Staff Council Updates

Sort of Spring

2010-04-27T15:36:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone,

It's been a quiet Spring, but now the election season is nearly here! This year is the bi-annual election of Staff Council officers, and only the second time that the whole staff body has been able to participate in the voting. It isn't our unit's year to elect representatives, but we all can vote for President and Vice President.

Election week is May 7-14, but to give you a chance to meet the candidates, there will be two Open Forums on Tuesday May 4th, Noon-1:30pm, Davis Center, Livak Ballroom, and Thursday May 6th, Noon-1pm, Davis Center, Silver Maple Ballroom. They'll speak first, and then take questions from the audience and from a list of questions sent to the Council Office in advance.

If you know ahead of time that you can't be there, you can still send questions for the advance list by Campus Mail or US Mail to the Staff Council Office, 313 Waterman, 85 South Prospect St., Burlington, VT 05405.

Audio recordings will be made of the forums and posted on the Council website so that those who couldn't make it can still hear the proceedings--and they should be ready by May 7th when voting starts. If you'd like to get a preview of the candidates now, there are photos, print statements, and short videotaped statements posted on the Staff Council website at http://www.uvm.edu/~stffcncl/?Page=preselection.html.

Well, today is not the day to rhapsodize about the weather, so drive carefully on the way home. Hopefully we''l be back to Spring by the weekend!

have a good week,

Joanne

Nearly Halfway Through February

2010-02-12T15:02:00.001-05:00

Hi Everyone,

The Staff Council Office asked us to get this information to you:

The February 2, 2010 Staff Council Meeting Summary is available now on the website or right here.

A majority of the meeting was spent discussing the Salary Raise Pool Recommendation that needed to be brought to the February 5, 2010 Board of Trustees Meeting. Fairness, equity and the difficult economy were foremost in everyone's minds as different suggestions were brought up and discussed. The final recommendation garnered the most votes as meeting those criteria most evenly, so it is what we went forward with to the Board of Trustees. It can be read here or on the Staff Council website, along with our SC President Beth Walsh's report to the Board:
Staff Council FY11 Salary Raise Pool Recommendation
Staff Council Report - Board of Trustees Meeting - February 5, 2010

Next, the SGA has sent us a survey for staff regarding undergraduate students:

~ * ~
What do YOU want to know about UVM undergraduate students?

We are gathering information for an upcoming presentation and would love to hear what UVM Staff members want to know about the students they help to serve! You may have questions such as: What are our reasons for selecting UVM? Who plans to stay within the Vermont community, and why? What is our long term vision and what are our hopes for the University? Please forward your anonymous feedback or thoughts to SGA President Bryce Jones at bjones1@uvm.edu or SGA Vice President Kate Ash at kash@uvm.edu by February 16th. As two undergraduate students, we look forward to hearing your feedback and thank you for all that you do!
~ * ~

Last, instead of pasting the quoted message in again, I'm going to refer you to #3 in the post from Dec 21, 2009, regarding the Campus Budget Update: Staff Council Request for Ideas. 'Nuff said.

That's the end of the Council Office info--

Blogwise, I do know that the Weather Gadget on this page is broken. According to the Gadget Master("Terence"!), Google is having some issues with its gadgets and everyone is working hard to solve all the problems. Hopefully it'll be fixed soon and we won't have to look at the error message any more--I'm not even able to delete the gadget right now, sorry!

Well, everyone have a very good weekend and holiday,

Joanne

Budgets and...

2010-01-13T10:45:00.004-05:00

Hi Everyone,

At the 1/5/10 Full Council meeting, our guest speaker was Richard Cate, VP of Finance and Admin., on the topic of the FY10 and FY11 Budgets.

There is an excellent overview of his talk under "Presentations" from the UVM Budget Planning website. Links to these are also available on the Staff Council homepage.

A summary of his actual presentation, with brief Q&A, should be up on the SC homepage soon, contained within the January meeting summary. Please do look over the numbers, consider the calls for input, and send any comments or suggestions to the Staff Council Office [656-4493 or Staff.Council@uvm.edu]. (Details also aesthetically presented in the Staffline)

..And More

Instead of paraphrasing here, I'd like to refer you all to the President's Update section of the December 1 Staff Council meeting minutes--it's a concise overview of the many current issues we've been addressing with the Administration and President Fogel. Many of these are still in early stages, and hopefully if we keep ourselves informed we can have some input and effect on the outcomes. Please keep checking the websites--both the Staff Council's and the various involved UVM taskforces' and departments'-- for further developments.

The Staff Council President and Vice President meet with Administration representatives and President Fogel monthly to discuss staff interests and concerns, so don't forget to communicate any ideas you think should be considered to the Council Office. Next month's is scheduled for 2/2/10 (yes, Groundhog Day), so please send any communications by one week in advance: 1/26/10. There should soon be a section of the website dedicated to this activity, so keep checking!

Well the dark clouds coming across the lake are nearly here, but it looks like clear sky behind them--stay ready for anything, and keep warm,

Joanne

Several Things All At Once

2009-12-21T16:06:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone,

This is a long post because every time it was nearly ready, more things came out that had to be added! Hopefully I'm ahead of the wave today, and all this is now current.

Several items were sent to all the council representatives with the request to get them out to our units--those are quoted verbatim below first. After that are separate items that also needed to be sent to all staff.

So without further ado:

Items Forwarded from the Staff Council Office

"1. December 1, 2009 Staff Council Meeting Summary

Please find a summary of our recent Staff Council Meeting at http://www.uvm.edu/~stffcncl/pdf/sc120109sum.pdf

2. Clean Energy Fund Committee - Call for Applications - Deadline Friday, January 15, 2010

Staff Council is now accepting applications for one staff member to serve on the Clean Energy Fund Committee.
This is a half-year term with the option for reappointment in July 2010. The Committee meets once a month for approximately 2 hours.

The Clean Energy Fund (CEF) was created in response to students’ vision of the University of Vermont (UVM) running efficiently on a fraction of its current energy needs, powered by clean, locally produced renewable energy that fulfills both the University’s needs and supports the local economy.

The purpose of the CEF Committee is to invite and evaluate clean energy projects submitted by individuals and groups of the UVM community, and to recommend projects to the Vice President of Finance & Administration, who will make the final decision about the use of the fund.

* For for information about the CEF please visit the following website: http://www.uvm.edu/~sustain/?Page=cef/cleanenergy.html&SM=cef/CEFmenu.html

* For an application, please visit the Staff Council website here: http://www.uvm.edu/~stffcncl/pdf/cefapplication.pdf

Deadline to apply is Friday, January 15, 2010

3. Campus Budget Update: Staff Council Request for Ideas

On December 15, 2009, President Fogel distributed a Budget Update to the University Community which provided further insight on UVM's current FY10 budget and the process intended to develop the FY11 budget. You can read the complete communication on the President's webpage here: http://www.uvm.edu/president/?Page=letters/budgetupdate_Dec09.html

Jane Knodell, Provost and Richard Cate, Vice President for Finance and Administration will meet with each campus governance group to solicit ideas on how to address the issues impacting the FY11 budget. To assist in this effort, President Fogel has called on all individuals "who wish to contribute to the budget deliberations" to do so through their particular governance body.

Staff Council is asking all staff members to submit their questions, concerns, ideas, and suggestions to Staff.Council@uvm.edu

You may also submit anonymous hard copies through campus mail or the United States Postal Service to:
Staff Council Office
University of Vermont
313 Waterman
85 S. Prospect St.
Burlington, VT 05405

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this request, please contact the Staff Council Office at 802-656-4493."

Individual Items for Staff

U.S.-Sino Pathway Program-
You may have seen the recent email from Provost Jane Knodell about this new program at UVM. It was also the presentation topic of the guest speakers at our 12/1/09 Staff Council meeting, Kim Howard, Director of International Education, and Joe Russell, Graduate Assistant in the Office of the VP of Enrollment Management. (SEE: 12/1/09 meeting summary on the SC homepage)

There's a lot of interesting information in the website referenced in Jane's letter, particularly the page asking for volunteers to assist with these visiting students' needs. Please take a moment to check it out!

Transdisciplinary Research Initiative-
This is comprised of eight Working Groups, chosen to represent broad areas of UVM research, and charged with developing proposals that support UVM's "Spires of Excellence".

We are finding transparency of development processes and information gathering to be variable between the groups, although when asked about this, some of the groups hadn't realized that their messages weren't going out to everyone. Their main website does have some information on progress posted, so it could be worth checking there periodically for updates.

More On Campus Budget Updates-
At the next full Staff Council meeting on January 5, 2010, our guest speaker will be Richard Cate, Vice President for Finance and Administration. He'll be presenting on the topic of budget developments, so some of the ideas requested above could also be brought forward as questions after his talk (time permitting).

Staff Council Officer's Meeting with President Fogel-
The date has been moved to Jan 5th, just before the next Staff Council meeting. They hope to discuss some of what was mentioned here: the need for preparations for the U.S.-Sino Pathway Program, transparency issues in the TRI processes, and budget topics.

Other-
Results from the Holiday Bazaar are looking very good! (fuller report on the website soon) We collected 231 lbs of non-perishable items for the Food Bank--definitely a program we'll repeat next year!

Well, thanks very much for persisting all the way through. Here's wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season, and do stay warm,

Joanne

Council Office Updates & Future Fun

2009-11-18T11:31:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone,

The Staff Council Office has asked us to pass the below information directly on to our units, so here it is! They're also still looking for more items for the Holiday Raffle, so here are the instructions for that too:

If you or someone you know might be willing to donate a raffle item, please feel free to contact them on behalf of Staff Council or put them in contact with the Staff Council Office at 802-656-4493 or Recreation Committee Chair, Marie Tiemann at Marie.Tiemann@uvm.edu. Donations are Tax Deductible, Just fill out this form: http://www.uvm.edu/~stffcncl/pdf/holidaybazaardonationform.pdf

Last, each month the Staff Council President and Vice President (Beth Walsh and Jon Reidel) meet with President Fogel and Gary Derr to talk about issues that are currently important to the UVM staff. The next meeting is Monday 11/23, and if you have any specific concerns or questions that you would like raised, please get it to me or the Council office (6-4493 or Staff.Council@uvm.edu ) by Friday 11/20.

The office is trying to make these meetings more transparent to staff by developing a webpage just for this purpose, but it isn't ready quite yet. So to avoid confusion, just make sure you indicate in your message that your question is for the upcoming 11/23 meeting.

Forwarded Information From Staff Council:

1. Staff Council Holiday Bazaar:
Thursday, December 3, 2009, 9am-3pm, Grand Maple Ballroom, Davis Student Center

Mark your Calendars: The Staff Council Holiday Bazaar is right around the corner! Artwork, Crafts, Baked Goods, Raffle Prizes all await you on Thursday December 3rd from 9am-3pm in the Grand Maple Ballroom of the Davis Student Center.

We still have a few tables available for rental, but they are going fast. If you are interested, please contact the Staff Council Office at 802-656-4493 or Staff.Council@uvm.edu as soon as possible. For more information about the event, please visit our website: http://www.uvm.edu/~stffcncl/?Page=holidaybazaar.html

** GIVE A LITTLE, WIN A LOT **

This year in conjunction with the event, the Staff Council will also hold a Food Drive to benefit the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf. One Non-Perishable Food Item = One Free Raffle Ticket. Items up for raffle include Day Passes to Jay Peak, Bash Badges to Smuggler's Notch, artwork and crafts from participating vendors, as well as gift certificates to local restaurants and businesses. This is a great opportunity to do something good for our community and enter a chance to win some fantastic prizes.

2. November 3, 2009 Staff Council Meeting Summary

Please find a summary of our recent Staff Council Meeting at http://www.uvm.edu/~stffcncl/pdf/sc110309sum.pdf

3. Board of Trustees Meeting: Staff Representative Comments on Committee Summaries

The Staff Council has several staff members appointed to Board of Trustees Committees. After each meeting we ask that these representatives comment on the meetings to provide further transparency for UVM staff. Please find their comments on our website: http://www.uvm.edu/~stffcncl/pdf/bot102309repcom.pdf

Even though the skies are clear, the ground is nearly frozen--is everyone ready for (shhh) winter?

Have a good week,

Joanne

2009-11-08T20:36:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone,

We've been asked to forward the following information to our units regarding these advocacy opportunities:

Nominations for Staff Advocates: Deadline Friday, November 13, 2009

The Staff Council at the University of Vermont is currently accepting nominations from permanent non-represented staff members to serve two-year terms as Staff Advocates and/or Staff Council Designees on Grievance Review Committees to assist with the University’s “Complaint Resolution and Grievance Policy and Procedures - Non-Represented Staff.”

For more information regarding this policy, qualifications, time committment and duties, please refer to the following link:
http://www.uvm.edu/~stffcncl/?Page=grievance.html. (Links to this information and forms are also found on the Staff Council homepage)

Those interested in this unique opportunity are asked to fill out the Nomination Form and return it
no later than Friday, November 13, 2009 to:

Staff Council Office
University of Vermont
313 Waterman Building
Burlington, VT 05405

You may also email your nomination form to Staff.Council@uvm.edu or fax it to 802-656-8790.

* Appointments will be determined by the Staff Council President and announced during the week of November 16, 2009.
* Those individuals appointed will be required to attend a day-long training tentatively scheduled for the first week of December upon our return from the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Any questions or concerns should be directed to the attention of Jeff Bukowski, Staff Council Office Administrator at Staff.Council@uvm.edu or by phone at 802-656-8767. This notice and information are also found on pg 5 of the November Staffline.

Other topics:

Don't forget the Holiday Bazaar on December 3rd from 9am to 3pm in the Grand Maple Ballroom of the Davis Center. The Council proceeds support the activities planned all year by the Recreation Committee. One Non-Perishable Food Donation = One Free Raffle Ticket!!

