COSSAC Meeting Minutes 2001-2002

In attendance: Doris Tucker (Astronomy), Cindy Neal (Biochemistry), Mary Carter (Chemistry), Leslie Jones (Chemistry), Cara Wallace (CSC), Sue Robison (Dean's Office), Bernadette Thomas (Dean's Office), Mark Brewer (EEB), Joseph Romero (EEB), Carole Anderson (Math), Heather Enos (LPL), Therese Lane (LPL), Wolfgang Golser (SPH), and Ramzi Touchan (LTRR).

Departments not represented: Atmospheric Sciences, Geo-sciences, MCB, Physics, and Flandrau.

The minutes from the June 19th meeting were reviewed were approved.

Action items from the last meeting were reviewed:

Action: CCIT will be contacted by Heather Enos and Cara Wallace to get permissions straightened out so the COSSAC Web site can be updated and new members may be added to the listserv.

Permissions had been changed. Cara just returned from vacation and has not yet had a chance to do all of the updates. It was mentioned that some had problems responding to Heather's e-mails when they tried to respond to all.

Action: Committees are to determine their functions and goals.

Since none of the committees had a chance to meet due to vacation schedules and other scheduling problems, it was decided that the reports be tabled until the August meeting.

Action: Heather Enos and Doris Tucker will rotate attendance (of the SAC meetings). Doris Tucker will attend the next meeting. Heather Enos will gather information on becoming a member of SAC.

Doris left the COSSAC meeting at 2:45 to attend the SAC meeting. She will then report to the council.

Action: Leslie Jones will find someone from HR to speak at the next council meeting concerning the changes in health benefits.

HR is too busy at this time to attend. Town Hall meetings for all employees have been discussed to inform employees of the changes in the health benefits. It was pointed out that this was a decision made at the State level and any complaints would have to be brought to the legislature and not the University.

Action: Heather Enos will call Rick Bishop in benefits to get information about compassionate leave not being available for those employees paid on soft money. A call will also be placed to Jane Wilson to see where Human Resources stand on the issue. It appears there may be discrepancies in the documentation available on this matter.

Short-term disability has been explored as an alternate.

Action: Ramzi Touchan will call benefits to see if optical will be covered in the new health insurance and what changes will be seen in the dental coverage. He will send the response to the council via e-mail.

Cindy Neal mentioned that she was not allowed to sign up for health insurance, because her husband works for the University and already has family coverage. She was told that she was not allowed to have double coverage and had to choose "reject insurance" on the forms.

The sign-in sheet for the 7/10/01 updated the member list. The departments that did not attend the 6/19/01 meeting were called in an attempt to have representatives at the July meeting. Those departments with the exception of Flandrau and Atmospheric Sciences did not have council members or know who they were.

Action: The departments not attending again this meeting will be contacted to encourage representation at the August meeting. If response from the departments is not satisfactory, Dean Ruiz will be asked to press the issue with the department heads in the form of a memo.

A motion was made by Mary Carter that the word alternate be changed in the bylaws, making everyone "standing members", however only allowing one vote per department. This would eliminate the confusion of "alternates" coming only, when the "regular" member was unavailable. The majority of the attending members passed this motion. All members are required to join a committee and are encouraged to attend each meeting.

It was pointed out by Therese Lane that the bylaws state that amendments to the bylaws require 2/3 vote and not enough departments were in attendance. It was decided by the majority that since the council was reestablished last month, that a 2/3 vote of those departments in attendance would be sufficient.

Sue Drexel was not present to address the faculty review process. This issue will be tabled until the next meeting.

Mary Carter suggested the council be conduits of information to their respective departments.

Action: Dave Shropshire (Human Resources Coordinator) will be contacted for a meeting by Mary Carter. Chuck McDuffie (Human Resources Coordinator) will also be contacted to schedule a time he can talk to the council in September or October regarding becoming "conduits of information" for our departments.

Action: Members need to research ideas for their committees.

Discussion about how to let staff members know of the council's existence led to the suggestion that the departments be polled to see how many staff members know about COSSAC and its function and ask what issues the council needs to address.

Action: Each member is to find out, who owns their department's listserv to be able to send messages to all of the staff if needed. Members were encouraged to share COSSAC meeting minutes and agendas with their departments and to include the COSSAC web address at the end.

Wolfgang Golser joined the Communications, Newsletter & Web Page committee.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:15pm.

The next meeting of the College of Science Staff Advisory Council will be held on Tuesday, August 14, 2001 2:00-3:00pm, in Gould-Simpson 1027.

Respectfully submitted,
Therese Lane, Secretary

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In attendance: Doris Tucker & Laura Hammond (Astronomy), Gina Wasson (Atmospheric Sciences), Mary Carter & Leslie Jones (Chemistry), Cara Wallace (CSC), Sue Robison & Bernadette Thomas (Dean's Office), Caryn Mendez (Molecular & Cellular Biology), Heather Enos (LPL), Therese Lane (LPL), Wolfgang Golser (SPH), Kathy Snyder (Flandrau), Ramzi Touchan (LTRR) and Shanley Yates (guest from Chemistry).

Departments not represented: Biochemistry, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Geo-sciences, Math, and Physics.

New members are welcomed: Gina Wasson, Karen Mendez, Kathy Snyder, and Laura Hammond.

