A & P Assembly

Auburn University

Administrative and Professional Assembly

A & P Assembly Meeting

Wednesday March 25, 2009

1:00 p.m.

AU Student Center

Rooms 2222-2223

Minutes
Approved

I. Call to Order: 1:00 p.m.

Roll Call

Present: David Hennessey, Mark Wilson, Julie Nolen, Katie Mantooth, Phillip Coxwell, Wiebke Kuhn, Regina Williams, Tammy Hollis, John Owen, John Folmar, David Hennessey, Kathy Harmon, Todd Storey, April Staton, Maria Folmar, Susan Canaan, Lisa Brantly, David Hennessey, Christopher O'Gwynn, Elizabeth Bowersock, Barnese Adair-Wallace, Seth Humphrey, Greg Ruff, Jane Hoehaver,

Absent: John Folmar

Estimated attendance in audience: ~ 25

II. Guest Speaker – A&P Welfare Committee (Emily Mann, AUPCC)

Todd introduced Emily Mann who quickly passed out the information listed below and energetically shared about her services and asked questions about our knowledge regarding our prescriptions and the Pharmaceutical Care Center. She first talked about the TigerMeds program.

The TigerMeds program’s goal is to help employees save money. She gave examples of how diverse the list of medications can be for people to be preventative in healthcare. If you move your medications list to the AU Pharmacy, you can get generic drugs for $0. When brand names go to generic, insurance companies often no longer cover the brand name drug. She gave an example of statin medicines that ranged from six cents to four dollars a pill.

The program also works with patients to evaluate their entire drug profile/list to make sure that people are not taking more meds than needed or taking drugs that are acting in conflict with one another. They help move people from name brand to generic medicines as well.

The Pharmaceutical Care Center provides several services that are highlighted in detail below. She used the flu shot, diabetes management, asthma self management program, monitoring cholesterol, and healthy habits program as examples.

They want to help you control your health, medications, medical costs and empower your conversations with doctors. They are helpful because most people have more than one physician, and the Pharmaceutical Care Center can be a central place to review all of the medicines that have been prescribed.

She directed everyone review the information left in the back of the room, and she also suggested that we review their website at http://pharmacy.auburn.edu/tigermeds. She suggests that we write down all medicines that we take and access the BlueCrossBlueShield list of drugs we can get with our copay, generic, maintenance and monthly prescriptions. She said you can even talk to the Pharmaceutical Care Center before you visit the doctor.

She thanked us for our time and encouraged people to call her with any questions.

TigerMeds:

The TigerMeds program was introduced in November 2008 as a benefit for Auburn University employees and their dependents who have AU medical insurance. Through TigerMeds, employees who transfer all of their prescription medications to the AU Employee Pharmacy (which is located on campus) can obtain most generic prescription medications free of charge ($0 co-pay). Through this program, there are several ways that employees and dependents can save on out-of-pocket medication expenses:

· Through TigerMeds, most generic prescription medications are free ($0 co-pay), which saves you up to $10 per prescription for all generic medications.

· If you take a brand name medication that does not have a generic alternative available at this time, there is a possibility that there is another drug that is just as effective that is available as a generic. If your physician agrees to change your medicine, this could save you $25 to $50 per month.

· TigerMeds helps save Auburn University money on medical benefits which helps AU hold down the cost of your health insurance premiums.

The most common questions we receive through the TigerMeds program are questions about generic medications…..

· What are they?

· How are they different from brand names?

· Are they effective?

· Are there any quality concerns?

The TigerMeds newsletter available through the TigerMeds website: http://pharmacy.auburn.edu/tigermeds/ helps answer those questions. Other resources on generic medications include:

· Federal Trade Commission’s Facts for Consumers: www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/health/hea06.shtm

· US Food and Drug Administration Office of Generic drugs: www.fda.gov/cder/ogd

· Generic Pharmaceutical Association: www.gphaonline.org

· Humana Generic Drug Guide: www.humana.com/members/tools/prescription_tools/generic_drug.asp

· Web MD frequently asked questions about generic drugs: www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/questionsabout-generic-drugs-answered

AUPCC SERVICES:

Medication Management

Tiger Acid Reduction Program (TARP)- A University benefit for AU employees and dependents covered by the AU Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan for those with stomach acid problems taking proton pump inhibitors (Nexium, Aciphex, Prevacid, etc.).

