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Meeting Minutes

Staff Affairs UPC 11/17/05 Meeting Minutes

Members Present:
Carolyn O'Connell - Chairperson - Athletics
Donna Sobie - SSOM - Student Financial Services
Ann Hupert - Mathematics & College of Arts & Sciences
Dan Vonder Heide - Information & Technology Services
Tom Kelly, Ex-Officio - Human Resources

Special Guests: Kelly Shannon - University Marketing & Communication and Pat Fagan-Jackson from Perspectives, Ltd

  1. Kelly Shannon began the meeting by asking the group for suggestions on what could be done to improve the effectiveness of the Staff Affairs UPC and the UPC system as a whole. There was discussion about whether having elected, appointed or combination UPC boards would be better than having an all appointed board. The committee discussed the fact that having elected officials on Staff Affairs UPC may give an appearance of more validated to others outside the group, as the Staff Council currently carries since those members are elected. No consensus was reached.

    *Communication was a big issue discussed by the committee and the consensus is that the Staff Affairs UPC needs to do more to inform University members of what the Staff Affairs UPC does and what the other seven policy issue areas do. Clarifying roles of each UPC needs to be done.

    Current Staff Affairs UPC communication problems raised by the committee

    • "Policy" not defined
    • No one knows how to go to or make suggestions to the Staff Affairs UPC
    • We need to define what Staff Affairs UPC is and does.
    • This is a resource for who/what problems?
    • Currently no presence at the medical center campus for university health sciences (SSOM and NSON)

    Other communication issue discussed.

    • There is no single forum to deal with issues that crossover faculty/staff/student affairs. We need to figure out appropriate path people should take or what UPC people should contact for crossover issues.
    • Inter-awareness of what each other's UPC do, maybe a 4-6pm cocktail hour would be helpful.
    • Communicating with supervisors/managers and showing them that UPC's are an important part of the job and not a distraction from an employee's job.
      • Cannot trust that people will go to the web and look up shared governance need to shape, change and clarify communication. The idea of putting together a progress report or a story in "Inside Loyola" about shared governance was brought up as being effective in spreading awareness within the University.

    The committee discussed usefulness and effectiveness of the current UPC's.

    • It was brought up that the Research Committee has never met, should find out why not and evaluate if this type of UPC is useful?
    • Would the research UPC be better grouped with an "Info Commons UPC" that would include research, libraries, and technology?
    • Maybe a "Sullivan Center" UPC would be appropriate? Or at least a standing committee to acts as a sounding board for student services issues.
    • There was also discussion of the appropriate number of people that should be on Staff Affairs UPC. More people appointed to the committee may be appropriate so that numbers at monthly meetings are higher.
    • The group discussed putting time limits on items discussed by Staff Affairs UPC so that plans can be moved forward more efficiently.

    • Reviewed and approved September meeting minutes.

    • Tom Kelly briefed the group on Georgetown's recent announcement of providing Legally Domiciled Adult coverage, which allows faculty or staff to sponsor another adult on University benefit plans. This is similar to a proposal that will be sent forward to the UPC's in the coming weeks that the University administration is interested in sponsoring for next fiscal year.

    • There was a unanimous vote by the members to move forward with the compassion bank and move to make a recommendation to Father Garanzini on the terms of the compassion bank.

    • Presentation by Perspectives, an Employee Assistance Program (Guest: Pat Fagan-Jackson)
      • Ms. Fagan-Jackson, presented information about the range of confidential services Perspectives provides to assist employees with problems of everyday life, legal & financial issues, and a powerful web based library of resources for Loyola faculty and staff.
      • Ms. Fagan-Jackson indicated that the EAP is also available to consult with managers on personal dynamics at work and to assist managers in resolving or addressing their employee's workplace issues.