February 2006 Minutes

1. Call to Order

A regular meeting of the Staff Senate of Missouri State University was called to order at Plaster Student Union, PSU 313 at 1:30 p.m.

2. Roll Call

Present: Diana Garland, Ben Boslaugh, Sue Alvers, Steve Mills, Patrick Byers, Guy DeVault, Earle Doman, Marline Faherty, Norm Griffith, Tara Horton, David Liss, Dale Moore, Dennis Perry, Jason Rhea, Tami Sutton, Sheila Morris

Absent: Sherry Adams, Veronica Adinegara, Carter Allen-SGA, Darlene Bailey, Sara Clark, Roger Duclos, Wendy Ferguson, Glen Fletcher, LaDonna Hansen, Terrill Harvey, Barb Jones, Thomas Norrell, Rhonda Ridinger-Fac Sen

Guests: John Strong, Cindi Barnett

Diana Garland, Chair, presided and Sue Alvers recorded the proceedings of the meeting.

3. Guest Speakers

John Strong, Assistant to the Provost for Public Affairs, announced that the Public Affairs Conference will be April 19, 20 and 21. Theme of the conference will be "Horizons of Citizenship". There will be 24 panels and the scheduled plenary speakers will be Mr. Syd Lieberman, Senator John Edwards, Dr. John Keiser and Senator David Pryor.

Cindi Barnett, Director, Recreation Center encouraged everyone to attend one or more of the Hastings & Chivetta forums that will be next week. Hastings & Chivetta are doing a feasibility study for the new student recreation center and is looking for input from staff, faculty and student.

4. Announcements

Diana Garland reminded everyone about;

  1. The luncheon with Dr. Harry Boyte at noon on February 8th in the PSU Grand Lounge.
  2. Wall of Fame Nominations due March 15th.

Marline Faherty announced that the Provost Research Forum is Thursday, February 9th from noon until 1 pm.

5. Minutes

The minutes of the open, regular meeting of January 12, 2006 was approved.

6. Officers Report

The January Staff Senate/Dr. Nietzel meeting was canceled because Dr. Nietzel was out of town.

Diana and Ben were part of the Missouri State delegation attending the Legislative Salute in Jefferson City on January 25th.

Steve Thomas informed Diana that he will not do the climate survey. Diana will include the climate survey in the budget request when she meets with Greg Burris. Concern was raised about online survey responses being tracked. Suggestions were made to use either a paper survey or bubble sheet.

The Provost candidates start interviewing February 9th. It was noted that the candidates are not scheduled to interview with Staff Senate representatives. Diana said that she talked with Barb Helvey who said that since the Provost is mainly working with faculty, that staff can attend the open forum. It was pointed out that Staff Senate representatives should be a part of the interviewing process because the Provost steps in when the President is absent. Also, it was brought up that the Staff Senate should be asked to interview as a courtesy. Diana is to contact the President's office to ask if Staff Senate reps can be squeezed into the interview schedule.

Diana said that the "Peers of Aspiration" term is changed to "Benchmark Peers". Also, the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse is off the list.

Committee Reports

Public Affairs Committee received a grant that funds all of the lunchtime presentations.

7. New Business

The Staff Senate's SICL 115A office is moving to a different room.

Diana reminded everyone that the April meeting will be in PSU 314.

The next regular meeting is at 1:30 p.m. on March 2, 2006 in Plaster Student Union Room 313.

The meeting adjourned at 2:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted:

Sue Alvers
Staff Senate Secretary