Administrative and Professional Assembly
February 20, 2008
1:00 p.m.
Foy 213
Meeting Minutes (Draft – February 22, 2008)
Call to Order
Maria Folmar, Chair of the Assembly, called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m.
Roll Call
Representatives Present: Christopher O'Gwynn, Kirsten Perkins, Barnese Adair-Wallace, Lisa Powell-Brantly, Seth Humphrey, Mark Wilson, Julie Nolen, Katie Mantooth, Phillip Coxwell, Wiebke Kuhn, , April Staton, Ellen McManus, John Owen, Jane Hoehaver, John Folmar, David Hennessey, Maria Folmar, Todd Storey and Drew Burgering (19)
Representatives Absent: Greg Ruff (provided sub: Bob Karcher), Teresa Logiotatos, and Robert McKinnell (3)
Number of A & P Members Present: ~ 25
AU Alert & Emergency and Notification
Maria Folmar introduced Chance Corbett, Associate Director of Emergency Management to talk to the Assembly about AU Alert.
Chance shared that AU Alert is a notifying system for students, faculty and staff when they want/need to direct people to take action due to an emergency. (e.g. intruder on campus, shooter or weather with high potential of damage that would devastate campus) It will not be used for just anything.
He encouraged people to sign-up by following the link from the AU Home Page. They have had pretty good success in getting people to sign-up, and they are at 40%. Administration wants 80%. They would like 100%, of course, but that is difficult as different people have different reasons for not participating. The system is designed to text message and call home, work or cell phones to immediately communicate or leave a voicemail. If someone doesn’t pick-up the phone, the system will leave a message or retry the number. Currently, you can include six numbers on the system, and they hope to raise that number to unlimited in the near future.
To market the program they have placed signs on Tiger Transits, cards, flyers, t-shirts, painted a Foy window, AU Daily, articles in Plainsman, OA News, etc. They did populate all emails even if people didn’t sign-up. It takes about 30 seconds to sign-up and is a good program/plan.
He opened floor to questions:
Someone asked if they had talked to parents/families? He said that back in November they sent postcards to families and plan to send another wave of postcards to the home addresses of students who have still not signed-up.
Another person asked if they can make it mandatory for incoming freshmen to sign-up? He shared that in his opinion, yes, but he wasn’t sure if that was realistic. Some departments are pushing 100% more than others: athletics and the vet school, for example. They would like it to be integrated with Banner.
Todd asked if AU Alert is set-off by Risk Management. Chance shared that the Risk Management staff, with him as the primary, is the one who can set it off. He can do that via computer and phone. Auburn police can set the process in order. All emergencies should still be directed to 911 initially. This can go out in about 30 seconds. Todd shared concerns about being located via cell phone when calling 911. Chance said that technology is better for that now and encouraged anyone to contact Benji with Auburn public safety for more information about that.
Currently they have 9246 student numbers (out of 24,137) entered to be about 30%. They have about 2473 employees registered, about 42%.
Someone asked if Auburn distributed phone carriers can be required to sign-up? He said that yes, all University distributed phones are registered. They just need to make sure they have a name associated with the numbers.
There was some concern that the email lagged 40 min behind the calls. He said that Seth Humphrey has been working to fix that. They are relying on email as the secondary method anyway, phones being first. When they sent out the test, they got responses back that people’s emails were delayed, and they are addressing that.
Finally, he asked that you direct any questions to him, be it problems signing-up, marketing ideas, etc. He left hand-outs for people to pick-up as needed.
Health Update: Scale Back Alabama
Maria introduced Jenny Swaim. She asked how many people are participating in the Scale Back Alabama program. About half the room raised their hands. Jenny said that there are about 688 participants who weighed in 134,000+ lbs. They are receiving lots of feedback and holding nutrition, wellness classes over 10 week period. 80 – 100 people participating in those sessions. She offered a thank you to A&P for providing food and drinks at meetings as well as several other offices across campus. She feels that this brings recognition to departments who have programs to help us get healthy, and it ties in with the goal to build wellness awareness on campus and creating a center/staff person to support this initiative. Dr. Gogue is also supporting this, and she is excited about that.
