IUB Professional Council

Business Meeting Minutes

Kelley School of Business, Room 3055

April 20, 2011

Council Members in Attendance:  Jennifer Brooks, Jennifer Chaffin, Cindy Curvin, Craig Dethloff (BFC ex-officio), Rosanne Dye, Tiana Iruoje, Peter Kaczmarczyk (CWA ex-officio), Maryanne McDonnell, Patricia Moser, Rich Nourie, Liz Peck, Suzanne Ryan (UHRS ex-officio), Grant Simpson, Patrick Smith, Kelly Thacker, Michael Thompson, Dee Verostko, Doris Wittenburg.

Proxies: Cindy Curvin for Margaret Baechtold, Dee Verostko for Tracy Bee, Patricia Moser for Greg Buse, Patricia Moser for Eric Love, Maryanne McDonnell for Mark Trotter.

Guests:  Rob Aspy, Office of Affirmative Action; Lisa Cooper, Environmental Health & Safety; Karen Garrett, VP Information Technology; Annie McCarty, University Division.

Meeting Minutes

A motion to approve the March, 2011 minutes as written was made, seconded and passed.

Old Business

Representative for Unit 2

Since there were no nominees from Unit 2 in this year’s election, there is a vacant seat for the upcoming year.  Parliamentarian Patrick Smith suggested that a special election could be held to fill the vacancy in Unit 2.  The Executive Committee will discuss the matter further, and if a representative cannot be appointed, a special election will be held.

Anti-Sweatshop Committee

Maryanne McDonnell has volunteered to represent the BPC on this campus committee.

Bylaws Review/Rewrite

The first reading of proposed changes to the BPC bylaws was held at today’s meeting.  One question that was asked at today’s meeting was whether or not a limit could be placed on the number of members one person could proxy for at any given meeting.  The Executive Committee will research this.

There was some discussion on Section 4:D12, about what should be done in the case of a vacancy within a unit during mid-term.  The Executive Committee will work on the language for this section.

A second reading of proposed changes will take place at the May business meeting.

Health Engagement Program/Healthcare Advisory Committee

Kelly Thacker met last week with Bruce Jacobs to discuss the Health Engagement Program and some concerns that have been expressed by professional staff employees. Bruce will supervise the Health Engagement Director, and he hopes to see an incentive-based program put into place.  He offered to come speak to the BPC at an upcoming business meeting.

Jennifer Brooks continues to represent BPC on the Healthcare Advisory Committee.  The committee seems to have a much broader view of healthcare than just the Health Engagement Program.  Although nothing has been determined for 2012, we do know that there will be increases to healthcare costs across the board.  Jennifer stressed the importance of communicating with staff groups on the other IU campuses.

On a related note, Jennifer Chaffin referred to an article published in the Herald-Times newspaper on April 16.  The report stated that IU will propose a shift from an 80% university, 20% employee contribution to 75% university and 25% employee contribution.  In addition, the university would begin spreading any cost increases as follows:  two thirds would be evenly distributed among all employees.  The remaining one third would be distributed among all employees earning a base salary of $50,000 or greater. 

New Business

Guidelines for Research Centers and Institutes

Jennifer Chaffin forwarded the proposed policy to all BPC members on April 14.  Feedback should be submitted to the BFC office by April 25.

Proposed Parking Permit Increase

An increase in parking permit fees has been approved for next year (2011-2012).  Fees will be evaluated again next year before making a rate is determined for 2012-2013.

Annual BPC Retreat

The date for this year’s retreat is Wednesday, July 20.  Outgoing members will be invited to attend, as well as all members new to BPC for 2011-2012.  Officers for the upcoming year will be elected, and committee assignments will be made.  Location of the retreat is yet to be determined.

General Education Requirements for 2011-2012 – Kelly Thacker

There have been some changes to the general education requirements that will be put into place for this fall.  These changes will help to create a common language across colleges. They will also address accreditation and accountability issues.  Anyone with specific questions should contact Kelly.

IU Board of Trustees Meeting

• Construction of two new housing complexes was approved.

• Benchmarking Study

• The report identified $24 million in potential savings - $21 million through Student Services (bursar, registrar, financial aid, and admissions).  Other potential savings, according to the report, could occur in reducing the “error” rate in the payroll function.

• The report also recommended a consolidation in the area of marking and communication across campus.

• IU Strategic Plan for Online Education was discussed – One recommendation of the study is that a university-wide office be established to oversee online education.  This will be done.

• Regional Campus Expenditure Review – Several recommendations from the review will be incorporated into the strategic planning document for IU’s regional campuses.

• New Academic Directions Committee – The report calls for strategic investments in existing and new programs, realignments among academic units and greater administrative efficiency. President McRobbie said he plans to solicit input and ideas from university vice presidents and chancellors, deans, key faculty leaders and others.

• Old Crescent Working Group – Plans will be developed to repurpose Franklin Hall and to restore the Old Crescent area to a center of academic and student life.

Bloomington Faculty Council

• The CWA has been granted a non-voting seat on the BFC.

