Staff at Carleton (SAC) Minutes

Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Sayles-Hill Lounge
10-11 a.m.

Present: Kristen Askeland, Vicki Burgess (secretary), Jennifer Cox Johnson (co-chair), Robbie Groth, Krista Herbstrith, Linda Irrthum, Martha Jirovec, Julie Kimber, Christine Krejci, Pam O'Hara, Lois Perkins, Noel Ponder (co-chair), Fred Rogers (Administrative Rep), Pamela Sexton, Laura Tiano, Andrea Zunkel

The meeting was called to order by Co-chair Jennifer Cox-Johnson.

Approval of October 10, 2007 Minutes

• A motion was made and seconded to approve the October 10, 2007 minutes. Motion was passed.

Update of Activity Since Last Meeting (Jennifer Cox Johnson):

The SAC co-chairs, Jennifer Cox Johnson and Noel Ponder, met with the following:

9/27/07, Forum Co-chairs:

• SAC and Forum both involved in the committee on phased retirement (chaired by Mike Hendel). There was supposed to be a memo going to Admin Council this fall. No further information available.
• SAC reps on that committee are: Carol Horan, Jane Nelson, Mary Amy, Carole Engel
• Jennifer and Noel attended and spoke at the New staff orientation on 10/12/07.
• Forum not interested in organizing new staff reception as we had in Fall 2006. No reception occurred.
• SAC & Forum will cooperate for April Meals-on-wheels.
• Forum not interested in a fundraising luncheon. Suggested it remain a SAC event.
• Endorsed the cooperative end-of-year celebration with Pres. Oden. Forum agreed to coordinate it this year (2008).
• Hoping to coordinate staff development events with Ombudsperson, Career Center, and Wellness Center.

10/3/07, HR:

• Met with Kerstin Cárdenas, Linda Laughlin, Karyn Jeffrey. Meeting was intended to help new HR director (Kerstin Cárdenas) become more familiar with SAC and our role on campus.
• HR felt it was their responsibility to take on staff development programs. SAC will continue to organize staff development programs if there is an immediate need and response from HR is not timely.
• Will meet again on 11/26/07. HR director would also like to meet on a regular basis with SAC co-chairs.
• Provided list of three issues we are working on with the Forum: Ombudsperson, Wellness Center, and Career Center staff development events.
• Would like to see ITS take a different approach to training by following up with promise to visit departments/individuals rather than emphasis on Powerpoint training.
• Duplicity of effort and coordination of training on campus.

10/10/07, Pres. Oden:

• Updated him on current projects and concerns.
• Asked to be included in Nutting House event such as garden party with Forum at end-of-year. He responded positively. No date has been set, Forum is coordinating.
• Odens will be off campus 1st half of winter term.

Updates from SAC College Committee Reps

College Benefits Committee (Becky Krogh):

• Open enrollment information sessions were offered. There is also a new tool on HR website to help choose your insurance plan.

College Committee on the All-Staff Retreat (Linda Luedke): No report

College Budget Committee: http://apps.carleton.edu/governance/budget/ (Lois Perkins):

• Getting more detailed picture of 08/09 budget. Must be approved and in place before end of June 2008.
• No hard figures to report as yet.
• Budget goes to the Trustees in February.

College Council: http://apps.carleton.edu/governance/collegecouncil/ (Robbie Groth): No report

Updates from SAC Committees

Benefits and Salary Committee (submitted by Linda Mueller):

• Committee met on 11/12/07.
• Formulating list of issues and will ask SAC members to prioritize these issues.
• Meeting scheduled 12/7/07 with Kerstin Cárdenas to address the proposal from last year to create working group on salary, benefits and structures.
• Mary Amy preparing to become co-chair of Benefits and Salary, Linda Mueller preparing to move to the College Benefits Committee.
• Send input to Linda Mueller.

New Business

Volunteer Opportunities (Martha Jirovec and Christine Krejci):

• Martha Jirovec and Christine Krejci co-hosted the October News and Views on volunteerism. The result of that meeting was to do something for the Community Action Center and their Christmas Sharing program. Will collect items for Christmas Sharing at the Craft Fair on 11/30/07. Need volunteers to staff the table.
• There is now a link on the SAC website for volunteer opportunities.
• Planning a February luncheon. Proceeds from tickets sales will support the March FoodShare drive. Every dollar we donate will purchase $8 worth of food.

Car Pooling (Noel Ponder):

• Working with the Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC) to generate more enthusiasm for carpooling. http://apps.carleton.edu/governance/environment/
• EAC will create map of employee addresses to help facilitate arranging carpooling.
• Will provide more information on Park-and-ride locations.
• Investigating possibility of subsidized shuttle buses from a central location.
• Investigating possibility of carpooling coordination with St. Olaf.
• A survey from the EAC should be out over break on early in winter term.
• A suggestion was made to contact the Metropolitan Council regarding transportation issues.

Congratulations to Robbie Groth on her new position as Program Assistant in the Academic Support Center in Scoville. You can reach Robbie at x4027.

Accreditation Update (Jill Tollefson):

• Occurs every 10 years.
• Work is subdivided into five subcommittees covering specific areas of the college.
• Process is often an uncomfortable match for biweekly staff and the rest of the college, since there is a heavy emphasis on learning and teaching and staff roles are often "invisible" and may be taken for granted in this process. There is no easy mechanism to evaluate and measure our roles.
• The subcommittee on Engagement and Service created a survey to gauge the involvement of hourly staff in engagement and service. Mary Savina and others are working on ways to bring staff and our contributions to the forefront in this process.
• Each subcommittee will be submitting draft soon.
• An accreditation luncheon for staff on 11/13/07 was well attended. Facilitated by Eva Posfay, Associate Dean of the College, many issues were discussed and recorded for the process. Focus groups were also offered to staff members at various times.
• Website on the Accreditation process can be found at: https://apps.carleton.edu/accreditation/

Next meeting
Wednesday, January 9, 2008, 10-11am, Sayles-Hill Lounge

Next News and Views
Thursday, January 17, 2008, noon-1, Sayles-Hill 252

Respectfully submitted,
Vicki Burgess