System Office Staff Council September Meeting Highlights

The System Office Staff Council held a regular business meeting on Thursday, September 15, 2022. Below are highlights from the meeting:

Membership

  • Jacqueline Muehlbauer was nominated and accepted a role with the SOSC. Welcome, Jackie! 馃帀

Guests

  • Bryan Hoppough introduced himself as the new Sr. Business Partner for UAF and the System Office and gave us a rundown of the position. The position creates a functional bridge between the Human Resources Office, UAF and the System Office enabling us to strengthen our bonds and foster effective change.
  • Heather Arana presented to us an explanation of the adoption of UNUM, our new FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) services vendor, and how it is necessary to support our FML needs with our growing nationwide workforce. While the experience is different and slightly more cumbersome, UA is diligently working with UNUM to explore integration options to reduce the burden on UA Employees taking advantage of the Family Medical Leave Act.
  • UA President Pat Pitney discussed personnel changes within System Office management. These include the onboarding of an interim CFO (Richard Schweigert) and our new CITO (Benjamin Shier), the creation of the Senior Institutional Compliance Liaison position currently held by Mary Gower, and the upcoming retirement of Roberta Graham.

Meeting Discussion

  • The Staff Alliance Compensation Memo has been finalized and submitted to President Pitney. Some of the points are already being discussed and reviewed by CHRO Memry Dahl.
  • We discussed the Tuition Policy Draft Changes and how differential tuition may affect the university. Staff Alliance will respond to the draft by October 15th with the revisions to be included in the November 10th-11th BOR meeting. 
  • Staff Alliance had their retreat in Juneau and then attended the September 8th-9th BOR meetings in person. Lauren reported it was a great experience to attend the meeting in person.
  • SOSC Committees Updates
    • SO Staff Development Day - We鈥檙e aiming for April 26th and are excited to begin planning!!!
    • Ombuds Committee - Will research how other universities or organizations structure an Ombuds position and propose to Staff Alliance to push for this type of position.
    • Staff Healthcare Committee and Joint Healthcare Committee will meet the week including September 21st. With healthcare costs increasing, there will be discussion of how to best support the employees with the increased financial burden. 
  • We discussed the draft System Office mission statement in its current form and the specific verbiage within. We will be drafting a response to the President鈥檚 Office with our thoughts and will continue to be part of the revision process until its adoption is finalized.
  • Staff Engagement survey vs. System Office Morale survey - We discussed the reasons we should have both, how they differ, and why it鈥檚 so crucially important to attend to morale separately from engagement as many of us are both engaged and suffer from low morale due to many external factors.

SOSC will meet next 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 13th. All staff are encouraged and welcome to attend!

Reach out to SOSC representatives to share your ideas and/or concerns, or submit a comment via our . Additional information about SOSC and the Zoom link for regular meetings is available on its website.