The minutes from the July 10th meeting were approved.

COMMITTEE UPDATES

The nine-person committee met once. The committee agreed upon the importance of acknowledging co-workers for their efforts. Lunch was suggested as a way to acknowledge co-workers. The frequency and type of recognition and nomination process are yet to be determined. Another idea was having an informal focus group during lunch with the dean.

Sue Robison suggested the student advisors be honored this year with other groups in the following years such as business managers, program coordinators, etc.

A discussion ensued about the success of the nomination process. It was determined that each department would have to do what worked for it. Doris of Steward mentioned that the ballot process worked well for them. Everyone, who was eligible, was put on a list and all the employees needed to do was circle the nominee they wished to vote for. A list of the "Top 10" was then compiled and another ballot vote was held to choose the winner. The announcement was then made at the Steward ice cream social.

Heather of LPL mentioned that the ballot process did not work for LPL, because there were complaints of holding a popularity contest instead of voting for someone on their merit. LPL has employees choose from a list of eligible classified staff, but must write a brief statement why this person should be considered. An appointed committee, whose members are not part of the eligible staff, then reads the nominations and determines the winner.

All in all it was agreed that simplicity was the best and encouragement was needed in any case to have a good voter turnout.

An Academy Awards theme was another idea discussed.

A discussion to invite appointed personnel was tabled till the next meeting. Shanley Yates will put the information on the web.

An idea was discussed to have an "Annual COSSAC Ball", much like the Annual Nurses Balls, as a fund raising event open to the entire University faculty/staff and, perhaps, even the public. This idea was set aside for further consideration.

A suggestion was made for each department to bring a list of names of new classified staff employees to each monthly meeting so that the names can be distributed and the new employees contacted to welcome them to the department and/or the University.

A recommendation was made to encourage non-COSAC members to join the committees.

Chuck McDuffy met with the Staff Recognition Committee and recommended a retreat for the COSAC members to plan the course of the council and review the operational philosophy. A date was tentatively made of September 17th from noon to 3pm in room N715 of the Aerospace Mechanical Engineering building with the Dean providing lunch. This would count as the September COSAC meeting and would aid the council in setting the focus of the group and working together. Chuck McDuffy would document the final plan with input from the council members.

Mentoring and Advocacy: Leslie Jones (Chariman)

This committee also met once to discuss their two tasks:

Advocacy: To inform fellow employees (e.g. benefits). The town hall meetings that were held by HR to discuss the upcoming changes in health benefits was a direct result of the council's encouragement to inform employees of the changes. This is viewed as the first accomplishment of the current COSAC committee.

Mentoring & Community Building: One way to do this is to have a potluck on the mall once a year, which would keep people from becoming isolated.

Since the meeting was running long, Leslie asked if she could jump ahead in the agenda and give her report on the Blood Drive. Shannon Stevens in Chemistry is coordinating a Blood Drive that will be held August 29th from 10am to 2pm in the Bear Down Gym. Those, who are unable to donate, may volunteer their time to help with the drive. A challenge to the other departments will be made and the Red Cross will keep the statistics.

Communications: Cara Wallace (Chairman)

This committee has made a commitment to keep the web page updates fresh. The links still need to be fixed. Cara has not had much time to work on updating the web page this last month.

A quarterly news letter that would be distributed to staff and to new personnel was suggested. All of the departments are encouraged to contribute articles to the newsletter and there may be a section on new employees, a farewell section and an anniversary section among others.

Cara will work on links to the COSAC page from the other Science Departments.

OLD BUSINESS

Heather Enos - Compassionate Leave: Heather has not had time to do any more on this topic this month.

Ramzi Touchan - Benefits Information: Vision/Dental. Ramzi had e-mailed the information to the council members of the townhall meetings and where to find other pertinent information.

Heather Enos - Departments not represented: Heather had placed calls to encourage other departments to send representatives. Two of the four found representatives. A request to the Dean will be made if these two departments still have no representation before the next meeting.

Bylaw Updates - Status: It was determined that the bylaws will be updated with the changes after the September meeting.

Mary Carter - Contact Dave Shropshire and Chuck McDuffie: These things were accomplished.

All - Update on departmental list serve access: All of the departments, who tried to get access to their department listserv were allowed access.

Doris - Health benefits: Interest in writing a group letter to the State to voice the importance of having a choice in medical benefits. A Committee is being formed to review the selection process in a tri-University meeting.

NEW BUSINESS

The meeting was adjourned at 4:20pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Therese Lane, Secretary

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COMMITTEE UPDATES

Mary Carter explained a recognition award "UA Star Award". Nominations will be made by individuals and submitted to the SRC for review. Recipients will be chosen every other month, and will receive certificate and small gift (Mug, mouse pad, etc.) with a value of approximately $10. Two per cycle would be chosen. Committee needs a budget between $200-$400 each year to support this activity. Heather Enos will request dollars from the Dean. Goal is to begin process November 2001.

Doris Tucker suggested we provide comments of nominators to nominees with award package. Many thought this was a good idea.

Mary suggested that we do something for the military families within our community to support their efforts in the war. Joey offered to coordinate some of these efforts.

