Staff Senate Chair S Report 04/01/2011 March 1 - 31, 2011

Staff Senate Staff Senate Chair’s Report 04/01/2011 March 1 - 31, 2011

As I write this Chair’s report, there are three months remaining in this fiscal year. Many of us are getting ready to run for our unit seats for another two-year term…there is a deadline to file your intent to run with your 100-word statement, so get them in to the Senate office by April 15. I also want to take a second to say thank you to the PED Committee, former Chair James Atkinson and current Chair Lisa London for the diligent work on the senate recommendations discussed at the March meeting. I have had multiple comments that the March meeting/debate/discussion was the best the Senate has seen in a long time. The amount of work PED did in preparation was phenomenal and the Senate owes all participants gratitude for doing such a great job for staff. From the bottom of my heart, I thank everyone for your thoughtful comments, consideration and support for the PED recommendations. It was a long meeting, but one that really confirmed the thoroughness of Staff Senate. That makes me extremely proud!

March was a very busy month with the survey, the recommendations and responding to the administration…then add in Executive Vice President for Research and Innovation candidates in for campus interviews and Executive Vice President for Health Affairs airport interviews. Your Vice Chair and Chair have been working overtime representing staff’s perspective. One of the things that has struck me is that great people in Tier I institutions are applying and interviewing for the Executive Vice President positions because of the exceptional research trajectory the University of Louisville has recently experienced. Change is tough for some people to accept, but change can bring some wonderful new people to the university.

On the third of March, the Board of Trustees had its committee meetings http://louisville.edu/president/trustees/agenda/march11/public starting with the Trustees Award Committee. This is the fourth year I have served on this committee and each year I am impressed at the excellent nominations that we receive about faculty teaching and the effect that the professors have on their students. We made our selection, which will be announced in April and the professor will address the students at Spring Commencement. The award comes with a $5000 prize that is funded by the 17 Trustees who are appointed by the Governor. Following that meeting, the other committees met starting with the Academic and Student Affairs Committee where we approved the minutes of our last meeting, we received a report on Scholarships and Student Aid available to students and we met the new Dean of the Libraries, Robert Fox. In the Finance Committee meeting, we approved the minutes of the last meeting, EVPHA Dr. Larry Cook presented an overview of the proposed School of Medicine Professional Practice Plan, Vice President Owsley presented a plan to replace the roof on the Miller IT Center, which the committee passed, and Vice President Curtin presented the interim financial statements for the university as of 12/31/10. The final meeting, I chaired the Personnel Committee meeting where we approved previous minutes, we had an Executive Session where the Provost explained the tenure process for the benefit of the newest Trustees. When we reconvened in open session, Dr. Willihnganz reviewed the statistics of those receiving tenure and promotions and we passed the monthly personnel actions at the committee level. The Provost also spoke of a number of incidents that are being investigated by the media where there has been a misappropriation of money. There will not be any tolerance Staff Senate of procard misuse, misappropriation of university or grant money, or other financial misconduct. There could be some additional stories in the media based on some freedom of information act requests. The meetings adjourned until we meet again on April 14.

On Monday the 7th, the Senate Officers met with Vice President Connally and Vice President Owsley to review the Senate issues spreadsheet. We discussed the following items:

Pending Item w/ Larry Owsley (VPBA) Pending Item w/ Sam Connally (VPHR) Pending Item, not yet resolved Items sent to the Administration # Staff Issue Date forwarded Sent to Date Comments Resolved 122 Did Conflict of Interest Policy come before the 3/1/2011 Chair 3/2/2011 Policy was sent to SPR Committee 10/19/2009 after it Senate for a vote? was passed by the Board of Trustees without being sent to the senate for review. There were not any comments by PED. 121 From 112 - Person had difficulty getting answers 2/24/2011 Michae 2/25/2010 Person was contacted by Payroll to make aware of the from payroll when e-mailing or calling with l Curtin resolution planned after Sam also answered. questions Sam Connal ly 120 I tried to use the Campus connector route # 4 it took 3/8/2011 Larry 3/7/2011 Looked into the situation and has heard no similar me an hour to get from HSC to Belknap and got in Owsley complaints. A number of people are finding the route to trouble with my supervisor for taking extended be very useful. lunch hour. It is the regular TARC bus # 4 and they don't run on time. Yeah it is good service is you have time on hand. Staff Senate 119 Could you find out if UofL has to pay JCC money for 2/22/2011 Mike 2/23/2011 tuition remission, or is it just waived per the state Curtin statue? UofL does not pay any of the State universities for our employees taking courses at other institutions under KRS 164.020 (32). Their tuition is "remitted" by the institution where the instruction is delivered. All of the various KRS programs are run in this way. Also, the University receives no funds for these students from the State, so we call this an unfunded mandate. (As a matter of fact, UofL and UK are the two biggest importer universities of this program, meaning that we have more students from other universities taking courses at UofL than our employees taking course elsewhere.) 118 Shuttle between campuses 2/17/2011 Larry 2/17/2011 Maps out to indicate routes out for distribution. Owsley

