On May 26, John Hughes, father of Regent Mary K. Hughes and one of the original founders of the UA Foundation, celebrated his 100th birthday at CampoBello Bistro in Anchorage. In addition to helping start the UA Foundation, John Hughes and his late wife, Marjorie, created an endowed scholarship in 1999 in honor of their late daughter, Patricia Ann Hughes Eastaugh, a UAA graduate. The scholarship benefits students enrolled at University of Alaska campuses that are studying to become teachers and provides full funding for a degree. Because of regular and generous contributions from the Hughes family, and strong investment returns, this perpetual scholarship endowment has grown to support four full-time students annually. Hughes' generosity is such that he is a member of the UA Foundation Bunnell Society. This elite membership indicates a lifetime of giving amount of more than $1 million in support of University of Alaska programs and services.

John Hughes is a tireless advocate for higher education. A resolution of appreciation, to be engrossed and conveyed to Hughes at the June 2 UA Foundation Board of Trustees meeting, recognizes more than four decades of distinguished, faithful and meritorious service to the University of Alaska system.

The�UA Legacy Society�is the recognition group of 239 current and deferred donors who have estate plans that include UA as a charitable beneficiary.�Most gifts�will have tremendous impact for the university at no cost to the donors during their lifetime. Many of these donors recently made their intentions known during a statewide campaign to notify alumni and friends about the will-making resources provided by the UA Foundation’s office of Gift Planning.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year's statewide staff giving campaign. Your participation reflects your belief in our students and the great things happening at UA. This has been one of our best years yet! With a participation rate of 56 percent, we have more than doubled the national average of staff/faculty giving of 24 percent.�

Thank you, again, for believing in UA!

The SAA election results are in. First off, thanks to all candidates for their willingness to run, and to everyone who took time to vote and select representatives for the Statewide Administration Assembly during such an important time in university history.

The candidates who had the most votes and were able to accept the two-year term are:

Fairbanks:
Alesia Kruckenberg
Arthur Hussey
Dale Denny
Monique Musick

Alternates (One-year term)
Lisa Sporleder�
Dana Platta

Staff responses to a survey on voluntary contract reductions showed a genuine interest by employees to help offset budget reductions by taking personal pay or contract reductions.� Anyone considering this option should carefully review the implications to their benefits and retirement. In order to facilitate the decision-making process and to provide employees and managers with forms that clearly establish the length and provisions of any voluntary reduced contract, the Statewide Human Resources has created the following FORM. In all cases any reduced contract must be agreed upon between an employee and their supervisor and ensure continued operations in the department. If there are further questions please contact CHRO Erik Seastedt.

President Gamble introduces the UA Spotlight Award to recognize UA System employees and teams who perform a singular accomplishment above and beyond the norm. The Award is a way to timely demonstrate appreciation for one-time exceptional employee accomplishments.

“Award” and “reward” are powerful tools available to every supervisor. They don’t work unless supervisors take the time to care about their people in a sincere way.� This is a program to recognize singular achievement and a way to say ‘thank you’ to employees below the level of Senior Administrator.

Supervisors are encouraged to nominate�in a timely manner staff who have gone above and beyond in their service to the University of Alaska and their community. Examples of specific instances of exceptional work may include safety, efficiency, waste reduction, energy conservation, community involvement, accreditations, endorsements, professional achievements and other work that helps the university meet strategic goals and help shape Alaska's future. Nominations may be proposed anytime throughout the year.

Spotlight awards complement and enhance our existing and more formal programs such as those which recognize excellence, retirements, years of service and outstanding student support. Said another way, Spotlight awards are not meant to take the place of Statewide programs that annually reward employees on a departmental or system level. Spotlight awards are meant to recognize a singular employee achievement in a timely way.

For more information on the award please read the information sheets.

http://www.alaska.edu/files/sws/Employee-Spotlight-Awards-FINAL.pdf

To access the nomination form please visit www.alaska.edu/sws

The new Statewide Staff Resources page www.alaska.edu/sws was developed to be a useful resource for system office employees. Many Statwide pages fill an external role, and finding the right place to house internally-focused information can be tricky. While not intended to replace the wealth of information located in other places, the /sws page consolidates some of the most important links into a single location. A special page has been developed just for onboarding Statewide employees with resources specific to both Anchorage- and Fairbanks-based new hires.

This is still very much a work in progress and your feedback is truly welcome. Please send any edits, suggestions or additional links to mmusick@alaska.edu.

While we recognize that summer hours programs provide a benefit to Statewide employees, we also know that restrictive options for this program are not in the best interest of the employee or the University. This year, therefore, no specific shift or work hour adjustments will be universally applied.

Instead, we are advising departments to exercise maximum flexibility in approving employee requests to take time off during June, July and August. Modification to individual employee hours (both exempt and non-exempt) is permitted within the department with the caution that any change in schedules cannot be to the detriment of the University or the services your department provides Mon-Fri, 8am-5pm (or your usual service hours).� Please also be advised that any schedules may be suspended or cancelled with or without advance notice to the employee if warranted by university need.

We are asking supervisors to feel free to be creative in their scheduling but also ensure that any overtime eligible (non-exempt) employee is not regularly scheduled to work more than 40 hours in a single work week, unless their overtime is approved. To help with this, all changes to an employee’s schedule for the summer must be first documented and approved on the Change of Work Hours Request form and submitted to the SW HR office. Revised schedules must encompass full pay periods only and may begin starting Sunday May 31 and ending Saturday August 22.

Special consideration must also be given for the two holidays that occur in July. Holidays accrue to a maximum of 8 hours each. A benefits-eligible employee who is working, for example, a four, 10-hour day schedule for the summer would have to charge both the full holiday plus two additional annual leave hours eachday to receive full pay if not working on the 2^nd or 3^rd of July this year.

Please contact the HR office at extension 8200 if you have any questions about scheduling or would like assistance in developing your options.