Administrative & Professional Assembly

Meeting Minutes 5/16/06

Room 321 Foy Student Union

 

 

Pending Approval

 

The meeting was called to order at 3:08 PM by Chairperson Drew Burgering.

 

The Assembly roll was called by the Secretary.  Assembly members not in attendance were Lisa Fleming, Julie Nolen (previous commitment), Greg Ruff, April Staton (work conflict) and Tony Ventimiglia (work conflict).

 

Minutes from the March 22, 2006 A&P Assembly meeting were approved as amended.

 

Special guests Tissie Walker from the Staff Council and Dr. Johnny Green, Special Assistant to the Provost were recognized by the Chairperson.

 

Comments from the Chair

Drew encourages representatives to use email to communication with assembly members and constituents. 

1.                  Drew attended a University Senate meeting where the issue was brought forth regarding A&P representation on the student grievance committee.  The document presented for this proposed representation was vague.  The intent of the document was to outline requirements when selecting the A&P employee to sit on the committee.  The employee should have a minimum three years teaching experience. The wording was unclear as to if the employee’s status should be one of currently teaching or have taught at minimum three years within the last two years. 

2.                  Drew noted his appreciation of the new and existing member’s participation.  He wants assembly members to know he is available if ever they have questions or comments.

3.                  Drew wrote a letter to Mr. Earlon McWhorter, President Pro Tempore of AU Board of Trustees, (Appendix 1) expressing his disappointment in the omission of A&P and Staff employee groups from the Presidential Search Committee.  There are two ways to look at the decision to omit A&P and Staff employee groups, one, deal with the decision by offering support to the committee or, two, pressing the issue and bringing negative attention to A&P employees.

4.                  Drew attended the first Presidential Search Committee meeting.  He was cautiously optimistic about the response from Dr. John Kuhnle of Korn/Ferry International regarding A&P representation on the search committee.  Drew reported that Dr. Kuhnle stated that not one member of the search committee represents a select group.  He said the committee members were selected to represent Auburn University as a whole and that the search was to take place correctly and at a fast pace.  There is another committee meeting scheduled for June 20th that Drew plans to attend. 

5.                  Drew reminds attendees to encourage participation in the online Presidential survey.  This is an opportunity to voice our opinion on what we feel are important qualifications of a new president.  Survey results will be presented to the search committee as outlined in the proposed resolution to the Board (Appendix 2).

6.                  Drew has met with past A&P chair-elects regarding issues they faced during their chair and what they felt was still outstanding.   He commented that he is preparing a list of items to discuss that were brought forward during his meetings.  One issue brought forward was the need for clarification regarding the number of hours or classes that can be taken during a semester.  We need a better understanding of how the old quarter hours apply now that the University has moved to semesters. 

7.                  Another outstanding issue is the consulting policy for A&P employees.  The policy created by the Professional Development Committee is not an official policy.  Drew has asked Maria on her input on moving this forward.  Maria served on the Professional Development Committee and worked on the policy.

8.                  Drew noted that we need to be mindful of new and outstanding issues.  We need to present issues and follow through, be proactive not reactive.

9.                  Drew reminded members that the next meeting is June 20th.  A list of dates for Fall and Winter meetings are on line.

 

Assembly Retreat Agenda

Maria Folmar, Chair-Elect, presented the proposed agenda for the Assembly retreat scheduled for Friday, June 9th, 12 pm – 4 pm.  Drew read the agenda to the Assembly.      

 

The agenda is as follows:

12:00 noon

  • Gather and Enjoy Lunch
  • Ice-Breaker

 

12:45 p.m.

·        Welcome                                                                     Drew Burgering

·        Current issues before the Assembly

 

1:00                                                                                        

  • AU Gouvernance Groups:                                             Dr. Richardson,

Roles, Relationships, and                                              Senate Representative,

Working Together                                                        Staff Council Representative

                       

2:00

  • Committee Reports & Updates                         Standing Committee Chairs

 

2:15

  • Robert's Rules of Order Refresher                                Harriette Huggins & Maria Folmar

 

2:40

  • Break

 

2:45

  • Web & E-mail Use for the Assembly                            Cathy Ramey

 

3:00

  • Round Table, Small Group Discussions

 

3:30

  • Round Table Reports                                                    April Staton

 

4:00 p.m.