117 Issues with the organization of the senate meetings 2/28/2011 Executi 2/28/2011 Went to executive committee for action. ve Commi ttee and Chair 116 Tuition remission change concerns - lumped in with 3/8/2011 Senate 3/7/2011 Discussed with Tuition Remission preliminary results the Staff Senate Survey results.

113 Staff Senate Safety Report - and now we hear we 2/7/2011 Larry Budget issues will report to senate. Will report on the are losing a Police Officer and Security Guards Owsley 14th.

112 Research constituent who has been paying Oldham 2/7/2011 Sam 3/7/2011 University took care of the penalties. Co. Taxes even though she has written Payroll to let Connal them know she lives in Jeff Co. Not the Louisville ly Revenue Commission is charging her taxes, penalty and interest. Staff Senate 111 I ran into a UBM recently who expressed concern 2/7/2011 Sam 3/7/2011 UBM is early notice, not the singular notice. over HR sending the UBMs email for distribution to Connal staff instead of using more general form of ly communication like UofLToday. This UBM's example was: "I was out of town and did not have access to email, when I returned I found three time sensitive email communications from HR/VPHR for distribution to staff, which they did not receive in a timely fashion because it was piped through the UBM email distribution list not general communications/John Drees/UofLToday..." 110 Bullying - what is UofL doing about it? 2/2/2011 Mike 3/7/2011 An employee who believes she/he is the object of Mardis bullying may file a complaint directly with HR. , Sam Employees are entitled to a safe work environment. Connal ly Larry Owsley 109 Quest Diagnostics is out of UHC network and 2/1/2011 Sam 3/7/2011 UofL has directed UHC that they must direct Labcorp Labcorp Is in a dispute with UHC and is asking clients Connal that the UofL Health Plan does not permit balance due to pay the difference between what the insurance ly billing for UHC network providers. pays and UHCs reimbursement 108 Tuition remission comments - employees should 2/4/2011 Sam 3/7/2011 Draft policy revisions will be distributed to Staff Senate have to pay for the class if they fail it. Also charge if Connal for review and comment in Feb. No changes are they drop it after the 100% refund period. Keep ly proposed to employee tuition remission, other than the distance ed option available for employees. exclusion of student fees and adopting a performance standard. The one year waiting period would apply only Somewhat concerned about the 1 year waiting to dependent tuition waiver for new employees. period going into effect. Could it be waived in certain cases as a recruiting tool? 106 concern over retirement for the lowest paid workers 2/7/2011 Sam 3/7/2011 HR has contracted with an outside vendor to conduct a Connal comprehensive benefit survey of peer institutions this ly Spring, including retirement plan design. UofL's retirement plan is characteristic of both higher ed (and most private companies) in providing a fixed percent of base for retirement matching, regardless of income. This obviously generates higher contribution amounts for higher paid employees. Federal guidelines prohibit discrimination in favor of higher compensated employees, but would not preclude a retirement design that favored lower salaried employees. Staff Senate 99 Retiree benefits changes? ULARP is concerned 1/4/2011 Sam 1/4/2011 I spoke with Larry Carr at length before the holidays and Connal suggested that the appropriate forum for him to voice ly his concerns was through ULARP, with respect to the current employees and with the Staff Senate with respect to current employees. It appears he has done so in an appropriate manner. You may share with him that you have conveyed his concerns to me. You might also share these comments with the Staff Senate reps on the HRAC. As noted, all of these cost proposals are still in brainstorm stage and will be submitted to appropriate constituent groups as conversations proceed.

