Employee Advisory Committee Minutes
Wednesday, December 13, 2000, 1 p.m.
Library Conference Room

Present:  Christina Updike, co-chair, Jacqueline Ciccone, co-chair, Ralph Alberico, Alfred Francfort, Robert Hanson, Irma Housden, Candace Kluesner, Lorie Miller, Ted Pelikan, Janet Smith, Camilla Washington and Tammy Woods. 

Absent:  Hugh Brown, Norma Burkholder, Linda Holman, Carole Paulett, Brooke Ross, Shelli Short, Kathy Shuler, and Sandra Terry.

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 I.                   Approval of minutes from November 15th meeting:  minutes were approved as written.

 II.                Recognition of Faculty and Staff – Tina Updike gave a progress report from the Task Force on Staff Recognition.  The Task Force has discussed ideas for the awards and a special event associated with jointly recognizing faculty and staff, full and part-time, for length of service.  A dinner honoring employees with 25 or 30+ years of service is also being discussed; Human Resources is working on determining the number of employees who have accumulated those years and where to make the cut-off for this special event.  If accepted by the President, the new recognition plan would go into effect for 2002.  Separate recognition events for length of service for classified staff and for faculty will continue in the 2000-01 academic year.  The Task Force will meet again soon to finalize a proposal.

Jackie Ciccone and Tina Updike met on December 5 with Diane Miller from Human Resources to discuss an employee recognition program, which would be formulated from a policy set by the State earlier this year and would be based on performance instead of length of service.  Other State agencies have similar programs in place; ideas include “employee of the month,” cash prizes, and lease of a vehicle for a year.  To gather input from all divisions of the University on the types of events and awards and how to launch a program, creation of a Task Force was suggested.  Individuals from each division as well as HR staff will hopefully meet with Diane, Tina, and Jackie in early January. 

 III.             Employee Appreciation Day Report Kathy Shuler was not present to give a complete report, but she sent the minutes from the last Employee Appreciation Day Steering Committee meeting held November 16 (see attached).

 IV.              Follow-up on 2001 proposed Holiday schedule Tina Updike presented the 2001 holiday schedule that was sent from Human Resources to the EAC for approval.  Since the State has granted one more paid holiday in 2001, clarification is still needed on when JMU is taking the extra day, specifically related to the personal day which must be used by June 30.  The confusion developed because the State reports a holiday schedule on a calendar year and JMU reports holidays on an academic year, which spans over two years.  Committee members felt that reporting JMU holidays on a calendar year basis would be less confusing to employees. Al Francfort pointed out that Academic Council has approved the next year’s academic year schedule (2001-02).

 V.                 Subcommittee Report – Camilla Washington gave updates on the following:

·        The University Commissions and Committees Nomination Form for classified staff will be revised.  Carole Paulett contacted current commission and committee chairs concerning staff membership so the EAC will have an updated list for inclusion on the nomination form.

·        Letter to all employees: the letter announcing Dr. Rose’s “State of the University” address to staff during spring break will be mailed around February 2 with a deadline date of February 9 for employees to submit topics and issues, which will be forwarded to the President.  The nomination form will also be included in the mailing.  The EAC will prioritize the issues before sending the list on to Geoff Polglase as requested.  Funding for photocopying the letter and the nomination form needs to be determined.  Camilla will contact Human Resources to provide the mailing labels for all employees.  Lorie Miller will confirm whether she will have student assistants to help with the labeling and folding of the letter and form. 

·        Report on EAC website: Camilla updated the computer purchase program link, which includes the new contact person for the program.

 VI.              Other Business

§         Tina has been asked to represent the EAC on the newly formed University Compensation Committee. The first meeting is to be scheduled before JMU closes for winter break. 

§         Tina confirmed reservations for Wilson auditorium and a wireless microphone for Dr. Rose’s address on March 7.

§         Committee members signed a get-well card for Carole Paulett, who recently had surgery and is recuperating.

§         Tina and Jackie thanked Janet Smith for the well-written article on the Employee Advisory Committee printed in the December issue of the JMUniverse.  

Future meeting dates set -- The next two meetings were scheduled for Wednesday, January 17, and February 14, at 1:00 p.m. in the Library Conference Room.  

The meeting adjourned at 2:00 p.m.

 Respectfully submitted,

Jackie Ciccone and Christina Updike, Co-Chairs