System Office Staff Council July Meeting Highlights

The System Office Staff Council held a regular business meeting on Thursday, July 21, 2022. Below are highlights from the meeting:

  • SOSC heard an update on the System Office mission statement from Monique Musick. The committee had previously sent their final draft of the mission statement to the executive leadership team. The leadership team has now sent their edits back to the committee for feedback. The committee will provide their response to the edits back to the leadership team and request to include governance in that repsonse. The mission statement will then have a first read at the next Board of Regents meeting, since it will be a change in policy.
  • SOSC had a discussion on the use of the Staff Development Fund for FY24. It was noted that staff who used Linkedin Learning licenses found them to be valuable, and thought that if purchased again, more communication about the availability of them was needed. The licenses purchased in FY23 are still available through December.
  • SOSC spent much of the time talking through and giving feedback on Staff Alliance’s draft compensation memo, which will include asks for FY24 and also put forward ideas for the joint HR/staff governance compensation committee that will start work in the fall.  
  • SOSC currently has three open seats. The council encourages all staff to consider becoming a representative, and will have the nomination form open until all seats are filled. 
  • SOSC heard an update from Heather Swanson and Genevieve Bright on the new Engagement Survey committee. This is a committee with members from each staff council working with HR and UAA’s onboarding manager to help facilitate a staff engagement survey. The initial meeting began discussions on defining the goals and objectives of the survey.
  • Staff Alliance updates:
    • CHRO Memry Dahl attended Staff Alliance’s July 15 meeting and discussed exit surveys, Staff Alliance’s resolution asking to adopt UAF’s recognition policy systemwide, communication between Staff Alliance and HR staff, and the new staff compensation committee consisting of staff governance members and HR staff that will start work in the fall. 
    • Staff Alliance reviewed and gave feedback on a draft FY24 compensation memo. It will include asks for FY24 and also put forward ideas for the joint HR/staff governance compensation committee that will start work in the fall. 
    • The Staff Healthcare committee is not currently meeting, as the Joint Healthcare Committee does not meet in the summer.

SOSC will meet next 10:00 a.m.-12:00p.m. on Thursday, August 11. 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.