In recognizing that insurance rates have gone up as have costs ($100,000 a day spent on insurance premiums), the wellness committee is looking into solutions. One such program is the “teledoc.” This is a certified (in AL) doctor, available 24-hours-a-day. Participants would fill out on-line forms and then call and share symptoms and get a response back within an hour, paying only a $15 co-pay. The benefits are not waiting and sitting with other sick people in a doctor’s office or ER. She said that the doctors in this program have the same “risk” as any other doctor and if recognize an urgent situation, would refer the caller to the ER. She asked for our feedback and whether people would we use it.
Someone shared that she thought it is a good idea as she hasn’t been able to get into the AU Medical Clinic this week and doesn’t want to hang-out with the people with the flu when she has poison ivy.
Jenny says that the program would pay for itself pretty quickly.
She also encouraged people to watch for the Health Fair to be held in April. They will have cholesterol screenings in Foy with other services in Haley. She reminded everyone that there are three walking trails on campus: Fisheries, Vet School and inner campus. Please find more information about these on the website.
Another initiative is to add a risk/health assessment for employees so they can identify high-risk employees and proactively assist them.
Seth Humphrey asked for clarification on the teledoc program. She said that is something they are working on with payroll and benefits. Asim Ali asked about any potential abuse of the system. Jenny shared that the Willis Corporation is supposed to get them more information about things like this. Todd asked about computer access for all employees and how would they sign up. She said you can fill it out on phone too. Someone also asked why Auburn has to pay when it’s getting business for the program. Jenny said they have a participation goal which will lead to returns to Auburn in savings. The main goal is to lower insurance premiums. Auburn doesn’t lose a lot of employees, and they are getting older…so this will continue to increase health care costs.
Mark asked why we are self-insured. She said it is cheaper for us. She said they watch the PeeHIP program for retirees to see what they are doing as well. BlueCrossBlueShield is recognized world wide.
Maria wanted to say that David and April are both working with the health and wellness program. Brenda Wood is the A&P representative to the University Benefits Committee. These are people in A&P you can go to with questions.
Approval of Minutes
Approved with addition of time correction for start of meeting.
Comments from the Chair
Maria Folmar would like to note that we no longer have a discussion/message board on A&P website. It has been moved to AU Access. She encouraged us to use that for discussion, blogging, posting pictures, discussions within places and inviting constituent feedback. She asked for feedback on how we can best utilize that resource.
Secondly, she wants to let us know we have finished and printed A&P flyers. The Executive Committee has been working on it for some time and Drew brought a box today. Pick up enough for bulletin boards in constituent areas to tell them a bit more about the Assembly and give us feedback on it as well, please. We hope to use in informational sessions as well.
Maria also made an announcement regarding that the Executive Committee had reviewed information/opportunity that faculty had: Presidential Fellowship. She met with Dr. Gogue to discuss A&P employees having a similar fellowship, and he was very positive about it. He met with Don Large who met with Maria, and they have drafted out a policy and application for the program. It looks as if it will move forward. She wants our feedback. Also, she wants to publicly thank Dr. Gogue for his willingness to recognize that A&P employees can benefit the University and thank Don Large for working with her to develop the draft. She recognized that Dr. Ralph Zee has also worked with the committee to move it forward and through the Professional Development Committee.