· A review of your medication list/profile that evaluates you current drug regimen for:

o Drug-drug interactions

o Drug-disease interactions

o Drug-vitamin/herbal interactions

· Evaluation of your current out-of-pocket expenses to assess whether there are opportunities to decrease your co-pays

o Medication safety and effectiveness review

o Respond to drug information questions

o “Breathe Easy” program for respiratory diseases such as asthma or COPD/emphysema- monitoring your condition, correct inhaler use and developing a self management plan

o Diabetes management- individualized counseling, education and monitoring to help you manage diabetes

o Lipid management- helping lower cholesterol and decrease the risk of heart disease

Wellness and disease prevention

· Healthy Habits program- cardiovascular risk reduction, weight loss and more

· Pack it Up tobacco cessation- helping you kick the habit

· H. Pylori screening- for individuals with chronic stomach problems to determine if they may be infected with Helicobacter Pylori

· Immunizations- Influenza, Pneumococcal

Health screening

· Cholesterol and cardiovascular risk assessment- cholesterol test along with an analysis of your risk of developing heart disease

· Body mass index- includes weight, body mass index, body fat content, and total body water

· Osteoporosis- Achilles Express ultrasound test to assess bone density

· Glucose- blood sugar test and diabetes screening

III. Approval of Minutes – February 4, 2009

The minutes were approved as corrected.

IV. Elections & Representation

Todd introduced Harriette Huggins to let her introduce the new A&P representatives.

A. Election Results Assembly Representatives – Harriette Huggins

Harriette announced the following elected representatives elected to terms ending 2011:

i. Place 3 – Victoria Tate – Victoria is Contract Services Manager in the Facilities Division and has been an employee of AU for more than 10 years. She has served on A&P Professional Development, Nominations & Elections, and Welfare Committees. She served as Co-Chair of the AU Faculty and Staff campaigns two years.

ii. Place 6 – David Benjamin – As IT Specialist VI, David is administrator of the Blackboard Learning System and has been employed at AU for 10 years. This is his first service to the A&P Assembly. He has served on OIT search committees, the College of Science and Math IT Program Review and the WebCT/Blackboard committee.

iii. Place 4/8 – Jamie Mantooth – Jamie is Director of Student Development Programs in the Office of the Dean of Students and has been employed at AU for eight and one-half years. He is current chair of the A&P Grievance Committee.

iv. Place 11 – Shirley Scott-Harris – Shirley is Director of the AT&T Minority Engineering Program in the College of Engineering and has been employed at AU for nine years. This is her first service on the A&P Assembly.

v. Place 17 – Bryan Elmore – Bryan is Assistant Director of Budget Services and has been employed at AU three years. He currently serves on the A&P Grievance Committee.

There were 132 A&P employees who participated in the representative election. This number is 27.97% of the 472 eligible. In the 2008 election, 147 of 539 eligible employees, or 27.27%, voted. She hopes the trend continues of having increased percentage of A&P employees participating in elections.

B. Place 7 Representation – Todd Storey

Todd shared that Julie Nolen who has served her place well as well as stepped up as fill-in secretary has to step down from her role due to a change in her position. Marcalyn Price has been selected to fill her spot through March 31, 2010 at which time she is eligible to be elected to fill an Assembly member spot again.

Regarding the Grievance Committee, Todd announced that the following people have been nominated to be added to the committee: Leon Bowman, College of Veterinary Medicine; Diane Glanzer, Transition Institute, College of Education; and Kelley Terry, College of Agriculture. He then introduced the Grievance Committee Chair, Jamie Mantooth. A vote was taken to seek approval of the three nominees and it passed unanimously.

V. Annual Reports for A&P Standing Committees

Todd thanked the Committees for how much work they do every year for the A&P employee group. He started the summaries with the report from Executive Committee.

A. Executive Committee – Todd Storey

Members:

The following is a summary of items to which the Executive Committee attended:

· Provided Orientation for the newly-elected Representatives on April 30, 2008.

· Organized and provided a retreat for Representatives on June 18, 2008. A retreat will be organized in the future and usually lasts about 4 hours in the afternoon.

· Convened ten Executive Committee meetings.

· Convened six regularly-scheduled Assembly meetings.

· Provided information sessions during Assembly meetings, including:

AU Recycling presented by Donny Addison,
Sustainability Initiative presented Matt Williams,
President’s Climate Commitment presented by Lindy Biggs,
Environmental Compliance Audit presented by Steven Nelson,
Breast Cancer Awareness presented by Jenny Swaim,
Health Risk Assessment presented by Scott Pechman, WILLIS Group,
Pharmacy Practice Experience program presented by Kathy Kyle,
AU Pharmaceutical Care Center presented by Emily Mann,
Payroll & Benefits presented by Teresa Coker,
Cyber Awareness presented by Mark Wilson,
Payroll & Benefits presented by Teresa Coker,
University Omsbuds Office, Dr. James Wohl,

And an address by:

AU President, Dr. Jay Gogue.

