Smith College Staff Council
Meeting Minutes
July
12, 2000
A meeting of the full Staff Council was held at 2:00 p.m. in the Mary Maples Dunn Room at Pierce Hall.
Attending: Cristen Abrams, Chrissie Bell, Cyndee Button, Honey Gillman, Scott Girard, Dottie Goulet, Serena Harris, Patricia Hayes, Patty Kimura, Mimi Lempart, Deb Letourneau, Mary Martineau, Janice McDowell, Sam Rush Stephanie Schoen, Bill Sheehan and Maria Vallejo
Excused: Sandy Bycenski, Patti Corjay, Pat Rist
Absent: Marian Abrams, Lisa Dwinell, Michelle Finley, Joe Stoddart, Kelly Taylor
Scott Girard reported on the two new Presidential appointees for this year Clara Lopez from the Admission Office and Bob Lesko from the Physical Plant.
Staff Council elections - new officers are as follows:
Chair - Patty Kimura
Vice Chair - Sandy Bycenski
Treasurer - Bill
Sheehan
Co-Secretaries - Cyndee Button and Mary Martineau
New elected Chair, Patty Kimura, presided over the rest of the meeting.
The following Committee assignments were completed:
Activities:
Janice McDowell
Cindy Rucci (Acting
Chair)
Maria Vallejo
Nominations & Elections:
Serena Harris
Dottie Goulet
Bill Sheehan (Acting Chair)
Communications:
Sam Rush (Acting Chair)
Cyndee
Button
Deb Letourneau
Stephanie Schoen
Mary Martineau
Cristen Abrams
Personnel Policy:
Chrissie Bell (Acting
Chair)
Honey Gillman
Mimi Lempart
Scott Girard will be a representative on the College Council.
If you have not yet been assigned or signed up for a committee, make sure you do so as soon as possible. All Staff Council members are expected to serve on a sub-committee.
Acting Chairs should call an initial meeting of his or her committee before the next Steering Committee. Chairs of each committee should be voted on and should attend the Steering Committee meeting (see below for date and time).
Staff Council Meeting
Schedule:
Schedule of Staff Council meetings for the upcoming
year: The first Wednesday
of every month
2:00 p.m. in the MMD
Conference Room at Pierce Hall.
Steering Committee meetings for
the coming year: The last Wednesday of
every month
2:00 p.m. in the
Neilson Library Conference Room
Next Staff Council meeting:
August 2, 2000 @ 2:00 p.m. @ MMD Conference Room
Next
Steering Committee meeting:
July 26, 2000 @ 2:00 p.m. @ Neilson
Conference Room
PERSONNEL POLICY COMMITTEE
REPORT:
Chrissie Bell reported for the Personnel Policy committee
which met in June.
Tuition benefits: The committee is surveying
the type of employee tuition
benefits
offered at peer
institutions.
Work load at Smith: the concern that many Smith employees are overworked came as a result of the Staff Self Study which was conducted a few years ago. The committee is working with Lianne Sullivan on this matter. The possibility of an employee survey was mentioned as a way to obtain data on this subject. Some statistics which might support the hypothesis that employees are overworked are the amount of staff vacation accrual listed below:
156 staff members have 4-6 weeks vacation accrued
84 staff members have between 3-4 weeks vacation accrued
82 staff members have between 2-3 weeks vacation accrued
224 staff members have between 0-2 weeks vacation accrued
There are an average of 24 staff
members each year who lose unused vacation
time,
including 7
administrative support staff and 17 administrative staff members.
The Personnel Policy Committee will check with Bill Sheehan about the appropriateness of Staff Council supporting an employee staff survey regarding work overload. The committee will also talk to Brenda Allen on the same subject.
AD HOC COMMITTEE for diversity training: Patty asked interested Council members to volunteer to serve on the ad hoc committee to help set up the diversity training. Please e-mail Patty if you are interested in helping.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary H. Martineau, Co-Secretary Staff Council -
7/19/00