Auburn University
PRESIDENT’S ADMINISTRATIVE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
Administrative and Professional Staff
DRAFT
February 2008
For Implementation Summer Semester 2008
Purpose of the Administrative Fellowship Program
The purpose of the Program is to:
Guidelines and Implementation
It is suggested that the President’s Administrative Fellowship Program be implemented in accordance with these guidelines:
Auburn University
PRESIDENT’S ADMINISTRATIVE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
Administrative and Professional Staff
DRAFT APPLICATION
Summer 2008
DIRECTIONS and QUALIFICATIONS The program is open to permanent full-time employees of Auburn University. Program applicants should have been employed by Auburn University for at least three years. Populations historically under-represented in higher education administration are particularly encouraged to apply. Applicants should complete and return this form, along with the other required documents, and deliver the completed packet to the Office of the President located in 107 Samford Hall. All application materials must reach the Office of the President on or before April 15, 2008.
PART I: GENERAL INFORMATION
Name: Employing College/Department:
Job Title/Position: Email Address:
Campus Address: Campus Phone:
Employment Date for Current Position: University Employment Date:
PART II: REQUIRED DOCUMENTS
PART III: APPLICANT SIGNATURE
I hereby acknowledge that all information on and with this application is true and accurate.
Applicant’s Signature: Date:
PART IV: DEPARTMENT SIGNATURES
The department will provide release time (half-time or full-time) for the employee. The employee will maintain employment and office space in the department during the fellowship.
I approve this request and verify that the employee’s participation will not adversely affect departmental commitments.
Director/Department Head Signatures: Date:
Date:
Auburn University is an equal opportunity educational institution/employer.
Lastly, she noted that the representative elections are coming up. Call for nominations have gone out and the electron elections will take place March 2-10. She encouraged the Assembly to encourage participation in our areas if there is an opening.
Reports
Executive Committee
Todd Storey shared that the Executive Committee has met four times since our last Assembly meeting in October. The Committee has worked on the Scale Back AL Program and other wellness programs, (Brenda Wood has been reviewing all campus resources that are out there but not centralized, and she has been trying to figure out how to better communicate those opportunities to employees and create classes for employees too.) He said that Campus Security and AU Alert have been a topic of conversation since campus police was moved to Auburn police, and he mentioned that the Assembly will discuss how to deal with distressed students at our March meeting. We don’t know at this time if human resources will provide those seminars…the conversation will continue. The Consulting Policy is still in the works to move forward to allow A&P employees to consult and generate additional income. He also shared the committee’s initiative to line up guest speakers at each meeting to keep you informed on-campus. He also emphasized that the Committee continues to strive to maintain open communications and will try to use AU Access more in the future. He also recognized that Dr. Gogue has been receptive to us as an employee group.
Finally, he shared that we have not moved forward with dealing with on-line courses being allowed to use with the “free” 5 credit hours provided to employees. The question is can we roll this in as a benefit for employees.
Maria distributed an informational item, the President’s Admin Fellowship Program, for the Assembly representatives to review with the goal to vote on it at March’s meeting. She asked for questions regarding item. None were asked at the time.
Professional Development Committee
Glenda Freeman shared the Professional Development Committee activities and touched on the consulting policy. She feels like they are very close to moving forward with the policy. She summarized the history of the proposal which started March 15, 2007. Upon an Ad Hoc committee being created in September 2007, they have made revisions, presented them to the Executive Committee and Maria has reviewed them with Don Large. It has been approved by the Committee. She read through the purpose of the Consulting Policy.
It was pointed out that one of the biggest changes was that the policy wnet from 16 to 6 dyas of allowed consulting that could be done as paid leave. There was a question brought up by Wiebke Kuhn and Drew Burgering about the maximum number of calendar days allowed and other language later in the Policy that seemed to conflict with this. Maria shared that Dr. Gogue approves the days being consecutive if it does not create conflict within the employee’s department. The Policy will be implemented June 2007 to have a train run for one year.
Wiebke presented as a friendly amendment to change the language that was causing confusion regarding the days allowed. Glenda Freeman accepted it on behalf of the Committee. Glenda then presented it to the Assembly. Drew thanked Maria for hammering out changes with Don Large and Glenda’s hard work for making it move forward. Glenda said it has been a lot of work by lots of people. An administrative committee will evaluate it after a year to see if there were any budgetary effects with it existing. Right now, it will run June to June.
