BPC president looking ahead to continuing, new initiatives

By Rose McIlveen

Diana Humphrey came to IU Bloomington 22 years ago—without a job—to stay with her sister. But two interviews later, she began working as a secretary in what is now the Kelley School of Business. Over the years, she has held several positions at the school.

Humphrey has worked as coordinator of travel expenses, secretary to four associate deans and to former deans Jack Wentworth and John Rau, with the intern programs, as human resources coordinator, and finally, landed in the development office where she is director of annual/reunion giving. But she expanded her university community beyond the Kelley School when she ran for a position on the Bloomington Professional Council (BPC), an organization over which she presides in this last year of a three-year term.

The BPC exists to represent the best interests of the professional staff at IU Bloomington. Members of the council want to do the right thing, said Humphrey, who offered examples of working for better benefits, serving on committees such as budgetary affairs, parking appeals or campus environmental stewardship, and volunteering for Bloomington community work. Next month, the council will be having an open meeting with Chancellor Sharon Brehm.

If pushed to choose a council accomplishment she is most proud of, Humphrey goes for the recently established Professional Development Grants. The grants are given to professional staff to assist with expenses in going to a conference in their field or to help pay for additional training.

“As long as it pertains to their work and the department doesn’t have funding, professional staff can come to us. We give $400 grants,” Humphrey explained.

The council also worked on getting benefits for same-sex partners and currently is exploring a sabbatical leave policy for professional staff.

“We’re looking at other institutions, mostly in the Big Ten, to see if they have a sabbatical leave in some form,” said Humphrey. “I think it’s needed. People who’ve been here for 15 or 20 years have sick bank hours built up that they will never use. What we’re proposing is to allow that time already accumulated to be used as paid sabbatical instead of simply having to take the time off.”

Individual successes aside, Humphrey is proud of the council as a whole. For one thing, she likes its resourcefulness. Last December, faced with a dwindling account at the IU Foundation, the BPC members decided to enter into a new venture.

“We created a silent ‘Holiday Auction’ on the Web with items donated by local businesses,” Humphrey said. “Participants could bid every day after seeing what the current bid was. We made almost $1,500 the first year, and we hope it will be larger each year.”

She also helped the BPC network with similar organizations at other universities. Last June, the council invited comparable Big Ten university councils to come to Bloomington, where plans for a permanent conference-wide organization were laid. And recently, representatives from Bloomington were invited to Ball State University to offer organizational advice for a professional council there.

In the future, Humphrey hopes to see the IU council enlarged. “We want to grow our council,” she said. “Right now, we have 21 people representing 2,000 employees. We’d like to get more people involved.”

Learn more about the BPC at its Web site below:

http://www.indiana.edu/~iubpc/agenda.html