The November Staffline is out and available from the Council homepage or this link. With the holidays approaching, there are an incredible number of discounts and opportunities to help our neighbors; please consider taking part!

Well, here's hoping that all are well in the coming weeks and preparations for winter go off without a problem--

Have a Good Week,

Joanne

Info Transfer!

2009-10-15T10:06:00.004-04:00

Hi Everyone,

The Council Office has asked us to pass on the information below, so here it is:

1. October 6, 2009 Staff Council Meeting Summary

Please find a summary of our recent Staff Council Meeting at http://www.uvm.edu/~stffcncl/pdf/sc100609sum.pdf

2. Staff Council Holiday Bazaar: Sign Up

Attention UVM Staff, Students, Faculty, and Retirees: It is that time of year again for the Staff Council Recreation Committee to begin planning for our annual Holiday Bazaar. This is a great opportunity to showcase and sell your own beautiful locally handmade products and artwork to the UVM Community. For more information on how to reserve a table or how to get involved, please visit our website.

3. NextStep: Facilitator and Participant Applications

Occurring each January, the Next Step Retreat provides 65 participants (undergraduate, graduate, staff and faculty) with a personal and collective experience aimed at developing their own knowledge and skills about their own social identities. Participants learn how to become better change agents and activists against racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, religious discrimination, classism and other socially constructed oppressions. If you have experience with social justice education and want to be a part of Next Step, we are currently accepting Facilitator applications! For more information visit: www.uvm.edu/nextstep

4. Dragonheart Vermont Sock Sale: Office of Federal, State and Community Relations

Dragonheart Vermont, a breast cancer survivor and supporter organization is raising money for local cancer programs through the sale of “Mismatched Socks”. The order deadline has been extended to Friday, October 23rd. Please see this flyer for more information, or contact the Office of Federal, State, and Community Relations at 300 Waterman or by phone at 656-2992.

Please consider volunteering, or supporting some of these worthy causes!

Also, it's still Apple Time at the Hort Farm! Information is available at 658-9166, or by emailing Terry Bradshaw at tbradsha@uvm.edu

Let's all think of pie!

Have a good week,

Joanne

October Skies

2009-10-05T12:06:00.002-04:00

Hi Everyone,

The next full Staff Council meeting is tomorrow October 6th, at 12:05pm in the Davis Center (Livak Ballroom). This month's guest speaker is President Fogel, and any UVM person is welcome to attend. We aren't sure if there will be much time for questions, but hopefully his presentation will be informative.

Another option for those who'd like the Staff Council to bring issues to the Administration's attention would be to fill out a Contact Sheet on the Staff Council website. We're trying a project to expand the usefulness of this process:

Once a month the Staff Council officers and admin. staff meet with President Fogel and Gary Derr to discuss topics of current interest to the staff. Input from contact sheets helps the Council office know what the staff is most interested in communicating to the administration. Soon there'll be a better explanation and procedure on the website; this is just an early head's-up that it's available. Their next meeting is October 13th, so if you'd like to submit a topic, please send it in soon!

Also, the contact sheets aren't limited to subjects concerning problems; if anyone has a good idea or suggestion, they'd love to hear about those too!

I hope everyone gets a chance to check out the progress of Fall colors--it started out looking like a dull year, but Nature seems to have caught up with the season!

Have a good week,

Joanne

September On A Roll

2009-09-09T23:54:00.005-04:00

Hi Everyone,

How did it get this busy so early in the semester?

The latest full Council meeting was held September 1st; the summary can be found on the Staff Council Agendas page. Our guests Jon Porter and Annie Stevens spoke about preparations for the H1N1 Flu at UVM. More information on that topic is available at UVM's Emergency Management website. Porter and Stevens asked that all questions and suggestions be sent to pandemicresponse@uvm.edu.

Also, the Community Medical School's October lecture will be an information session titled "The H1N1 Virus: Understanding Pandemic Influenza". Date and Location: Tuesday October 20th from 6-7:00 PM, Carpenter Auditorium in the Given building. CMS is always free and open to the public; please register in advance by calling 847-2886 or online at CMS Fall 2009 Registration.

The guest speaker at the next full council meeting (Tuesday October 6th) will be President Fogel, to "address the University’s current fiscal status and expectations for FY11". Council members have been asked to gather questions for President Fogel from their units to send to the Staff Council Office in advance of this meeting. You can give the questions to me, or any Staff Council member, or send them directly to the Staff Council Office. Please do contribute your thoughts--there are a lot of ongoing and new issues that might benefit from some open communication and discussion.

Here's hoping the new semester continues to find everyone well and able to enjoy the better-late-than-never beautiful sunny weather!

Have a good week,

Joanne

Where Did The Summer Go?

2009-09-01T10:25:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Happy first week of classes!

The next full Staff Council meeting will be (today) Tuesday, September 1, 2009, at 12:05pm--I know the agenda says the location is Waterman, but the meeting really will be in the Livak Ballroom of the Davis Center. Guest speakers will be Jon Porter, Director of the Center for Health and Wellbeing, and Annie Stevens, Assistant VP for Student and Campus Life, on the topic of H1N1 Flu Preparations at UVM.

You can find the agenda, summaries and a draft of the August meeting minutes here.

The September Staffline is out, containing welcomes from UVM's President Fogel, and our Staff Council President Beth Walsh; event calendars for many interesting groups, volunteer and recreation opportunities and discounts for UVM members past and present, and, last but not least, information about the soon-to-start apple sale at the UVM Hort Farm!

Welcome back to all of our students and work-study helpers (long may they shelve!)

Have a good week,

Joanne

Open House in the Given Courtyard 7/29/2009

2009-08-15T22:18:00.009-04:00

The College of Medicine held an Open House and Ice Cream Social on July 29th to celebrate the opening of their complex in the Given Courtyard.

Dean Morin, John Evans and President Fogel were the keynote speakers.

Thanks to everyone who was able to come!

Promised Updates!

2009-07-29T01:53:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone,

As promised, the Agenda for the upcoming meeting (8/4) is now accessible on the Staff Council website.

One agenda item of interest: last May 2009, Kathryn Friedman and Diane Gaboriault of the Diversity & Equity Unit spoke to the Council about the upcoming Campus Climate Survey. They've now requested the Council to appoint one of our elected members to participate in a working group which will focus on the Survey--nominations are being accepted now, and the choice will be made by President Beth Walsh by the end of next week. For the 2005 Campus Climate Survey Study Report that contributed to this current project, follow this link: http://www.uvm.edu/~aaeo/pdf/ccs_final_exec_summary_report_web_082406.pdf

In spite of the extra work of pocking up and moving the office, the Council staff still hope to get a summer issue of the Staffline published in early August. We're keeping the PDF format for now, until we hear from the Web Team that their newsletter template is ready for "beta" testing. Then we can try both for awhile, and see which format people prefer.

Those are all the latest updates for now; have a good week,

Joanne

Summer Breezeway

2009-07-27T12:01:00.004-04:00

Hi Everyone,

First, some Library-Specific news:

The College of Medicine will be holding an Open House (and Ice Cream Social!) on July 29 at 4 PM, to let us all see the newly constructed complex in the Given Courtyard. This is the same space under the glass dome that housed the Dana Library for three years while our current home was being finished.

In spite of the size of the structure, the high ceiling retains a sense of openness: I stopped by a few times after work with a camera to see if pictures could convey the overall feeling of the space.

They're posted below in a Powerpoint(just click the Play button):

(If the display is too small for you, the full-sized Powerpoint can be opened here.

Click here for an excellent project overview from the COM, or visit their Given Courtyard Project website.

Please come visit!

In Staff Council news, the next full Council Meeting will be Tuesday August 4th, at 12:05 in the Livak Ballroom of the Davis Center. I haven't yet received an agenda or any notice of a scheduled speaker--I'll be sure to pass that information along as soon as we get it!

When the Staff Council was reorganized to its larger size, the bylaws needed updating too. Most of that was completed in the first year with the finishing touches done last year. Over the summer the Executive Board has worked to complete the Policy Manual to accompany the bylaws, and they hope to have that ready for a full Council approval vote in the next month or two.

Like many other offices, the Staff Council Office is moving too, because of renovations to their end of the hall in Waterman. Their main operation will move just a few doors down to the room adjacent to the Faculty Senate meeting room, but they'll retain the smaller of their original rooms (at 305) as a meeting space for Committees and other groups. Please be patient during this time while phones and computers are being reconnected--Jeff and Diane Will follow up on all messages as soon as they're able!

Well, I hope that everyone had a chance to enjoy what dry moments they could find this weekend!

Have a good week,

Joanne

Summer Breezes

2009-06-26T14:23:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Well, unless unusual circumstances crop up, the Staff Council has a break from meeting in July! We'll have our next full Council meeting on August 4th, to gear up for the next academic year, officially welcome any newly elected committee chairs, and perform general housekeeping.

I'll keep posting any external documents we're given to pass along to our units, and of course any "breaking news(!)", but most of the important information will be right on the Staff Council website.

Have a wonderful upcoming week, and a great 4th of July,

Joanne

Make Way For Doc-lings

2009-06-09T22:43:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,

We've been given some more documents to pass along to you:

Summary Reports of:

Audit Committee from February 20, March 30, and April 28, 2009
Budget, Finance and Investment Committee, May 15, 2009
Educational Policy and Institutional Resources Committee (EPIR) May 15, 2009.

They're linked and stored in the right-hand Documents column.

You'll also find the PDF document of comments on these summaries from our Staff Council reps to those committees linked from our homepage at http://www.uvm.edu/~stffcncl/.

Minutes and agendas of these committees and others are available from the Board of Trustees website--just pick the appropriate committee from the left-hand column. This is an advance in timeliness and transparancy since this blog started; a sign of progress, we hope!

Try to stay dry this week as April showers hang on all the way to the start of summer,

Joanne

Seasons Turning

2009-06-04T00:42:00.002-04:00

Hi Everyone,

The June Staffline is out and available here on the SC website. There's a very nice message from President Beth Walsh, where she she talks about our shared experiences of this past year. She was given 1-2 minutes to address the graduates and their families at Commencement this year, and she especially wanted us to know of the audience's warm and spontaneous response in appreciation of our daily work on their behalf.

The Recreation Committee Events section has information about the Fifth Annual Staff Council Golf Outing at The Links at Lang Farm, discounts at the Jay Peak golf course, and discounts on tickets to the

Champlain Valley Fair. In the Campus News section there are guidelines about protecting Lake Champlain from run-off pollution and links to information about the Quadricentennial celebrations (of Samuel de Champlain's regional explorations) this year.

We've been specifically asked to let everyone know about the upcoming Boston Bus Trip on Saturday, June 27, 2009. ($30 for UVM Employees [including retirees] and $35 for Non-UVM Employees!) The sign-up deadline is Friday, June 19, 2009. I'll try to get some posters spread around, but there's also more information and a registration form in the Staffline or linked from the SC website.

And, don't forget that we still have until June 19th to suggest "actionable" topics for the Campus Climate Survey! (see previous post for the details)

Tuesday June 2nd was our end-of-year combined meeting, luncheon and presentations. Instead of a catered meal this year, we all brought potluck--it was meant as an economy measure, but there was such a quantity and variety of goodies that we had more than enough for ourselves and every student worker we could find in the Davis Center.

It was a "first year" for many of us: both officers Beth Walsh and Jon Reidel, our SC Office Administrator Jeff Bukowski, and several others, including Richard Cate, who mentioned that in his brief remarks to the Council. (He said he would always prefer to be busy than bored, but that this year had granted his wish and then some) He also assured us that he thought the budget was now stable, although necessarily more conservative than before, and that enrollment numbers were currently very positive. The summary of the meeting should be posted on the SC homepage soon, so you can read his address in better detail.

Well, the coming weekend weather is beginning to look like it might be more seasonally appropriate than the last few! I hope everyone has a chance to get outside and enjoy some of it,

Joanne

Campus Climate

2009-05-17T16:35:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Just a few updates this week:

Beth Walsh attended the 5/15/09 Board of Trustees meeting and gave a brief address. Our Staff Council Report was sent to the Board in advance of the meeting and is also posted on the front page of the Council website.

If you have a minute, please check out the summary from our May 5, 2009 Staff Council Meeting (also posted on the website) for the description of the upcoming Campus Climate Survey from our visitors Kathryn Friedman (Exec. Director of Diversity and AA/EO), and Diane Gaboriault (Asst. Director of Diversity and Equity).

We've been asked to collect and submit "actionable" questions from our units for possible incorporation into the survey. In their request the Council Office offered this definition:

"'Actionable' questions are those that provide feedback that allow some kind of action to occur to resolve the issue. For example a survey question could ask about how an individual views supervisory training at UVM. Since there is no mandatory on campus supervisory training, an action to take place as a result of the survey could be to increase and expand supervisory training."

Diane G. needs all completed input by the end of June, so the Council Office would like to have any suggestions from us by June 19th. If you have a good idea, please pass it along either to me to submit, or send it straight to the Council Office at Staff.Council@uvm.edu.

Thanks, and have a wonderful weekend,

Joanne

Wellness & Candidates

2009-04-27T13:46:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone,

A few days ago we recieved a letter from the Staff Council Office with information to share with our units:

"At our April 7th Meeting, Staff Council agreed to work with Wellness Ambassadors to
present a letter and petition to the Administration addressing the potential
restructuring and reorganization of the Wellness Program if Phase II reductions must be carried out. The major concern was the possible loss of on campus, employee focused
exercise programs held during the lunch hour."

The letter was sent to members of the Administration on Friday April 17th with the petition. A copy is posted on the Staff Council webpage under the "Recent Updates" column.