Mentoring and Advocacy:

The September meeting was postponed due to Leslie's illness. Meeting will be rescheduled, aggressive agenda in progress.

Leslie reported there were no statistics on the blood drive.

Communications Committee:

Cara was not present - no update

OLD BUSINESS

Bylaws & Mission Statement: Still developing

Insurance issues: Wait for SAC inputs

NEW BUSINESS

Goals for SAC were set for current year: Communication, parking and transportation, salaries and mental health.

Feedback on retreat:

Began the definition of who we are

Created a sense of teamwork

Created a sense of belonging to the council

Webpage: Need Issues bullet

Newsletter: Joey and Leslie expressed some very good ideas. They will follow up with an email to Cara.

Budget issues: A variety of discussions were held about the state of the UA budget. Will not know how this will effect the COS and UA until after 11/13/01.

A/P membership on council: Decided to table this until next year. Will use this year to gather some information related to AP within the COS. Mixed feelings on the participation. Committee needs to do some fact finding.

Faculty Review Process: Sue Drexel voiced her concerns on the review process of department heads. It is felt there is some issues related to communication between department heads and faculty. Had a general discussion about the perception of communication. Several departments feel there are some real morale issues. Heather agreed to take action and ask Joaquin what the current COS procedure is and his position on this.

Setting Goals: Heather Enos explained to the council she felt we need to focus on setting some achievable goals. We have had some great ideas but we have too many to focus on. We need to look at our "mission" and decide what activities we want to use to accomplish this mission. Each member was asked to review the vision we discussed and make a recommendation of the activities we should take on to achieve this.

Items tabled: Parking losts/costs, University Services Building

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In attendance: Laura Hammond (Astronomy), Gina Wasson (Atmospheric Sciences), Cindy Neal (Biochemistry), Mary Carter (Chemistry), Leslie Jones (Chemistry), Shanley Yates (Chemistry), Cara Wallace (CSC), Bernadette Thomas (Dean's Office), Carole Anderson (Math), Heather Enos (LPL), Therese Lane (LPL), Wolfgang Golser (SPH), and Gary Funkhouser (LTRR).

Departments not represented: Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Geo-sciences, MCB, Physics, and Flandrau.

The minutes from the October 9th meeting were approved.

COMMITTEE UPDATES

The Food for Freedom campaign garnered $416 in cash donations and 409 food items during the two-week period. A special touch was added by the addition of over 20 very precious and heartwarming, hand-made cards by children at PALS (A unit of the Play and Learning Programs). The children ranged from K-5th grade and participate in the after-school childcare. They used construction paper and crayons to send their regards to the families who have loved ones away from home for the holidays. A special Thank You to the SRC committee and other council members, with a special mention for Cindy Neal in Biochemistry and Shanley Yates in Chemistry for their successful organization of the event.

UA Star Program has a $200 budget approved by the Dean Ruiz for awards. Mary Carter and her committee will have the nomination and selection process outlined for the next meeting. It is hoped that nomination forms will go out Feb. 1, 2002 for a March 1 award date.

Mentoring & Advocacy:

A one-page handout of UA services and perks offered to employees was created to be posted on the CoS SAC web site and to give to new employees. Names of new employees will be researched and the mentoring process will begin.

Communications, Newsletter & Web Page:

Cara Wallace resigned as chair of this committee due to work constraints. The members of CoS SAC wish to thank her for all of her hard work and to welcome Wolfgang Golser as Co-Chair. Wolfgang will be responsible for the CoS SAC web updates and web maintenance and the other Co-Chair has yet to be determined.

OLD BUSINESS

Heather Enos is waiting to speak with Rick Bishop since his plate seems to be full with more urgent matters.

Heather Enos is waiting to speak with Rick Bishop since his plate seems to be full with more urgent matters.

Bylaws & Mission Statement:

In Heather's meeting with Dean Ruiz, he expressed his support of the fundamentals of the mission statement as it stands now but would approve of some reworking to make it more easily understood.

Different versions have been circulated among the CoS SAC members by e-mail. (See below) Laura Hammond explained the version she and Doris Tucker came up with. The acronym was debated and the subject was tabled due to lack of time. The CoS SAC members are to continue to put forth ideas in e-mail so that a decision may be agreed upon next meeting.

DRAFT - OUR MISSION STATEMENT - DRAFT

#1 - The CoS SAC is a group of dedicated, action oriented staff members who are involved in promoting communication, advocacy, and recognition for classified staff in the CoS. We act to increase and enhance the quality of life for CoS staff employees by serving as a conduit of information, offer opportunities to participate in community outreach efforts, and develop creative ideas for acknowledging the efforts of staff in the CoS. The goal of our effort is to increase partnership and collegiality within the campus community.

#2 - The CoS SAC is a collection representatives from the various departments in the COS that are brought together to provide a voice in order to improve the work environment and professional welfare of staff in the college.

#3 - The CoS SAC is a group of individuals who have volunteered to promote unity, cooperation, and loyalty among all employees of the CoS. The CoS SAC serves a central organizing body that coordinates the improved communication of ideas, recognition of effort, and support for staff-related issues in order to improve the professional quality of life for classified staff.

#4 - The CoS SAC is a group of volunteer activists assembled to enhance the communication and the overall staff experience within the college. The voice of the council is a collaboration of individuals that participate in activities that build community and enable the sharing of ideas that benefit the group as a whole. The purpose of the council is to improve the workplace quality and reward the efforts of classified staff employees.

