Minutes from the March meeting were read and approved.

Treasurer’s Report:
General Operating Funds - $9912.36
Special Events (Staff Day) - $2289.52
Activity: $3.10 for folding letters for staff recognition awards for non-computer user staff.

Old Business
2nd annual Staff Open Forum – May 19, 2008 – Carver/Turner – 11 a.m.
Wellness day – Retirees will offer assistance to Student Health. Volunteers are still needed. Contact Amy Cravens, Wellness Director, if you can help.
June 24, 11:00 to 4:00 is the Blood Drive. Volunteers are still needed. Cecilia will be the coordinator.

New Business
Chris shared some e-mails that were sent to him from employees addressing staff importance and the early out retirement. He also shared a suggestion that was made after the contaminated water incident, that in the future a template for alert signs be used as “attention getters”. The ICE (emergency) web site contacts need to be updated. Chris will share the complete e-mails with anyone wishing to see them.

Chris, Cecilia, Joyce and Robert met with President Forsee when he was on campus. He shared his vision for the campus. He is very much focused on Pre-College Programs, for Pre K- 12 students. His message is we are here to support the students. He wants to make a difference. SC shared their 5 action items with him: salary & wage, 85 and out retirement, career path – training opportunities, shared sick leave and morale. SC asked how they could help him and he replied communication. He seems interested in the issues and the meeting was encouraging.

The question was raised, “If the President takes an item for approval to the Board of Curators, does it usually get approved?” Historically the board goes with the recommendation of the President.

A draft of the Open Forum Agenda was reviewed and approved. Wade shared a copy of the cards that will be used to submit questions.

238 have responded to the staff survey. Results will be shared with SC members this afternoon.

Chris will meet with Shenethia Manuel, new HR Director on the format for the open forum which she will participate and also discuss appointing an HR person as an Ex-Officio member of SC.

There was discussion on having “Staff Week” vs. “Staff Day”. Staff Week could consist of having one activity each day such as a mini seminars or a fun activity. Some suggested seminar topics that could be presented: financial planning, preparing for retirement, emergency preparedness. A perks fair where vendors that offer discounts to Missouri S&T employees could come in and display their services was also discussed. “Dunk Your Boss Day” was suggested as an option for a fun day serving popcorn and soda. It was decided that there would be a Perks Fair on Monday at the Havener Center and a “Dunk Your Boss Day” at the Hockey Puck on Tuesday before Staff Day. Mindy will get stickers that say “I dunked my Boss”. Dean will reserve space for Perks Day and Brenda will speak to Jim Duncan about using the area around the puck for the dunking booth. Robert will reserve the dunking booths. The dunking booths will need to have about 12 administrator volunteers for dunking. Send any suggestions to the STAFCO mailing list.

Charlotte Lewis mad a suggestion for SC to support a program to buy shoes for children of the countries where Engineers Without Borders are doing work. It is difficult to get supplies into some of these countries. A solution may be to find an organization that is established in these countries and send the money for them to purchase the shoes. Melissa, Chair of the Charitable Awareness Committee will meet with Charlotte Lewis and will make a presentation to SC on supporting this project.

A request for SC to fund a time management seminar was discussed. Amy is still working on professional development issues. HR will need to manage these programs.

The Professional Development survey will be distributed after the Open Forum on May 19.

SC members will receive staff day shirts free of charge with “Staff Council” on the sleeve. Please send Melissa your size so she can order.

Reports of Liaisons to Campus Committees
Chancellor’s Council - none
Crisis – No official report, except to extend thanks to SC members and building coordinators who helped post signs and distributed water last week during the water crisis. The committee will meet April 22.
Faculty Senate - None
ICSC – Chris read a response from Interim VP of Human Resources, Blake Danuser, on current issues that was presented at last meeting.
Information Technology Computing Committee- none
Name Change – Still working on logos with department names and addresses. Any suggestions or questions let Mindy Limback know. There are rules about using the Missouri S & T logo on the Communications Department Web page.
Parking – None
Personnel – The items discussed are the responsibilities, evaluation and participation of NTT (non tenure track) vs. tenure track faculty. There has been some concern expressed that NTT faculty have been allowed participation in events that were exclusive to TT faculty and the Personnel Committee is trying to determine where the line should be drawn. We have been communicating with the VPAA on this matter and it is still unsolved at this point. Another meeting is scheduled on Friday.

Reports of Standing Committees
Home Page - none
Welcome – None
Staff Development - none
Staff Excellence Awards - The Staff Excellence Awards selection process was discussed and ways to make it easier to nominate. Next years form will be designed to submit a nomination on-line.
Special Interest Committees
Campus Appearance – Mowing and tree planting.
Campus Day Care – none

Announcements
1. Meeting with HR Director – April 17
2. Staff Day planning meeting – April 17, 1 p.m., Havener Coffee Shop
3. Meeting with the Chancellor – April 22
4. 2nd Annual Staff Council Open Forum – May 19
5. Staff Week – June 2-6

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 a.m.

Minutes submitted by Staff Council Secretary Joyce Abbott