Staff Council Minutes
Thursday February 1, 2007
     2:00-3:00pm MMD Room Pierce Hall
(Submitted by Art Usher, Co- Secretary)

*APPROVED*
Quorum present

Attending:  Joseph Bialek, Nancy Brady, Sandy Bycenski, Beverly Byrnes, Janice Cole, Lynda DallaPegorara, Navae Fenwick, Christopher Gentes, Linda Laflam, Merrilyn Lewis, Trish Mailler, Jinny Mason, Kathryn Messier, Steve Monteiro, Rick Rubin, Patricia Rist, Sam Rush, William Sheehan, Art Usher, Laurie Wyman and Kathy Yarnell

Excused: Adrianne Andrews, Alicia Guidiotti, Lou Ann Krawczynski, Sabrina Marsh, Janet Spongberg and John Zaikowski

Guests:

Approval of the Minutes –

• January amended minutes approved

Announcements-

• Sam Rush announced that at the request of Larry Hunt he attended a By-Stander Training workshop at Mount Holyoke College. The workshop offered tools and skills to respond to offensive/inappropriate comments you may overhear. Larry looking to offer a similar workshop here at Smith. He is looking for feedback from those who attended the M.H.C. workshop. Sam will keep the Council informed…

• Sam announced that he received an e-mail from President Christ stating she would like to attend the “Green “Forum.

• A question was raised about Staff Councils involvement in the New Employee Orientation Tour. Apparently the tour was cancelled again. The questions of how Staff Council became involved with the tour and whether the Council should continue to be involved were raised. Bill Sheehan to take concerns back to Human Resources.

Reports from standing sub-committees and ad hoc committee:

Activities Committee –

• Linda LaFlam announced that the showing of the movie Cars was a huge success and received a great turnout. Thanks to all who volunteered.
• The self hypnosis weight control workshop was very popular with around 70 participants. The Activities Committee is looking to repeat the workshop or offer a similar one in the future.

• Rick Rubin reported on upcoming events:

• Saint Patrick’s Day Beer Fest March 15th
• Book Exchange March 26th
• Don Mclean Concert trip March 31st

Communications Committee – No report

 Personnel Policy (PPC) Committee – (see attached minutes).

Nominations and Elections –

• Nancy Brady reported on the timeline for nominations and elections for the 2007-2008 terms.

-March 2nd nominations deadline
-March 12th ballots go out.
-March 19th ballots closed
-Results announced at April Meeting
-May meeting to be “crossover “meeting.

• Looking for feedback on new nomination form. Committee wants form to be simple, informative and persuasive. Need feedback ASAP in order to meet deadline.

• Suggestion made to leave some nomination forms at the Campus Center or College Club.

Diversity- (see attached minutes).

• Kudos given to Chris Gentes for the Flyers he produced for the film series.

Old Business- 

“Green” Forum-

• Looking for a better title to replace “Green” Forum

• Sam reported that the “brainstorming meetings” produced many good ideas and suggestions. Many groups of folks already have information to showcase what we are currently doing on campus and steps you can take at home. Minutes from those meetings will be forwarded.

Morale Report-

• Merrilyn Lewis gave a background report on the Morale Report. The climate on campus at the time of the report, how the information was compiled and which staff members were interviewed.
• Further discussion on the report postponed to a future meeting

Meeting adjourned 3:00pm

The next Staff Council meeting will be on March 1, 2007 at the Smith College Museum of Art. Committees are asked to please send reports via e-mail so that we may enjoy the Beyond Green exhibit