IUB Professional Council

Business Meeting Minutes

Kelley School of Business, Room 3055

April 15, 2009

Council Members in Attendance:  Rob Aspy, Margaret Baechtold, Tracy Bee, Jonathan Bolte, Jennifer Chaffin, Dan Ondrik, Paula Phillips, Suzanne Ryan (Ex-officio, UHRS), Tracy Smith, Kelly Thacker, Ed Vasquez (Ex-officio, CWA), Beverly Vicker.

Proxies:  Tracy Bee for Jim Brown, Paula Phillips for Claudia Polley, Tracy Bee for Liz Peck, Dan Ondrik for Patrick Smith.

Members Not in Attendance:  Mark Goodner, Christina Kuzmych, Eric Love, Greg Travis, Dee Verostko.

Guests:  Yvette Alex-Assensoh, Office for Womens’ Affairs; Martin Hadley, IU Cyclotron Facility; Rashawn Jabar, Office for Women’s Affairs; Linda McCammon, Office for Women’s Affairs.

Meeting Minutes

A motion to approve the March, 2009 minutes as written was made, seconded and passed.

Old Business

Nominations & Elections Update –Patrick Smith

The following individuals have been elected to the IUB Professional Council:

Unit 1 -    Patricia Moser, Environmental Health and Safety

Unit 2 – Doris Wittenburg, Student Enrollment Services

Unit 3 – Cindy Curvin, Informatics

Unit 4 – Tiana Iruoje, Residential Programs & Services

Unit 5 – Maryanne McDonnell, Center for Survey Research

Unit 6 – Marty Hadley, IU Cyclotron Facility

Unit 7 – Michael Thompson, Kelley School of Business

Terms for newly-elected members will begin July 1, 2009, and will run through June 30, 2012.  A total of 347 professional staff voted in this year’s election. 

The Executive Committee will appoint a replacement for Michele Neary, Unit 2, who has left IU.  This term runs through 2011.

Committee on Healthcare Cost Containment (Blue Ribbon Committee on Healthcare)

The Executive Committee posed the following questions to BPC members to begin dialogue on possible recommendations to be made to the Blue Ribbon Committee:

1.     What are our priorities?  For example, are low premiums a higher priority than expansive coverage or perhaps maintaining a wide network of providers and choices?

2.     Where do wellness initiatives and coverage fit into the priorities?

3.     Based on our usage and experience, are there procedural or policy changes related to our healthcare coverage that could create efficiencies and lower costs?

4.     Are there areas of coverage that could be reduced – others that need to be expanded?

5.     What is the first thing we would give up in order to contain costs?  What is the last thing we would give up?

6.     Savings account for non-smokers benefit – are there other areas that this may apply?

After some discussion, a suggestion was made to put these questions out to professional staff, in the form of a short survey, in order to see if a consensus might be reached on some of these topics.  This will go back to the Executive Committee for consideration.

Professional Development Grants for April

Eleven applications were submitted for the April 1 deadline.  As of today’s meeting, final awards have not yet been determined.

New Business

Know Your Campus Event at Wylie House – Outreach & Advocacy Committee

The next Know Your Campus Event is scheduled for May 14 at Wylie House.  There will be two tours, one at 4:30 and another at 5:30.  Jennifer will prepare the announcement, and Teresa will distribute it to the professional staff listservs next week.

IT Policy Draft for Review:  ISPP-25 Information Governance

Dan has reviewed the policy draft and notes that, for the most part, the policy has been written to include practices that are already in place, with one exception:  the new policy states the Vice President for Information Technology will appoint data stewards.  This could help alleviate some “bottlenecks” that have happened in the past when trying to move data across units.  A motion to support approval of this policy will be prepared and emailed to BPC members for review.

May Reception

The Outreach and Advocacy Committee is in charge of refreshments for our May reception to honor outgoing BPC members.  Beverly has obtained an estimate from Traditions Catering (formerly known as Ambrosia).  She will go ahead and place the order with them.  The Professional Interests Committee is in charge of ordering plaques for outgoing members.  Due to a substantial increase in the cost of plaques last year, this year’s outgoing members will receive an engraved nameplate bearing either the IU seal or logo. 

