UAA Meeting
December 13, 2007
Micklethwaite Banquet Hall

Co-Chair Ann Marie Short called the meeting to order at 10:13 a.m.

The minutes from the October 18, 2007 meeting were distributed.  Tess Midkiff made a motion to approve the minutes.  Brian Saul seconded.  Motion passed.

University-Wide Committee Reports

1)      Campus Conduct

Barb Bradbury reported they had met.

2)      Facilities

Tracy Conn reported they had met.

3)      ADA

Dale Taylor reported they had met.

4)      Special Events Committee

Nikki Montgomery reported on tomorrow’s Holiday Luncheon.

5)      Enrollment Management

Barb Bradbury reported that the committee has met twice.  Ann Marie encouraged anyone with suggestions to talk to a member of the committee and/or Bob Trusz.

6)      Safety

Joe VanDeusen reported the committee has met and is dealing with a number of issues, including the blood-borne pathogen program.  Joe reported that vaccines are now available in our Health Clinic.  He also reported that the University is looking to purchase Evac Chairs, which assist in the evacuation of the handicapped in an emergency, for the main buildings on campus.

7)      Insurance

Steve Gregory reported the committee has met and is looking at a number of wellness programs for the campus.  There will be much more information to follow in the next year.  Ann Marie complimented the SSU Health Clinic and urged employees to use it.

8)      Assessment

Angela Henderson reported that this committee is a newly expanded version of the original Assessment Committee.  She said they had met twice and have chosen a survey to assess student services and are working on other assessment instruments for the rest of campus.  Angela encouraged anyone with comments or suggestions to contact a member of the committee or the co-chairs, Krista Maxson and Ken Warfield.

New Business/Executive Committee

1)      Alumni Affairs Report

Angela Henderson updated the group on alumni activities:

·        Homecoming Weekend is January 25-26, 2008.  The Big Blue Bonfire is scheduled for Friday, January 25^th at 7 p.m. on the Cedar House Green.  Saturday, January 26^th at 11 a.m. will be the Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Brunch, followed by the Women’s Basketball Game at 2 p.m., the Homecoming King and Queen Coronation at 3:45 p.m., the Men’s Basketball Game at 4:15 p.m., and the Homecoming Dance at 9 p.m.  Angela encouraged anyone wanting to chaperone the dance to contact Tiffany Weaver.

2)      Salary Appeals Update

Elinda Boyles gave an update on the appeals process.  She apologized for the delay in handling some of the appeals.  Some have been taken care of, some have been sent back to Mercer, and some have been done but not communicated.  Elinda asked for patience as the office gets back up to full staff.  She reported that Bane Silvia has been hired as the new Human Resources Director and he will start next week.

3)      Medicare Reimbursement

Elinda reported that the University over-remitted Medicare tax for people who contributed to the health plan or had a flexible spending account.  HR is filing with the IRS to have the taxes refunded.  The money will be remitted to the University and then passed on to each employee affected.  Elinda asked that when everyone receives their packet from HR to please sign the document inside so they can expedite the process.

4)      New Hire

Co-Chair Bill Rockwell introduced Terry Noel, who is the new part-time web

developer in UIS.

5)      University Center Groundbreaking

Jim Settle reported that the groundbreaking for the expansion of the University Center will be Friday, January 11^th during the Board of Trustees Meeting (approximately 12:30 p.m.).  There will be much more information and a UC website in January.  Jim cautioned that there would be some inconveniences including utility interruptions and parking issues, but the University will do its best to keep everyone informed.

6)      President’s Advisory Council

Ann Marie reported that the University’s bandwidth problems were discussed at the PAC Meeting.  She said that sites such as YouTube are causing an Internet slowdown, but the University is doing what it can to alleviate the problem.

Campus Announcements

1)      Spring Orientation

Ann Marie announced that Spring Orientation will be January 4^th at 11:30 a.m.

2)      Board of Trustees Meeting

Ann Marie encouraged everyone to read the BOT materials when they go online one week before the meeting.  The next meeting is scheduled for Friday, January 11^th.

3)      University System of Ohio

Ann Marie encouraged everyone to visit the System website at http://universitysystem.ohio.gov/.

4)      Basketball Games

Jared Shoemaker reminded everyone of this weekend’s basketball schedule: Men at 7 p.m. Friday, Women at 1 p.m. Saturday and Monday at 6 p.m.  Jared said the teams are off two a great start and he would like to see a lot more administrators come to the games.  Jim Settle added that the games were a lot of fun with t-shirt guns and more. 

5)      Financial Aid Blitz

Barb Bradbury announced that Financial Aid would be doing a blitz in January and February that included several FAFSA workshops for students.  The FA Office is looking for giveaways of any kind for the event. Barb encouraged anyone with ideas to share them with her.

6)      Marcia Retirement

Debbie Weber announced that Marcia Tackett’s last week is next week.  Marcia did not want a reception, so Debbie encouraged everyone to stop by and wish her well.

7)      Recycling Program

Joe VanDeusen announced that our recycling program has created a 30% shift from trash to recyclables.  He encouraged any office that is not recycling to contact Facilities for a recycling bin.

8)      SSU Alert

Elinda reminded everyone to register on MySSU for SSU Alert so that they can be contacted in case of an emergency.  Rick Merb encouraged everyone to share that same announcement with students. 

Executive Committee Report

Ann Marie reported that the Executive Committee agreed at its meeting to better organize the UAA committees.  She also reported that the committee agreed to officially send the tuition reimbursement policy issue to the Personnel/Policies committee, chaired by Denise Gregory, to begin the process of writing a proposal to be sent to Dr. Morris. 

There was a brief discussion as to whether anything on that policy was sent to Mercer, but Elinda said that it was not.  Ann Marie said that it was the goal of the Executive Committee to get the issue answered one way or another once and for all.

Tess Midkiff made a motion to adjourn the meeting with Jared Shoemaker seconding.  Motion passed.  The meeting adjourned at 10:45 a.m.