The University of North Carolina At Charlotte

Staff Council

Annual Report for July 1, 2008- June 30, 2009

The Staff Organization is established to create and provide a more harmonious working environment for the staff of The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. It has been delegated by the Chancellor the authority and responsibility to bring to the attention of the administration matters of general staff concern; and to take such actions as are necessary to enable it to meet those responsibilities.

Annual Reported submitted by

Margo E. Gross

President, Staff Council

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte

June 18, 2009

 

 

 

Officers 2008-09

President - Margo Gross, Research Services

Vice President  - Terry Setzer, Cone University Center         

Secretary - Angela Gay, Recreational Services

Treasurer - Melody Harris, Cone University Center

 

 

 

Staff Council 2008-09

See Appendix A for roster of Staff Council members.

 

Member addition to the Staff Council. 

In 2008-09 the Staff Council voted to employ a work study student to revamp and manage our website.  This student was supervised by the Vice President of the Staff Council.  Near the end of March the Staff Council voted to add a permanent volunteer position entitled “webmaster” to the Staff Council.  This individual is recruited from the staff at large and appointed by the President of the Staff Council.  As webmaster this individual is responsible for updating and maintaining the Staff Council website.  Elizabeth Mace from the Department of Public Health Sciences, College of Health and Human Services volunteered to take on this project and is the current webmaster.    

Meetings

The Staff Council meets on the second Wednesday of each month in the Chancellor’s Board Room on campus. There were no special meetings held this year. All meetings are open to the public. The Staff Council is a collaborative group, who in addition to conducting normal business discussions during meetings, also has guests of various individuals on campus through the year. Over the past year we have met with the Chancellor, officers of the campus Police Department, Human Resources representatives Branding and Marketing, Community Affairs, Crossroads Forum, and Campus Master Plan among others. In addition to campus guests we also were visited by a member of the CMPD Animal Control Division and a representative of SEANC.

 

Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the Staff Council are approved electronically and published within a week of the meeting. This makes the information contained in the minutes more timely and useful to the staff. The agendas and the minutes of each meeting can be found on the Staff Council’s website.

 

Sub Committees

Due to changes in campus issues in the Fall of 2008-09 a Staff Council committee was formed to restructure our existing subcommittees.  The following are our revised subcommittees and their outlined responsibilities.  All representatives are required to serve on at least one subcommittee.

 

Operational Support Committee - This committee is responsible for overseeing the nomination and election process of members to the Staff Council and disseminating information through various communication channels regarding activities of the Council which include, but are not limited to newsletters, the Council website and surveys. This committee also has the responsibility for reviewing the Staff Council Constitution and By-laws and make recommendations to the Council for needed changes and/or additions.

 

Examples Sub-Committees/Ad-hoc Committees:

• Membership
• Elections
• Constitution/By-Laws
• Communications  

Education & Events Committee – This committee promotes professional development opportunities and assistance, recommends educational development opportunities for staff, and develops and coordinates service projects for the Council. This committee also plans and/or coordinates special events.

           

Examples Sub-Committees/Ad-hoc Committees:

• Homecoming
• Staff Awareness /Staff Recognition Week
• Staff Picnic
• Educational Training and Development
• Rewards and Recognition
• Staff Book Scholarship
• Community Service 

Staff Relations Committee - This committee handles issues related to University and departmental policies and practices central to the human resource needs and concerns of staff to the Council to determine if action by the administration.

 

Examples Sub-Committees/Ad-hoc Committees:

• Benefits
• Diversity
• Child Care Initiative
• Legislative Affairs
• Issues and Concerns            

University Committees

In addition to serving on the Staff Council, its committees and Statewide Assembly committees, the President, Margo Gross was asked to participate in the following university committees in order to provide input and inclusion of the Staff Council. 