Committee Reports

Executive Committee – 4/06/09 – Dan Ondrik

The Executive Committee met April 6 in KSOB 2038.  In attendance were:  Dan Ondrik, Rob Aspy, Tracy Smith, and Teresa Spiegel.  The following items were discussed:

• Our guest for the April 15 business meeting will be Yvette Alex-Assensoh, Dean for the Office of Women’s Affairs.  Rob has asked that any questions for her be directed to him at raspy@indiana.edu by Thursday, April 9.
• Since our annual reception will be held in May, there will be no special guest scheduled.  Possible future guests discussed were Kathy Bayless from Recreational Sports, Patrick O’Meara from International Affairs, and someone from Athletics, perhaps Fred Glass.
• Nominations and Elections update – the election will close tonight at midnight.  To date, there are no problems to report.
• Dan and Rob will plan to hold an orientation meeting for all new members sometime in June.
• Know Your Campus Event – Wylie House – This will be held in May.  The response from the March event held at the Art Museum was very positive. It was suggested that a log of be compiled of the registrations/turnouts for these events for future reference.  Teresa will work with the Outreach and Advocacy Committee on this.
• BPC Funding Request – Dan Rives has presented the request.  It will not be considered until next year’s state budget has been passed.
• PAO/PAU to bi-weekly pay – Dan received eight different comments from BPC members.  All these comments were forwarded to Suzanne Ryan in UHRS for possible inclusion in the “Q&A” section on the UHRS website.
• Blue Ribbon Committee on Healthcare – BPC members will be asked to look at the website prior to next week’s BPC business meeting.  Each member will be asked to list what they see as top priority items to be considered for next year.
• President’s Letter to Supervisors – Rob has volunteered to rewrite the current letter.  He will forward it to the Executive Committee for revisions, and Dan will discuss with the President’s office how the letter should be sent (e.g. hard copy, email).
• President’s Climate Committee – No report.
• VOICE Project – No report.
• AIG VALIC & AUL Issue – Dan sent a note to Suzanne Ryan in UHRS, requesting that all employees be notified of investment changes coming as of July 1.  Thus far the only employees who have been notified are those who are currently investing in one of these companies.  Those who hold inactive investments in their accounts may not be aware that as of July 1, IU will no longer have a contract with these companies.
• Policy Draft for Review:  ISPP-25 Information Governance – Dan reported that basically the policy states what is already being done, with one exception:  the new policy draft states that the VP for IT will appoint data stewards.  This will be discussed at the April business meeting.
• Replacement for Michele Neary (unit 2) – Since we did not have more than one nominee for Unit 2 in this year’s election, and there are no nominees to go back to from the previous year or so, the Executive Committee will appoint a professional staff employee to fill this position.  In addition, Michele’s seat on the Faculty/Staff Wellness Initiative will be filled by Rob Aspy.
• Review Committee – Affirmative Action Officer – Jennifer Chaffin has volunteered to represent the BPC on this review committee.
• Items for the BPC Newsletter – Possible topics discussed were:  prescription costs, the 2009 BPC election, seminars on retirement planning, PAO/PAU bi-weekly pay Q&A, report on the book drive, the next Know Your Campus event at Wylie House, and the AIG VALIC & AUL issue.
• The agenda for the April business meeting was set.

Communications and Marketing Committee – Jonathan Bolte

No report.

Outreach and Advocacy Committee – Beverly Vicker

The Outreach and Advocacy committee has not met formally for the last several months. All projects seem to be coordinated effectively by email contacts.

• The book drive was a success with 687 books being donated to Middle Way House and 367 books to Aurora High School. In addition to the books, Aurora received a 3 DVD set of Lord of the Rings. Both agencies received $10 each in donations.
• The Know Your Campus event for March was attended by approximately 35 people and took place at the IU Fine Arts Museum; Jennifer Chaffin organized the event.
• The next Know Your Campus event will occur at Wiley House in May and will also be coordinated by Jennifer.
• Only one Know Your Campus event is being planned for the summer. Tentatively this will involve a tour of several cultural centers. Eric Love will coordinate the event.
• At the request of the BPC, the forum on benefits will be postponed until fall.
• The Outreach committee will be responsible for refreshments for the May meeting.

Professional Interests Committee – Mark Goodner

No report.

Search and Screen/Review Committees

Review Committee – Law School Dean Lauren Robel – Christina Kuzmych

The committee has met and established initial parameters for the review.  The committee will meet again later this month.

Special Guests – Yvette Alex-Assensoh, Rashawn Jabar and Linda McCammon, Office for Women’s Affairs

At 4:00 pm we were joined by Yvette Alex-Assensoh, Dean for Women’s Affairs.  Dean Assensoh introduced two members of the OWA team:  Rashawn Jabar and Linda McCammon. 