That column also has the link to the President's Office website for the Interim Provost and Senior Vice President search. The promised CV's of the candidates are finally posted so you can get an idea of their experience and viewpoints.

The deadline (noon today) has passed for me to forward any of your questions for this group of candidates to the Staff Council Office, but if someone still has some input they feel is important, I'll certainly still try to get it in. Tough or honest questions are certainly acceptable, and we're expected to respect your privacy: unless the staff member directly asks to have their name included, I send only the questions themselves. This is an astonishing chance to have some input on this selection process--let's make the most of it that we can!

Well, the flowers are finally daring to show and we're looking at some suprisingly warm temperatures!

Enjoy the lovely weather this afternoon,

Joanne

April is National Poetry Month (and still rainy)

2009-04-05T19:41:00.002-04:00

Hi Everyone,

The Staff Council website has been updated to fit the new template! Please take a look, and if you have any suggestions for changes or more information, feel free to contact the office and let them know what's needed.

The next Staff Council Meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 7, from 12:05-1:30pm in the Livak Ballroom of the Davis Center. The agenda is accessible here on the website. Professor William Cats-Baril, Associate Professor in the School of Business Administration will be this month's guest speaker, on the topic of Consensus Building.

The April Staffline is out with a new line-up of interesting articles and discounts for the UVM community. Here's a link directly to the Staffline holdings, just in case you have any trouble with other links(please let the Council Office know if you find any that seem broken). We're exploring publishing the Staffline in a e-newsletter format that matches the new template: keep watching for more developments on this!

Well, nice weather or bad, the Spring flowers are making their way out to the daylight--try to stay dry and have a good weekend,

Joanne

Brief Updates!

2009-03-19T11:32:00.002-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Some more updates have been sent out:

There are now additional discounts for the April 17, 2010 Seven-Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise aboard the Oasis of the Seas:
The original deadline for making a $500 deposit on this trip has been extended to March 31, 2009. In addition to the $50 UVM discount a new $25 Shipboard Credit is now also being offered. See the Eastern Caribbean Cruise link in the Discounts & Events section of the SC website for more details and contact information.

New Postings on the Staff Council website:

March 9th Faculty Senate Executive Council Communication document, written by Faculty Senate President Robyn Warhol-Down, that provides some more up-to-date information about where the UVM administration is in the budget decisions process. You can find the link on the SC homepage or open it directly here.

Recordings of the March 10th &11th Budget & Finance Informational Forums in wav files are now available on the Division of Finance and Enterprise Services website. More information including a condensed transcript is currently being developed and will be available in English, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Bosnian!

The Staff Council Office and the Communications Committee have been busy getting the website reformatted into the UVM Template. Hopes are high that it should roll out very soon, maybe even this week! They'll continue to post new information to whatever version is currently live so that there's no gap in availability.

I'll add more updates as we get them-

Have a Good Week--Spring is very nearly here!--

Joanne

Interesting Times

2009-02-27T13:29:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone,

We're scrambling to keep up with events as they happen, but here is what's done so far:

A transcript of Beth Walsh's opening remarks at the 2/26/09 Future of UVM Forum is now available on the SC website.

The SC Office staff are working on getting the audio file and eventually(hopefully) the video mounted on the website too. A video of highlights is posted on today's Burlington Free Press homepage- along with a text copy of President Fogel's opening remarks. There are also slides and articles posted at the Vermont Cynic. I'll pass along to you any more updates we get as they come.

The next full Staff Council meeting is Tuesday March 3rd at 12:05 in the Livak Ballroom of the Davis Center. Remember that these meetings are open to all the UVM community, and you are welcome to come listen and/or participate. The agenda is available on the Staff Council website or in printable format here.

Professor Patricia Prelock, Chair in the Department of Communications Sciences at UVM, will be speaking on Leadership from 12:15-12:45pm, and we'll also be taking nominations and then voting to choose two (2) Staff Council Representatives to serve on the Staff Council Nominating Committee. This committee is only called to action in the event that we need to nominate a new President or Vice -President, which doesn't often occur, but it is important as a contingency for it to be already in place. Please see: UVM Staff Council Bylaws-Article X.: Nominating Committee for more information and feel free to contact the Staff Council Office with any questions or concerns.

That's all for now--try not to blow away in our pre-Spring breezes, and have a good weekend,

Joanne

More Current Events

2009-02-23T11:10:00.001-05:00

Hi Everyone,

We've received several documents to share concerning current events from the BOT, the Staff Council Office, and the SGA (Student Government Association). Most of them are in a PDF format, which I can't directly post here because of a Google Docs incompatibility issue. So, here are the workarounds:

The Staff Council website has direct links to Beth Walsh's original message to President Fogel and their subsequent correspondence on this matter, including an update regarding Beth's address at last week's Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting.

BOT summaries for both the Budget, Finance, and Investment Committee (BFI) and the Educational Policy and Institutional Resources Committee (EPIR), along with further commentary from our Staff Representatives on these committees, will be posted online through my own zoospace until I know where else they'll be made accessible. See the Reports/Documents column at the right.

The email sent to students and shared with staff last Friday from SGA President Jay Taylor is posted right here in a Word.doc format.

Thanks very much for reading through all these; keeping informed is worth the time spent! Don't forget that if you can't make it to the forum on Thursday, you can send in questions to the SC Office and they'll make every effort to get them to President Fogel beforehand.

Have a good week,

Joanne

February Thaw

2009-02-10T15:57:00.004-05:00

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

Catching Up

2009-01-29T15:37:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone,

This is a catch-up edition--things have been happening so fast that there's barely been time to post them before the next event:

Staffline

The January Edition of Staffline is now available online--in addition to a message from President Fogel, you'll find there's still time to sign up for the Montreal Casino Trip or one of the Community Days of Service.

Follow-Up on Open Forum

We received many positive comments on the format of the Open Forum held at our 1/6/09 meeting. We thank President Fogel for volunteering to stand up and take all the questions; and don't forget, we can still send his office further questions that there weren't time for at the forum.

Here's the information we were given about follow-up questions, or listening to the audio file, or reading the transcript online:

Staff Council

staff.council@uvm.edu

Office of the President Budget Updates

[We hope to hear soon about updated answers to further questions being posted.]

Next Staff Council Meeting Tuesday February 3rd

In the next full Staff Council meeting we'll be working on the policies and procedures statements called for in the new by-laws that were approved last year. We'll also be voting on an amendment to the Elections Rules that will move them earlier in the year, to avoid overburdening the units by asking them to hold elections in the busy month of May. The actual meeting agenda should be ready soon, and I'll post that as soon as we get it.

Participation in a Transformational Change Process

We only had one day's notice to get out the call for volunteers for President Fogel's working group on this topic--I'm hoping everyone interested got a chance to put in their names. The group should be appointed on Thursday 1/29, and make their recommendations by Sunday 3/15.

Well, I'm hoping that no one had serious problems dealing with the storm--if we hurry we can enjoy the scenery before something else comes along!

Have a good weekend,

Joanne

Documents and Info for the Open Forum

2008-12-28T20:55:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone,

This entry repeats the earlier call to attend the Open Forum with President Fogel at the upcoming Staff Council meeting (January 6, at 12:05pm, in the Livak Ballroom of the Davis Center).

In the right-hand column I've also posted four documents that were sent to us from the Staff Council office to be passed along to you. The first is a detailed agenda for the meeting, and the other three are summaries of meetings from standing committees of the Board of Trustees:

Audit Committee Summary Report of Meetings - October 6, 16, 20, & November 25, 2008

Budget, Finance and Investment Committee Summary Report of Meeting - December 5, 2008

Educational Policy And Institutional Resources (Epir) Summary Report of Meeting - December 5, 2008

These documents all discuss some aspect of University finance and resource allocation, so it would be a very good idea to look them over in preparation to forming some questions for the Forum.

Remember, even if there isn't time for every question, they still can be submitted in writing after the Forum. If you prefer to remain anonymous, the question can be sent to the Staff Council to arrive by Monday, January 5, 2009. More information about the Forum procedures can be found on the SC website.

I hope everyone's break is going well--see you all soon,

Joanne

Into December

2008-12-08T15:22:00.003-05:00

Hi Everyone,

The December Staffline is out, with the main address written by our Staff Council Vice President Jon Reidel: it's the summary of a meeting he recently attended with President Fogel, Chief of Staff Gary Derr, Staff Council President Beth Walsh, and Staff Council Administrator Jeff Bukowski. While we already have heard the discouraging news, this informative account also reminds us of some of our relative strengths compared to other universities, and lets us know that President Fogel seems to be aware of our level of concern. The Staffline is available online here from the Staff Council website.

Our guest presenter at last Tuesday's(12/2) Staff Council meeting was Professor Frank Bryan, who introduced us to his basic rules for Public Speaking. He used demonstrations, examples and humor to make a scary topic feel more user-friendly (approximate list below).

It's normal to be afraid; don't worry, expect it. A podium is specifically intended for hiding behind-use it if that helps. Remember to breathe: in, out.

Know your subject and be enthusiastic--who else will be if you aren't? And discard Ego- the audience is doing you the favor by listening.

Over-prepare and bring notes--memory is undependable. If you don't bring notes, carry a folder so it still looks to the audience like you have some.

Know your audience and what they consider PC-avoid using trigger words or phrases. Don't talk down to people, and never use &%#$%$ foul language.

Use self-deprecating humor so the audience can identify with you--save the controversy until they like you. But, not too much humor--be serious about the important parts so they take them seriously too.

Dress up a bit--it shows respect for the audience and for the topic.

Speak up! Clearly! And use a mic if the audience is "over 30".

He answered questions about when it's better to extemporize from notes, memorize a speech, or read the text. (Use a combination, depending on the type of topic, and how experienced you are at presenting it) And he strongly opposes using "technology aids"(PowerPoint, etc.) unless absolutely necessary, to avoid distracting from the speaker. We thanked him very much for the valuable and painless lesson!

Don't forget that First Night buttons are available at an incredible discount to UVM people until 12/21/08-you can get them at the Staff Council Office or call 656-4493 for more information.

Try to stay warm and have a good week,

Joanne

Upcoming Meeting

2008-11-30T20:47:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone,

The next Staff Council Meeting is scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday December 2nd at 12:05 pm at the Davis Center in the Livak Ballroom. Our speaker this month will be Professor Frank Bryan (John G. McCullough Professor of Political Science), on the topic: Public Speaking.

The agenda is available online at the SC website, or you can get a printable version here. The November minutes to be approved on Tuesday contain a very good transcript of Barbara Johnson's presentation about the HR department's reorganization-they should also be posted on the website shortly after the meeting.

The Staff Council Annual Holiday Bazaar is also on Tuesday December 2nd, from 9am - 3pm in the Davis Center Grand Maple Ballroom. The Recreation Committee's events page promises "fragrant evergreen wreaths, soft, woolen garments, sparkling jewelry, scrumptious goodies" and more--go visit just to admire the artistry of our talented colleagues!

Well, I hope everyone had a happy & healthy holiday break, and has come back well-rested. Exams begin December 12, but I'm sure that we and the students are up to the challenge!

I hope to have more updates later--enjoy the coming week,

Joanne

Short Updates!

2008-11-19T09:44:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,

I have confirmation of the roster of speakers for the year's upcoming Staff Council meetings. The list posted before is correct with the addition of one more name for May. We're also told that Chris Lucier, VP for Enrollment Management would like to address the Staff Council, but we don't have a firm date for that yet.

Professor Frank Bryan- Public Speaking
Provost Hughes- Annual Presentation
Professor Patty Prelock- Leadership
Associate Provost Jill Tarule- Accreditation Visit
Professor William Cats-Baril- Consensus Building
Exec. Dir. Kathryn Friedman- Affirmative Action

Watch for the e-mail with the flyer of local discounts for UVM and FAHC staff!

More later,

Joanne

November Highlights

2008-11-15T11:21:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone,

At the latest (11/4/08) SC meeting, our guest speaker was Associate VP for Human Resources, Barbara Johnson.

Her topic was the recent re-organization of Human Resource Services. The process was started several years ago out of the perceived need to make department operations more open and interactive between employees and administration. People were retrained and re-assigned into areas of specialization, and functions were re-grouped for better alignment with HRS business partners across campus.

The best first source of information is still their website. It's in the process of being redesigned to reflect the new structure, but to keep us able to find what or whom we need, for this transition period it lists the old dept.s we used to contact under the new categories they'll be wrapped into. The "Information Center" team of people who'll be answering questions on the phone or in person, will cycle periodically from the front desks to the data processing office in Colchester so that everyone stays current and accurate with information, policies and procedures.

During the Q & A period, the questions tended to focus on the pay band system, pay compression and staff development, and the answers fell mostly under the need to complete the third phase of the pay band: identifying and codifying skills levels for advancement across all the pay "families". She is very aware that this is an acute need, and it's high on their list of future goals.

We also offered alternative ideas to replace the increasingly controversial employee appreciation item that has accompanied the annual Employee Appreciation Week: create a scholarship or development fund, donate to a worthy charity chosen by staff, etc. She's open to all constructive ideas on this topic, so if you have a good suggestion you can pass it along via the Council either through a rep or directly to the Staff Council Office.

We thanked her sincerely for coming and clarifying the changes in HR, and for being so open to hearing from all the staff.

Next Speakers

I'm waiting for confirmation from the SC Office on these, but an "unofficial" list of future guest speakers and their topics is:

Professor Frank Bryan- Public Speaking
Provost Hughes- Annual Presentation
Professor Patty Prelock- Leadership
Associate Provost Jill Tarule- Accreditation Visit
Professor William Cats-Baril- Consensus Building

Holidays Approaching

However you celebrate or not, hopefully everybody has pleasant plans for the Thanksgiving time off. (If you need some ideas, there are lots of great deals still on the Discounts & Events section of the Council website!)

