Staff ForumMeeting
MINUTES
Wednesday, April 12, 20173:30 PM
Welcome! Please sign in.
Corey Langston, Chair
Gloria Sulkowski, Vice-Chair
Jamie Kinsley, Secretary
Vickie Wilson, Parliamentarian
Invocation
Trent Hester, Housing
Guest Speaker
Lynda Fisher – Thank everyone on campus for helping out with Homecoming. There were 269 attendees at the Hall of Fame dinner, 52 more than last year. Over 500 attended the cookout on Saturday, which was open to current students, faculty, staff, Alumni, and Stallion Day participants. Over 2000 people attended the Rodeo between Friday and Saturday nights. Student involvement was outstanding and higher than ever between the pallet designs, game night, pool party, etc. Overall, it all went well and it takes the entire campus to pull it together.
Carmen Counts – There is a push from the University System of Georgia and ABAC to promote health and wellness. Being healthy helps reduce stress and improves work quality. It also helps reduce healthcare premiums with fewer healthcare claims. Webinars are being offered on the USG Wellbeing website. Health Trails is another initiative to promote good health and wellness. ABAC is currently ranked 5th out of the 29 institutions participating! On campus, there is free (faculty and staff) yoga on Mondays at 5:45 in the Nickelodeon with Renata Elad. The Thrash Wellness Center is open to employees and is free as well. Looking towards the future, Carmen would like to add a 1 mile walk around campus, additional classes like the yoga, and “know your numbers” where she can calculate your BMI so you know where you stand.
Officer Reports
Budget Reports:
Staff Forum Expendable #9015: $9,514.88
Staff Forum Endowment #3550: $13,287.32 corpus, $2,112.12 expendable, $2,024.16 reserved
Roy Jackson Award for Staff Excellence #3585:$35,041.10 corpus, $2,526.95 expendable (1,250.00 will be awarded on Honors Day 4/20/17 leaving a spendable balance of $1,276.95), $4,869.02 reserved earnings
Old Business
Roy Jackson Award – Will be awarded at Honor’s Day on 4/20/17. Corey thanked the committee for helping to choose the winner this year.
Relay For Life – Friday, April 21, 2017 will be the Tifton R4L. Questions - ask Clayton Riehle as he is on the Tifton R4L team and ABAC does not currently have one.
ABAC hosting the USG Statewide Staff Council Conference – Nancy Anthony is the chair of the committee for this conference. Volunteers and participants will be needed for the event. Volunteers can email Nancy Anthony at to be assigned to the committee. The event dates are October 4-5, 2018. Lynda Fisher asked about who pays for the event. Chris Kinsey stated ABAC will set the registration amount to cover food, speakers, meeting space, etc. Lynda suggested we might want to check with Tifton Tourism to see if they could help.
Survey Monkey for Staff Forum – if you have not filled out the survey, please do so. Gloria Sulkowski is looking for new ideas to make Staff Forum even better for next year when she is chair.
New Business
Nominations for Staff Forum Exec Board are being accepted April 12 - June 1. Send nominations via email to
Available Positions: Vice Chair, Secretary, Parliamentarian
Voting will take place at our summer meeting on 6/21/17
Announcements
Spring Fling 4/19/17 on Lakeside Lawn from 2 PM-6 PM-Residence Life & Housing – everyone is encouraged to stop by
Next meeting: 6/21/17
Adjourn