98 Dangerous conditions due to the snow and Ice on 12/15/2010 Larry 12/15/2010 This was an issue of not having a 2-hr delay that the HSC Parking garage Owsley Provost addressed in our last Senate meeting.

92 Reduction in value of life insurance at age 65 11/23/2010 PED Sent for discussion and recommendation 91 Great Places to work Flexible Scheduling - if the HSC 12/3/2010 Sam A good suggestion to incorporate as a possible rationale would implement staggered start and release times, Connal for departments to adopt flexible scheduling at the unit they could alleviate a bunch of traffic exiting the ly level. Will include in working flex time draft. Chestnut St. Garage at rush hour. 83 HSC population is the same as Belknap, when will 12/3/2010 Larry L VPBA working on response HSC get affordable parking? Belknap has purple, Owsley yellow, green, blue and red, but HSC only has magenta and red 82 No promotional opportunities for staff - national 12/3/2010 Senate Chair and VPHR working on question and searches and hires, but no loyalty for years of work answers to present to the EVPHA and ULP Managing physician. 81 Is KDP being sold to a private for-profit business? 12/3/2010 What will happen to the staff? 80 ULP Incorporation - staff is not hearing anything and 12/3/2010 they have a set of questions 62 Scorecard compensation instructions 9/30/2010 Sam This is a budget issue, more than an HR issue. HR will Connal open discussion with VP-Finance and Provost how we ly can better manage "compensation at risk" so as to reduce perceptions that these established contractual agreements are adverse to staff employee interests or unduly burden operating funds that would otherwise be available to support staff concerns. Staff Senate 58 Lack of blue parking on the east side of campus 9/13/2010 Larry went to parking - Pending Owsley

51 Another person brought up the issue of golf cart 9/7/2010 Larry Mitchell drafted policy and guidance - making the safety – riding on sidewalks and speeding around Owsley rounds - Now under revision campus with people walking in the vicinity 21 U.S. Legal issues with attorney not responding 7/14/2010 Sam Yes, we can absolutely investigate satisfaction and we Connal will do that. I have a call in to US Legal to discuss this ly and concern and the accessibility of attorneys in our area. US Dana Legal is supposed to have multiple attorneys in Louisville to work with our employees. Let me check into this and I Humm will circle back to you and let you know what I find. el

15 Is there a reason Custodians cannot wear shorts 6/17/2010 Larry Under review for next summer when it is over 85 - 87 degrees and the humidity is Owsley high? 14 Issues with the "green" floor wax 6/17/2010 Larry To Larry Detherage for review Owsley 4 Grievance policy revisions? 10/28/2009 Sam Under initial review with Staff Grievance Committee -- Connal together with preliminary discussions of performance ly management, disciplinary policy, and appeals policy. Target completion date was October-ish(2010). Now, it is new Director-ish

3 North end traffic 10/27/2009 LLO Working with City (Has anything happened to this end??) There is a study coming, but seems to be no rush given the election. Exit by Speed will be completed next summer

Following that meeting, I did New Employee Orientation in HR where I speak about sustainability, but use that as an opportunity to discuss Staff Senate and Tuition Remission as well.

On Tuesday the 8th, I attended the smoke-free UofL meeting. One of the interesting complaints coming to the committee is how do we enforce the smoke-free policy? It really takes a culture change to make smoke-free the expectation. People who have been smoking on campus are having difficulties getting used to not being able to smoke. Some people are stepping to the edges of campus to smoke while others smoke wherever they are compelled to smoke. Signs are being vandalized and/or stolen. If you have ideas about how to change perceptions, let me know. DPS has Staff Senate other issues to address rather than playing the part of the smoking police, although they can address the vandalism and the theft of the smoke-free signs. Culture change takes time and effort and a smoke-free UofL will be better in the next several years.

