System Office Staff Council October Meeting Highlights

October 28, 2022

The System Office Staff Council held a regular business meeting on Thursday, October 13, 2022. Below are highlights from the meeting:

Guests

  • Alesia Kruckenberg presented Budget 101. This was a wonderful presentation/conversation and was very enlightening. She discussed how the University of Alaska is associated with the State of Alaska and how we differ from other state organizations. She also discussed UA’s budget terminology, UA revenue sources and expenses and how they are grouped and classified.
  • Bryan Hoppough, HR Business Partner for UAF and SO, discussed:
    • Recruitment and Hiring Challenges
    • Job Family Reviews
      • On the way and currently happening! It is a three to five year process, so we’ll see a gradual rollout of changes as the reviews are completed.
    • HR Internal Adjustments
  • Jeannette Okinczyc 

Meeting Discussion

  • Recruitment for a new Sr. Director of Alaska Native Success will start soon! 
  • Student Government of UAS (SGUAS) passed a resolution to change “Thanksgiving Closure” to “Fall Break” on 2022.09.26. SOSC greatly supports this change and supports this change across the University. SOSC passed a motion to support SGUAS’ resolution.
  • All are invited to the systemwide Disability Services Conference taking place Nov. 7th-11th. Register here, this will be a fantastic event with lots of great speakers lined up!
  • We discussed the state and importance of accessibility within UA and associated 3rd party websites. UA is participating in an accessibility review by OCR. 
  • Staff Emeritus policy changes! The policy is being modified to ensure staff can be recognized for their contribution even if they don’t formally retire from the University. 
  • UA HR has internal structure changes occurring. The details of these changes have been obfuscated. More information will be released by CHRO Memry Dahl as the changes occur.

SOSC will meet next 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 10th. All staff are encouraged and welcome to attend!

Reach out to SOSC representatives to share your ideas and/or concerns, or submit a comment via our staff comment form. Additional information about SOSC and the Zoom link for regular meetings is available on its website.