the Kettering Center are working together to identify what training is needed and who will provide it.   

Council members cited lack of support and release time for training.  Several members felt that there was an inconsistency across campus.  Other topics of discussion included:  a need for supervisor training; a need to identify and encourage supervisors who need training; the cost of training at the Kettering Center; the level of training offered by CaTS.  Members should take this question back to USAC and CSAC for additional input.

The University Staff Council will probably be renamed to Wright State or WSU Staff Council to avoid confusion with the Unclassified Staff Council.

Rescheduling April Meeting on Evaluation Software
Donna requested a demonstration of the proposed HR evaluation software at the next USAC meeting, but Tamra Jones is not available that day.  She offered either April 8th or 29th as alternatives.  Donna will send a message to the council asking for preferences.  

Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 3:55 p.m.

 NEXT MEETING
The next meeting of USAC will be be announced.
 

Minutes submitted by Susan Wehmeyer, USAC Secretary, 3/22/04, Dining Minutes and Diversity Council minutes will be added as available.  Revised 3/23/04 with Diversity Council Minutes. Revised 3/25/04 with Dining Services Committee Minutes.
 

Return to the Wright State University home page

Return to the Unclassified Staff Advisory Council home page

Revised:  25 March 2004; updated with Dining Services Minutes 2/18/04