• Branding and Marketing – Richard McDevitt, Chair
• Budget Council – Beth Hardin, Chair
• Crossroads Charlotte – Susan Harden, Chair
• Niner’s for the Cure (Susan G. Komen Walk) – Margo Gross, Chair
• Rooms in the Inn – Susan Harden/Julie Putnam, Co-Chairs
• Staff Recognition – Barbara Greene, Chair
• Student Union Grand Opening Committees
• Grand Ball, Book Signing and Wine and Cheese Events Subcommittees

Statewide Staff Activities

The current UNC Charlotte Statewide Assembly representatives, Kelley Eaves Boykin, Margo Gross and Catherine Johnson attended one quarterly meeting at General Administration in the Fall.  At this meeting it was decided that all Assembly meetings would be held on a quarterly basis.  Three of these meetings would be held at General Administration and one hosted by a UNC system campus.    However, due to the state budget crisis the second and third quarterly meetings were held via video conference. Elections were held during the Fall meeting, and Kelley Eaves Boykin was elected as the Chair of the Statewide Staff Assembly and will serve as their chair for a term of two years.

 

The Staff Council’s Statewide Assembly representatives were very active in their assigned committee duties, and the Staff Council President, Margo Gross participated in monthly video conferences of the Statewide Chair’s meetings. In the fall of 2008, Margo was elected vice chair of this committee.  

Staff Council Activities and Events

 

August: - The Staff Council hosted a small kick off event for the upcoming Staff Recognition activities which are held in October.  In addition to enjoying ice cream provided by the Staff Council, staff members had a chance to sign up for the various activities and meet Staff Council officers and representatives.

 

September - Staff Council partnered with Community Relations in promoting the School Tools campaign.  Boxes were placed around campus and faculty and staff was asked to donate school supplies.  As in past years this campaign was met with much success.

 

October - brought the annual Staff Recognition breakfast and luncheon which honors and recognizes service awards of staff members and employees of the year.  Following the luncheon was the Chancellor’s reception. With the Chancellor’s Reception being one of the most widely attended staff events on campus, and the Staff Council commitment to bringing health awareness to staff, we asked nursing students and their advising faculty from the College of Health and Human Services to attend the Chancellor’s reception and provide some health information and screenings to the many attendees. 

 

Another event in October co-sponsored by the Staff Council was Niner’s for the Cure, a group of over 150 faculty, staff, students and parents who walked together at the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in uptown Charlotte.  At the conclusion of the walk participants returned to campus for a brunch hosted by the Chancellor and Mrs. Dubois.

 

December - Due to the large numbers of families hard hit by the economic downturn the Staff Council set community giving as one of it’s priorities for 2008-09.  Winter activities tied to this were warm clothing, coat and blanket drive that benefited the Urban Ministry. 

 

February – Another very successful community giving effort sponsored by Staff Council was the “Love the Animals” pet food drive which was very well received and yielded over 1800lbs of animal food.  All pet food collected was given to the Second Harvest Food bank and distributed to families with pets who visited the food bank.  A plaque for this effort was presented to Cynthia Stasiewski, a representative of the Staff Council at an awards ceremony sponsored by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department – Division of Animal Control.  This award was in given as recognition for being a giving community partner.

 

Staff Council sponsored several events during the week of Homecoming to help show spirit support to our UNC Charlotte students.  These events were, a “Show Your 49er Spirit” contest where staff members were judged on how they could best show their 49er spirit through songs, cheers or costumes, and the famous “Chili Cook-off” with staff members, including the Chancellor entering their famous chili.  Students, staff and faculty tasted the various chili recipes and served as judges for the event.  Since this event is also very well attended, and with the Staff Council’s commitment to providing a wellness campaign we again partnered with the College of Health and Human Services faculty and students to provide health information and blood pressure screenings.

 

Issues Addressed by the Staff Council

 

Book Scholarship Committee

A Staff Council goal that was set at the beginning of the year is almost nearing completion.  The Staff Council began forming a Book Scholarship committee in early Fall.  Financing of the scholarship fund was to be established through Business Services vending machine revenue and administered by members of the Staff Council.  However, before details could be completed, Auxiliary Services pursued a tie with the on-campus bookstore to guarantee a 50% book buy back.  Our original campaign would have given each employee, $100 towards the purchase of a book.  The committee recently met with bookstore management and several other key players.  A pilot loan program plan has been presented to Keith Wassum and with his approval, staff members will be allowed to “borrow” the necessary class books from the bookstore for no fee.  The Staff Council will be required to staff the pick-up and drop-off days, and will store all information and necessary forms on their website.  The Staff Council’s original goal was to encourage more employees to take advantage of the tuition free classes and lessen the financial burden of financing those books, we are hoping with success of the new book loan program, we will see an increase in employees utilizing their tuition free class benefit.

