Wednesday, March 5, 2003 (Approved
at the April 9, 2003 meeting)
2:30 p.m. in the Mary Maples Dunn Room at Pierce Hall
Attending: Cristen Abrams, Kim
Allen, Connie Dragon, Serena Harris, Chris Carr Hill,
Susan Hollingsworth, Patty Kimura, Anne Marie LaFosse, Merrilyn
Lewis, Laura Matta,
Steve Monteiro, Janice Nye, Sam Rush, Michael Washut, and Tara Zidonik
Excused: Stacey Anasazi, Cyndee Button, Lakisha Coppedge, Gary Duffy,
Alicia Guidotti, Karen LeHouiller, Janice McDowell, Dianne Mikucki,
Angela Musiak, Laura Rauscher, and Patricia Swan
Patty Kimura called the meeting to order at 2:40 p.m. Patty acknowledged
the Sam Rush Production skit that participated in the Rally Day
celebration, and thanked everyone who was involved. She said the
students were thrilled that staff put together a skit this year
and they gave them honorable mention during the judging of the skits.
1. REVIEW MINUTES
The minutes of the January 8, 2003, meeting were approved.
2. COMMITTEE REPORTS: February committee minutes were sent
out prior to this meeting. The following are additional comments
or responses to questions.
A. Nominations and Elections:
Serena announced that Ann Mayo has resigned from Staff Council due
to a heavy workload as the Museum gears up for reopening.
She said nominations went out and she got very few returns. It was
suggested that they extend the deadline and use the liaison e-mail
distribution list to send out another form. Serena asked for help
in outreach to RADS and Physical Plant. Patty said recruiting in
the past has been successful. Patty thought that Nominations should
coordinate the volunteers who said they'd do some outreach. Merrilyn
said that last year she found that RADS had meetings at 7:30 a.m.
and 3:45 p.m., and this was a convenient time to reach an audience.
If the deadline is extended, the call for nominations could be announced
at the Community Forum.
B. Personnel Policy Committee:
Someone asked about the status of the workload study. Because Patty
works in Human Resources, she knew that most of the recommendations
have been done or are in the works so PPC should pursue this. Someone
added that the new budget constraints might change the workload
issues. Patty said some of the processes remain current and those
changes could be worked on.
C. Communications:
Someone asked about the proposed structure of the Community Forum,
which is scheduled for April 2nd. The Communications Committee has
primarily done the planning and this person thought that all of
Staff Council should have a say in the format.
Staff has been given one day off for volunteering. Issue is what
you do with the one day, unless it becomes the first step in an
ongoing relationship. Someone was concerned that having a panel
representing five organizations would be seen as Smith promoting
volunteering for these five organizations, and the thought was raised
that it might be more useful to structure the forum around the ideology
of volunteerism.
Patty said there are lots of organizations that could utilize one
volunteer for a day. Human Resources has been getting calls looking
for volunteers. The Community Forum could be a way for people to
find out about what volunteering is, and Patty thought it was a
good introduction to the topic.
The Communications Committee will instruct the panel on the topics
they wish them to discuss, to make sure it is not seen as if Smith
is promoting just these organizations.
It was suggested we offer concrete examples of one-day volunteer
opportunities.
Patty said that since she is doing the introduction, people could
send thoughts about framing volunteerism to her.
D. Activities:
Cinco de Mayo-Patty felt we should really try to make this happen.
Merrilyn mentioned that when the flyer for the New York bus trip
went out, she appreciated that along with it went an attachment
of suggestions of things to do in New York City.
Patty mentioned that she has talked with Sabrina Marsh about Activities
doing something along the lines of Habitat for Humanity. It is thought
that Activities and Communications could work together on implementing
something like this.
E. Ad Hoc Diversity Committee:
Merrilyn announced that a group was going to the University of New
Hampshire on March 14th as Bruce Mallory, Dean of Graduate School,
had agreed to meet with them for 1-_ hours. She invited others to
join them.
3. MORE NEW/OLD BUSINESS:
Chris had gotten a plea from a co-worker to see if staff council
could do anything about the ongoing parking crunch. In particular,
student cars, parked illegally, take many spots in the lots close
to the Alumnae House. Patty said that a few years ago she had success
in talking with Sharon Rust of Public Safety and student affairs.
Two reasons for the success were that there was a dedicated student
working for Public Safety that was out ticketing student cars at
7:30 a.m., and student affairs sent out an e-mail to all students
about not parking illegally.
Patty offered to talk to Sharon Rust again. Please e-mail Patty
if there are particular lots you would like her to talk to Sharon
about.
Since the Community Forum is taking place on Wednesday, April 2nd,
the next Staff Council meeting will be held on Wednesday, April
9th, at 2:30 p.m. in the Mary Maples Dunn Conference Room in Pierce
Hall.
The Staff Council meeting adjourned at 3:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Chris Carr Hill
Co-Secretary
Staff Council
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