March 18, 1999

Call To Order: The meeting was called to order at 1:32 by Chair, Deb Boyce.

Members Present: William Blair, Joyce Blinn, Deborah Boyce, Marilyn Braatz, Deb Burris, Sidney Childs, Claudia Clark, John Clark, James Elsasser, Mike Failor, Michael C. Giles Jr., Linda Hamilton, Sharon Hanna, John Hartung, Sandy LaGro, Paul Lopez, Gene Palmer, Mary Lynne Pozniak, Jan Ruffner, Bonita Sanders-Bembry, Jane Schimpf, Robin Veitch, Mary Beth Zachary

Substitutes: Bill Walters for Pat Green

Members Absent: Dianne Cherry, Judy Donald, Keith Hofacker, Dawn Mays, Penny Nemitz, Jan Peterson, Cheryl Purefoy, Tim Smith, Kurt Thomas, Laura Waggoner, Matt Webb, Deb Wells, Duane Whitmire, Calvin Williams

Guest Speaker: Dr. Bill Knight, Director of Institutional Research.
Dr. Knight shared a summary of the results of the BGSU Staff Questionnaire. The survey was sent to all staff employed as of October 1, 1998. Sixty-five percent responded. He thanked all the participants. The survey will be on the web site at the end of March. The items were groups into six categories: satisfaction with--current job, climate for supervision and empowerment, department and coworkers, the University and Universities policies, workload and salary, and work conditions.
Items associated with the greatest degree of satisfaction included BGSU as an employer, how the respondent's department interacts with students, the respondent's current job at BGSU, and the respondent's ability to influence the way work is done.
Items associated with the lowest degree of satisfaction included how BGSU awards employee excellence and service, chances for a job promotion, how one hears about policies, decisions, and changes that affect one's job, the job being done by BGSU's top management, and how well performance evaluations have helped one do his /her job better.
Deb thanked Bill for all the data that he collected, analyzed, and presented.

Corrections to Minutes: Since the e-mail was down, the corrections vote was deferred until the April meeting.

Approval of Minutes: Because of the e-mail problem, not all members received the minutes. Therefore, approval will be voted on at the April 8, 1999 meeting.

Chair's Report: Ann Marie Lancaster, Vice Provost for Technology and CIO addressed the Legions meeting regarding the e-mail problems. The e-mail servers are functioning but the problem is with the gateways that connect the servers. These gateways function as trap doors only allowing a small amount of mail to get out and not always chronologically. As of Monday, March 15, Ann Marie was still working with the IBM and Lotus Notes personnel who had been on campus both days and nights. Later educational sessions will be held and there will be more documentation for the students in the labs. Ann Marie said that the reason that the e-mail had to be converted during the spring semester was to give everyone a chance to try it. They did not want it to crash in the fall, and were also worried about it crashing this semester and being unsalvageable. All mail in the queue is still in the queue.

Elections will held for the Information Technology Standing Committee in May, and ASC will have a representative on it. At the President's meeting on February 5, 1999 attended by the ASC officers, there was discussion on the need to clarify merit at the departmental and unit level. Around campus, there have been varying levels of discussion at the departmental and unit level ranging from none to defining merit. The Administrative Staff Compensation Working Group was working on remedying the placement issue.
Regarding the STRS - PERS initiative on not wanting to pay into Social Security, given the climate in Washington, the issue is in abeyance.
At President's Panel Meeting on March 17, information was shared that the Union will close in December
1999 and not open until Fall 2001. Also student applications are up 4%. The application process will close in rnid to late May. Ribeau is encouraged about the 4% increase, and is also encouraged by Taft who has spoke support for both higher education and K-12.

Chair-Elect's Report: none

Secretary's Report: none

Committee Reports:

Amendments: Mary Beth Zachary said that the changes in Article 2 Section 4 of the Bylaws will have a reading at the next ASC meeting on April 8, 1999.

External Affairs: Marilyn Braatz thanked members for attending the Administrative Staff Hockey Night. Also, there will be a free Jazz Lab Band Concert on April 15, and one can bring a donation to the Jordan Family Center. She encouraged everyone to wear their staff badges so that the students and others can see the staff support. Also, on April 25, the matinee performance “Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street” will be presented. Tickets will be $7 for groups of 15 or more. Call her for questions or more information.