Try to stay warm and dry and have a great weekend,

Joanne

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T12:47:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,

The next Staff Council Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 4, 2008 from 12:05 pm - 1:30 pm at the Davis Center in the Livak Ballroom. It always seems to fall on Election Day in November, but we can just try to consider it frosting on the cake of an already exciting day! You can read the meeting agenda on the SC website, or open a printable version here. The minutes from last month that we'll approve at this meeting contain a nice write up of Richard Cate's opening remarks, so if you get a chance, check them out on the website (under Meetings/Minutes).

Our guest speaker this month will be Barbara Johnson, Associate VP for Human Resource Services. She plans to address the Council from 12:15-12:45pm, mostly on the reorganization of the HR departments. There'll be a short Q&A session afterward, so feel free to bring or send along any questions you might have.

The next Staffline should be out quite soon, with Council Committee Reports, Staff news and announcements, lots of good deals on recreational activites, and a note from President Fogel about the Vermont Climate Collaborative.

Speaking of climate, both the National Weather Service and the Farmer's Almanac advise preparing now for a cold winter: gather it in, bundle it up, or tie it down. Don't forget to bundle up whether you're going trick or treating, or out to vote!

Stay warm and well and have a great weekend,

Joanne

Notes From Richard Cate's Presentation to the Staff Council

2008-10-17T14:04:00.003-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Here are my "unofficial" notes on Richard Cate's (VP Finance & Enterprise Svcs) presentation to the Staff Council meeting on 10/7/08--the meeting minutes that'll be approved at the November meeting are sure to be more complete, but these can serve as an early draft.

Also, kudos to Michael Breiner for attending and asking what turned out to be an important question, and many thanks to anyone else present from the Libraries unit (in case I missed seeing you while writing so fast!).

Richard Cate:

He began by speaking about UVM's current financial situation: UVM's operating money, held in the Common Fund that is backed by Wachovia, was frozen along with all the rest of Wachovia's assets. Common Fund investors are gradually being allowed to withdraw their funds but under very restricted terms and amounts. UVM was able to find other back-up sources for daily operating cash, so our day-to-day operations & payroll are being covered for now. Future incoming funds (tuition, etc.) will be placed into more, smaller, nearer, more accessible accounts.

For the Future:

Short term: he has made a new budget cutting over $2 mil., none of that from academics, and hopefully with no impact on running the university.
Good: fuel costs are not as bad as projected, incoming student tuition is more than expected, and cuts have been concentrated in central administrative costs.
Bad: the current budget is not as balanced as it could be; UVM had to use one-time funds to balance this budget. Those monies are not going to be available next time around, so we must find other sources of revenue.
Long term: budget hearings are slated for December to make new plans that address these concerns.

He also briefly mentioned PeopleSoft issues-- everyone is working on improving them. Reporting, budgets, and retros have all been a challenge, but all functions are getting better and more timely. The improvements are a combination of learning the program better and changing old accounting practices to match the PeopleSoft preferences and defaults. For retros, they're trying to find either a programming or an operational answer.

Q & A Period:

Q- Our Vice President asked him first to tell the Council about his personal history, as a way of understanding his depth of knowledge on financial and management subjects:

A- He was grew up in Calais VT, attending schools so tiny that sometimes there were only 2 students in his grade. He graduated from UVM in Civil Engineering, served in the ROTC, and worked after that in the state and private sector. He was city manager for Barre, VT, and earned a degree in public finance from SUNY Albany. He worked in the NY Education Department, and was VT's Commissioner of Education for 4.5 yrs. (There was even more, but this was the most that I could get written down)
His talent is that he likes to tackle things that others don't care for, especially fixing problems.

Q- Since only a percentage of UVM's operating funds were held by Wachovia, where are the Rest of the liquid assets?

A- He moved them, hopefully with the least amount of penalties, into shorter term, more accessible funds and treasuries. We will get less ROI this way, but the principal is protected.

Q- Why weren't our investments more diversified in the first place?

A- That previous strategy was not of his choosing; he would have selected resources that are less diversified but have a shorter maturity term along with greater accessibility. Currently he's sticking to more treasury-backed funds.

Q- What is the role of the Board of Trustees in oversight & strategy?

A- They have the say/advisement over endowment funds; they support the actions he's taking.

Q- How will UVM meet the challenge of the next 3 years; are downsizings or freezes planned?

A- He can't promise, but downsizing is not in his strategy for saving money. We need to maximize our use of people, be careful with money, and not price the university out of the market by raising tuition too high; he wants to stabilize the university fiscally to be able to ride out bad times without having to shed people to economize.

Q- Before the current financial problems began, a letter from President Fogel mentioned substandard returns on short term funds--will it be a problem that he's now going to funds with even lower returns?

A- In planning the new budget, he isn't factoring in returns any higher than the current low level, making it so that fluctuations wouldn't have an impact--ROI here is not something he wants to bank on, so there'll be no bad surprises if returns are not increasing to a projected level.

That was all there was time for--we thanked him for coming and explaining so clearly and with such candor. The minutes that come out in November will certainly be more comprehensive, but I hoped this early overview helped!

More later-

Have a Good Weekend,

Joanne

Fall & Finance

2008-10-01T11:36:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone,

We have the agenda for the upcoming full Staff Council meeting (Tuesday, October 7, 2008). You can read it online on the Council website or get a printable version here. The Standing Committee reports that we review at the Council meeting will be printed in the October Staffline(which should be out soon). I don't know if they'll have a separate place of their own on the website, but the Staffline itself is posted there, so you will be able to get them if you want them.

Richard Cate, Interim Vice president of Finance and Administration, will address the Council at the start of the meeting. He'd probably be an interesting speaker anyway, but the current financial situation adds some import to what he tells us. There is a Q & A period scheduled for afterwards, so if you have any questions for Mr. Cate you can ask a Council rep to bring them, or come to the meeting yourself. If you didn't get a chance yet, this might be a good time to browse the current Board of Trustee finance documents posted in the right hand column.

Well, Fall has arrived, complete with students carrying laptops, report assignments, and respiratory viruses. Take your vitamins, and have a good week,

Joanne

Cold Weather Coming

2008-09-18T16:03:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,

We've been given summaries and reports from the Audit Committee, the Budget, Finance, and Investment Committee, and the Educational Policy and Institutional Resources Committees to share with you. Considering the current events in the national and international financial sectors, these make very interesting reading. Between investigating past actions and proposing future long and short term actions, they provide a lot of food for thought and discussion for the staff.

If after reading these anyone has any ideas or specific questions, we are encouraged to pass them along to President Fogel via our Council President Beth Walsh. Don't forget that you can give your questions to a representative, or bring them to the next Council meeting in person--any staff member can come listen or participate.

Now, if you're reading this on Thursday, I recommend taking a look at the Doppler Radar box below the Documents section--there's a hard freeze warning for tonight, and if you click on the red title you can scroll through the resulting page to find the forecast for your area of the state. If it's past Thursday, you can still see a Doppler forecast for whichever day is coming- it has a lot of different formats, so have fun with it!

Have a good evening and cover those veggies,

Joanne

Many Updates

2008-09-12T09:32:00.002-04:00

Hi Everyone,

The new semester has hit the ground running, and there are all sorts of updates, so I'm just going to get right to it:

Staffline:
The September Staffline is out, and contains a great synopsis of the ongoing parking issues. There're also pages of information(and discounts) on local orchards and the UVM Hort Farm's annual apple sale. (I have to admit I'm biased; the Hort Farm still grows the old varieties my Gramma depended on for her best pies) The Recreation Committee contributed the information for the ski pass discounts, and also order forms for a very nice UVM "soft shell" vest.

Highlights from this academic year's first Staff Council meeting (9/2/08):

In the announcements section, Jeff Bukowski told us of the new business hours for the SC office:
Mondays through Thursdays from 8:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. & Fridays from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.
They're also posted on the SC website, just below the link to the 2009 UVM Holiday Calendar.

Council President Beth Walsh also addressed the Board of Trustees with a summary of what we accomplished last year, and what we hope to work on this year. That address is available from the homepage too, and linked here.

We approved the new chairs elected for this year's committees--the names are updated on the website, but the list isn't final since some people are serving as interim, and one or two committees haven't been able to vote yet.

Beth Walsh, Jon Reidel and Jeff Bukowski reported on their meeting with President Fogel: they talked about ongoing SC representative recruitment and President Fogel's letter to the community concerning budget cuts.

We then discussed issues surrounding committee work: whether committees get their work primarily by assignment, contact sheets, or developed in committee by perceived need--it seems to vary a lot between different committees, and by the issues specific to each new year. We also talked about the benefits of standardizing the timelines of response to contact sheet issues. Questions came up about our power as an advisory body to effect recommended changes: President Fogel is certainly open to hearing from us, but we should learn how best to persuasively present our advisements.

President Fogel's address to the Staff Council:

President Fogel thanked us for serving, and said he was pleased at the transformation so far of the council into a representative body to give a voice to the Staff. He went on to say that he supports the council's advocacy and participation, and that he has no illusions but that the quality of the UVM student experience is "on the shoulders of a dedicated and talented staff", creating "value for students and the communities".

He wanted to talk about the position of the University regarding budget issues, saying that this is a moment in time "extremely challenging" for both educational institutions and enterprise; because the situation of the economy affects everyone. Competition for students is climbing, and our investment values decreased with the drops in the stock market. The budget proposals he's sending to the Board of Trustees should hopefully protect the academic core, and respond to the cuts in state funding--including the possibility that more cuts are likely.

He sees this challenge as an opportunity to build a strong financial plan with better management and procedures. His September 4, 2008 Report to the Board of Trustees contains much of what he told us, so I'll send you to read his own words instead of paraphrasing with mine.

Some of our questions for him naturally concerned cuts that were pending or had already occurred. He is trying to make the necessary budget reductions(hopefully without layoffs) outside of the colleges, schools and libraries, by focusing on finance and administration. He hadn't heard about some of the cuts and staffing issues we brought up to him (changes in the offerings and charges for Wellness programs, hiring freezes and unfilled positions in depts. already very burdened), and he urged us to continue to communicate these concerns so that transparency is reciprocal. He does want to hear about staff concerns, and he invited all staff members to attend the upcoming Sept. 4-5 presentations to the Board of Trustees meeting- agenda here.

We thanked him for coming and for his promise to keep the "information flow" open--difficulties are more easily faced where everyone is informed and has a voice in decisions. Any further questions for President Fogel can be sent to Beth Walsh, at beth.walsh@uvm.edu or 656-1436.

Representatives to other Boards and Workgroups:
(any staff member is welcome to participate-it's not necessary to be a council member)

The Executive Board is reviewing nominations for the last staff member opening for the Socially Responsible Investment Workgroup. One more each is still needed for both the Transportation and Parking Advisory Committee (TAPSAC), and the Traffic Board of Appeals.

Application Directions From the Staff Council Office:
'If you are interested in being a part of TAPSAC and would like to nominate yourself, contact the Staff Council Office at Staff.Council@uvm.edu by Friday, September 19, 2008. If you are interested in being a part of the Traffic Board of Appeals and would like to nominate yourself, contact the Staff Council Office at Staff.Council@uvm.edu by Monday, September 22, 2008.
Please include a short paragraph explaining why you would like to be considered for this important role. The appointment will be made by the Staff Council President and announced at the Tuesday, October 7, 2008 Staff Council Meeting.'

~*~

Well, that's the end of my notes from that meeting! Richard Cate, VP for Finance & Enterprise Services will be the featured speaker at the next full Council meeting Tuesday Oct 7th, 12:05pm in the Livak Ballroom of the Davis Center.

I hope everyone gets to enjoy the last few days of Summer--Fall will be here in less than 2 weeks!

Have a good weekend,

Joanne

Farewell Summer

2008-08-29T16:30:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note before the holiday!

We have the first full Staff Council meeting of the new academic year on Sept. 2nd., at 12:05pm in the Silver Maple Ballroom of the Davis Center. (next month we'll be back to our usual location in the Livak Ballroom) The agenda is accessible at the SC website--and the printable format is linked here.

Among the other topics covered, President Fogel is scheduled to be the guest speaker, so I'm hoping there'll be enough time for us to ask him some questions too.

I'm hurrying to get this posted so I'll leave it there. Ready or not, here comes the Fall Semester!

Enjoy the weekend Everyone, and Welcome Back to the students,

Joanne

What Will They Think of Next

2008-08-24T17:02:00.005-04:00

Hi Everyone,

There's not much to report this week, but there is one excellent bit of news: with the roll-out of the new UVM web template, many departments have been making long-awaited improvements to their websites. The Board of Trustees' website now has an accessible and searchable archive of the minutes, agendas, and summaries that I've been posting and keeping here in the right-hand column. (Yowsa!!)

Now that they've opened access, I don't need to provide it independently; and the only documents I'll need to keep in that section will be the most current offerings. As back-up in case the BoT's site goes down, the Staff Council office will archive the previous documents too. So, if you're looking for information from an past month's BoT's reports, you now have 2 resources available!

To find them, look in the UVM A-Z website, and choose B-Board of Trustees. At that site choose "Committees_Standing" from the left-hand column, then in that same column choose "Full Board" from the list of committees that opens. The documents are all listed on that Full Board page. It's a little work to get at, but not nearly as much as recreating all that in Google Docs. Here's a short-cut right to that last page. Have fun, they can be interesting reading.

OK then, harvest and the student's return are simultaneously upon us--back to work!

I hope everyone had a good weekend,

Joanne

We Meet Again

2008-08-08T14:22:00.002-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Just a few notes on the full Council meeting we had this past Tuesday, 8/5.

