Sycamore Room, Canyon Inn, McCormick’s Creek State Park
September 18, 2009
Council Members in Attendance: Rob Aspy, Margaret Baechtold, Tracy Bee, Jennifer Chaffin, Cindy Curvin, Martin Hadley, Tiana Iruoje, Christina Kuzmych, Eric Love, Maryanne McDonnell, Patricia Moser, Liz Peck, Patrick Smith, Kelly Thacker, Michael Thompson, Dee Verostko, Beverly Vicker, Doris Wittenburg.
Members Not in Attendance: Erica Burrin, Paula Phillips, Greg Travis.
Meeting Minutes
A motion to approve the August, 2009 minutes as written was made, seconded and passed.
Old Business
2009 Silent Auction
The group discussed donations that have been collected to date. Paula Phillips was recognized for having worked especially hard thus far to acquire items for this year’s auction. Patty Moser reported that grant recipients have been contacted, per the professional development grant guidelines.
New Business
IU’s Pandemic Policy – Jennifer Chaffin
IU now has a policy in place, in case of a pandemic. It must be noted that the policy only goes into effect if a state of emergency is declared by President McRobbie. If and when this happens, the current attendance policy will be relaxed. Please refer to this link for specific information about the policy: http://www.indiana.edu/~uhrs/policies/uwide/pandemic.html.
Corrective Action/Grievance Representative Training
Rob and Dee discussed the process of representing a professional staff employee in a corrective action or grievance situation. Rob will email a set of guidelines to all BPC members that will help provide consistency in the process. Any BPC member who would like to work as a representative in this capacity should email Rob. A training session will be held for all those interested.
Domestic Partner Benefits – Martin Hadley
The BPC has been approached by a professional staff member who is interested in domestic partner benefits for heterosexual couples. Although a policy for benefits for same-sex couples was adopted several years ago, there is no benefit package available for heterosexual couples at IUB. The Executive Committee will poll other IU employee groups and Big Ten universities to identify the possible scope of interest and to assess consistency across campuses.
Sick Bank
A suggestion was made to re-visit the possibility of creating a sick bank, where PA employees could donate unused time for use by others who PA employees who face a catastrophic illness. More research will be conducted.
Role of Affiliates
In an effort to make the IUB Professional Council as inclusive as possible among all professional staff, the Council would like to limit the use of “ex-officio” positions. A letter will be going out to all employee groups currently represented by ex-officio members. The letter will state that each ex-officio member will be expected to adhere to the same attendance policy as voting BPC members in order to maintain an ex-officio role with the BPC. (The attendance policy states that any four absences in one year will result in expulsion from the council. When a proxy is present to represent the ex-officio member, this will not count as an absence.) However, as required by the Constitution, the Bloomington Faculty Council and the IU Student Association will always be invited to retain ex-officio membership.
A suggestion was made to assign one BPC member to each ex-officio member to serve as a point person and to encourage attendance at the monthly meetings.
Retreat Committee Reports
Executive Committee
Based on the three areas of priority that were identified in the morning session at today’s retreat, the Executive Committee has listed the following points of action:
Performance Management
Work to establish training within the RC’s for HR personnel, particularly for supervisors who administer reviews.
Contact other CIC and Big Ten universities to see what, if any, performance management programs are in place and, if so, how they are implemented
Visibility
Utilize WTIU and WFIU for interviews and public service announcements
Encourage the use of BPC nametags when members attend campus functions
Establish an “faq” section on the website, or host a column, “Ask a Professional” in which information is generated by BPC members on topics of interest.
Civility
Stress management – the BPC could host a speaker specializing in “verbal Judo” either in conjunction with or in addition to a stress management fair highlighting diet, exercise, and relaxation as ways to combat stress
Communications and Marketing Committee
Forms of Communication:
Webpage
Continue to receive information via Theresa to keep the page up to date
Tiana will speak to Jonathan about uploading information
We will print the BPC information page and update the information
We would like to add the board members photos to the page in addition to individual profiles
The profile would entail the following
1-2 sentences describing your role on campus
Why did you get involved in BPC
We would like to create a process for receiving information to post on the website with the following criteria
It has to be in PDF format
Must be received two weeks prior to the event
The targeted audience has to be mainly be professional staff
It must include the office sponsoring the event
Newsletters
We will email out a newsletter once/month starting in October and ending in April
Dec., May, June we will send Happy Winter Break, Have a safe summer messages!
