IUB Professional Council
Business Meeting Minutes
Kelley School of Business, Room 3055
January 21, 2009
Council Members in Attendance: Rob Aspy, Margaret Baechtold, Tracy Bee, Jonathan Bolte, Jennifer Chaffin, Mark Goodner, Christina Kuzmych, Michele Neary, Dan Ondrik, Liz Peck, Paula Phillips, Suzanne Ryan (Ex-officio, UHRS), Tracy Smith, Kelly Thacker, Ed Vasquez (Ex-officio, CWA), Dee Verostko, Beverly Vicker.
Proxies: Tracy Bee for Jim Brown, Paula Phillips for Claudia Polley.
Members Not in Attendance: Eric Love, Patrick Smith, Greg Travis.
Guests: Kathleen McNeely, FMS; Dan Rives, UHRS.
Meeting Minutes
A motion to approve the December, 2008 minutes as written was made, seconded and passed.
Community Service Project
The Outreach and Advocacy Committee suggested two groups for whom the BPC might be able to do a book drive: the Middle Way House and Aurora High School. New or gently-used books of all varieties would be welcome. The Aurora School would especially like to expand the recreational reading section of their library. A motion was made to hold a book drive to benefit Middle Way House and Aurora High School. The motion was seconded and passed. A message will be crafted and addressed to all PA staff employees that will let everyone know the dates of the book drive as well as drop-off points.
BPC Forum Topics
The Outreach and Advocacy Committee is looking at scheduling one forum this semester, one that addresses perks for professional staff. The panel discussion would include information from the Perks Page, as well as other benefits that are available to professional staff. They will also look at the possibility of including discussion that would involve retired staff. A possible forum for next semester is one that focuses on dealing with diversity issues.
Annual Statehouse Visit
The annual Statehouse visit is February 17. Any BPC member who wishes to go can sign up on the Hoosiers for Higher Education website. The link is http://gov.indiana.edu/hhe/statehouse/registration.shtml. Kelly Thacker will represent the BPC, as well as possibly Dan Ondrik and Jonathan Bolte.
Treasurer’s Report – Margaret Baechtold
The Executive Committee has put together a funding proposal for the upcoming year. The current BPC budget has been frozen for the past five years. Currently there is about $650 left in the BPC account to cover general expenses. The principal value of the IU Foundation account has decreased by about $6,500 due to recent drops in the market. The current balance of principal and interest is $20,828.
TPAC Update – Dan Ondrik
Dan recently contacted Provost Hanson to inquire as to when TPAC would re-convene. The answer he received was “sometime after the master plan is complete.” Both the BPC and CWA will continue to request that the committee be re-convened prior to completion of the master plan.
Accessible University – Employment and the ADA – Beverly Vicker
ADA-Indiana is hosting a 7-part training series on employment and the ADA. Beverly asked the BPC if this was an event that we would like to promote. Since the presenters are not a part of IU, nor do they represent IU, there were questions as to whether the policies presented would contradict IU’s policies in any way (IU’s policies tend to be more far-reaching than what the law requires). Beverly will work with Suzanne Ryan in UHRS and Rob Aspy in Affirmative Action to get more details before the BPC commits to promoting the series.
CIC – University of Minnesota – Division of Academic Professional and Administrative Staff Affairs
The University of Minnesota is trying to establish an office within the Provost’s Office to advocate for professional staff employees. They are asking the following question: Does IU have an office like the one they are proposing for this class of employee? If so, what kinds of things does the office provide for professional staff? If not, what office do professional staff employees work with the most to get their needs met? If an inequity or new need is seen, what is the process to meet the need? Any comments may be forwarded to Jonathan Bolte at bolte@indiana.edu.
Dan asked everyone to look over the draft forwarded by the University of Minnesota as a starting point to look at where we stand and what we might add to it. He encouraged everyone to think about where gaps might lie between what the BPC does and what UHRS provides.
Co-Sponsorship of Midwest BLTGA College Conference
The Outreach and Advocacy Committee will craft a message to send out to the BPC listservs to advertise the event. The message will be forwarded to all BPC members for the approval before it is sent out to professional staff employees.
Executive Committee – 1/12/09 – Dan Ondrik
The Executive Committee met January 12 in KSOB 2038. In attendance were: Dan Ondrik, Rob Aspy, Tracy Smith, Patrick Smith and Teresa Spiegel. The following items were discussed:
- Vice President Marshall – his visit has been rescheduled for the February 18 business meeting. Rob will confirm the IMU Maple Room for February 18. Any questions for VP Marshall should be sent to Rob at raspy@indiana.edu no later than Friday, February 6.