Awards and Special Recognition: The deadline is March 26 to nominate "BG's Best". For questions or more information, call Laura Waggoner.

Personnel Welfare: Pat Green and her committee have submitted the merit document to Becca Ferguson. The President's cabinet has not yet met to react to it.

Professional Development: Jane Schimpf and her committee were extremely pleased that they had 135 registrants for the Professional Development Mini-Conference, "Invest in Yourself'. The ASC congratulated the committee. Also, five professional development grants have been given out, and there is $600 still available. Get information from Claudia Clark.

Internal Affairs, Salary, Ad Hoc Committee on Administrative Staff Teaching Compensation Policies: no report

Ad Hoc Committee on Performance Evaluation Review: The committee has met with the Institute for Psychological Research and Application who is developing a project to evaluate two components of the performance appraisal system- the tool (the instrument used to appraise) and the process. The evaluation will use focus groups and surveys. Invitations to pilot focus group participants have been sent and will be conducted the week of March 22. Invitations to a wider range of staff will be sent out very soon. On behalf of the committee, Mary Beth Zachary asked everyone who receives an invitation to participate. The session will last about two hours, and the responses will be both confidential and anonymous. During July 7-August 7, the survey results will be analyzed, and the final report will be written.

Ad Hoc Committee on Handbook Revision: Bev Stearns is coordinating the effort with Linda Swaisgood, Michelle Simmons, and Karen Woods who is the liaison for Human Resources. Mary Beth Zachary is a liaison to Bev Stearns. The committee working on the organization of the handbook trying to find out what they can change and what they cannot. They are working to make the handbook usable in hard copy and in web form. One problem is to identify the source of each statement in the handbook. The revision should be done by the end of the summer. The overall goal is to make the handbook current, accessible, and informative.

Scholarship: According to James Elsasser, 1742 tickets were sold for a total of $1372 for the scholarship fund. Eleven prizes were won by the following staff members: Two season tickets for the 1999-2000 theater series- Duane Whitmire; Two season tickets for the 1999-2000 Musical Arts Festival Series- Joe Martini; Two reserved seats for the football season - Gardner Mclean; Two general admission tickets for the football season- Sue Lau; Longenberger basket- Elayne Jacoby; Four rounds of golf with a cart- Cindy Colvin; Gift Package assembled by Dianne Cherry and Pat Fitzgerald- Diane Regan.; $25 Gift Certificate from Continuing Education for a choice of classes-Nancy Williams; Fall pass to the Student Recreation Center- Rich Pepper; Ink Jet Printer- donated by Computer Services- Judy Donald; Trip to the BGSU football game in Orlando including airfare, tickers, hotel, ground transportation- Tawn Williams-Nell.

Old Business: none

New Business: With regard to the 1999 Fall Break, there was no discussion at any meetings that Deb attended.

Good of the Order: The ASC Spring Reception will be after commencement in the Mileti Center.
Mary Beth Zachary said the there will be a free Jazz Band on the main steps in the Library for the dedication of the Wild Bill Davidson Collection.
Sidney Childs said that the Annual Awards Luncheon for the Student Support Services will be held on April 7 at 11:30 AM in Room 101 Olscamp. The luncheon will honor those student participants who achieved success in such categories as Academic Achievement, Persistence, Achievement in Math, and Dean's List (TRIO Achievers).
Marilyn Braatz said that the Teacher Job Fair will be held April 20. The fair will have 140 school systems represented by 300 recruiters. The recruiters have come from all over the country. BGUS's Teacher Job Fair is the largest in Ohio.
The Spring Surplus Auction will be held April 14. Call 2-2121 to arrange for pick-up of items. Such items as bicycles and jewelry will be offered.
Michael Giles Jr. said that the Student Recreation Center lockers will not be available from July 19- August 6, but that the Center would still be open. The Field house does have showers. There will also be a cold water shutdown in June.
Mary Beth Zachary said that the Undergraduate Student Art Show will be held April 30 at the School of Art.
James Elsasser said that the staff had met the new Athletic Director, Paul Krebs, a 1978 BGSU graduate. Staff was asked to support the Family Campaign.

Submitted by Joyce Blinn, ASC Secretary