Asim Ali shared that he has not been communicated with regarding being on the Professional Development Committee. Glenda will follow-up on that.
Drew asked if there needs to clarify for calendar year vs 12 month period of time. Maria asked if she can negotiate that on our behalf with administration.
It was moved to a vote and passed unanimously. It will be passed back to administrative staff and Maria assumes it will be accepted without delay.
CONSULTING POLICY for the ADMINISTRATIVE & PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES of AUBURN UNIVERSITY
For Trial June 2008 – May 2009
February 2008
Auburn University recognizes that professional service outside the University can enrich the professional development of its employees, as well as relationships with other universities, state and local governments, and private business and industries, and also contribute to enhancing the reputation of the University. Therefore, the University permits Administrative and Professional
(A & P) employees to engage in external consulting.
Consulting Defined
Consulting refers to activities outside the University in which an A & P employee provides expert advice and/or counsel of a non-continuous nature. Consulting should provide professional enrichment to the employee, and consequently, benefit the University. Therefore, the consulting activity employees engage in should be related to their areas of expertise or specialized knowledge relevant to their employment with the University. Consulting may or may not result in financial payment to the employee. Consulting activities may include (but are not limited to) activities such as the following: providing advice regarding computer systems, designing accounting systems, conducting seminars, designing an electrical system, etc.
The primary criteria in determining whether a particular consulting activity should be encouraged or permitted are 1) the effect of the activity on the individual and the University, and 2) the extent to which the activity will complement the University’s programs or interfere with the effective discharge of the employee’s responsibilities to the University.
Conflict of Interest
A conflict of interest occurs when the private interests of the employee conflicts with their responsibilities as University employees. Such conflicts occur in situations where an employee makes a decision based on personal factors which may not be in the best interest of the University. Employees should avoid both actual and perceived conflicts of interest and therefore must disclose all events and dealings of their requested consulting leave to their supervisor. Some examples of conflicts of interest may include:
a. Use for personal gain of privileged information acquired in connection with the employee’s University responsibilities.
b. Transmission of non-public information to an outside source with which the employee consults.
A & P employees may, on occasion, be involved in sponsored research. Such research may present unique situations where conflicts of interest can occur. These employees should consult with Auburn University’s Faculty Handbook or other AU references with respect to conflict-of-interest situations in sponsored research.
Procedures
Full time A & P employees who have successfully completed one year of employment with the University may be allowed to consult within the areas of their expertise for a maximum of six (6) days within a twelve (12) month period of time, and with the approval of their department head and appropriate dean or director. Exceptions to this must be approved by the appropriate Vice President upon recommendation of the department head, dean or director. Consulting, and internal activities not covered by other AU policies and procedures for extra compensation, will be counted against this maximum of six days annually; travel days must be counted as consulting time. This policy is not intended to limit consulting activities of employees outside the normal work day, during annual leave, leave without pay, or during the summer for nine-month employees not employed by the University for the summer term.
A formal application, Auburn University Application for Approval to Engage in External Consulting - AP-10, must be completed, approved and filed at least ten days in advance for permission to engage in consulting activities other than the traditional functions in professional, scholarly, or honor societies. The AP-10 shall be maintained in a central file in the Office of Planning and Analysis and in the employee’s file in Human Resources.
General Considerations
Auburn University will assume no responsibility for the competence of its employees with respect to the performance of extramural professional activities, except those carried out under the auspices of established programs operated by the University.
In connection with extramural professional activities arranged outside established University programs, the name of Auburn University shall not be used for advertising or promotional purposes or in any report or statement that implies approval or endorsement by Auburn University.