(Above prepared by Mary Carter and Leslie Jones)

#5 - We, the College of Science Staff Advisory Council, support classified staff by:

- providing a conduit for information,
- playing an advocacy role,
- promoting mentoring opportunities, and
- recognizing achievements.

Build
Enhance
Empower
Serve and
Support the classified staff of the College of Science

"We are the BEESS!"

Insurance Issues: This will be tabled until the SAC meeting after the holidays. Mary will go to the SAC Staff Recognition meeting.

Setting Goals: It is important to set short-term achievable goals in addition to long-term goals. So far the CoS SAC Council has implemented the star program, food for freedom, web page, and is in the process of coordinating the CoS SAC newsletter and staff recognition luncheon.

NEW BUSINESS

Fund Raising: Therese Lane mentioned that for any departments that are not participating in Holiday fundraising efforts, AVIVA Children's Services was a great organization to consider. This organization sponsors needy children and families in the Child Protective Services system, which also includes teenagers on their own. If interested, Therese will provide contacts for the agency.

Some ideas presented for CoS SAC fund raising were:

Sell beverages/goodies at UA sporting events or on the UA mall.
Have a one-time concession stand outside of Gould Simpson, the UA mall. The items may include hot dogs, chips, soda, Indian fry bread, ice cream, nachos, lasagna, breadsticks, hot chocolate, cinnamon rolls, etc.
Recycle soda cans.
Car wash on campus.
Food/soda vending machine.
Bake and/or candy sale (cookies, cupcakes, brownies, etc.)
Have a contest/drawing (one night stay at a hotel or bed & breakfast, dinner for two, gift certificate, tickets to UA sporting event, etc.
Sell t-shirts (includes all depts. in College of Science).

The meeting was then adjourned at 11:00am. The next meeting of the College of Science Staff Advisory Council will be held on Tuesday, December 11, 2001 @ 9:45-11:00am, in Gould-Simpson 1027.

Respectfully submitted,
Therese Lane, Secretary

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In attendance: Laura Hammond (Astronomy), Doris Tucker (Astronomy), Gina Wasson (Atmospheric Sciences), Cindy Neal (Biochemistry), Mary Carter (Chemistry), Emi Serazio (Chemistry), Cara Wallace (CSC), Kathy Snyder (Flandrau), Carole Anderson (Math), Heather Enos (LPL), Therese Lane (LPL), Wolfgang Golser (SPH), and Gary Funkhouser (LTRR).

Departments not represented: Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Geo-sciences, MCB, and Physics.

The minutes from the November 17th meeting were approved.

COMMITTEE UPDATES

UA Star Program - The award verbiage had been e-mailed to Heather Enos only. A copy was circulated of the verbiage during the meeting, with a promise to e-mail it to the entire CoS SAC council for approval. Heather thought a clarification needed to be made that ALL staff, not just office staff would be included.

The date to roll out the Staff Award nominations will be February 3, 2002. The Staff Excellence winners will receive an unframed certificate and a trophy.

Heather Enos and Mary Carter had a meeting with Dean Ruiz to discuss his feelings on accepting appointed personnel (A/P) into the council and inviting them to the recognition lunch. He said he approved provided they were professional A/P and not academic A/P.

A long discussion among the members about whether to accept A/P into the council ensued. The noted differences between classified staff and A/P staff were noted as vacation and retirement. It was decided that if even one A/P person wanted to join, we should adopt new by-laws to accept them. Heather Enos stated that if the vote were not to approve A/P into the council, she would have to resign since she had just been promoted to the position of A/P.

A vote was taken to accept A/P and accepted unanimously. Mary Carter said she would write a memo to the Department Heads stating the change in the council to go out Feb. 1, 2002.

The mission statement and by-laws will have to be re-written to incorporate the changes.

Mentoring & Advocacy:

Since Leslie Jones had to resign her chair from this committee and from the council due to work commitments, a nomination to elect Laura Hammond as new chair for this committee was made by Doris Tucker. The nomination was seconded and approved. Laura said she would accept the nomination.

Communications, Newsletter & Web Page:

Wolfgang Golser was unable to get last month's minutes on the CoS SAC web page due to technical problems. Cara Wallace agreed to place the minutes on the page and offered to help when needed. The other Co-Chair has yet to be determined.

The meeting was then adjourned at 11:10am. The next meeting of the College of Science Staff Advisory Council will be held on Tuesday, January 08, 2001 @ 9:45-11:00am, in Gould-Simpson 1027.

Respectfully submitted,
Therese Lane, Secretary

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In attendance: Doris Tucker, Laura Hammond, Christ King, Carole Anderson, Wolfgang Golser, Shanley Yates, Mary Carter, Cindy Neal, Gina Wasson, Heather Enos

Departments not represented: EEB, MCB, Physics, Geosciences, Dean's office, Computer Science

New members are welcomed.

The minutes from the December 11th meeting were approved.

SRC - Mary Carter presented update (see email 1/3/02)

COMMITTEE UPDATES

E-mail 1/3/02 SRC Committee Update for January 2002:

No December Meeting

SRC Pending Issues Are Listed Below.