· Continued health and wellness updates provided during Assembly meetings.

· Formed a Childcare Initiative Task Force with:

AU Senate,
Staff Advisory Council,
Assistant Provost for Women’s Initiatives.
David Hennessey and April Staton are still working on this initiative.

· Implemented, re-defined and revised the Summer Presidential Fellowship.

· Addressed the continuation of the Consulting Policy. Todd recognized Maria’s work on this initiative. He encourages people to use it so we don’t lose it. Human resources administers this program.

· Participation of the Assembly leadership in the strategic planning process.

· A & P leadership were appointed and/or participated in each of the following:

Administrative-level meetings each Monday morning with the President (chair sits in this meeting weekly),
Board of Trustee meetings,
Budget Advisory Committee,
Search Committee for the Provost and VP of Academic Affairs (Maria),
Search Committee for the University Ombudsperson (Todd Story),
Search Committee for the VP of Student Affairs (Jamie Mantooth).

· Updated table tent name tags for identification of representatives during meetings.

· Provided name tags for identification of representatives during meetings and university functions. (Todd encouraged people to wear their nametags at University functions when they are representing A&P.)

· Met with and presented information to employee groups/Places as requested.

· Met with and/or provided information to A & P committees as requested.

· Worked with the Nominations and Elections Committee to facilitate appointments of committee members, elections of Assembly officers, and the election of representatives within Places. (Todd recognized how busy this committee works.)

· Managed and up-dated the Assembly website. (Todd recognized Maria’s hard work on the website.)

· Continued to develop and enhance communications with other AU governance groups.

B. Grievance Committee – Jamie Mantooth

Jamie shared that he assumed the chair position in November and then explained how the hearing panel works.

Diane Glanzer asked if there was any training for the Grievance Committee, and Jamie said that there hasn’t been at this time. Todd shared that the Exec Committee has discussed working training into our very small budget. Maria Folmar shared that there were issues with the process recognized last year and that Sue Ann Balch had made recommendations to Human Resources to alter and update the process.

Jamie shared that there was a grievance filed on December 30, 2008 and a hearing held on March 13, 2009. According to the A&P Policy Manual, the Hearing Panel has 15 working days to submit an opinion. The panel will meet on March 31, 2009 to review the hearing and documentation. Hearing panel included: Sue Ann Balch, Chair; Byran Elmore, and Liz Hartwick.

Committee list is current as of December 2008. There vacancies were just filled in this meeting.

1) A&P Committee staffing

a) Michele Owsley announced the names of new appointees to A&P standing committees at the October 12 Assembly meeting.

2) A&P Officer elections

a) The committee recruited a complete slate of nominees for A&P Assembly officers and handled the election which was held at the February 4.

b) Results:

i. Chair-elect – David Hennessey

ii. Secretary – Susan Canaan

iii. Exec At-Large – Jane Hoehaver, Seth Humphrey, Christopher O’Gwynn

3) Ahead for the Committee

a) Constitutional Revision

i) Bring forward a proposal to increase the number of representatives on the Assembly.

ii) When the A&P Assembly Constitution was approved in 1996 there were less than 1200 A&P employees. There are currently more than 1400 A&P employees.

b) University Committee Nominations

i) It is anticipated the Office of the President in April will be requesting nominees for A&P representation on University Committees. (Master Plan Committee, Insurance & Benefits)

ii) Two unranked names are submitted by the committee for each vacancy. The Office of the President notifies selections in July or early August.

c) Senate Committee Nominations

i) University Senate Secretary makes these requests during the summer so that appointments can be made for the academic year beginning in August.

ii) Nominations and elections committee submits one name for each vacancy.

d) A&P Standing Committee Nominations

i) Nominations will be solicited for committee members whose terms end September 30, 2009. There will be one place on the Calendar and Schedules; three each on Professional Development, Welfare, Nominations and Elections; and five on the Grievance Committee.

ii) It is hoped the nomination process can be completed in time for approval by the Assembly at the August meeting so the new committee members are ready to begin service October 1.

ACTION ITEM

Three members of the Grievance Committee need to be replaced. Linda Bankston has been reclassified Staff; Abigail Carreno is no longer working at the University; Robert Karcher has been reclassified Non-tenure Track Faculty.

On behalf of the Nominations and Elections Committee, I nominate the following to fill unexpired terms ending September 30, 2009 on the A&P Grievance Committee:

(a) Leon Bowman, College of Veterinary Medicine

(b) Diane Glanzer, Transition Institute, College of Education

D. Professional Development – Asim Ali

Asim recognized his committee members:

Dates Meetings Held:

October 28, 2008

February 10, 2009

They had e-meetings in between these meetings.