No Auburn University stationery or forms may be used in connection with external consulting work or professional practice. Employees shall use their home or other off-campus mailing address, e-mail address and telephone number on correspondence and advertising. Employees should not commit specialized University facilities and equipment or other resources to external consulting projects unless such use is specifically approved in writing in advance by the department head or other appropriate administrator. Employees will be expected to reimburse the University for the use of specialized equipment and facilities as well as materials. Use of University computer facilities for consulting will also require prior written approval and will be reimbursed at the external user rate. Approval or reimbursement will not be required for the use of the library.
Employees should keep in mind that this University policy is a benefit and any abuse of this policy may result in disciplinary action.
AUBURN UNIVERSITY Administrative & Professional Employees
APPLICATION for APPROVAL to
ENGAGE in EXTERNAL CONSULTING
|
1. Name |
2. Employee ID No. |
3. Title |
|
4. Department/Unit |
5. E-Mail |
|
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6. Describe nature of work to be performed, location, and for whom. |
||
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7. List dates and number of hours of proposed activity. Indicate travel time separately if involved. |
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8. Explain arrangements you have made to ensure that the proposed activity does not interfere with your University responsibilities, such as ensuring that job flow continues. |
||
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VERIFICATION: I will abide by the guidelines set forth in the Consulting Policy for the Administrative & Professional Employees of Auburn University.
_____________________________________________ _____________________________________ Signature of Applicant Date |
||
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APPROVALS:
____________________________________________ _____________________________________ Department Head or Immediate Supervisor Date
____________________________________________ _____________________________________ Dean/Director Date
____________________________________________ ______________________________________ Vice President (when required) Date
____________________________________________ _______________________________________ Human Resources Date |
||
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DISTRIBUTION: _____ Supervisor/Department Head _____ Vice President _____ Planning & Analysis
_____ Dean/Director _____ Human Resources
|
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Elections of Assembly Officers
Michelle Owsley stepped forward to facilitate elections. Maria gave each candidate an opportunity to speak and asked that the Assembly use the ballots provided.
Chair Elect
David Hennessey and April Staton were listed on the ballot.
April shared that she has been involved for some time and is rolling off the Assembly as place 13 representative and would be excited to serve continue her service as Chair Elect. David shared his support of April for the election. Maria said that we will accept nominations from the floor as well, as none were made, nominations were closed. Asim Ali assisted Harriett Huggins and Michelle in counting the ballots.
April Staton will serve as Chair Elect for the 08/09 year.
Secretary
Katie Mantooth and Julie Nolen were listed on the ballot.
Katie shared her sincere interest and Julie shared her support of Katie in the position. There were no nominations from the floor. Melanie Hall assisted Harriett and Michelle in counting ballots.
Katie Mantooth will serve as Secretary for the 08/09 year.
At Large Representatives (3)
John Folmar, Jane Hoehaver and Seth Humphrey were listed on the ballot.
April Staton nominated David Hennessey, and Maria accepted his nomination and clarified that we should vote for three people.
John said he would gladly served though he did not realize he was on the ballot. Jane shared that she would like to serve on the committee and has enjoyed her 2 years on the Assembly thus far. Seth said he would be honored to serve. David served on Exec this past year and enjoyed doing that and would be honored to do so again. Melanie, Harriett and Michelle counted ballots.
David Hennessey, Jane Hoehaver and Seth Humphrey will serve as At Large Representatives for the 08/09
Maria wished her congratulations to everyone.
New Business
Maria asked if there were items for new business.
She then asked, as a recommendation from the executive Committee, that the Professional Development committee pursue that training be offered, broadly, on how to deal with troubled students and how to handle emergency situations. This has gone on in the academic settings with Deans and Department Heads. She will send Glenda information and contacts regarding this.
Open Forum
Maria opened the Open Forum time and reminded everyone of the time limitations. Harriett Huggins, LRC, College of Education, publically commended Jennie Swaim for all of her efforts regarding the wellness initiatives. She also shared that the Nominations and Elections committee will recommend the size of the Assembly be increased so there is a larger pool of participants from which to select for the Executive Committee.
Maria shared that she would be in touch with the committee.
Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 2:20 p.m.