UA Star Verbiage distributed to Council for review.

	Need to have final review and approval to post to website: See Attached document
	Nomination Form to be distributed to departments as soon as approval is given. We request the communications committee to help in the campaign to get the word out.
	First selections will be done by March 2002. Winners will be chosen at the SRC February meeting.

Recognition Luncheon Scheduled for:

	The Marriott University Park, Wednesday, April 3, 2002.
	The Awards will be in the Emmy/Oscar Theme and are to be purchased from "Things Remembered".
	Request to purchase awards to be submitted.
	Formal Budget to be forwarded to Dean's Office for approval.
	Movie Posters being requested from multiple outlets (Please ask your local Video rental, if we can list them as a sponsor to get them to donate movie posters).
	Requests for giveaways must be addressed by SRC-letter to be sent in Feb
	UA Theatre Dept. has agreed to help out with costumes and props. Yeah Shanley!!!!
	Call for CoS Staff Excellence Nominations to be circulated Feb 4th. Departments can submit an AP and a CS winner for a total of 32 winners.
	Menu must be determined with Marriott (will be set by Feb 14). Two sided Buffet approach we think is a better value.
	Invitations will be sent March 4th (one month out from luncheon).
	-----Any suggestions from the council are welcome........and appreciated!
	Fund Raiser/Philanthropic event for first quarter will be chosen at next SRC meeting 1/15/02 and communicated to the listserv.

Approval of UA Star Award verbiage was unanimous.
Representatives need to ensure effectively communicate the difference between the Star Award and the annual department awards. Goals is to have first awards 3/1/02.

Recognition luncheon -

	41 posters have been collected. Still need more. Please ask your local movie rental store, they will be recognized in the program as a sponsor.
	Abasi Zieger is donating the cactus gardens. A suggestion was made to give her a $50 check as a thank you, this should be included in the budget.
	List of UA donations was past around. Trying to clarify the rules for accepting outside donations. Committee is working with Dave Shropshire. If you have any ideas, please submit to committee.
	Current cost options from the Marriott are $18-$21 per person, this is too high. Shanley working with them to see what they can do.
	Budget estimate at this time is $7000. Can not confirm a number until negotiations are complete with the Marriott.
	Things Remembered has the trophies 50% off, $10 ea. Mary is working on getting 30 trophies.
	Email needs to be sent out for kick-off of departmental awards. Names of Departmental winners need to be submitted to SRC by 3/22/02.

Communications Committee:

Wolfgang has cleaned up and updated the web page. Reorganized into 3 categories. He will be sending out requests for additions or/and changes. Information that you would like on the web should be sent to him in Word format.

The council has not been successful in recruiting a new communications chair. Wolfgang feels he may be able to take on additional tasks once the web page is cleaned up and only requires occasional updates.

The council agreed to table all other tasks related to the communications until the web page is complete. The council will reevaluate the scope and tasks for the communications committee in the spring and make a new recommendation on how to proceed. Wolfgang will be the "acting" chair for the remainder of the year.

Advocacy Committee: (Laura Hammond)

Laura is the new chair. A meeting is schedule for 1/10/02 to begin the formation of a plan. New employee packets need to be completed for distribution.

Letter re: AP involvement -
The Letter was reviewed by the council. It was agreed the letter should come from both the dean and the council as a whole. Heather will give letter to Dean Ruiz for his comments. Once his comments have been received, the letter will be distributed to the dept reps for distribution.

Bylaws/Mission Statement -
Advocacy committee will take on the task of updating and distributing to the council.

NEW BUSINESS

Dean's statement on COSSAC web page - Heather will follow up with Sue or Bernadette to see if Joaquin wants to replace with one of his own.

Fund raising ideas: Gina Wasson

Gina passed around a list of ideas for fund raising opportunities.

Many council members like the idea of an on campus carwash, bake sale and sporting event concession stand night. Gina will look into the options a little more and send out an email with information.

Joey recommended that we contact some local restaurants and have a COSSAC restaurant night, a % of the proceeds are given to the sponsoring organization. He will work with SRC to get more details.

Heather indicated these were great ideas, but prior to announcing a fund raiser to the community, we need to have a clear definition of what the money will be used for.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:10am.

Respectfully submitted,
Heather Enos, Chair

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Chairman Heather Enos called the meeting to order at 9:55am.

In attendance: Laura Hammond (Astronomy), Doris Tucker (Astronomy), Vince Leon (Biochemistry), Cindy Neal (Biochemistry), Mary Carter (Chemistry), Emy Serazio (Chemistry), Shanley Yates (Chemistry), Joseph Romero (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology), Kathy Snyder (Flandrau), Carole Anderson (Math), Heather Enos (LPL), Therese Lane (LPL), Wolfgang Golser (SPH),Gary Funkhouser (LTRR) and Rex Adams (LTRR).

Departments not represented: Atmospheric Sciences, Computer Sciences, Dean's Office, Geo-sciences, MCB, and Physics.

MISSION STATEMENT

Doris Tucker sent the revised mission statement to the council by e-mail:

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

We, the College of Science Staff Advisory Council, support classified staff and professional appointed personnel by:

	Providing a conduit for information,
	Acting in an advocacy role,
	Promoting mentoring opportunities, and
	Recognizing achievements.