This was our first meeting with the newly elected President & Vice President Beth Walsh and Jon Reidel. They both spoke about some of their ideas for the next years' work, but also stressed that ideas from the floor or the community were equally welcome. Improved outreach and communications were central themes to nearly all the discussions, with many good suggestions.

The Recreation Committee was thanked and praised for organizing such excellent events throughout the past year.

Diane Trono brought us up to speed about the status of the recent elections and where we are with recruitment:

Most units have had elections and filled all, most, or at least some of their representative posts; while others haven't begun the process at all. President Fogel's recent campus-wide letter is meant to encourage participation first in those groups that have no representation, and then in broader roles for the rest of the staff.

Also, we all recently got an email from the Staff Council about the Socially Responsible Investing Work Group needing another member from the staff population. (With attachments: SRI History, and SRI Process) If you or someone you know is interested, here are the application directions again:

"Contact the Staff Council Office at Staff.Council@uvm.edu by Friday, August 22, 2008. Please include a short paragraph explaining why you would like to be considered for this important role. The appointment will be made by the Staff Council President and announced at the Tuesday, September 2, 2008 Staff Council Meeting.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Staff Council Office at Staff.Council@uvm.edu or by phone at 802-656-4493."

Well, with the weather predicted to stay rainy, everyone please be careful on the roads this weekend. Vermont is under flash flood warning south beyond Rutland. The website for Vermont Emergency Management has information on what roads are closed, and contains links to current weather conditions too.

Have a good weekend,

Joanne

doc. - doc. --Who's there?

2008-08-04T20:59:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone,

We've been given several more documents to share with you: the first group of August Executive Committee docs is significant to us because they concern funding approval for the Library's subscriptions with EBSCO. The minutes from July contain information about enrollment, real estate, audits, and reconstruction of the Geology lab (which was destroyed by fire last May).

Today's meeting should be informational and procedural, getting us ready for diving into the new school year in September. I can post updates about what we cover hopefully by the end of the week.

Also the August Staffline is out! It has welcome messages from the newly elected President and Vice President (Beth Walsh and Jon Reidel), reviews of recent recreation events, several amazing discounts, and campus news and announcements.

Well, I hope everyone enjoys the brief respite of sunshine before the rains come back! (Wouldn't it be a lovely irony if some of the mosquitos drowned?)

Joanne

Brief Agenda Update

2008-07-31T16:00:00.002-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Here's the agenda for the upcoming 8/5 meeting--you can open and print it here, or view it on the Meeting Agendas web page. (The location this time is the Waterman Memorial Lounge--the Davis Center was booked for August.)

It looks to be mostly a session for information and procedures as we get ready for the year starting in September. This will be our first full year of operations under the new by-laws; so a lot of the processes will be new to everyone. Please feel free to bring any suggestions for improvements to the Council's attention--we really want to do the best representing we can.

Don't forget that you're all welcome at all the Council meetings, and also eligible to join one of the standing committees. Information about the committees, lists of current members, and directions on how to apply to join a committee are on the Council Committees web page.

Have a good weekend,

Joanne

Summer Fun

2008-07-21T10:06:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone,

We have a location for the August 5th Full Staff Council meeting--Memorial Lounge of the Waterman Building, at 12:05pm. There won't be an agenda available until a week prior to the meeting--I can post it here then and it'll also be on the Staff Council website.

I've posted 5 Board of Trustee documents (minutes, summaries, etc.) that have been sent to us to make available to the staff. They're linked in the right-hand column as usual, and are probably as exciting, if not less, than the last set. Two of them describe meetings held entirely in executive session! However, the money they're discussing is being measured and moved by the millions-- so we do help the University maintain accountability by reading and keeping these "receipts". OK, duty done-phew!

Next: Beth Wright, our Staff Council Administrator & Ex-officio will be moving to another position for health reasons, and she has been chairing the search committee for her replacement. We've just heard that the committee has chosen Jeff Bukowsi. He is a 2008 UVM MS graduate, and was active as a Graduate Student Senator. We look forward to meeting him in August- welcome Jeff!

That's all I have to report so far, but on a personal note, if you know of anyone in Franklin County who's missing a flock of domestic grouse after the damaging storms this past weekend--they've taken refuge in my backyard. (see photo) Please call to claim them!

Have a good week,

Joanne

Very Brief Update

2008-07-10T15:07:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,

This is just a very brief update:
There will be a summer meeting of the Staff Council on Tuesday, August 5th, from 12:05 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. The location so far is TBA. So is the agenda, although it's pretty likely to be a planning session for the coming year's calendar. I'll post more complete information as I get it--

Have a good weekend,

Joanne

Summertime

2008-06-30T14:46:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone,

The Staff Council election for 2008 is completed, with Beth Walsh as President-elect, and Jon Reidel as Vice President-elect. Both of their terms begin 7/1/08. There are messages from both the presidential candidates on the Council homepage.

I've been waiting to post until I could find out if there were any extra meetings or events scheduled over the summer, but apparently we have a quiet stretch until August. A Staffline should be published at least once, for July/August, but I don't have a specific date on that yet either. Sounds like vacation time!

On that thought, there are still a lot of good recreation deals listed in the June Staffline, so feel free to see if any of them could enhance your activity plans.

I hope we all get a chance to enjoy the weather (whatever that turns out to be),

Joanne

Ending the Council Year

2008-06-13T14:40:00.003-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Thanks so much for re-electing me! It's an honor to be trusted with the role and I'll try hard to make sure you're well represented.

The voting for President and Vice President is still open, so if you haven't sent in your ballot yet, please try to make a choice soon--you've got till next Thursday the 19th. Video clips of candidate presentations are in the previous post here, and also on the Staff Council homepage along with the candidate's statements.

The council members were honored for this year's work with a luncheon with President Fogel at Englesby House on June 6th. It was a pleasant meal with only a few necessary speeches and many fond words for people finishing their terms or changing their positions.

One highlight was when President Fogel awarded outgoing Council President Eileen Hanerfeld a Simon Pearce gavel, to be passed along to each subsequent council president. (see photo below)

I don't have much more news; I can tell you more about the election results after June 19th. Don't forget to check the Staffline for recreation events, trips & discounts, and do try to get outside sometime today before the rains come back--Spring comes only once a year!

Have a good weekend,

Joanne

Candidate Forum

2008-06-06T01:08:00.004-04:00

Hi Everyone,

As promised, here are the forum presentations of the candidates for Staff Council President and Vice President. Their bios/statements of qualifications are on the Staff Council homepage. The forums are past now, and since this is the Council's first time at arranging a campus-wide election, there hasn't been a decision yet on how to get any further questions and answers communicated between the candidates and the staff at-large. (i.e., should there be a web forum, should questions be sent to the council office, should people email the candidates directly, etc., etc.?)

My completely personal suggestion is that if you have any further specific questions for any candidate, or perhaps the same question for All the candidates, would be to send it to the Council Office--they have the most direct lines of comunication between the candidates and the whole University, and the ability to get information onto the Council website for all to see.

So without further ado, we present to you this year's candidates for Staff Council Office:

Staff Council Presidential Candidate Shari Langlois

Staff Council Presidential Candidate Beth Walsh

Staff Council Vice-Presidential Candidate Renee Berteau

Staff Council Vice-Presidential Candidate Jon Reidel

Have a good weekend, and don't forget to vote,

Joanne

Really June at Last

2008-06-02T15:26:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone,

There's more information concerning the Staff Council officer elections posted on the Council homepage: names of the candidates for President and Vice President, brief campaign statements, and dates for public candidate forums.

The second set of forums will be at the full Council meeting on June 3rd at 12:10 pm, in its usual Davis Center site. Here is the agenda on the Staff Council website--please try to attend or encourage others to come and take part.

I'll be filming the candidates' forum presentations, and hopefully posting them online here for staff who can't attend. This is the first full-staff vote ever for the Council officers, and having a chance to see them may help some people make up their minds, or decide whether to vote at all. As soon as they're done and posted, I'll get the links to you and provide them to the Council Office too. The videos will only be available for the period of time the vote is open--after it closes they'll come down; so if you get a chance to watch them, don't wait too long.

Next, just when you thought it was safe to look away from the right-hand column, I have some more Board of Trustees financial documents for your examination. Two are the agenda and summary of the 5/27/08 meeting of the Investment Subcommittee, and the other two are the summary and agenda for the RFP( Request For Proposal) Subcommittee's meetings on 5/28 and 6/2/08.

The June Staffline is out, with a congratulatory notice about the Bailey Howe's Darcelene Lewis-Wedge being named a 2008 award winner for the State of Vermont’s Commission on National and Community Service! Yay Darcelene!

Well, I hope everyone's garden is getting off to a good start--I know the woodchucks have been quite pleased with mine!

Have a good week,

Joanne

Flu Who?

2008-05-22T12:16:00.004-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Don't forget that the Pandemic Planning Presentation (canceled once by illness) has been rescheduled for Wednesday, May 28th 10:30 to Noon, in the Dean’s Conference Room (114 Bailey/Howe). If you can't make it to the talk, here at least is the PowerPoint the Staff Council was given that contains a lot of the information, and directions to sources:

(If the display is too small for you, the full-sized Powerpoint can be opened here.

Now that it's Spring we tend to forget the flu (well, maybe not totally), but let's not get too amnesiac to prepare!

Stay well,

Joanne

Flowers That Bloom in May

2008-05-15T15:58:00.005-04:00

Hello Everyone,

Hopefully Spring is here to stay! I never get tired of seeing the trees blossom each year; even the magnolia images I've been using come from beside Dana's front doors.

You've probably seen the e-mail announcing that it's Staff Council election time again.

My preliminary year is up. I'd love the chance to continue representing you and the Libraries & LRG unit, so if you think I've done well this past year please vote for me again! However you choose, please do participate--get informed and vote!

We have no nominations for Staff Council Vice President at this point. So, we're re-opening the call for nominations for Vice President through Friday, May 23. Nomination forms are available on the Staff Council home page. Information about the qualifications, role and responsibilities of the Vice President may be found in Article VII. of the current bylaws.

Our May 6th Full Council meeting was brief, but notable for a guest presentation from Barbara Johnson, Associate Vice President of Human Resources. She explained that HR had restructured and retrained several positions so that many of their staff will be spending more time away from the office to be out on campus in the various units. This is supposed to make them more available for questions and assistance in a timely manner. The official announcement will roll out later in the summer, but their actual presence will start sooner. So, if you are seeing more HR staff in your departments, they are there to help.

We've been given several more reports from the Board of Trustees to pass along to the you: they comprise the most recent group added to the Documents list in the right-hand column. Please check them out--it isn't as much reading as it appears! The first two are just the agenda and summary of the Board of Trustees meeting of 5/12/08, and the next 5 are the attachments (minutes and reports) referenced in that summary. Still, they merit our attention since they cover topics and a time period notable for UVM financial disturbance.

The last document is a year's-end summary of what the Staff Council subcommittees have worked on and/or achieved since last September. They've all covered an impressive amount of ground this year, and deserve our applause!

The May Staffline is out, available to read or print at: http://www.uvm.edu/~stffcncl/staffline/May2008.pdf
Besides campus news and events, and a message from President Fogel, this month's issue contains some very nice discounts for staff, including a bus trip to Boston (filling fast, register now!), kayak tours and special prices on automobile leasing.

For those interested in Vermont history or just scenic sites, UVM's Center for Research on Vermont has sent us the summer press release from the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation:

"VERMONT STATE HISTORIC SITES OPEN FOR SEASON

Many of the Vermont-State owned Historic Sites open for the 2008 season on Saturday, May 24. "These beautifully preserved gems allow us to experience history where it happened," says John Dumville, historic sites operations chief at the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation. "They tell us the exciting story of Vermont and our nation--from the first inhabitants to the Vermonter who became our 30th president." In addition many special exhibits and events are scheduled throughout the season."

See their website- http://www.historicvermont.org/ for more information, dates of special events, directions and more!

Commencement is this weekend--three cheers to all graduates and their families, our work study students, and the rest of us who supported all that academic labor. Best Wishes and Good Fortune to all of them!

Have a nice weekend,

Joanne

30 Days of April

2008-04-27T22:58:00.003-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Tomorrow is May 1st!! So here are some announcements of upcoming or ongoing events:

May is National Bike Month (Message from the League of American Bicyclists)

"The League of American Bicyclists is promoting Bike-to-Work Week from May 12-16 and Bike-to-Work Day on Friday, May 16. Need some ideas? Here are 50 ways (large PDF) to celebrate National Bike Month. Help us Count Cyclists In this May, and every month!"

Staff and Faculty Excellence Awards

Don't forget that Wednesday April 30th is the last day to nominate your colleagues for the Staff and Faculty Exellence Awards! For directions, see the Awards Program Website at http://libstaff.uvm.edu/committees/staffandfacdev/awards.html.

If you don't recall how to get into the libstaff site, the log-in is the same as you use to log into your own computer, with only one possible change--if your password has fewer than 7 characters, you must add enough exclamation points ( ! ) to bring the character number up to seven. If your password already has seven or more, no exclamation points are needed.
Example: If your password is short like the word "SMITH" (5 letters), you would need 2 exclamation points to get into libstaff: "SMITH!!" (7)
On the other hand, if your password is more like "RUMPLESTILTSKIN", you won't need to make any changes at all.

So log in and go for it! Here's a chance to do something nice for your co-workers, AND celebrate afterwards with excellent cake!

Council News

There is now an open Call for Nominations to the offices of Staff Council President and Vice President. Within the new by-laws are changes to the eligibility, term of service and manner of election of these offices.

