IUB Professional Council

Business Meeting Minutes

Kelley School of Business, Room 3055

March 23, 2011

Council Members in Attendance: Margaret Baechtold, Tracy Bee, Jennifer Brooks, Jennifer Chaffin, Rosanne Dye, Peter Kaczmarczyk (CWA Ex-officio), Maryanne McDonnell, Patricia Moser, Suzanne Ryan (UHRS ex-officio), Grant Simpson, Kelly Thacker, Michael Thompson, Mark Trotter, Dee Verostko, Doris Wittenburg.

Proxies: Margaret Baechtold for Greg Buse, Margaret Baechtold for Cindy Curvin, Kelly Thacker for Tiana Iruoje, Doris Wittenburg for Rich Nourie, Margaret Baechtold for Liz Peck, Chris Enstrom for Patrick Smith.

Guests:  Martha Harsanyi, Libraries; Thomas Kenyon, University Division.

Members Not in Attendance:  Craig Dethloff (BFC ex-officio), Eric Love.

Meeting Minutes

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

Old Business

Health Engagement Program

Jennifer Chaffin recently attended a meeting with Bruce Jacobs to discuss updates on the Health Engagement Program.

• The program is separate from University Human Resource Services.
• The search is underway to hire a full-time, system-wide director for the Health Engagement Program.  The director will be housed at IMU.
• There are plans in the works to bring more healthy eating choices to campus (i.e. Salad Express).
• A suggestion was made to provide a service on campus that would pre-cook and deliver healthy meals on campus that staff could take home, heat and eat.
• What the health engagement program will look like in 2012 has not yet been determined.

BPC Auction

The auction is scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. Monday, March 28.  It will close at 5:00 p.m. Friday, April 8.  The auction currently has slightly less than $1,400 worth of donated goods and services that will be offered for sale to the highest bidders.

Committee Calendars

The Executive Committee and the Professional Interests Committee have turned in calendars to Kelly Thacker.  The Communications and Marketing Committee and the Outreach and Advocacy Committee should get calendars turned in as soon as possible.

Nominations Update – Patrick Smith

• Nominations ended on Monday, February 28
• Total of 21 Nominations: three (3) self nominations this year
• Unit 1 = 3, Unit 2 = 0; Unit 3 = 1; Unit 4= 3; Unit 5 = 4 , Unit 6 = 4; Unit 7 = 4
• 21 responses ( 11 affirmative, 10 no)
• Bugs in the H.R. BPC database (query) caused problems with eligibility/ineligible reporting
• 2799 records originally reported by HR, updated records reflect 2779 (20 incorrectly reported as ineligible/eligible…I am confirming this with Cindy Parker of HR)
• 2234 records reported last year
• Issues accessing che.dev Nominations and Elections administrative site due to weekend migration (Monday February 28)

Anti-Sweatshop Committee

The BPC is still seeking a volunteer to serve on this ad-hoc committee.  Any BPC member who is interested should contact Jennifer Chaffin as soon as possible.

Electronic Surveillance Policy

The second draft is currently being reviewed and is due April 15.  Anyone with concerns or comments not previously addressed should forward them to Jennifer Chaffin.

Meeting with 21st Century Scholar

Greg Buse, Cindy Curvin and Jennifer Chaffin met with Kalim, a sophomore Journalism major, who is part of the 21st Century Scholar program.  Kalim will review both the newsletter and the website and will present his ideas to the BPC.

Lunch with Staff Merit Award Winners

Jennifer Chaffin reported that she met with Jason Baumgartner and James D. Gibson, this year’s professional staff merit award winners, for lunch at the Tudor Room, in recognition of their awards. 

Benchmarking Study

No official announcement has been made.

Bloomington Faculty Council

Jennifer Chaffin attended the most recent BFC meeting.  The School of Nursing has asked for an exemption for the General Studies requirement.

Early Retirement Plan

As of today’s business meeting, employees reported that they had not yet received letters notifying them of their eligibility.

Election Update

The election is scheduled to begin Friday, March 25 and will run through Monday, April 4.  As of today, there are no nominees in Unit 2.  Therefore, a representative from Unit 2 will be decided upon after the election has concluded.

