Institute Management Team Meeting

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Attending: Dick Berg (representing Don McKay), Mike Demissie, Andy Fortier (representing Tom Emerson), Libby Johnston, Sue Key, Mona Knight, Manohar Kulkarni, Gary Miller, Bill Shilts, Steve Wald, Angie Wisehart

1.  Interviews for Survey Searches

Bill reminded the Directors to include him in the interview process when they are hiring leaders of programs, section heads, etc. He believes it’s important for candidates to see that the Executive Director is interested in the candidate and position.

2.  Civil Service Audit

Sue reported that all of the paperwork was submitted for the Civil Service audit. The interviews with the employees will be taking place within the next couple of months.

3.  External Affairs Director

Sue reported that she will be meeting with Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research Lauren Stokes to discuss the request for a search to hire an External Affairs Director.

4.  Classifications Proposal

Sue reported that the committee has been established to begin discussions on the classifications issue. Gary, Sue, Jacque Dalzell (ISWS), and Don McKay will meet with four others from Campus to begin discussing the classification issues for APs in the Institute. Gary drafted an agenda and sent it to Sue. Sue and Gary have come up with a list of top 10 issues with the current classifications. Gary added that Vice Chancellor Schiffer suggested defining the exact issues and focusing on those. Gary asked the Directors to send him any examples that they may have. Mike added that prior to joining the University, classifications within DNR were not a problem. The AP status has created the problem. Bill added that the AP classifications have a structural impact.

5.  Separate Place of Employment Status

Sue reported that she and Gary are scheduled to meet with representatives from Staff Human Resources and Lauren Stokes to discuss the Institute’s status as a separate place of employment.

6.  Background Check Requirement

Sue reported that she, Mona and Gary will be meeting with representatives from Academic Human Resources (AHR) for clarification on the background check policy. AHR will keep the records on the background checks. The Chancellor’s Office requested the names of staff working with minors this past February. It’s not clear how that relates to the background checks, and who needs a background check. Sue did find out that the cost of a background check is $100 and that is paid for by the unit.

7.  ISGS Update

Dick reported that 2 candidates have interviewed for the Petroleum Geologist position.

8.  Institute Collections Team

Bill reported that he and Gary met with the Collections Team earlier this week. They visited the 5th floor of NRB. It is a very large space that runs the entire length of the original building. Bill thinks that would be a good storage space for collections; the space has a lot of shelves. That space is filled with a lot of publications still wrapped in paper and/or plastic. They could be scanned because there is not a need to keep that many hard copies. There is a dumbwaiter, so it could be easy to move stuff around in that space.

Bill added that he thinks the proposal with CDB should be renewed to finish the Natural Resources Annex. He believes adding a couple of stories to the annex would allow for more ISGS storage. It should be cheaper to do this than build a new building.

9.  Campus Preservation Working Group

Bill asked Sue to follow-up with Brian to see if he identified someone who could participate on this working group.

ACTION ITEM

Sue will follow-up with Brian to identify someone to participate on the working group.

10.  ISGS Update

Mona reminded the group that the ISGS State of the Survey is tomorrow, and everyone is welcome to attend.

11.  ISAS Update

Andy reported that ISAS has received a truckload of miniatures delivered by IDOT. An IDOT employee made mini replicas of excavation sites and artifacts that have been dug by ISAS. ISAS will be cleaning them up and hope to display them somewhere. Bill indicated that Spurlock Museum might be interested.

Andy reported that lab analysis has begun on the Mississippi River Bridge Project. It will take 4 years to complete the analyses.

Andy reported that 6-7 ISAS staff gave presentations at the Southeastern Archaeological Conference in Baton Rouge, LA last week.

12.  NCSA/PRI Summit

Angie reported that she followed-up with NCSA to find out the status of the meeting with NCSA to discuss data storage. They are still identifying who will be representing NCSA. Angie will let Bill, Gary and the Directors know who will attend from NCSA just as soon as she finds out.

13.  University of Oklahoma Visitors

Gary reported that he continues to work on the itinerary for Paul Risser (Chair and CEO of the University of Oklahoma Research Cabinet) and Bob Puls (Director, Oklahoma Water Survey), who are planning to visit the Institute on December 4. They will be here only for the day.

14.  NGRREC Faculty Fellows Program

Gary reported that he received 2 nominations from ISWS and 1 nomination from ISGS for the Faculty Fellow Program. Gary will look at the current Fellows to see where the Institute could fit in, and will give his recommendation to Bill.

ACTION ITEM

Gary will give his recommendation to Bill for nominations.

15.  Prairie Lightning Symposium

Steve reminded the group that the Symposium is November 30. Practice talks will take place tomorrow. The program will go to the printer tomorrow. Steve indicated that we still need moderators for the program. Gary suggested the Directors nominate one person from their Survey. Mona indicated Renae Strawbridge was willing to be a moderator again this year. Libby volunteered to be a moderator.

16.  Institute Strategic Plan

Libby indicated that if anyone has suggested changes to the draft Strategic Plan to send those to her by Wednesday, November 21.

17.  Institute Communications Team

Libby reported that she has been meeting with the Communications Team, and that the meetings have been very good. Some are interested in creating videos, so Libby is going to schedule a tour of the Public Affairs Creative Services studio. The use of the studio is free. There is also a lot of interest in social media, and knowing what each Survey is doing in that area. They’ve been discussing the challenges of photo management – keeping Institute photos in one spot for use in brochures, websites, etc.

Dick added that he thinks it would be a good idea to have a photo of each staff member on a website. Names with photos can be very significant for new people.

18.  ISTC Update

Manohar reported that the Illinois Biochar Group will be meeting tomorrow.

Manohar visited the Underwriter’s Laboratory (UL) in Chicago. In addition to the traditional safety assessment, UL has added four other business units, including one about Performance Verification. UL is looking for reputable partners to meet their needs in this area and ISTC has good capabilities to offer in certain areas. Manohar met a former student of his from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale who has been with UL for 15 years and will facilitate this exploration.

Manohar reported that there is a lot of interest in converting non-recycled plastics to fuel. A company in Chicago is interested in converting medical waste to fuel. Luis Rodriguez, BK Sharma, and Deb Jacobson had a meeting with that company. Manohar added a phone company is also interested in converting plastics to fuel.

Manohar reported that on December 6 a new post doc will be starting with ISTC. He worked for US EPA in Ohio and focuses on membrane development. Interviews are being conducted for some of the other hires.