Rodman Cory, the chairman of the Rules and Elections Committee, sent us a letter that explained the changes much more clearly than I could, so I'm quoting parts of it below:

These are the changes to the eligibility rules:

1. The President and Vice President will now be elected by all staff who are eligible to serve on Staff Council. [Eligible staff are defined as those whose record in Human Resource Services shows that they: (a.) are permanent full-time or part-time employees at UVM, who are not on probation at the time of election; (b.) whose jobs are part of the University's Career/Pay system {generally signifying that they are not top-level executives}; and (c.) who are not employed in the Staff Council office.]

2. The President and Vice President will each be elected to serve for a two-year term. (In addition, the outgoing President will serve an additional year as Immediate Past President, in order to offer transitional leadership to the Council.)

3. Eligibility to serve as President or Vice President includes meeting all the criteria for eligible staff (see #1 above), plus the stipulation that the Staff Council President and Vice President shall have served a minimum of six months on the UVM Staff Council over the course of the last six years.

4. For a list of the responsibilities of the Staff Council President and Vice President, see the Staff Council Bylaws, Articles VI. and VII.

These are the new nominating procedures:

1. Completed nomination forms are due in the Staff Council office by 4:30 PM on Wednesday, May 7. (These forms are available on the Staff Council web site, and may be filled out by the candidate, or by a third party with the permission of the candidate.)

2. Nominating Committee members shall meet with each candidate during the second week of May to ensure that each candidate understands the breadth of responsibility associated with the office s/he is seeking.

3. Candidates shall share in the Staff Council meeting on June 3rd and at an additional "meet-the-candidates" forum in late May or early June. In both venues, each candidate will make a short campaign speech and may have the opportunity to answer questions posed by those in attendance.

4. Elections shall be held online from June 9 through 17. (There will be further information concerning elections distributed by the Staff Council office as the election period approaches.)

If you have questions, please contact the Staff Council office or a member of the Nominating Committee. (The committee members are: Joan Kieran, Mary Lafayette, Robin Lockerby, Michelle Mullarkey, Ida Russin and Catherine Symans).

So, please take a look at the rules and responsibilities to see if you or someone you know might be interested. Remember that all in the university community are welcome to attend the full Staff Council meetings--please feel free to come to the June 3rd meeting to hear from the candidates, and perhaps participate with questions.

That's enough for today--maybe we should organize a pool to see who can come closest to guessing when the lawnmowers first tackle the Green this Spring--or are we already too late?!

Have a good week,

Joanne

Brief Updates

2008-04-13T16:20:00.000-04:00

Good News--the Library Forum on Pandemic Planning has been rescheduled for:

Wednesday, May 28th 10:30 to Noon
Dean’s Conference Room (114 Bailey/Howe)

Links to their resource pages are in the post previous to this one. Please make sure to read all the way down to see the video that will answer that burning question of "Why Don't We Do It In Our Sleeves?"

See you on Monday,

Joanne

"Why Don't We Do It In Our Sleeves?" (read down)

2008-04-04T10:37:00.007-04:00

Hi Everyone,

The full Staff Council meeting on April 2nd was brief but to the point. We received the news that the revised by-laws that we forwarded to the administration have passed muster with Legal Services and been signed by VP Gower and President Vogel. So the new by-laws are now official!

Other items mentioned for distribution were:
*OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Act) has designated April 28th as Workers Memorial Day to remember workers who have died or been injured on the job. ( Wikipedia entry, Information and History page from the AFL/CIO, Workers Memorial Day Poems and Tributes )

*The April Staffline is now available online at http://www.uvm.edu/~stffcncl/staffline/April2008.pdf.
Along with reports from several Staff Council committees, it contains sign-up information for a bus trip to Boston in June, and news about the timing of the upcoming Staff Council election seasons. It's rumored to be getting a "new look" next month too, due to modernizations and upgrades, so we'll all see the debut together when the May issue comes out.

*Benefits Fair: May 2nd, 7 am - 5 pm in the Memorial Lounge, Waterman Building.

*Way to Go! Commuter Challenge May 5-9, 2008. UVM is an active participant; learn more and/or register at www.waytogovt.org.

On the Agenda for Next Month:
Barbara Johnson, Assoc. VP for Human Resources has been invited to attend the next Staff Council meeting on May 4th to address questions from Council members as well as provide an update on current Human Resources initiatives. Please try to attend if you can; it could be quite interesting.

Other news specific to the Libraries unit:
The Pandemic Influenza Planning presentation meant for the 3/26 Libraries Forum had to be canceled due to illness; we hope very much that they'll be able to reschedule. Irony aside, there is a lot of information on the above linked website, and specifics from earlier forums (including the Powerpoint) linked here. One highlight is the streamed video of Recommended Coughing Techniques, available in English, English with captions, Spanish, and American Sign Language. If any video deserves to be "viral", this is the one.

And Because it's the Season:
The Center for Research on Vermont presents Research-In-Progress Seminar #212:

The Taste of Maple Syrup: Past, Present, and Future
by Amy Trubek, Nutrition and Food Sciences, UVM
Thursday, April 10, 2008 4:30 p.m., Memorial Lounge, Waterman Building

"Maple syrup makes the Green Mountains edible. When we pour this thick, sweet liquid over our pancakes, we are bringing the much loved Vermont landscape into our houses—we get to taste the Green Mountains. Maple syrup is a wild food, harvested first by the Abenakis, then by early colonists, and now by farmers, homesteaders, and others. Maple syrup links us to our landscape, but what does it taste like? We will explore the tastes of Vermont maple syrup and why Vermont’s maple syrup could be the first of many foods that define our future tastes. The event will conclude with a tasting of syrups from different parts of Vermont."
For more information check out the website linked above!

Well, April is here, the geese are headed North, and the weather is stuck on the spin cycle. Somewhere in the weekend there might be some sunshine, so try to enjoy it if you can,

Joanne

Update on Pandemic Flu Planning at UVM

2008-03-21T14:03:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Important news: if you weren't able to attend the campus-wide presentation on this topic on the 18th, there is another upcoming at the Libraries' Forum on Wednesday, March 26 from 11 a.m. to Noon. The UVM associated website is linked here.

Also, the VWHE (VT Women in Higher Education) is now taking registrations for their Annual Spring Leadership Dinner featuring guest speaker Ellen McCulloch-Lovell, President of Marlboro College.

    Time: April 1st, 2008, 5:00-7:30
    Location: Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center in Burlington
    Cost: $35 fee for dinner and stimulating conversation
    Register at: www.vwhe.org

For More Information Call: Sarah Hooker
sarah.hooker@goddard.edu
802-454-8311

With March and the equinox passing, the Vermont sugaring season has definitely begun! If you're as interested in the science as the flavor, the UVM Extension Maple site contains an amazing amount of information from beginner to professional level. It includes sign-ups for conferences, classes and newsletters, and links to UVM related sites and state organizations. Also the UVM Proctor Maple Research Center has opened their TreeMet site for the 2008 spring season. You can find research highlights, and read continually updating metrics on the trees, the sap and the surrounding temperatures.

Mud season has also begun, and that's enough said about that. I'm off to wash a few floors, and I hope everyone has a good weekend,

Joanne

2008-03-13T15:14:00.002-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Good news! The revised by-laws received their second approval at the March 4th full Council meeting. They were then sent to President Fogel and his leadership team for review before being adopted by the Staff Council--this process should take thirty days or less. This was a major accomplishment on the parts of the Rules & Election Committee, and the rest of the Council at large. Many thanks to all our colleagues for their hard work and dedication!

Next, we've been asked to seek nominations or volunteers from staff members wishing to be considered to serve as Staff Representative on the Athletic Advisory Committee. This appointment begins in May '08 for a four year term.
Beth Wright from the Council Office described the duties:
"There is work involved, meetings are often held on the members' own time (late afternoon and into the
evening), it's a 4-year commitment and the primary reason for serving is to be a resource to the athletics director and athletics department on how UVM can continue to keep the standards high for its student athletes. UVM consistently is one of the strongest Division 1 schools for academic achievement among its athletes."
So if you or someone you know of is interested in serving, please contact Eileen Hanerfeld directly with a copy to Beth in the Council Office: eileen.hanerfeld@uvm.edu and beth.wright@uvm.edu.

Finally, an open forum on Pandemic Flu Response Planning is scheduled for Tuesday, March 18th from 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm in North Lounge, Billings. The descriptive flyer is posted here.
I devoted most of a previous post to this topic on Friday, December 7, 2007 (titled "Off and Running "). It contains links to the presentation powerpoint and other important references; so instead of repeating it all here, I recommend that you scroll down through the blog posts to that date or click this link to jump straight to it. This is a serious plan with far-reaching consequences if implemented, particularly for unrepresented staff. We should make every effort to learn the details: please try to attend, listen, and ask questions.

I hope everyone had a chance to participate in at least some of the Mastering the Maze events. The workshop selection this year was especially rich and varied- literally something for everyone! Whether it's an exhibit or a new outreach program, there always seems to be something new our colleagues are working on, and something to get excited about.

Stay safe and warm this weekend--no more ice, please!

Joanne

Ice Storm Photos 3_8_2008

2008-03-11T00:06:00.019-04:00

It really was a dark and stormy night, but here are some pictures from the morning after!

Franklin County got a great deal of ice that left no detail untouched-

Some of it was dangerous...

but all of it was beautiful.

Viral Information

2008-03-04T00:55:00.001-05:00

Hi Everyone,

The next Staff Council meeting is scheduled for today, March 4th. I apologize for not posting that notice sooner, but I was out for the count with the latest cold that's sweeping campus. If you've got it too, I sympathize, and if you haven't had it--stock up on disinfectant and hand sanitizer! This is one virus you really don't want to catch.

The meeting agenda is posted on the Council website and available here for printing. We'll be working on getting the by-laws to their final vote for passage, and everyone is welcome to attend--there's a place on the agenda for audience comment too.

We've been given several new reports to share with you; from the Audit Committee, the Budget, Finance and Investment Committee, the Educational Policy and Institutional Resources Committee, and the joint meeting of the Audit Committee and the Investment Sub-Committee. (Now, doesn't that sound exciting!?)

Seriously though, financial reports might seem very dry reading, but a quick glance-through could be worth your time. They give quite an overview of the financial structure, operations and actions of the University as a business: it was very educational to someone like me who usually focuses on the academic side of UVM. Future financial plans are discussed too, which should interest everybody! (See especially: Campus Life Task Force Presents Report to Board in the most recent The View.) To read the reports here, see the top entires in the right-hand documents column.

The March Staffline is out now too, so watch your inbox or the Staff Council website-the link to the Staffline is in the left-hand column. I've got a lot to catch up on, and I need more tissues, so I'll leave it there and post some more after the vote.

Have a good week,

Joanne

Big News on the By-laws Front!

2008-02-21T16:30:00.004-05:00

Hi Everyone,

At our special meeting on Tuesday February 19th, the new proposed by-laws passed their first required vote. There was a lot of discussion, some of it intense, that took up two meetings to get us this far. There were motions made proposing some amendments to the original document prior to the vote, but in the end those didn't pass. After more discussion, there should be a second and final vote at the next meeting (which is scheduled for Town Meeting Day, March 4th).

So, three cheers! If we continue to find consensus, we'll finish the voting and have by-laws to work by in time for the next election cycle. And as a protective mechanism, written directly into these by-laws is the power to amend them. If we discover down the road that some things need to be done differently, we'll have the ability to deliberate, vote and make those changes. I don't think I can publish the document while it's in draft form, but I can say that it gives the individual staff member many more voting rights, and covers many more contingencies. It's definitely something we can work with.

We also received updates from the University Benefits Advisory Committee. Their report is posted in the right-hand column. They have a full list of interesting topics to consider, but right now they're focusing on benefits issues for retirees, and availability of on-campus child care for working parents.

So, heading into the weekend, don't forget to register for Mastering the Maze. Take a look at the current Staffline and make sure to wish Helen Olson well in her retirement!

More soon,

Joanne

Workgroup For Socially Responsible Investing- Open Seat

2008-02-21T15:41:00.000-05:00

The Board of Trustees has let the staff Council know that they still need someone to serve on the Workgroup For Socially Responsible Investing, which reports to the Budget, Finance, and Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees.

In his letter, Mike Gower said: "This work group is different from other trustee committees in that each appointee is a full voting member. The work group would meet at least a few times to receive presentations from the proposers, deliberate, and put together recommendations to the BFI Committee, probably for its May meeting."

So if you think you would be a good fit for this workgroup, please let someone on Staff Council know, or contact the president Eileen Hanerfeld directly at: eileen.hanerfeld@uvm.edu

Thanks!

Joanne

Another Fond Farewell

2008-02-21T14:04:00.001-05:00

The Dana Medical Library is bidding Helen Olson a fond farewell, as she retires at the end of February. Her last day is the 29th, so be sure to say goodbye before then. She's been with us 7 years, and we're going to miss her, but we know how much fun she'll be having with her family!

Best Wishes, Helen, and Congratulations!

Voting In The Air

2008-02-18T20:23:00.004-05:00

Hi Everyone,

The full Council is having a special second meeting Feb.19th, primarily to keep working on the by-laws. Time and place are: noon in the Maple Ballroom of the Davis Center. The agenda is available on the Council website or in a printable format here.

Otto von Bismarck is credited with comparing sausage-making to legislating (he considered both procedures too messy to watch). But this is still a meeting open to the whole UVM community, and I'll bet you're brave enough to come witness the creation of a new "recipe". Come take part in making a piece of UVM history!

Item #4 on this meeting's agenda will be a report from the "University Benefits Advisory Council". President Vogel announced his intention to create this group in his letter responding to the student hunger strike for UVM livable wages in May 2007. Hopefully we'll have time to learn more about their mission and purpose, and what's been done so far.

