February Thaw

Hi Everyone,

Here are some more updates and notices--

New Summary Feature

To give members more timely information, there will now be a "Staff Council Meeting Summary" posted on the Council website within a few days after the meetings. These won't be as detailed or bound to approval as the minutes, but they should provide a reasonably complete overview of the proceedings. You can read February's Summary here on the Staff Council website.

The February Staffline is there too, including a note from President Beth Walsh, informational articles, volunteer opportunities, and of course plenty of staff discounts.


Working Group Updates

I did tell the Staff Council Office of the many requests I received from staff to be kept abreast of any further correspondence regarding the working group appointments. The Office replied and asked me to convey to you that Beth Walsh:

"did receive a response from President Fogel in regards to her letter about the Working Group and she in turn responded back. [We]..ask that you let your colleagues know basically the main point of the correspondence which is there will be no changes to the working group and that Beth is asking staff to extend to President Fogel some good faith on this issue since staff have many other opportunities to serve at UVM.

Beth also made a point to mention the working group during her BOT address on Friday Feb. 6th. In addition, she stated that Staff Council does not support the lay off of any employee at UVM and that this phased plan for lay offs, while practical because of the state funding issues, may cause more worry amongst staff."

If we hear anything more on this topic I'll pass it along as I get it.


Women's Award Call

We've received a call for nominations from the Women’s Center & Women’s and Gender Studies Program for their 7th Annual Women’s Awards. These awards celebrate "those women, and men as allies in our community, who actively promote, support and encourage inclusion of women at all levels of university life".

The descriptions and criteria, along with the paper nomination form, are posted here. The online form is posted here on the Women's Center website. Nomination deadline is February 18th, 2009!


So, be careful on the roads tonight, and everyone have a good upcoming President's Day,

Joanne