We serve as a liaison and advisor to the Dean on staff issues. Our goal is to empower employees within the College of science, enhance their quality of life, and build a sense of community.

A motion was made to accept the mission statement with the clarification of "professional appointed personnel" being non-academic appointed personnel. The motion was passed unanimously. Doris will send the amended version to Wolfgang to place on the web.

BY LAWS

A draft of the amended By Laws was sent to the council by e-mail. The changes made were to remove alternates from the text and reflect the addition of appointed personnel.

An appeal was made by Therese Lane to reconsider renaming everyone a standing member and not having alternates. The argument being that the alternate would fill in as a voting member at meetings the regular member was unable to attend, people from the same department may have trouble coming to a consensus for the department's one vote, and there would be greater continuity to the council if alternates were able to stay le executive board and in its place have a five member board of directors is that it is task based and flattens the structure so that it is not hierarchical. Doris pointed out that one of the purposes of the council was to be a voice to the Dean and that it was perhaps easier for him to have one contact person than five. It was also mentioned that in the suggested structure an additional meeting of the directors would be necessary and a facilitator would have to be chosen to have the council run smoothly. In either structure, only one vote per department would stand. Concern was expressed at having a council so large that it would necessitate an auditorium. It was decided that this was not the goal. Shanley was concerned that the Chair-person feels obligated to attend to all of the issues and that the restructuring may more evenly distribute the tasks. Carole thought we should keep the council as is since the current structure is working well. Heather felt that the council was functioning well as it is and that the directors are the same as the committee chair persons. The executive board has no more voting power than anyone else and no veto power. Anyone who wanted to see the Dean is free to do so.

It was mentioned that APOC is structured similar to the COSSAC council and works well when there is a good chair and poorly when there is an inadequate chair. Heather stated that the council is responsible for electing the chair and making sure that (s)he works in the best interest of the council or is ousted.

Mary would like to re-name the executive board members. More e-mail discussion is needed.

SAC Meeting: Heather expressed her frustration she experienced at the SAC meeting. She felt that the SAC council had no intention of addressing the issues of health insurance and pay increases. Shanely thought it was because they may not have felt empowered to make any changes in these arenas. The COSSAC council felt these issues should be looked into and then inform our departments. It was suggested that we invite a representative of HR benefits, Marsha to discuss with the council what she knows of the issues and then form a plan of attack. Perhaps a letter of dissatisfaction could be written to the state board of regents expressing a need for a better selection of options with attached signatures.

Emy will give the COSSAC council an update after the SAC meeting in Phoenix today.

Pay Increase Issue: Council will have e-mail discussions regarding this issue.

COSSAC Luncheon: The awards are ordered, the names are not on awards but will be on certificates. Luncheon will be at the University Marriott. The goal for RSVPs is one month prior (3/6/02), RSVPs due 3/20/02.

The Dean of Agriculture likes the award idea and wants to copy.

A/P Inclusion: Department heads were given the letter for A/P inclusion. Bob Logan will attend next Staff Recognition committee meeting.

The meeting was then adjourned at 11:06 am.

The next meeting of the College of Science Staff Advisory Council will be held on Tuesday, March 11, 2001 9:45-11:00am, in Gould-Simpson 1027.

Respectfully submitted,
Therese Lane, Secretary

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Chairman Heather Enos called the meeting to order at 9:50am.

In attendance: Laura Hammond (Astronomy), Doris Tucker (Astronomy), Gina Wasson (Atmospheric Sciences), Vince Leon (Biochemistry), Cindy Neal (Biochemistry), Mary Carter (Chemistry), Emy Serazio (Chemistry), Shanley Yates (Chemistry), Mark Brewer (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology), Kathy Snyder (Flandrau), Carole Anderson (Math), Heather Enos (LPL), Therese Lane (LPL), Wolfgang Golser (SPH), and Gary Funkhouser (LTRR).

Departments not represented: Computer Sciences, Dean's Office, Geosciences, MCB, and Physics.

The minutes of January and February were approved.

COMMITTEE UPDATES

A draft letter to the Arizona Department of Administration was sent by e-mail to the council. Heather should send letter to Dean for approval prior to distribution. Once complete, anyone in the College of Science may sign the letter. The purpose is to inform them of the hardships of employees. After signatures are collected, the letters will be gathered at the next meeting or given to Laura or Doris.

A reminder was given for everyone to collect the names of the new employees each month.

Staff Recognition: Mary Carter, Chair

COSSAC luncheon will have Kevin Kowalski as the D.J. Abreeza Zegeer grew all of the centerpieces and must be properly acknowledged. Someone is needed to be a photographer for the event. Blank nametags and a marker will be at each table for guests to use. All COSSAC members are to bring their markers. Tickets will be given out and numbers drawn for prizes. An indicator under a dessert plate on each table will indicate who may take home the centerpiece for each table. Dress will be formal. Department heads are welcome. Biographies are needed for the staff and a.p. winners in each department. March 22nd is the deadline to get the names to Mary. Photos will be taken of the winners to have for the luncheon. COSSAC reps will provide photos of winners if possible to Shanley or Mary. SRC committee will follow up with Geosciences, physics, and MCB to make sure they will be represented at the lunch. Some departments were not sure that appointed personnel were also invited to the lunch.

