Minutes

Steering Committee, EKU Presidential Advisory Council

Thursday, March 26th, 3:30 p.m.

Room 100, Coates Building, EKU

Present: Cantrell, Cross, Fisher, Kleppinger, Laird, Long, Melius, Mink, Stanfield, Tussey, Webb, Williams, Glasser

The meeting began at 3:40 p.m.

President Glasser addressed the group–identifying the need for a Council and shared her vision for the Council. Briefly stated, her remarks included:

Staff personnel at EKU are responsible for the everyday work. They provide the services for students and staff to be successful, and are many time unsung heros. The purpose of the Council would be to create a 'vehicle' to hear from staff equally. This group would give the President an opportunity to exchange with staff concerning staff issues. The goal is to make this a better community. Other areas of interest would be: staff development, appreciation days, training sessions on issues that relate to staff, and communication enhancement. Joanne indicated that rumors happen because of a lack of information. She also mentioned other ways EKU could show their appreciation for staff like letting them off early before holidays to prepare for travel. Despite the tight budget time, she is committed to no layoffs and to a salary increase.

The Committee is charged with working out the details for the council. These include: size, length of terms, rotating membership, term limits (or not), and representation (making sure the group represents the University Staff Community). The committee should also look at processes to increase information exchange, and communication tools. She repeated again that rumors cause most of the concerns. We should look at ways to build a career service. Any decisions that are made will be made in the best interests of the entire university. The Council will provide the following functions: be a sounding board, be advisory and be apostles. There will be lots of opportunity and challenges. We need to look for ways to improve the lives of EKU Staff. Staff employees are the third leg of the stool.

There will no real budget to begin with. The Council will be advisory and will only report to the President. It is the expectation that the Council be functioning by the Fall semester. The President left the meeting at 4:40 p.m.

It was generally agreed that we needed some simple Bylaws; that the group consist of 10-15 individuals; that the group be advisory and problem solving in nature–a Presidential Advisory Group. The Steering Committee needs to consider the needs of other staff at EKU and include the Extended Campuses. It was agreed to keep the initial group simple in structure. Some of the more immediate issues would be: eligibility, name , structure, mission and/or statement of purpose. There are 1,400 staff members at EKU.

The next meeting of the group will be from 3:00p.m. until 4:30 p.m. on Monday, April 8 in the Gentry Building.

Respectfully Submitted,

Jim Fisher

College of Business and Technology

April 2, 2002

Approved April 8, 2002