Bylaws Review

A copy of proposed changes to the BPC bylaws has been forwarded to all members.  The proposed changes will be discussed at the April business meeting.

Healthcare Advisory Committee – Jennifer Brooks

The committee held its second meeting this month.  The information discussed was very broad, and there was not a lot of opportunity for interaction.  It was announced that nothing has been decided as far as 2012 is concerned.  In addition, it was announced that there are three final candidates for Director of the Health Engagement Program.  The BPC agreed that Jennifer should speak with representatives from PA groups on other campuses to get a feel for their concerns.  She will file a report next month.

New Business

OWA Celebration: An Event Showcasing the Creative Work of IU Staff

The BPC will co-sponsor this event again this year.  Plan to stop by the Neal-Marshall Center, Grand Hall, from 12:00-1:30, Thursday, April 21.

OWA Federal Grant Application

The BPC has agreed to support the Office for Women’s Affairs in its application for a federal grant to assist in reducing violence against women on campus.  This means a representative from the BPC will sign the application in support of the grant.

PA Staff Hire/Termination Report

The BPC office received a list of PA hires, terminations and transfers for the period beginning September 23, 2010 and ending February 22, 2011.  There were 95 terminations, 87 hires, and 27 transfers during that period, broken down as follows:

• Unit 1:     15 terminations, 15 hires, 3 transfers
• Unit 2:     36 terminations, 37 hires, 3 transfers
• Unit 3:     7 terminations, 5 hires, 1 transfer
• Unit 4:     5 terminations, 1 hire, 0 transfers
• Unit 5:     14 terminations, 8 hires, 9 transfers
• Unit 6:     7 terminations, 5 hires, 5 transfers
• Unit 7:     11 terminations, 16 hires, 6 transfers

Standing Committee Reports

Executive Committee – 03/07/11

The Executive Committee met via email on Monday, March 7.  The agenda for the March business meeting was set.

Communications and Marketing Committee

Margaret Baechtold is working on the next edition of the newsletter.  Anyone with items of interest or photos from previous events should send them to Margaret.

Outreach and Advocacy Committee

One tour of the Lilly Library was conducted yesterday, and another is scheduled for today.  Two tours of the Bryan House are scheduled for April 4, and an encore tour of the IU Cinema is scheduled for April 20.

Professional Interests Committee

The Professional Interests Committee held its first Professional Development Day on Tuesday, March 8, from 12:00-1:30 pm.  There were 45 registrants, including many former professional development grant recipients.  Michael thanked UHRS for allowing the BPC to use Poplars 181 to house the event.  It is the hope of the Professional Interests Committee that this event can be expanded in the future.

The committee has been working to solicit donations for the upcoming auction from previous professional development grant recipients.  Participation among the grant recipients has been favorable.

The next professional development grant application deadline is Friday, April 1.

Guest Speaker:  Dan Rives, University Human Resource Services

At 4:00 Dan Rives presented information on the upcoming ERIP (Early Retirement Incentive Plan).  Dan stressed several times throughout his presentation that ERIP was designed to be used as a voluntary separation plan.

The purpose of ERIP is to facilitate voluntary separations, in an effort to reduce costs to the university.  However, not all employees who are eligible for the program will be approved.  There is a specific application and approval process that must be followed.  Approval will be contingent on satisfying the plan objectives.

The plan objectives are:

• Reduce salary/wage and benefit expenses
• Re-direct positions to focus on higher priorities
• Minimize involuntary reductions in personnel

ERIP is a one-time program, available April 18 through May 13, 2011.  Approval is based on meeting plan objectives and must be substantiated by RC Heads, Chancellors or Vice Presidents. The employee must sign a separation agreement, and separations (with some exception) will be effective June 30, 2011.  There are two alternate separation dates that may be designated by unit heads.  They are August 31, 2011 (for academic and staff employees), and December 31, 2011 (academic employees, with the President’s approval).

A full description of ERIP, along with faq’s and all documents, is available at http://www.hr.iu.edu/erip/. 

Announcements

Our April business meeting will be held in Kelley School of Business, Room 3055, on April 20, from 3:00-5:00 pm.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:15 p.m.

Meeting minutes respectfully submitted by Teresa Spiegel.