UA Star awards were delayed. The will be delivered on the 19th and 20th to all 5 nominees that were chosen. Their names will be posted on the COSSAC web site. The committee is interested in participating in some charity work. Bob Logan will meet with the committee to give fund raising ideas. He will also review the ideas of the committee on fund raising and philanthropic ideas. One of his suggestions thus far is to concentrate on philanthropy first. He will be at the Tue, March 19th meeting at 2 p.m. in the Marvel bldg., room 203. Mary Carter will participate in the April 14th "Walk for the cure for breast cancer."

The question of who on the council will take the departments that do not have representation under their wing is tabled until the next meeting.

Communications: Wolfgang Golser, Acting Chair

Updates were requested on department representative names and committee membership so that the web site can be current. A request was made to all the council members to look at the web pages and give Wolfgang any needed corrections. Web pages will be spiced up in April and links to other pages, such as APOC and other sites relevant to employees, will be added.

OTHER BUSINESS

Restructuring of Council:

Tabled until next meeting. Chuck McDuffie will be scheduled to speak to council at a time other than the regular meeting and not during finals week. Doris will e-mail him the second week of April to set up a time before the May meeting.

Parking fees and holiday closure:

Tabled until next meeting.

The meeting was then adjourned at 11:03 am.

The next meeting of the College of Science Staff Advisory Council will be held on Tuesday, April 09, 2002 9:45-11:00am, in Gould-Simpson 1027.

Respectfully submitted,
Therese Lane, Secretary

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Chairman Heather Enos called the meeting to order at 9:50am.

In attendance: Laura Hammond (Astronomy), Gina Wasson (Atmospheric Sciences), Cindy Neal (Biochemistry), Mary Carter (Chemistry), Emy Serazio (Chemistry), Shanley Yates (Chemistry), Sue Drexel (Computer Sciences), Marcella Slatin (Computer Sciences), Cara Wallace (Computer Sciences), Sue Robison (Dean's Office), Mark Brewer (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology), Sarah Duffy (Geo-Sciences), Carole Anderson (Math), Heather Enos (LPL), Therese Lane (LPL), and Wolfgang Golser (SPH).

Departments not represented: Flandrau, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, MCB, and Physics.

Guests: Kathi Baker (LPL), and Donita Vanture (LPL).

The March minutes were approved with the correction of the communications update. The minutes need to reflect that Wolfgang requested members to look for corrections to content of the web page.

BYLAWS

Clarification was made that those wishing to stay on the council longer than their two years may do so, if there is not another representative. They may also stay active in any committees they wish to contribute their time to.

COMMITTEE UPDATES

New employee names were collected for distribution of the COSSAC New Employee Welcome Letter. Feedback on the letters has been positive.

Voting: The process of voting an executive board each year has been by a show of hands. It was determined that the most expedient way of voting this year would be to have nominations sent to the Secretary, who would then contact the nominee to see if (s)he would accept the nomination. If the person agrees to run, the council will be notified in e-mail. By the May meeting the council will know, who is running for what positions, and each department should have discussed between its representatives, who will be voted for. Those members not returning to the Council are: Sue Drexel, Heather Enos, Therese Lane, and Doris Tucker. If a replacement representative is not found for departments with non-returning members, the COSSAC representative from the department needs to contact the department head for assistance in finding a replacement.

Staff Recognition: Mary Carter, Chair

COSSAC luncheon cost $7000, which ended up at $13/person. There was positive feedback from everyone. Anyone wanting left over posters can contact Shanley Yates by e-mail.

Nominations for the UA Star awards are due May 10th.

The committee is interested in participating in community service work. The committee has discussed another blood drive, and Christmas in April, which will be in the Rose neighborhood on April 20th. Any one who has special skills to share or is willing to paint may come and help fix up the neighborhood. Mary Carter is unable to participate in the April 14th "Walk for the cure for breast cancer" but Sue Robison will participate. Reminders were given of Bob Logan's recommendation that the council be aware of the image they are presenting as part of the College of Science and not embarrass the college with any activity not befitting the dignity of the college. Goals of the council are important considerations for any fundraisers.

There has been no feedback from the dean about changing his statement on the COSSAC web page.

The meeting was then adjourned at 11:03 am.

The next meeting of the College of Science Staff Advisory Council will be held on Tuesday, May 14, 2002 9:45-10:55 am, in Gould-Simpson 1027.

Respectfully submitted,
Therese Lane, Secretary

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Chairman Heather Enos called the meeting to order at 9:50am.

In attendance: Laura Hammond (Astronomy), Doris Tucker (Astronomy), Gina Wasson (Atmospheric Sciences), Cindy Neal (Biochemistry), Mary Carter (Chemistry), Emy Serazio (Chemistry), Shanley Yates (Chemistry), Marcella Slatin (Computer Sciences), Mark Brewer (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology), Sarah Duffy (Geo-Sciences), Carole Anderson (Math), Heather Enos (LPL), Therese Lane (LPL), and Wolfgang Golser (SPH).

Departments not represented: Dean's Office, Flandrau, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, MCB, and Physics.

Guests: Christina Siqueiros (Astronomy).

The April minutes were approved.