• Current paid family leave plan for faculty will remain as it is through February, 2012.  The policy is currently undergoing a review.

• Work is being done on a consolidation/merger document.  This would establish a policy to address situations arising from mergers or consolidations among departments.

• REEP (The office of Research Ethics, Education and Policy), is headed by John Baumann.  This office oversees all allegations of misconduct in research.

• Education policy, end of year summary (course evaluation) – the goal is to have this online, for consistency purposes.

Standing Committee Reports

Executive Committee – 04/11/11

The Executive Committee met in Wells Library 043A.  In attendance were:  Jennifer Chaffin, Rosanne Dye, Grant Simpson, Patrick Smith, Kelly Thacker and Teresa Spiegel.  The following items were discussed:

• Auction – There was a total of 58 items donated to this year’s auction.  The total of all bids was $1,361.  There are a few areas in the auction site that could use some “tweaking” before next year.  The Executive Committee will look into getting this done.

• Election – Since there was no nominee from Unit 2, the Executive Committee will need to appoint someone to the position.  This will be discussed at the BPC business meeting next week.

• Retreat – Several suggestions (Wells House, Wylie House, Woodburn House, Union Street) were made for locations around the Bloomington campus.  Teresa will begin contacting them to see what might be available.  The retreat will be scheduled for Wednesday, July 20.

• Anti-Sweatshop Committee – the BPC is still looking for someone to serve on this campus committee.  This will be discussed at the BPC business meeting next week.  On a related note, Kelly suggested that at this year’s retreat, all campus and ad-hoc committees be listed (and a short description given), along with standing committees, when members fill out their committee preference forms for the upcoming year.

• OWA Event – The event, co-sponsored by BPC, will take place next Thursday, April 21.  Teresa will post the information on the BPC website.

• Health Engagement Program – Kelly will be meeting with Bruce Jacobs next week, prior to the BPC business meeting.  She will make a report at the business meeting.

• Bylaws Review/Rewrite – Proposed changes will be discussed at next week’s business meeting.  Although the proposed changes were sent out prior to the March business meeting, Teresa will re-send them and encourage all members to have their edits ready prior to next week’s meeting.

• The agenda for the April business meeting was set.

At today’s meeting, Jennifer Chaffin announced that Grant Simpson will begin looking into updating both the on-line voting system and the auction site.  In addition, the Executive Committee will consider putting a calendar on the website.

Communications and Marketing Committee

No report this month.

Outreach and Advocacy Committee

Today features an encore of the IU Cinema Tour.  In addition, the committee is working to schedule a tour of lesser-known areas of the IMU and a visit to Hilltop Gardens.

Professional Interests Committee – Michael Thompson

• “No Print Day” (spring 2011)

• Building on the success on the fall “No Print Day”, the PIC is considering whether we should repeat this event in late April. Since it is administered through an online survey, it should be fairly easy to carry out, however we may not want to over burden staff with an additional email/initiative so late in the semester.

• Professional Development Grant

• Only two applicants applied for grants and, upon review, both applicants (Stephanie Brown and Bernadette de Leon) were given the complete $400 grant.

• The lack of applicants was a bit disappointing since we could have awarded five (5) grants and the PIC had just organized the well-attended BPC Professional Development lunch, that showcased previous grant winners.

• Next year, we would like to suggest a Professional Development Event that focuses on more presentations of past award recipients. Only two were able to present at the lunch held in March and we think there would be interest for more to have this opportunity.

• Silent Auction

• Teresa reports that a higher than usual number of past award recipients donated items for the Silent Auction owing to the efforts of the PIC in contacting them and encouraging their support.

• The final auction was a success with over 50 items and over 30 ‘high-bidders’ leading to over $1,300 in bids for collection.

• The PIC would like to thank Teresa Spiegel for all her efforts in coordinating the Silent Auction.

Parliamentarian Report - Nominations and Elections - 11 April 2011

The 2011 nominations and elections ended on Monday, April 5, 2011.  There were a total 21 names nominated and 348 (393/10) total votes cast this year.  All nominees were notified of the results.  Here are the results of the election:

There were some issues with the IUBPC Nominations and Elections voting system this year.  The problem was with the Audit Trail file coding that occurred as part of the most recent migration of the server.  This problem can be alleviated in the future if we delete the Audit Trail.  Mike Halla recommends leaving the file in because it allows for votes to be logged (recorded) as they are cast.  If there is a problem with the database we can check the log for what votes had been accumulated.  As a remedy we can test the nominations and voting feature next year to ensure its integrity prior to going live with it.

Announcements

Our May business meeting will be held in Kelley School of Business, Room 3055, on May 18, from 3:00-5:00 pm.

The OWA Celebration: An Event Showcasing the Creative Work of IU Staff is tomorrow, at Neal-Marshall, beginning at 12:00 noon.

All committee calendars should be turned in to Kelly Thacker as soon as possible.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m.

Meeting minutes respectfully submitted by Teresa Spiegel.