  • Wrap-up, Evaluation, & Adjourn                                  Drew Burgering

 

 

Dr. Johnny Green’s comments

Dr. Green is delighted to be here and have this time to listen to our issues.  He suggests emailing Dr. Heilman so he can assign someone to attend the retreat to address the role of the A&P Assembly.  This type interaction is what Dr. Heilman wants more of. 

 

Dr. Heilman has tasked Dr. Green to create and implement a Strategic Diversity Plan.  The goal is to create a value added plan to serve the university and its’ employees.  He wants our input as it relates to training programs.  The purpose of the training programs is to provide employees an opportunity to move into upper level positions.  He doesn’t want any employee left behind because of lack of training. 

 

Dr. Green realizes some past training programs haven’t worked.  They weren’t beneficial to the employee or the university.  He doesn’t want to make the same mistake by offering training that does not add value.  Send him an email of the training we feel didn’t work. 

 

Report on NCAA certification of AU Athletics

Gary Waters informed Drew that the NCAA certification report was sent out yesterday so there wasn’t much more he could report to the Assembly that the report hadn’t covered.

 

Dr. Green said he was on the committee with Gary, the Compliance and Governance.  He offered to answer questions from the Assembly.  Todd Storey asked if we could view the report.  Dr. Green said it was available online, Auburn University website.

 

Fisher Report Ad Hoc Committee

Pat Deery, Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee, listed the committee members; Barnese Adair-Wallace, Tammy Hollis, Kevin Mullins, Cathy Ramey and Todd Storey.   The committee met on May 5th, 2006 with a charge to review the Fisher Report and prioritize its recommendations as they pertain to AP interests or the interests of the university at large; provide a report to the Executive Committee by the end of May.   

 

Parameters:

  1. Consider those recommendations that pertain to the interests of the AP work group or the university interests at large.
  2. Consider the BoT Committee’s report on issues that need immediate attention.
  3. May provide a proposed stance or recommendation on each issue.
  4. Provide a priority for each recommendation.
  5. Finish by May 31, 2006.

 

Items for the May 5th meeting:

  1. Agree on a list of recommendations that fit the charge and parameters.
  2. Agree on the categories of classification for each recommendation.
  3. Begin to develop the prioritization.
  4. Determine the date and time of the next meeting.

 

Next meeting scheduled for May 18th at 8:00 am.

 

Nomination and Elections Committee Report

Karen Rankin provided a status report of the AP representation for University Committees.  The Nominations Committee solicited nominations and provide the list to the President’s Office.  The President’s Office makes the selection.  Letters will go to selected nominees in mid June and July.

 

Drew thanked Karen for her hard work and that of her committee.

 

Resolution to Board of Trustees

Maria read the resolution to be sent to the Board of Trustees regarding the AP online survey - Presidential Search.  Drew called for a motion, Pat moved and Mark seconded it. 

 

Ellen asked a general question to the Assembly, ‘Will we compile last year’s survey results, since the survey is the same, with this years results?’ No, the results presented will be for this year’s survey response so we need to advise employees to fill out the survey again.

 

Harriette stated the Board of Trustees has the results from last year’s survey.

 

Drew called for a motion.  The resolution passed with all agreement from the Assembly.

 

New Business

Assembly Retreat

Maria would like a comment recorded for the minutes regarding the AP Assembly member retreat.  She expressed appreciation for the participation from Assembly members, 18 responded with suggestions.  The agenda was developed based on the received responses.

 

Open Forum

Drew explained how open forums worked and the rules that would be followed. 

 

Tuition Waiver

Brenda Wood commented about the tuition waiver issue.  She understood the tuition waiver to have a five hour limit and was for one class.  This would cover classes with labs. 

 

Pat Deery, who worked on the committee that proposed and manages the tuition waiver, acknowledged that Brenda’s comment was correct and that we as an Assembly don’t want to bring up the issue to the Administration.  The reason is, the way the waiver is written provides a better benefit to employees since the university moved from quarters to semesters.  You can take more classes now than on the quarter system.

 

Drew acknowledged Pat’s comment but said he wanted an AP committee to look into it any way.

 

Representative Attendance

Karen Rankin wanted to know the status of a decision regarding attendance of representatives to Assembly meetings.  We need to enforce the constitution decision regarding how many meetings a representative is allowed to miss and if there is such as thing as excused or not.   Drew said a firm decision has not been made and that he would take it back to the Executive Committee. 

 

Maria moved to adjourn at 3:28 pm.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Missy Long

Secretary, A&P Assembly