On Wednesday the 9th, I attended a meeting of the Diversity/Work Climate work group reviewing the data for release to the constituent groups and the university community. Some people believe that the university does surveys and then does nothing with the results, this year will be different. The Provost has tasked us with getting information together for the Great Places to Work Committee to work on, along with the constituency groups. We have some additional time this month to review the data to see if there is any more information we need before going back to the Provost with our recommendations. Immediately following that meeting, the EVPHA Search Committee met for about four and a half hours to select the applicants and nominees for the position for “airport interviews”. It was an interesting time, but we found 12 candidates who we would like to bring in to interview.

On Monday the 14th, we had our excellent March Staff Senate meeting. It was great having VPBA Owsley back with us. If anyone has any ideas about ways to publicize the UofL license plates to increase scholarships, please get with David or myself so we can provide that input back to the Alumni Association.

On the 15th, we had to have the Senate’s Recommendation to the President and Provost from the Staff Senate on all the items we had discussed at the previous day’s meeting. It was crafted, using the PED recommendations so that Dr. Ramsey and Dr. Willihnganz will understand the rationale for the decisions, as well as the vote totals from the meeting. I also provided a copy of the survey results, including all of the comments, to the President, Provost, VPHR and VP Finance.

I also participated in the six-month performance review of Ombuds Tony Belak, with Faculty Senate Chair, Bob Staat, and Associate Dean of the School of Interdisciplinary and Graduate Studies, Paul DeMarco. Tony has done a remarkable job and is working to make the University’s Ombuds program the foremost program in the nation. The Ombuds Office wants to make it the program other universities want to emulate. The Ombuds has a direct reporting line to the Provost alone but the evaluation is completed by the Chairs of the Faculty and Staff Senates and the Dean of SIGS (or designee).

On the 16th, some Executive Committee members and I met with some Faculty Senate Executive Committee members and interviewed the first EVPRI candidate, Dr. William (Bill) Pierce.

On Monday the 21st, I attended the initial meeting of the new Institutional Compliance Committee. University compliance is a real focus going forward and the ICC will report back to the Compliance Oversight Council. It is an interesting group of faculty, staff and administrators, primarily those who have some compliance responsibility, along with a group of ex-officio members (I am one of the ex-officio member from Staff Senate). We have meetings scheduled quarterly through the rest of 2011. Staff Senate Later that day, I had UofL New Employee Orientation and then the Provost’s Budget Advisory Committee. We reviewed the latest budget iteration and what is going on with the special session of the state legislature. Salary increases are still the top priority of the administration. We also discussed some of the senate’s recommendations.

On the 23rd and 24th, the EVPHA Search Committee met and interviewed eight of the candidates. One finalist was out of the country and would be interviewed later. Three of our candidates dropped out to take other positions. It was an excellent couple of days to see these candidates from some of the best schools in the country wanting to come to the University of Louisville. At the conclusion of the interviews, we expected to bring in three or four of the candidates for campus interviews.

On the 28th, we had a meeting of the Senate Executive Committee where we discussed what was happening on the various committees; we reviewed Sam Connally’s recommendations to the administration on the salary increase, the tuition remission changes and the budget cost-saving strategies. The Senate’s recommendations had a positive review by Vice President Connally as a whole. There were a couple of items where the Executive Committee wanted to provide further commentary. We recommended 144 hours as the proposed limit for dependent tuition remission and we further commented on our concerns regarding the administration of the GPA to maintain tuition remission for employees as opposed to academic standards in the different colleges. I followed up with a note to the Provost on the following day.

On Tuesday the 29th, some members of the Executive Committee met again with the Faculty Senate XC to interview the last two EVPRI Candidates. We have three excellent candidates and my take is that it will come down to who is the best fit with the President. The Senate Executive Committee response to the interviews provided the President the pros and cons we noted but we stopped shy of selecting one candidate.

On the 30th, I attended the Sustainability Council meeting where we discussed what is happening sustainability-wise and how we can move things forward.

On the 31st, we had our final meeting of the Diversity/Work Climate committee reviewing the confidence levels in the statistical review of the data and how we suggest the Provost proceed. Sam Connally and Kim Maffet will work to take the next step of talking with the Provost and moving the survey results out.

It has been a busy month – but it is now behind us as we move forward.

If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please let me know. If you have any questions, please ask me as well.

Respectfully,

Brent Staff Senate