 

Budget Council

When university budget cuts and freezes began looming in the future Chancellor Dubois quickly established a Budget Council committee which is chaired by Vice Chancellor Beth Harden.  The Staff Council and Faculty Council presidents were asked to attend and contribute their thoughts and concerns.  This committee generally meets twice a week.  In addition, the Chancellor held an open forum with the entire campus community and periodically has sent letters to all faculty and staff which helped provide more transparency of the budget situation.  Input from presidents of the Staff and Faculty Councils have been sought in all budget communications that were sent to the faculty and staff from the Chancellor. The Staff Council appreciates the opportunity to provide input to the Chancellor and his Budget Council.  Budget Council reports are presented to representatives at monthly meetings. 

 

Campus Safety and Security

The Community Policing Officer of the Campus Police gives a campus safety and security issues report at each meeting of the Staff Council. The assigned officer provides information and updates about current crime trends on campus. Having a representative from Campus Police attend each of our meetings gives representatives an opportunity to address concerns or questions from their particular areas. In addition to answering questions and concerns the officer provides us with personnel safety advice and tips for distribution through our meeting minutes.

 

Emergency Loan Assistance Program

With furloughs and the possibility of reduction in work force becoming a part of university life, one of the Staff Council’s latest goals was the formation of a committee to work on establishing an Emergency Loan Assistance program.  Before commencing work on this project the university’s Budget Council got on board and in very short order put together an Emergency Loan Fund that is monitored and administered by the Human Resources department.  Employees can receive a loan of $250 which can be paid back through payroll deduction.  Currently we have over $16,000 in donations with a large part coming from the Chancellor’s funds.  In Fall of 2009 the Staff Council will begin a campaign to encourage faculty and staff to donate to the fund through payroll deduction.

 

Health and Wellness

In July when the Staff Council met and discussed committees for the upcoming year it was decided that we would like to draw attention to issues of health and wellness.  A committee was formed to discuss various methods that could be presented to the staff members in the campus community.  President, Margo Gross met with several faculty members of the College of Health and Human Services to come up with ways that their nursing students could help with this endeavor.  The faculty adviser, Lisa Wagnes and Chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences, Andrew Harver agreed to provide students who would come to several of our well attended functions and conduct blood pressure screenings and pass out health information. 

 

During the year the State of North Carolina asked that each campus form a Wellness Committee.   The Chair of our campus committee is Gary Stinnett, Director of Human Relations.  Included on this committee is a representative from the Staff Council, Allison Miles who presents a recap of activities to the Staff Council at each of our monthly meetings. 

 

Parking

Parking and the cost of parking on campus is an ongoing concern of all staff members. When the parking decal and gate card fees for 2008-09 were raised significantly, the Staff Council asked Gary Caton, Director of Parking Services to address our group so that a question and answer session could be conducted.  This meeting was attended by Staff Council members as well as various staff members from across campus.

 

 

In Appreciation

 

The Staff Council is very appreciative of Chancellor Dubois and his ongoing acknowledgement of the importance of the staff of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

 

Appendix A

Staff Council Area Representatives

 