Rashawn is the Savant Coordinator.  He also supervises undergraduate students and coordinates student workshops.  Linda is the Director of Administration for OWA.  She directs the Women in the Workplace conference, supports graduate students and staff, and oversees several lactation rooms around campus.

q.     What are your current initiatives and major issues?

a.     We have several programs and initiatives that have been developed broadly across the institution:  tenure and promotion celebrations, crisis and rape initiatives, and the Women in the Workplace conference.  Our office continues to provide assistance in developing and improving skills in the workplace.  We also focus on gender equity and personal safety issues, and we are interested in developing a staff mentoring program.  We would like to add empowerment, family-friendly policies (i.e. flex time, 4-day work week), and community building across the university.  OWA has had some success in relieving “toxic” work conditions among faculty and staff.  Another issue of major interest to OWA is salary equity.

q.     Are any of your initiatives tied to orientation?

a.     Yes.  Last year’s program, “For Students Only,” was written by a former music student.  There were originally 51 scheduled performances, and another 15-20 performances were added to meet demand.  The Health Center has reported that rapes and sexual assaults are down.  We believe this is due to an increase in awareness across campus.  This program also deals with alcohol abuse and awareness of “consent.”

q.     Do you see a need for orientation for new faculty/staff to answer questions such as, “what constitutes sexual harassment”?

a.     People don’t like to be told that such sessions are “mandatory,” but some departments are already engaged in these efforts.  This is an area we could work on with the deans.

q.     What are your current priorities?

a.     In order to prioritize, we must look at our expressed needs and the resources available.  Here are a few issues we see as “priority.”

We began a childcare survey in the fall.  The survey had a high response rate.  The report finds that faculty do not necessarily have a problem with the cost of childcare.  Their problems lie mostly in access to childcare.  Staff and students, on the other hand, have problems with both cost and access.  This issue must be addressed if IU expects to be known as a family-friendly university.  The BPC might be able to help on this front.

        Salary equity is also a priority.  A new survey will focus on salary for faculty and staff.  This issue needs to be highlighted and addressed.

        OWA is also interested in mentoring programs.  Mentors are extremely important, especially for understanding what it takes to move from one step to the next within the university system.  Our mentoring program focuses specifically on faculty and undergraduates at this time, but we would be interested in partnering with the BPC to develop a mentoring program for professional staff.

        Another area of interest at OWA is fellowship money for graduate students, as well as money for professional development and assistance with books.

q.     What do you see as the greatest challenges facing women on this campus? 

a.     Women’s salary equity issues have a cumulative effect over time.  This is a real challenge.  Another challenge is our focus on the implementation of family-friendly policies.  In addition, “toxic” work environments are extremely problematic.  OWA also sees a challenge in the area of community building.  People are often separated by status or group.  We must continue to educate women in power in the workplace.  If a leader is uncomfortable in a position, everyone else will be uncomfortable as well.

q.     Do you see different issues within our different community groups:  faculty, staff, and students?  If so, describe.

a.     Yes and no – power can be used for good and for bad.  There are different issues, but all of us seem to suffer from one or another “abuse” of power.

q.     Will IU ever get to the point where concern for women’s issues is so institutionalized that there is no need for the Office for Women’s Affairs?

a.     We would hope so, but we don’t see it any time soon.

q.     What are some current programs offered for staff?

a.     We offer the Women in the Workplace Conference, a lunchtime discussion series, various support groups and the Commission on Personal Safety.  We are working to initiate conference funding for staff.  We also have staff representation on the OWA Staff Advisory Board.  We are available for counseling with staff, and we would like to receive support from staff as we continue working on our childcare survey.

Please email OWA with any comments regarding the staff mentoring program and the Commission on Personal Safety.  The email address is:  owa@indiana.edu.  You can also visit their website:  http://www.indiana.edu/~owa/index.shtml. 

Announcements

Tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. Anthony Cortese will speak at Whittenburger Auditorium.  His talk is entitled, “Higher Education’s Critical Role in Creating a Healthy, Just and Sustainable Society.”  This event is free and open to the public.  A reception will follow with food and beverages courtesy of Union Board.

Next month’s business meeting will be held on May 20, from 3:00-5:00 in Kelley School of Business, Room 3055.  This will be our annual reception to recognize volunteers and outgoing BPC members.

Meeting was adjourned at 5:15 p.m.

Meeting minutes respectfully submitted by Teresa Spiegel.