BYLAWS

A nomination to accept the by-laws with the proposed changes was seconded and then approved with no dissenting votes.

COMMITTEE UPDATES

Old Business:

	Doris Tucker had the Cigna letter and attachments all ready to go. It was decided to send the packet "certified" mail. We have not yet received any reply from the Dept. of Administration, we'll contact them if we don't hear back within a reasonable amount of time.
	Great news! The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences copied our letter and also is sending their own packet. Thanks to Cindy Neal for bringing this to our attention.

New Business:

	There will be no M & A Committee meeting for June and July.
	Ideas for next year's committee were discussed. Topics of concern included: Compassionate Transfer Leave Issues, Holiday Closure Mandatory Vacation Concerns, and Parking and Transportation Problems on Campus.
	It was decided that next year's M & A Committee should have a representative participate on the SAC Human Resource Committee. The meeting is held on the 2nd Tuesday of each month, noon - 1:30, in the Admin Bldg basement.

Thanks to everyone for all the time they put into our committee!

The letter to the Arizona Department of Administration was sent and an answer has not yet come. A reminder letter will be sent after awhile.

New employee names were collected for distribution of the COSSAC New Employee Welcome Letter. There was one new employee in Chemistry and Mary Carter took the letter to deliver it personally.

Staff Recognition: Mary Carter, Chair The feed back from the luncheon came flooding in from a variety of Depts.; A big thanks to all who helped make it happen. Doris provided a list of objective observations we have included for the next group who plans the luncheon. I think heeding to the suggestions will make the event all the better. I have pasted the list below.

	The room did not allow for everyone to see the stage. The room at the student union was wider and allowed for more people to see the stage an thus feel more a part.
	There was an emotional disconnect between the audience and what was happening on the stage. This was evidenced by people not hearing their winning number.
	The meal was served when Heather was speaking; our goal of informing COS attendees of the CoS SAC was damaged by this timing.
	The MC and Dean were informal, the COS SAC presentation was formal. A person liked "live" music like in the past.
	Having preprinted name tags would allow for smoother entrance into the event.

FundRaising:
Cindy Neal has drafted a proposal for fund raising that is being passed on to Bob Logan. It is proposed that funds will be raised to assist employees in the pursuit of bettering their professional skills and to allow the CoS SAC to recognize and reward those accomplishments. The idea of selling water at Wild Cat Welcome was proposed and then passed on to the organizers of the event. We were told if we want to volunteer and provide free water that would be okay. The email was sent on to someone higher up than who we asked originally. We may need to look for another venue (Tour de Tucson or local sporting event) for that idea to be feasible. We are also looking into having a CoS SAC night at a local restaurant to raise funds. If anyone has a contact at a restaurant please let an SRC member know.

Recognition:
The UA Star program is running strong this Month. We have 5 submissions this time. It will be a tough decision. The good new is one submission is on the form we gave out at the luncheon. Some body was paying attention!!!! Please remind your department the deadline for this quarter is this Friday (May 10th). The Star Awards continue through the rest of the year.

Ongoing Events:
Christmas in April and the Run for the Cure information was distributed by Shanley Yates. Three people from the CoS participated in Christmas in April, 1 being our own Sherry Jacobs. We do not have any statistics as to how many people participated in the Run for the Cure. Tracking these numbers would be great is anyone has ideas on how to easily gather information. The 2002 Community Food Bank Drive is continuing till this Friday. They will be picking up on the East side of the Student Union everyday this week between 1-2pm.
Bob Logan's suggestions for fundraisers for discretionary funds were discussed again. Specific goals of the council are important considerations for any fundraisers.

Future goals identified were:

	Financial independence
	Employee training, such as the Emily Kraus award, could reach more people as funds are available. It would be important to keep a record of how many were helped and what classes were taken.

Staff fundraisers should be above the level of student fundraisers; no bake sales. Examples of fund raisers were listed as competition between departments with each matching or beating the other's donation or acquiring matching funds from the Dean or a Staff/AP ball.

Other events should be organized, such as a food drive for the food bank, during the summer months, when most support dwindles for them.

Communications Committee: Wolfgang Golser, Acting Chair The Communications Committee didn't meet this past month, since many have expressed that it was a very busy time, being the case that this is the end of the semester. They also expressed that it would be easier to meet some time during the summer months.

Wolfgang will continue to maintain the web site through the summer and will add pictures from the Staff Recognition luncheon. A list of hits was suggested to see how many people visit the COSSAC web pages. Changes to the listserve will be made. Wolfgang volunteered to continue in his position into next year.

New Members: Some departments are having trouble finding replacements for representatives, whose terms are over. If a replacement representative is not found for departments with non-returning members, the COSSAC representative from the department needs to contact the department head for assistance in finding a replacement.

New Executive Board Selected: The executive board for next year was voted upon by the departments attending and are as follows:

	Chairperson: Mary Carter
	Co-Chairperson: Wolfgang Golser
	Secretary: Laura Hammond

The meeting was then adjourned at 10:55 am.

The next meeting of the College of Science Staff Advisory Council will be held on Tuesday, August 13, 2002 9:45-10:55 am, in Gould-Simpson 1027, unless indicated otherwise on the COSSAC web page and notification is sent by listserve.

Respectfully submitted,
Therese Lane, Secretary

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