July 1, 2008 – June 30, 2009

Area Representatives
Area 01	Office of the Chancellor; Office of the Chancellors Emeritus; Office of the University Attorney; Internal Audit; Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs; Int'l Programs
	Representative	Diana Gann	2254	dlgann@uncc.edu	Internal Audit Department
	Alternate	Carla Flowers	7-3270	csflower@uncc.edu	Internal Audit Department
Area 02	Enrollment Management; Graduate Programs; Minority Academic Services; Student Success and Retention; Registrar
	Representative	Maria Weezorak	3653	mweezora@uncc.edu	Records & Registration
	Alternate	Catherine Johnson	7-5441	cathjohn@uncc.edu	Student Success/UCAE
Area 03	J. Murrey Atkins Library
	Representative	Lynn Cauble	2327	lacauble@uncc.edu	Library
	Alternate				Library
Area 04	Information and Technology Services
	Representative	Nathaniel Anderson	7459	nanders2@uncc.edu	ITS - Training
	Alternate	Kelley Eaves-Boykin	7-3549	kneavesb@uncc.edu	ITS - Security
Area 05	Housing and Residence Life
	Representative	Charlie Donehue	3049	cwdonehu@uncc.edu	Housing & Residence Life
	Alternate	Lori Sherrill	7-4316	lasherr1@uncc.edu	Housing & Residence Life
Area 06	College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
	Representative	Teresa Cleveland	4268	tdclevel@uncc.edu	College of Arts & Science
	Alternate	Cheryl Almond	7-2573	cmalmond@uncc.edu	Political Science
Area 07	College of Education; College of Health & Human Services; Institute for Socal Capital
	Representative	Cynthia Stasiewski	7938	castasie@uncc.edu	Dept. of Social Work
	Alternate	Elizabeth Mace	7-8742	emmace@uncc.edu	Public Health Services
Area 08	College of Architecture; College of Business Administration; College of Engineering; College of Computing & Infor.
	Representative	Jonni Newlon	2358	rwnewlon@uncc.edu	Academic Advisor/Student Serv.
	Alternate	Kathy Phillips	74841	KathyPhillips@uncc.edu	Student Services/College Architecture
Area 09	Office of Vice Chancellor for Finance;Budget; Sponsored Prog; Controller; Material Mgmt.; Finance Data Admin.
	Representative	Alice LaRocca	3462	avlarocc@uncc.edu	Financial Services Office
	Alternate	Lucy Mullens	7-4088	lmmullen@uncc.edu	Financial Services Office
Area 10	Business Services; Police & Public Safety; Human Resources
	Representative	Kieffer Gaddis	2276	kgaddis@uncc.edu	Human Resources
	Alternate	Cindy Edwards	7-6015	ckedward@uncc.edu	Human Resources
Area 11	Facilities Management - Administration
	Representative	Marcia Henderson	2152	Mhenderson@uncc.edu	Fac. Mgmt-Admin.
	Alternate	Sonia Perez	Jul-91	sperez6@uncc.edu	Fac. Mgmt. Admin.
Area 12	Facilities Management - Housekeeping
	Representative	Joann Pearson	2829	jpearson@uncc.edu	Facilities Mgmt. – Housekeeping
	Alternate	Velton Singletary	7-2829	VC.Singletary@uncc.edu	Fac. Mgmt -
Area 12	Facilities Management - Housekeeping 3rd Shift
	Representative	Linwood Sanders	2071	L.Sanders@uncc.edu	Facilities Mgmt. -3rd Shift Hskping
	Alternate	Lisa Miller	7-2257	lamille1@uncc.edu	Facilities Mgmt. House Keeping
Area 13	Office of the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs; Office of the Dean of Students; Research & Systems Development; Counseling Ctr.; Health Programs and Services/Health Ctr.
	Representative	Juanita Wilson	2219	jmwilso2@unnc.edu	Financial Aid
	Alternate	Lora Bassett	7-2461	LLBasset@uncc.edu	Financial Aid
Area 14	Athletics
	Representative	Allison Craven	6245	amcraven@uncc.edu	Athletics
	Alternate	Hudson Jacobs	7-4937	hjacobs3@uncc.edu	Athletics
Area 15	Facilities Management - Shops (Automotive; Electric; General Services; Grounds; HVAC; Preventative Maintenance; Recycling & Zone Maint.)
	Representative	Ronnie Bell	2094	rbell@uncc.edu	Facilities Mgmt. – General Services
	Alternate	Tim Smith	7-4922	tismith@uncc.edu	Facilities Mgmt. - General Services
	Representative	Charles Kraus	8975	cbkraus@uncc.edu	Facilities Mgmt. - Zone 2
	Alternate	Jim Kay	7-6994	jmkay@uncc.edu	Facilities Mgmt. - Zone 1
Area 16	Metropolitan Studies & Extended Academic Programs; Research and Federal Relations; Charlotte Research Institute; Ben Craig Center
	Representative	Anne-Marie Mills	2712	amills@uncc.edu	Urban Insitute
	Alternate	Bonnie Morton	7-3429	bmorton7@uncc.edu	Research & Federal Relations
Area 17	Associate Vice Chancellor Student Union; Student Activity Ctr. (SAC); Student Activities; Religious & Spiritual Life; Recreational Serv.
	Representative	Ann Benson	2390	aebenson@uncc.edu	Cone University Center
	Alternate	Casey Hurst	7-2493	cphurst@uncc.edu	SAFC
					Revised 8/17/08

 

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