SAA Dec. 14 meeting highlights

Public Comments - Debbie Carlson will provide support for SAA at the moment. HR is currently recruiting for a permanent position that will also serve as the support role for SAA. The new position will serve in the front service area of HR. Expected hiring date unknown, but hoping for Jan. 

Digital transformation - Process was started by Pres. Johnsen, M. Kondrak and has been completed. John Boucher is working on providing a summary.

Staff workloads - Most staff are working on tasks that are outside their PDs. We need to evaluate workloads, as many are getting burnt out and morale is super low. 

Paul asked what is SAA’s main goal at SW? VP Layer would like us to evaluate and figure out what the role of the group is. 

HR and Procurement as cost centers proposed. Are there any other departments that will be considered for this? VP Layer does not have an update on this at this time, but hopefully we will have some details soon. Perhaps we can get Steve Patin in on a meeting for some clarification. 

David Bishko is looking at SW structure - consultant hired by president to do an independent review of SW and to help with advocacy. 

With recharges like OIT, we don't have a system wide OIT support structure. UAF and SW are on the same system, but UAA and UAS are not. Looking at models at similar institutions.

New State Relations director (no longer an AVP). Downscaling org chart, reducing the number of Exec officers with the review of every hire. This is a good example of how this will be happening in the future. Every position that is now rehired will be examined to see if the position title needs to be changed. (AVP vs Exec vs Director). Announcement will go out as soon as greenlit. 

Replacement for Saichi is being evaluated.

Staff Alliance Report - Met last Wednesday Staff Alliance discussed staff workload. Mathew Mund to draft a resolution. Has pushed this in the past and has discussed it with leadership in the past. It's important for morale and retention that staff are not continuing this level of work indefinitely. 

SW Administrator Position Review: Staff Representatives: Monique Musick (SW), Tania Rowe (UAA), Gwenna Richardson (UAS), Michael Szidloski II (UAF) First meeting was a roundtable, SOW, and discussing what information will be needed and goals. It was a general discussion with a follow up meeting scheduled for Thursday, 12/17. We are planning to get our first level of work done at this meeting. Gathering a lot of data and evaluating the roles and positions.

Foundation Transition - Linda and Lauren met with Tod, new Foundation president. Meeting was to bring Tod up to speed on SAA, our goals and functions. Tod has scheduled some all staff listening sessions with consultant Denise McMillian. The Foundation Board of Directors met last week. They have created an ad hoc committee. There is no update on this committee yet. The Chair of the Board of DIrectors extended the invitation to others. Staff concern among Foundation staff about representation, as well as transition. Concern over benefits It would be a shame if the Foundation was no longer a part of SAA and of shared governance. Lauren will likely be inviting Denise McMillan to a future SAA meeting. 

SW Recognition Awards virtual event - Thank you! Awards committee: Lauren, Ayden, Linda, Monique, Charla, Leyalle, Harmonie. These awards are being sent out by Ayden this week. Pending two last confirmations for mailing. Outstanding awards committee: Adyen, Linda, Chelsey, Elizabeth. These awards are ready at Atta-boy for pick up. It was difficult to put together the event with lack of information and loss of institutional knowledge. Hopefully we will have this on a regular schedule in the spring. 

Adopt-a-Family: Fairbanks - Adopt a family moving forward, Leyalle volunteered to assist with getting last minute items. Anchorage - Lauren and Chelsey working on this. Lauren has most of the stuff and will run by the office to get the last minute items. Chelsey did not have anything dropped off, but can go shopping if needed. Deadline for Anchorage is 15th

COVID Statewide Staff Survey- There are all sorts of questions using the other campuses as examples.Purpose - get an idea of how people are doing during this time, and if there is anything we need to look into for staff support. Post covid WFH 

SAA Morale committee- Lauren will put out a call to gauge interest. Will put out another call in January for this. We have some past SAA morale surveys, and some past surveys from other Campuses. 

Staff Alliance committees - With changes these committees are not formed yet. We are working on organizing these and hopefully they will meet in Jan. 

     Compensation Committee - Discuss staff compensation and also non monetary compensation in lieu of raises. Elizabeth has volunteered

    Morale Committee - surveys and other actions in this direction. Leyalle volunteered

    Staff Health Care Committee- Work with decision making body on health care and policies. Linda has volunteered

General Updates and Reminders

COVID-19 updates- Email on changes to quarantine, vaccines, Extended COVID-19 sick leave through June 30th 

Home test kits now available for biometric screening. Goes toward points for wellness rebate. 

HR Training Schedule Kelley is managing these training sessions. 

Department Issues, Updates and Kudos

AK 529 - Portfolio hit 10 billion, a huge success. We also started a new initiative for anyone that has an Alaska 529 portfolio in the lower 48 - about 15,000 potential students. 

OIT - Jon Boucher was originally on for 4 months, but will now be staying on until June. No word on a permanent position at this time. 

HR is working on a compensation study for IT professionals to see how we can better align the IT pay structure with national trends. 

FY22 budget came out on Friday. Our capital requests were not included, but everything else in the budget was. 

Lauren will check with Steve Patin, Dennis McMillian and Jon Boucher about attending future meetings.