Summary of Current Projects:

1. Professional development opportunities for A&P employees with terminal degrees.

a. Background: AU employees with “Research” titles who have terminal degrees should have access to professional development that improves their skills outside of AU courses.

b. Progress:

i. The committee conducted a survey of 175 employees with titles including Research Assistant, Research Associate, Research Fellow and Research Engineer. The survey requested information on professional development activities the employee had completed recently, whether they took courses, and what training activity they desired to attend but could not for various reasons.

ii. A committee member shared survey results with the Office of Vice President for Research. The OVPR was very receptive to creating a better and more uniform approach to professional development for above referenced A&P employees. The OVPR will share results of the survey with the Research Task Force and Research Council (Assoc. Deans of Research) to determine a consensus approach.

2. Training materials for new A&P committee chairs

a. Background: Those elected to serve as new A&P committee chairs should have some kind of training session or packet that helps them determine goals for the year, how to conduct effective meetings and maintain continuity after changeovers.

b. Progress: The committee completed a needs assessment, and has begun developing a packet of materials that will include: (1) Welcome letter from President Jay Gogue; (2) Welcome letter from A&P Chair; (3) Web links of useful information and contacts; (4) Except from A&P Constitution on committees; (5) Tip sheet on how to conduct an effect meeting; (6) Ice breakers and ideas for introductions; (7) List of select HRD courses that new chairs may find helpful. Using items 1-7, committee will share and critique a draft packet at the April meeting.

3. Assisting board-certified employees with CEU reporting

a. Background: Many employees have certifications that require reporting professional development and continuing education units (CEUs) at regular intervals to state boards. AU should provide support to board-certified professionals for compiling the necessary paperwork in order to encourage employees to continue their certifications, avoid needless repetition of tasks, and make reporting procedures efficient.

b. Progress:

i. The committee identified the following potential professions: board-certified accountants, architects, nurses, pharmacists, psychologists, veterinarians and others that may benefit from centralized and standardized CEU documentation and support. No central database exists of employees who have board certifications, making the task of contacting them challenging.

ii. The committee developed an online form that will be advertised soon via AU Daily. This form requests information from employees who may be potentially interested in such a centralized system. The survey is located at https://fp.auburn.edu/education/ceuhelp

iii. The committee will send the form to academic units who can help targeting interested employees.

4. Informing A&P employees of cost benefits and fees associated with education improvement policy

a. Background: The Education Improvement Policy allows employees to take up to five credit hours of courses. Costs of additional hours and other fees associated with classes should be available. He gave examples of taking 6 hours or taking a Scuba Diving class that would include the fees that will stand.

b. Progress: The committee has researched tuition costs and applicable fees for various colleges and courses. A committee member is now working with necessary areas to develop a webpage that will list this information for employees. The information will be presented using examples instead of lists.

5. Advertising HRD Leadership Development Process Curriculum

a. Background: HRD has put together a program comprised of training courses and on-campus mentors that assist interested employees in obtaining the necessary skills to be future leaders. The committee is interested in helping HRD advertise this program.

b. Progress:

i. The committee obtained information from HRD regarding current enrollment and potential enrollment goals for the Leadership Development Process.

ii. The committee has requested the A&P Assembly to host Pat Deery, Director of HRD, as a speaker in a future meeting

iii. The committee will work with Pat Deery and his office in targeting employees who may not know about the program and informing them of the curriculum.

6. Assisting transition of employees interested in taking courses

a. Background: Employees interested in taking courses may be far removed from past college coursework and in need of assistance with becoming students. Information on necessary steps to take in order to begin taking classes, including application processes and transfer credits, should easily be available.

b. Progress: The committee identified this issue at its February meeting. The committee is currently determining the current status of the Returning Adult Students program that once existed. The committee is also beginning to compile a list of the type of information should be available for employees interested in taking classes.

E. Welfare Committee – Brenda Wood

The A&P Welfare Committee has met once on 1-23-09 since the current terms began on Oct. 1, 2008.

Current members include:

Service through 2009: Brenda Wood, Misty Kennedy, Janet McCoy, Jessie Shealey

Service through 2010: Karen Quinton, Cindy Selman, Denise McKeller

Service through 2011: William Hancock, Linda Shook, Roberta Jackel

Duties and Responsibilities of Welfare Committee

The Welfare Committee shall consist of nine members from the Administrative and Professional group. The Welfare Committee shall review and make recommendations about Administrative and Professional salaries, benefits, and evaluation procedures.