Our next Full Council meeting coincides with Town Meeting Day (3/4). (Are you registered to vote? These links at the VT Secretary of State's website tell you how and where to register, and find your polling place, and simply a host of other valuable information) At this writing, there's no plan to re-schedule the meeting because we should still have enough members present for a quorum; if that changes and the date gets moved, I'll let you know as soon as I'm informed.

On other topics, VP J Michael Gower's recently sent around an email listing upcoming presentations of UVM's Pandemic Plan. The first date has passed, but a second is scheduled for Mastering the Maze on March 13th. Please attend if you can; listen, and ask questions. If you can't go, or if you'd like to know more before attending, you'll find links to the Emergency Planning Team's website and presentation materials right here, in my December 7th post titled "Off and Running". (To find it, scroll all the way down and click on the link to "Older Posts")

Don't forget to read through your February Staffline; the Council News page has some very useful FAQs about discounts and services UVM members can access through the Council website. Links to the Spring Semester Campus Recreation listings are there too, along with the Spring 2008 Wellness Center Incentive Program information. If anyone had the chance to take the bus trip to the Montreal Casino this weekend, please feel free to drop us a note in the comments link here, and give us some of the highlights of the trip!

Well, that's enough for one posting. I'll try to give timely updates on our progress with the by-laws, and I have a few more items that didn't fit here today.

So, I hope everybody had a good President's Day! See you on Tuesday,

Joanne

More Shoveling!

2008-02-08T14:31:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,

To start off, the Board of Trustees has asked the Staff Council president Eileen Hanerfeld to appoint 5 staff representatives to various Standing Committees, so we're calling for volunteers. The representatives do Not need to be council members; anyone who feels they can contribute may submit their name for consideration.

The committees in question are: Audit (1 rep), Budget, Finance & Investment (2 reps), and Educational Policy and Institutional Resources (2 reps). Detailed descriptions of the committees and their functions are available at the Board of Trustees site. (Choose the links from the left-hand column under "Committees_Standing")

The letter finishes: "These positions will include training from Corinne Thompson prior to the beginning of term (3/1 - 2/28) All interested parties should email Eileen Hanerfeld directly by close of business on February 15th.
Eileen.Hanerfeld@uvm.edu"

So, if you'd like to serve on any of these committees, please contact Eileen.

Next, we're working hard to finish the by-laws in time for the next round of elections. The Rules and Election Committee submitted a very comprehensive framework for the full Council to consider, but we're still hammering out the details paragraph by paragraph. We're almost exactly halfway through, with another special meeting called for Tuesday Feb. 19th to tackle the rest of it--please come and see your reps at work!. (12:05pm in the Grand Maple Ballroom of the Davis Center)

The good news is that this by-law structure should be more transparent in all of its operations, and offer the entire staff more involvement in the election of the Council officers. Our greatest concern is to make sure that no unit or even a single staff member is left out, or underrepresented, in any procedure or action outlined in the by-laws.

The minutes from January were also approved, and those are now available on the Council website.

Well, here's hoping that everyone is coping safely with the new snow. It really is beautiful enough to (almost) make you not mind clearing the driveway, again.

Have a good weekend,

Joanne

"Leap" Into February

2008-02-02T21:39:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,

The agenda for the upcoming February 5th meeting is available on the Council website, or here in printable format. At this meeting we'll get our first chance to consider in full Council the revisions proposed to the Constitution and By-Laws by the Rules and Election Committee.

I can't praise this group enough for their hard work and the quality of their final product. The proposed rules are complete, comprehensive, and workable; no small feat with such a large and diverse body of staff to consider, and on a tight deadline too! We should be proud of Scott, one of our own Library reps on this committee-take a moment to thank him if you can. (The other committee members are listed here online; thank them too, if you can get or make the opportunity)

Please note that the regular 2/5 meeting will take place in the usual Livak Ballroom location, while the special second meeting scheduled for 2/19 will be located in the Grand Maple Ballroom of the Davis Center.

The February Staffline is also now available on the website. This month's issue contains Committee Reports, Recreation news and event registration forms, Council News and FAQ's, Wellness programs information, and upcoming Council meeting schedules.

Here's hoping that no one was too seriously inconvenienced by the weekend's ice storm--and let's give three cheers to our physical plant colleagues who kept the roads and walkways safe for the rest of us! Enjoy the beauty of the winter, travel safely, and stay warm.

Have a good weekend,

Joanne

Workgroup on Socially Responsible Investing

2008-01-18T13:37:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,

There isn't a lot of Council news this week--I think everyone is busy getting back in sync with the academic schedule, and the new semester.

However, we received an important request this week from Mike Gower, VP of Finance & Administration:

"I am writing on behalf of the Budget, Finance, and Investment Committee of the Board
of Trustees. At its November meeting, the Chair, Debbie McAneny, charged a work group to study two issues that were submitted from a "Call for Issues" to the UVM Community in October (attached). Debbie has asked John Snow to chair the work group, and Trustee Jeff Davis will also serve as a member. As we are following the process of the former "Committee on Socially Responsible Investing," each of your groups would appoint two members using your regular appointment processes. The President would appoint one member of the Administration to serve as well.

This work group is different from other trustee committees in that each appointee is a full voting member. The work group would meet at least a few times to receive
presentations from the proposers, deliberate, and put together recommendations to the BFI Committee, probably for its May meeting.

Please let me know when you would be able to make appointments. I hope to schedule an organizational meeting of the group as soon as possible. Many thanks for your
assistance, and please let me know if you have any questions.

Mike"

Our Council president Eileen Hanerfeld has been asked to appoint two staff members to this new group. They are not required to be members of the Staff Council, so anyone interested in serving should contact Eileen directly at eileen.hanerfeld@uvm.edu by Tuesday, January 22nd. Even if you don't think you can do this, you might know of someone else on staff who could, so please pass this this information along to them.

Don't forget that next week UVM is honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a series of events on campus(schedule here). For those of you who have the holiday off, keep an eye on the weather and stay Warm! For those who have to work that day, travel carefully!

Whatever your schedule, have a good weekend,

Joanne

Back To Work

2008-01-10T14:47:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,

I'm just going to dive right in:

At last Tuesday's full Council meeting(1/8/08), growing pains and time pressures were the main themes running through all the topics discussed. Perhaps the most urgent task is to complete the upgrade/revisions to the by-laws, so that we have working cohesive rules and criteria by which to conduct business, and complete all the rest of our assigned responsibilities. We'll be doubling up on the number of full Council meetings to get in enough discussion periods and required votes to pass the new bylaws in time for the next mandated elections. The next two meetings are scheduled for 2/5/08 and 2/19/08.

The minutes for the December 5th '07 meeting are now available on the website. They contain the committee reports I mentioned earlier, and also references to UVM's Flu Pandemic plan proposals. (see my Friday Dec. 7th post for links directly to documents)

Again I urge you to at least skim over the plan reports--some of these seem to raise far more situational questions than they answer. It would be in All the staff's interest to check out the available information and then ask some of those questions. You can send them to the Staff Council via a contact sheet (form and directions) if you'd like us to see if we can forward a recommendation, or contact the Emergency Management team directly at the email addresses given.

There is usually some interest in the Staff Council's Salary Recommendation to the Administration- for 2009, beyond the numbers, some new changes in merit award criteria were proposed, based on input from the staff body. While we're an advisory body only, our voice is strengthened by informed support from an engaged staff--many thanks for all your participation, both great and small!

On a cheerier note, the Winter Staffline is out! You can find it on the website at http://www.uvm.edu/~stffcncl/?Page=staffline/default.html or open it directly here.
Harry Belafonte will be coming to campus on January 22nd to speak at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations, and there is a registration form for the President's Day (2/18) Bus Trip to the Montreal Casino--sign-up deadline is February 1st. Mastering the Maze is coming on March 13th, and ski passes to Jay Peak and Smuggler's Notch are still available. Spring Registration for classes is open, and the new semester starts on Monday! Where did the time go?

See you next week,

Joanne

The New Year

2008-01-04T10:55:00.000-05:00

Welcome Back, Everyone!

Here's hoping that you're all feeling refreshed and cheered from your time off. Even at current temperatures, we're on the brink of the Spring Semester!

The next Staff Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday January 8th, in the Livak Ballroom (Davis Student Center), at 12:05 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Here is the link to the agenda on the Staff Council webpage, and here's a printable format.

It should be an informative meeting, since the committees will be reporting on their work on the various facets of restructuring the by-laws, policies, and procedures to reflect the larger and more representative group the Council has become. (and to better serve the Staff body, which is the main point of the Council) Growing pains are everywhere, but we're meeting the challenge with surprising levels of patience, good grace, and humor. I think all the units can feel proud of the representation they've had this year. Please do try to attend a meeting and watch the work in progress--it's a very "interesting" point in UVM history.

The next Staffline will be out soon--watch the website and/or your email for the link to the PDF. Among other information, it contains the Salary & Budget Committee's recommendations for the FY'09 salary pool. Also mark your calendars for Mastering the Maze, (http://www.uvm.edu/maze/)which takes place on March 13th this year.

More later, and have a very good weekend,

Joanne

Time For A Break

2007-12-20T15:04:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,

Here's wishing you all a restful and enjoyable break--stay warm and well.

See you all January 2nd!

Joanne

Fond Farewell

2007-12-11T11:28:00.000-05:00

The Dana Medical Library must say goodbye to Shirley Bolkum, who retires at the end of December after 35 years of service. We'll miss her very much, but we hope she thoroughly enjoys her newfound free time!
Best Wishes, Shirley, and Congratulations!

Off and Running

2007-12-07T16:53:00.001-05:00

Hi Everyone,

This month's Staff Council meeting on December 5th was an action-packed session!

First we elected Eileen Hanerfeld as Council President: she is a long-time member and past president, who has served UVM in many roles. There's a very nice write-up about her in the current View.

The Salary and Budget Committee also presented the FY09 Salary Recommendation for Unrepresented Staff: four percent across the board with one percent available for merit and another one percent for compression and market.

Next, Al Turgeon, Executive Assistant to VP for Finance & Enterprise Services, and Estelle Maartmann-Moe, Special Assistant to the Dean of Students for Pandemic Planning, gave a very interesting presentation on "Pandemic Flu Planning at UVM".

Here is the Powerpoint file we were given as an outline for the presentation. If you only have time to read one thing here, please survey this document! You'll see that they're planning in-depth for some very serious situations, and proposing some very serious and far-reaching responses. Considering the ramifications of these actions to staff, you may want to seek out more information on the overall plans.

As a starting point, here is the link to a section of UVM's Emergency Management website. The links in the left hand column contain additional information, including how to contact the planning group. I urge you to go through the embedded links spread over all the listed pages to examine the planning group's information sources, and assess how they are using the data they gather to form conclusions and action plans.

The presentation itself included few references or footnotes, and no bibliography, but referred us instead at the end to the Emergency Management website(see link above). I asked during the question period whether those embedded links on the various web pages to various agencies and documents comprised the Planning Group's complete set of resources. They said yes. Another Council member asked if this rather narrow order of described possible events was the only scenario being planned for. Their answer was that the early warning system was so reliable, that they felt sure that events would unfold as they had planned. They encourage all staff to take the responsibility to create a home plan for themselves.

We've been given the latest Board of Trustee Summary Reports--I've linked the reports in the right side column, as usual. Please try to read some of them! They may seem like dry reading, but they document and describe some big financial planning for the near and farther future of the University. If you'd prefer a summary, there is an article also in the recent view titled: Trustees Change Debt Policy, Approve Capital Projects that provides a clear synopsis of the actions taken and approved.

And Finally: Hip-Hip-Hooray!

The Council office has found and given us the authorized text of the procedure followed to address an issue submitted to the Council by a Staff Member. The Communications Committee made the request, and it was deemed important enough to release it to the full staff body.

I wasn't able to outline the process for you before because I didn't know all the steps myself. But, now I have the information, and so do you! It's already up on the Council website under Staff Council/Forms and Applications/Contact Sheet, or linked here in a printable format.

Now, that's enough for one Friday!

have a good weekend,

Joanne

Winter Beginning

2007-11-28T15:14:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,

I hope everyone had a refreshing holiday break! Now it's time to get ready for winter: the next Staff Council Meeting is scheduled for December 4th, at noon in the Livak Ballroom at the Davis Center. Here is the Agenda; if you would like to attend a Staff Council meeting, this one in particular would be a good choice. The Salary & Budget Committee will present the FY09 Salary Recommendation for Unrepresented Staff, and chairpersons will be taking questions regarding the committee reports.

All the reports are brief, and worth taking a minute to read. Even if you can't make it to a meeting, or aren't terribly interested, you'll get a picture of the breadth of the issues affecting staff that are being worked on right now. It never hurts to be better informed today than you were yesterday.

Links to the submitted reports are listed below:

Benefits – Marilyn Eldred
Communications – Jon Reidel
Education & Professional Development – Cat Woodward
Internal Affairs – Lorie Clairmont
Recreation – Ida Russin
Rules & Elections – Rodman Cory
Employee Environment & Facilities – Todd Stewart (not reporting this month)

[On a totally different topic, if you look to the right under the static picture that I change every 2 weeks or so, you'll see a slide show of all the images I've used so far! Learning how to do this is already giving me ideas for some neat future uses, so keep an eye on that space!]

If anyone has a topic of particular interest or even a question, feel free to contact your representatives or the Council Office directly. Or, come to the meeting yourself and speak up at Public Comment time! Remember, all of the Staff Council meetings are open to the whole community.

Enjoy the change of seasons, and thanks for checking in,

Joanne

November Breezing By

2007-11-09T16:55:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,

It's been a very interesting week for the Staff Council--our Full Council meeting was held on Tuesday November 6th. Our elected President formally resigned from the Council for family and medical reasons, so we are facing another election to fill that position. This generated considerable interest in the actual election process--we are required to use the procedures prescribed by the current bylaws, but after much discussion at the latest Council meeting, the consensus was that this section of the bylaws needs updating.