The first newsletter with showcase our committee with information on what BPC accomplished last year and our goals for this year! With always a section on what BPC can do for youJ
We will solicit information from each committee to showcase information in the newsletter with photos.
Press Release
We will look at how we can put information in the IU homepages
Public Forums
We will create a tri-fold board with information about BPC to use at different venues
How we will fulfill this year’s goals
5. Professionalism/Civility
Inform professional staff about IU’s policy on email signatures
Ask other committees for input for future newsletters
Liz will come up with a quote each month (walkthetalk.com)
After discussion, it was decided that BPC will investigate whether or not new employee’s names can be published to welcome them to campus.
6. Visibility
Showcase each committee in our newsletters with their photos. We will have them sign the photo release form at the next meeting
Post upcoming events for professionals on the website and in the newsletter
Performance Management
Encourage others to work with their managers during specific times of the year
Collaborate with HR to become an advocacy group on this topic
Which we will link to the website
Committee Goals
Meet regularly
Dates: 9/29,10/27,11/24,1/26,2/23,3/23,4/27 at 4pm in SPEA
Create a template to inform and to welcome new professionals on BPC activities
Connect with new professionals later in their employment (so they recall information about BPC)
Check what policies departments have for their digital signage
Update the surveys
Are you familiar with the existing Code of Conduct for IU Professional Staff?
Link the code off the website
Our Next meeting: 9/29 at 4pm in SPEA 200A
Outreach and Advocacy Committee
General discussion
We can most easily address visibility and civility.
In the past, we’ve been responsible for know-your-campus events.
Concern about attendance and times. Last year’s survey said between 4-6 pm were best times.
Visibility of professional staff – profiles for website (Christina)
Work with Communications Committee to get information out about events
Visibility and Communication
Events that increase multicultural competencies (Eric). We’ll write up and provide information to Communications Committee. BPC “seal of approval”
Know-Your-Campus
1. Mathers (Tracy) - October. Tour of the exhibit. Usually 2 shifts, tours. Contact person there, set up date, blurb for Communications Committee or for
2. Gargoyle presentation/ tour (Eric) - November.
3. Kinsey (Tracy) - February
4. Murals tour and talk (Eric) - April
5. Tour of one of the new Residence Halls (May) – Maryanne.
6. Tour of Football Stadium (Beverly) – Summer
7. Tour of Practice Facility (Beverly) – Summer
Service project (book drive)
- Children’s Books
- TBD – location to benefit
- Spring (last year it was end of Feb, first week of March)
Civility
Possibilties:
Modeling Civil Dialogue Workshop - Agree to disagree (Rob and Eric’s plan, could be presented to professional staff). Maybe one at lunch and one at 4ish.
Panel discussion on civil discourse
Presentation about conflict mediation
Professional Interests Committee – Patricia Moser
Members Patty Moser, Michael Thompson and Dee Verostko met during the Annual Retreat to discuss specific committee objectives for the upcoming year.
One of the main duties of the Professional Interest group is to review and select recipients for the BPC Grant. The group strategized about a way to combine this task with the (3) main objectives for the Council as a whole (Visibility, Performance Management and Professionalism and Civility).
One of the initiatives discussed, was to have recipient’s conduct a presentation of their professional development experience (conference, meeting, event, etc.).
Participants would be encouraged to invite their colleagues and others, and in this way, increase the visibility of the Council while showcasing the unique activities and valuable services professional staff provide.
Another initiative discussed, was to survey (either officially or unofficially) departments to access if and how performance management was being utilized. Results could then be used to provide recommendations to Human Resources as to what additional measures (i.e. provide training for supervisory staff) may be warranted so that this system can be utilized to its greatest potential.
Lastly, a general discussion regarding ways to provide staff with workshops, information and resources for stress reduction (increased civility) was explored to provide assistance to professional staff during these uncertain times.
Announcements
The October business meeting will be held in Bridgwaters Lounge, Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, Wednesday, October 21, from 3:00-5:00 p.m. Our guest at 4:00 will be H. “Pete” Goldsmith, Dean of Students.
Meeting was adjourned at 3:20 p.m.
Meeting minutes respectfully submitted by Teresa Spiegel.