Members present at the 1-23-09 meeting included: Brenda Wood, Janet McCoy, Cindy Selman,William Hancock, Linda Shook, and Roberta Jackel.

Cindy Selman agreed to be Alternate Chair for the committee for this year.

The Committee reviewed the activities of 2007-08, especially the report we completed comparing AU benefits to those of 24 peer institutions. Due to extreme budget constraints this fiscal year, the committee decided to shift our focus from pursuing new benefits that may cost the University money to implement, to items that would benefit the employee without additional costs to the University. The list we discussed follows:

1. Increasing Awareness of existing benefits offered by the University Pharmacy. The University Pharmacy offers several Wellness programs that would greatly benefit employees if they knew more about it. Some of the services offered provide certain medications for free, which not only benefit the employee, but also save the University money in insurance costs. We would like to see a representative from the Pharmacy School invited to address the A&P assembly to describe the many benefits available to employees. It might also be a good idea for them to address individual Colleges to describe the services available.

2. Offering Flex Time or a 4 day work week as an option for employees. Currently the University work week is M-F 7:45 - 4:45. Offering employees the option of working a 4 day work week with four 10 hour days would not cost the University any more money, but could add flexibility for employees who travel from other towns to work on campus. Offering this option to employees would not cost the University, but would be an added bonus for many employees.

3. Revisit establishing a Sick Bank. The University Insurance and Benefits Committee explored this possibility in 2007-08 and decided it would not be possible. If other universities in the state (Troy State University) are able to implement such a program without problem, AU should be able to follow their lead. This would be a great benefit for employees who have been burdened with catastrophic illnesses that have exhausted their sick leave.

4. University Courses for Employees. The AU policy for Education for Employees reads as follows: http://www.auburn.edu/administration/human_resources/hrd/educ_opp.htm “The University's Employee Educational Improvement Benefit affords full-time regular employees the opportunity to take up to five credit hours of resident courses per academic term and receive a waiver of some or all of the fees associated with that attendance. New full-time regular employees are immediately eligible for a waiver of the registration fee, and full-time regular employees with one year's employment receive an additional waiver of tuition charges for up to five credit hours.”

It states: “employees...receive waiver of some or all of the fees associated with that attendance.” Professional fees in certain colleges such as Business, Pharmacy, and the Veterinary School have not been included. We would like to initiate a discussion now for these professional fees to be covered in the employee waiver when the University budget becomes more flexible.

It was decided that we would go to the A&P Executive Committee for guidance on how to proceed on the items we discussed. The A&P Executive Committee was able to arrange a representative from AUPCC to speak to the assembly about the programs available at the 25 March 2009 meeting. We need to follow up on items 2 – 4 before the end of the current term.

Todd shared that she was on the Childcare Welfare Committee.

VI. Comments from the Chair and Certificates of Appreciation

Todd shared that he has enjoyed his time in the role as Chair, and he looks forward to utilizing the wealth of OIT knowledge as he takes on updating the website. He recognized the people who are rolling off the Assembly as of this meeting:

Barnese Adair-Wallace, Place 3.

Mark Wilson, Place 6.

Julie Nolen, Place 7.

Gregg Ruff, Place 11.

Katie Mantooth, Place 4/8 and rolling off of secretary.

Maria Folmar, past chair. Todd presented her with a plaque to recognize her work as Chair last year as well.

He also recognized those who have served on the Executive Committee this past year:

Jane Hoehaver, Place 15. Also serving Exec Committee again this year.

Seth Humphrey, Place 6. Also serving Exec Committee again this year.

David Hennessey, rolling off and starting as Chair Elect.

April Staton, Chair-elect and Chair for 2009/2020.

VII. Old Business

April Staton shared that Todd sent information out earlier this week to the members of the Assembly as well as committee members about the 2009 Assembly Fellowship. The application material is due back to David Hennessey, Chair Elect by April 6^th, 2009. The executive committee will review applications and make recommendations on two for review by the president's office. The fellowship will take place during the summer and part of fall term. David Hennessey and Kirsten Perkins welcome any questions about participating in the program as 2008 participants.

The consulting policy will be updated and placed on the web soon. She encouraged you to utilize the benefit when appropriate.

April presented Todd with his plaque of appreciation and shared about his sincere service to the Assembly.

VIII. New Business

April thanked everyone for their work this past year and looks forward to the work they will do over the next year. She will approach people for assistance and welcomes questions and feedback to the executive committee.

IX. Open Forum

There was no discussion

X. Adjourn

1:57 p.m.