- Nominations & Elections – Patrick Smith reported that he has been in contact with both Mike Halla and Jim Johnson to be updated on procedures. This month he will be requesting the proper reports from UHRS, and an announcement for the opening of nominations will be formulated. Patrick will request updates to the BPC website as necessary.
- List of Know your Campus, forums and community service projects – Beverly Vicker was unable to attend today’s meeting. The Outreach and Advocacy Committee will meet on Tuesday, January 13. The list of possibilities will be presented to the BPC at next week’s monthly business meeting.
- BPC office equipment – Margaret Baechtold is in the process of requesting a new telephone for the BPC office.
- BPC funding request – There is nothing new to report at this time.
- Treasurer’s Report – Margaret was unable to attend today’s meeting. Rough numbers show an available remaining balance, after budgeted expenses, of about $660.
- Salary market data on UHRS website – Dan Ondrik has talked with UHRS about this, and due to the complexity of how raw data is used to determine the salary ranges, we are not sure this is feasible. However, UHRS is still looking at it.
- Focus group for UHRS website and ease of use – no report.
- Policy on use of IUF account – There is currently no policy on how funds from the IU Foundation account are to be used. After some discussion, the Executive Committee agreed that it would be better to look at this again after the budget for 2009-2010 has been set.
- Directive to Council on procedure for contacting new professional staff – Tracy Smith has agreed to forward an email to all BPC members outlining the process in which new PA staff employees are contacted, both by the BPC office and by BPC members.
- Note to Provost on TPAC – Since TPAC has not met this year, Dan will contact Provost Hanson to inquire about this.
- Replacement for Susan Johnson (Unit 1) – Since the nomination and election process will begin next month, the Executive Committee agreed to wait and fill this position during the upcoming election.
- Director of Sustainability Position – Acting on a request from Isabel Piedmont, the Executive Committee agreed to send out a message to the BPC listserv accounts announcing an opportunity to hear each of the final candidates speak over the course of the next two weeks.
- The agenda for the January business meeting was set.
Communications and Marketing Committee – Jonathan Bolte
No report.
Outreach and Advocacy Committee – 1/13/09 – Beverly Vicker
Attendees: Jennifer Chaffin; Beverly Vicker
- Know Your Campus
- Tentative next event at Art Museum Print Library with option of Fine Arts Library
Date- March 13th. Two groups of 15 each at 3 and 4 o’clock for Print Library; same number could do optional Fine Arts Library
- Put on hold- Assembly Hall and Asian and Hispanic Centers
- Proceed to arrange May date for Wylie House tour
- Make tentative contact for summer tour of Hilltop
- Co-Sponsorship
- Send out notice to listserv about Midwest BLGTA College Conference
- Send out notice about Employment and the ADA and for IUB Disability Roundtable to listserv
- Book Drive
- Suggested projects- Middle Way House or Aurora High School
- Target date: end of February or early March
- Run drive for 2 weeks.
- Options for collection
- Central collection point
- Each BPC member is collection point for his/her unit
- Strategic collection boxes
- Newsletter staff feature- Christine working directly with Jonathan to supplement features
- Forum
- Schedule one on Perks for month of April; details, date, and site to be determined.
- Consider for fall, forum on understanding/successfully interacting with international staff/students/faculty
Professional Interests Committee – Mark Goodner
No report.
Special Guest – Kathleen McNeely, FMS, and Dan Rives, UHRS
At 4:30 we were joined by Kathleen McNeely and Dan Rives to discuss some upcoming changes for professional staff employees.
- Dan provided an update on a web-based electronic system for tracking PTO accruals and usage for all PAE Staff, to be deployed late this year.
- Kathleen and Dan provided a briefing on FLSA compliance issues related to PAO and PAU Staff employees, as reported in several Internal Audit reports. They are working on additional information to be distributed in the near future.
- Dan provided a quick update on a phased retirement plan for tenured faculty. Under the plan, tenured faculty who are at least age 65 and have at least 10 years of IU service will be able to withdraw from their retirement account while still working at 50% FTE, with a specified retirement date. Tenured faculty will be able to transition into retirement, and deans will have a specified retirement date.
The February business meeting will be held February 18 at the IMU Maple Room. At 4:00 p.m. Ed Marshall, Vice President, Office of Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs, will be our guest.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:15 p.m.
Meeting minutes respectfully submitted by Teresa Spiegel.
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