March 8 Statewide Administration Assembly Meeting Highlights

The Statewide Administration Assembly held a regular business meeting on Monday, March 8th. Below are highlights from the meeting. 

March 2021 SAA Meeting Highlights

  1. Representatives heard about the new Post-COVID Workplace Taskforce that President Pitney has charged with coming up with a plan and timeline for detailing what the UA workplace will look like going forward regarding the possibility for extended remote or hybrid work. Two of our own representatives, SAA President Lauren Hartman and Charla Bodle, have volunteered to participate in the Transition Monitoring Team which will gather feedback and help to relay concerns and questions from stakeholders. If you have any feedback you’d like shared with the team, please contact Lauren or Charla.
  2. The SAA Awards Committee has begun working on the 2020 Longevity & Outstanding Employee Awards Event. The date has been set for Friday, May 21 at 11:00 a.m., and the call for Outstanding Employee nominations have gone out. The deadline for nominations is Friday, April 9.
  3. Representatives heard an update on the SW Administrator Position Review. The review committee will be sending out a six question survey regarding the relationship between the universities and the system office to 60 or 70 identified individuals and start talking about the functions of the positions being reviewed. 
  4. Representatives discussed a Motion to rename Statewide Administration Assembly to System Office Staff Council. Voting on this motion will be at the April SAA meeting. Constitutional amendments require discussion at the meeting proceeding the vote so that representatives can gather feedback from staff. 
  5. SAA discussed the staff morale survey and requested Feedback on common questions. The plan is to have the surveys closed by mid-April to have results at the June BOR meeting.
  6. SAA reviewed the Memo from Staff Alliance to President Pitney that contained suggested initiatives and alterations to benefits for FY22. 
  7. SAA reps met with Michelle Rizk and Dennis McMillian to discuss the UA Foundation transition process. Read more about the results of this process here
  8. SAA Elections are coming up soon. The nomination form will be sent out on March 29th and will be open until April 16th. We encourage anyone who is interested in being a part of staff governance to nominate themselves, or nominate a co-worker who you think would be a great representative.
  9. A belated THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to the February virtual thank-you and food drive!! A total of $460 was raised for food banks ($215 in Anchorage, $245 in Fairbanks), and many people posted on our board to thank their co-workers!

SAA will meet next on Monday, April 12 at 10 a.m. All staff are encouraged and welcome to attend. Reach out to SAA representatives to share your ideas and/or concerns. Additional information about SAA meetings is available on their website.