Our own Dean of Libraries and Learning Resources, Mara Saule, attended the meeting and gave a very interesting presentation about the UVM self-study and re-accreditation project. She asked us questions similar to those used in the open forums being held around campus to gather input about the university experience from the community:

What did we consider to be UVM's most valuable strengths?
What did we personally like best about UVM?
Where did we project UVM going in the next 5 years?
What needs to happen to make that projection come true?

Then we were asked for a soundbite that would advertise UVM and still fit on a bumpersticker!

She encouraged us to encourage our units to also contribute their thoughts and impressions of UVM, which can be done online at an easy-to-reach accreditation blog. There is also a website for more information on the entire process with links to the regional accrediting body New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).

The committee chairpersons gave their progress reports on their individual projects, aspects of unit communication were discussed, and Rose Laba reported on Task Force II. Task Force II deserves attention because its charge is to " determine the level of need, if any, for an activities center with a focus on the areas of event planning, health and well-being, college athletics, and student activities such as intramurals and exercise space... Based on their findings, the task force will offer recommendations on three of any project’s most critical components: cost, size and location." (This information is quoted from the View of August 28, 2007) Task Force I resulted in the Davis Center project, so Task Force II could potentially have at least as great an impact on campus and on campus life as did its predecessor.

The Communications Committee is making some headway on what we consider our primary project: compiling scattered information about the Staff Council and its functions into one coherent set of documents in one accessible web location (with an added printable pdf format). That way any staff member who needs information about any Council functions--for example, what the process would be to submit an issue for council consideration, or how to join a committee--will have what they need to make informed decisions. Second, we would create a brochure and bookmark outlining this information, that would be available in print and electronic form. Based on demographic information from HR, copies of these would also be available in several of the non-English languages spoken among our staff community.

Our chairperson Jon Reidel is gathering the content for the documents from the website and the places in the Council Office where they're stored, and several members will help sort and edit the compilation. I am looking into what translation services are available at UVM. Up to this point the search has been near-Byzantine, but people are beginning to get back to me at last. Hopefully I'll have some sensible recommendations soon!

Believe it or not, the Thanksgiving Holidays are in less than two weeks--it's time to get ready in earnest!

Have a good weekend,

Joanne

November Begins

2007-11-05T16:23:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,

The agenda for tomorrow's meeting (Nov. 6, 12:05pm in the Livak Ballroom) is posted on the Council website. Our own Dean, Mara Saule, will be addressing the council about UVM's upcoming Self Study and Accreditation! The committees will report on the progress of their individual projects; in particular the Salary & Budget Committee concerning their work on Salary Pool Increase Recommendation.

I strongly recommend checking out the November Staffline--it is several pages longer than usual, and contains some committee reports about current council issues as well as information about campus and recreational events. The correct URL to access it is contained in the second E-mail from the Council office that came around. The link is still broken on the Council website, but I've included the correct ones to both the November and October issues right here:
November Staffline: http://www.uvm.edu/~stffcncl/staffline/November2007.pdf
October Staffline: http://www.uvm.edu/~stffcncl/staffline/October2007.pdf

In Council news, our President Zancy VonHooks has resigned from that elected position due to her continued absence for family/medical reasons. Our elected Vice President Karla Nuissl has stepped up as Acting President, and there is a note from her about that in the November Staffline as well.

My offer to our group still stands: I can post a copy of the notes I take at the Staff Council meetings for those who'd like a timely but unofficial preview to the official minutes-just let me know.

More later,

Joanne

Campus Master Planning Committee - Request for Participation

2007-10-17T09:47:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,

The Staff Council Office asked us to share with you all an important request from Linda Seavey, Director of Campus Planning Services (CPS):

"As you are aware, the University has adopted a 2006 Campus Master Plan that provides a strong framework to guide the land use and building/landscape design decisions for future physical growth and development. As part of the campus master planning process, the University formed and charged the Campus Master Planning Committee (CMPC) to serve in an advisory role in the development of the CMP and to review all projects impacting the "land" to ensure compliance with the CMP. The CMPC representatives are chosen specifically because of their functions at the University and their role and knowledge in dealing with facilities and the infrastructure of the institution.

Staff representation is integral to the function of this committee. With the retirement of Michel St. Germain, the CMPC would like to extend an invitation to Staff Council to select a representative for membership for this important work impacting the long range vision of the institution. If possible, it would be helpful to select a Staff Council member whose professional/educational interests are in land use planning, architecture, environmental initiatives, etc. Once a representative is selected we have some "orientation" materials that will help this person understand the role of the committees and a synopsis of the major review components of the CMP."

It is not necessary to be a Council member to be appointed to this position!

Anyone interested who feels qualified can give their name to a Council member for submission to our vice-president Karla Nuissl. Please act promptly, as the committee meets in early November. Interested parties may obtain a full committee membership list by emailing Beth Wright at beth.wright@uvm.edu.
Note- For more information and contacts see: Campus Master Plan

Please consider, and thanks!

Joanne

Council Updates

2007-10-11T16:57:00.000-04:00

Hello Again!

Our full Staff Council meeting was held on Tuesday, October 2nd, and opened with a brief address from President Vogel. He praised the work of the previous Staff Council, and hoped that the new one, in its reorganized and enlarged format, would be equally effective in increasing the value of staff contribution to the effort of organizing and projecting the voice of the University.

A brief Q & A session followed, and we made a point to thank him on behalf of all the staff for the extra time off over the winter holidays. Then we all trooped out into the sunshine to have a group photo taken. It was an informative meeting; the staff reps to the Board of Trustees committees made their reports, and all the committee chairs gave brief summaries of their group's preliminary discussions. Everyone had creative and useful ideas for the upcoming year's projects.

Here's where I ask for help! I could use some feedback: how interested would people be in a preliminary report on the Staff Council meetings? Authorized minutes don't get approved until the next scheduled meeting, and then they get posted to the website on a schedule I'm not familiar with yet. (the most recent set posted as of today are April 2007)

If people would like a summary sooner, I can write up a brief overview from my personal notes--I'm allowed to do that as long as it's understood that it isn't the final "authorized" version of the minutes. But posting that also takes up time and blog-space, so I'll wait to hear if there's any real interest in it first.

My contact information is in the right-hand column (note: e-mail is faster), or brave souls can post a public comment to this post: clicking on the post's title "Council Updates" will open a "Post a Comment" link at its foot. Put your comment in the box and choose your identity level (yourself, Other, or Anonymous). You can preview it first or just publish right away. Don't be scared off by the "Comment moderation " statement at the bottom--I enabled that to protect us from spammers, etc.

Thanks in advance for the input,

Joanne

October Gets Rolling

2007-10-11T16:25:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Here are a few housekeeping items:

The October Staffline is now available!
In addition to its usual interesting articles, it contains the offer of an early discount for the UVM community on First Night Buttons(Half Price!) and tickets to shows at the Flynn and Memorial Auditorium. The offer only is good until October 31st, so try to check on it soon.

The committees are gradually getting their membership lists and schedules posted to the council website. Two are already up and hopefully the rest will follow soon. Short bios of members are also being posted as links under their names on the main list.

Next, as mentioned in the last post, the Communication Committee met on 9/27/2007, and discussed several items we'd like to address this year. Among them was how to modernize and increase the ways members can receive the Staffline without losing old methods that are still useful. Another was the need for a standardized and accessible location for basic information about Staff Council functions, policies, and procedures.

The planned January roll-out of the new UVM website template could provide a good timeline for us to get those updates ready at the same time, if possible. Towards that goal we also wondered if the Council office could consult the TechCATS (from the CTL), for advice on posting information to the Council website in the new template.

Overall it was a very good discussion, but I won't take up your time listing all the topics right here--I've put the Summary written by our Chair in the right-hand column with the other linked documents.

We meet again this coming Thursday, October 11th, and I'll let you know how the plans have progressed-

Have a good week,

Joanne

October Begins

2007-10-01T12:08:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,

We now have the agendas for the upcoming full Staff Council Meeting set for October 2nd at noon. A copy is linked here. We're hoping in future to get them posted a week prior to the meetings, so that people with interest in the topics can arrange to attend if they wish.

The committee chairs' Preliminary Updates section of the meeting should be quite interesting, because they'll be presenting summaries of their committee's proposals for the upcoming year's work. I'm eager to hear what the other committees have planned! The Communications Committee has had its first meeting and I can outline the results of those discussions after they've been presented to the council.

Thanks again to everyone while I learn my way through all the rules and procedures. I can post some more informative updates after the meeting.

On the apple front: Terence Bradshaw from the UVM Horticultural Farm sent me a list of the estimated times the different apple varieties would be available at their Friday sales--I put the information in a chart that people can view.

Have a great week,

Joanne

Friday Updates

2007-09-21T10:41:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,

First, just a reminder that next week from Sept. 24th to 28th, is Staff Recognition Week. If you haven't seen a schedule of planned events, here is a link to a copy--people who are reaching a 5-year/increment anniversary please take special note.

For more discounts and events, check the Discounts & Events link on the Council website.

The full Staff Council membership list is now posted on the website, along with contact information. Individual committee memberships are still being established, along with meeting schedules--making these arrangements takes a little longer with a larger group, but everything should be set soon! Membership lists and meeting times will be posted on the Staff Council website under the individual committee links and in the Staffline. I'll be serving on the Communications committee, which will meet on the 2nd Thursday of each month.

Don't forget that except for the Executive Board, all committees may be joined by any staff or faculty member, retiree, or student! Please consider joining one (or more!) and contributing to the overall good of the community. Meetings are also open to any interested UVM community member.

Stay tuned for further updates and have a very nice weekend,

Joanne

Summaries, Reports, Etc.

2007-09-14T10:39:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,

I'm passing along the Summary Reports from last week's Board of Trustee meetings. They were given to us this week, and contain some interesting information about decisions and future plans for UVM.

I'm still waiting to hear exactly where this sort of document gets archived, so that I can provide correct directions to access them. Until then I've saved the files on a website that I'll link to from here (see Right-Hand column)--that way people can read them now, if they wish. (Many thanks to Lida for the location suggestion!)

When I get the official locations, the links can be updated.

Have a Good Weekend,

Joanne

Apple Time!

2007-09-13T23:39:00.000-04:00

UVM Apple Sale

The UVM Horticulture Research Center continues a fifty-year tradition this season with the opening of Apple Sales on September 14th. Sales will occur every Friday through October from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the farm. Available varieties will change each week as the ripening season commences.

Apple pricing this year is $1.00 per pound for all of our varieties. Bulk orders and interdepartmental purchase are welcome. Apple sales proceeds help fund research and education programs at the Hort Farm every year.

Please contact Terry Bradshaw at 658-9166 (note this is a 658# and not a 656#) or via email to tbradsha@uvm.edu.

September 2007

2007-09-09T22:30:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to the first installment of Staff Council Updates!

This posting will contain basic Council information, but I hope following posts will bring news of current developments and events throughout the 2007-2008 academic year.

The Council website is a good source of information, and it should be getting better soon with the upgrades planned for the coming year. To be as accurate as I can, I'll refer to the website or the Council Office for questions concerning rules, responsibilities, policies, advisory recommendations, and any other information requiring a Council approval by vote.

If there is any topic not addressed or not clear, or if a person has any questions, please feel free to contact a council rep--if we don't have the answer, we'll find it for you! Anyone may also contact the Staff Council Office directly, by calling 6-4493 or via email at staff.council@uvm.edu.

Don't forget to check the current Staffline for upcoming classes, Wellness events, recreational discounts, the agenda for Staff Recognition week (Sept. 24th-28th), and much more.

See you soon,

Joanne

What is the Staff Council and what does it do?

"The Staff Council addresses topics and issues of concern for UVM staff employees."
"The Staff Council and Staff Council Committees submit recommendations and requests to the Administration for review. " (Requests & Policy Recommendations)

Representatives' official responsibilities are outlined in the first article of the Council's Constitution:

1.11 To listen to, pursue and respond to the ideas and opinions of staff employees;
1.12 To convey these ideas and opinions to the university administration;
1.13 To advise the president of the university or his/her representative(s) on all subjects that affect staff employees;
1.14 To inform staff employees of issues and policies affecting them.

Staff Council members must also serve on at least one of these 9 committees:

1. Benefits
2. Communication
3. Education and Professional Development
4. Employee Environment and Facilities
5. Executive Board
6. Internal Affairs
7. Recreation
8. Rules and Election
9. Salary and Budget

Please Note: Except for the Executive Board, membership on these committees is open to ALL members of the UVM staff, faculty, retirees and students!

If you have an expertise to contribute or even just an interest, please do consider joining--no previous experience is necessary, and community input is not only welcomed, but actively recruited.

Applications are available at the Staff Council office, or on the Council website under Forms and Applications.

Who Are The Representatives?

The current Staff Council membership list is published in the latest issue of Staffline which contains a lot of useful information this month. (Past issues are archived on the Council website)

Meetings this year are scheduled for the first Tuesday of each month, and except for executive sessions, are all open to the community.

Elected Officers & Committee Chairs

Zancy VonHooks, Staff Council President 2007-2008

Karla Nuissl was elected Vice President for 2007-2008

Committee Chairs for 2007-2008:

Benefits: Marilyn Eldred
Communications: Jon Reidel
Education & Professional Development: Cat Woodward
Employee Environment & Facilities: Todd Stewart
Internal Affairs: Lori Clairmont
Recreation: Ida Russin
Rules & Election: Rodman Cory
Salary & Budget: Deb Bryan

Committee assignments for regular members should be available soon.