Student Affairs Staff Council
Meeting Minutes 10/19/2016
Council Members Present: Megan (Student Money Management Center), Kacey (VCSA Office), Amy (Nebraska Unions & Student Involvement), Linda (Center for Civic Engagement), Paula (ASUN), Gary (Campus Recreation), Le (Trio), Melissa (Services for Students with Disabilities), Jon (Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life)
· Fall Celebration recap
o Paula said she liked the setup of the tables this year
o Paula asked if the service awards will be given out at Fall Celebration in the future since they will not be given out at the State of the University address anymore
§ Linda asked if the Council thought it would be a good idea to give out service awards at Fall Celebration
§ The Council thought it would be a good idea and could help to fill up the time
§ Jon suggested putting all of the gifts for the service awards on a table and employees could come grab their gift after Fall Celebration
o Amy said she thought the food was good this year
§ Kacey said she also received good feedback on the food
o Jon said the homecoming dates for next year have been set, so we might want to reserve the space we want to use for Fall Celebration next year as soon as possible
o Amy said she didn’t think anyone noticed the posters that we had put up
§ Linda suggested that we could use the posters again and put them in the buildings that are applicable to the posters
§ Kacey said they are currently up in Canfield Administration building
o Kacey said there were around 150 attendees, but the room looked much more full than that
· Franco Friday- Kacey
o The first Franco Friday of the year will be this Friday, Oct. 21st from 8-10 am at Mari Lounge in Abel residence hall
o Doors will be open before 8 until 10 am so staff can get in
o We will do raffle tickets to give out Franco Friday mugs
o Lauren will send out an email reminder today or tomorrow
· Professional Development- Gary
o Linda suggested putting a short description of the session in the Husker Advocate
o Kacey asked whether we should have people sign up or just show up?
§ The council decided not to require people to register in advance
o The first one will be “Inspiring Trust and Establishing Effective Communication in Your Work Place” and will be presented by Vicki Highstreet of Campus Recreation. It will be November 15th from 1:30-2:30 pm in the Heritage room in the City Union
o The schedule is also on the website: http://stuafs.unl.edu/staff
· December Project- Kacey
o Kacey suggested that the council choose a project for December since that is the only month this academic year that we do not have an event
o The council thought it was probably too late in the semester to do welcome baskets for students who have come to UNL from the foster system
§ Linda said she found out from Financial Aid that there are 52 such students
o Linda said another idea would be to collect books to have for kids to read when their parents come to get their taxes done through VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program) in the spring. This would help with the 15 minute reading challenge to get parents to read to kids or kids to read for 15 minutes per day
o Megan and Linda discussed a new program that will need donations- a resource center on housing and food insecurity that will fall under Money Management and will be housed on the 3rd floor of the City Union
§ The Council thought collecting donations for this program would be a good December project
§ Jon suggested the Council keep hotel soaps and shampoos to donate
Ø Kacey said at OpeN Shelf, those small items don’t really get taken because students want bigger bottles that will last longer
§ Linda said we should coordinate our effort with Dare 2 Care, a student group who usually collects items for the Food Bank of Lincoln and OpeN Shelf
§ Melissa asked if there was anything in particular needed for donations
Ø Megan said that the new program is not up and running yet and therefore cannot accept donations yet, but hopefully we will be able to create a list of suggested donation items
Ø Linda said protein, like foil packets of tuna will probably be needed. Linda reminded the Council that not everyone has a can opener to open canned goods
§ Kacey asked if this should be a project just for Staff Council or for the whole division
Ø Jon suggested we push it out to our units in an effort to get more donations
§ Jon suggested making care packages for students who are in need of food for the 6 days that the university will be closed for winter break
Ø Linda agreed, saying that some students who stay on campus over break have problems being able to get to the grocery store
· Department Updates
o Jon- Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life
§ They are getting ready for elections and leadership will change over in the next 5 weeks
o Gary- Campus Recreation
§ The Fall Break trips went well
§ They are getting ready for Thanksgiving break trips
Ø These trips started a couple years ago and are mostly out-of-state or international students who stay on campus over the break
o Megan- Student Money Management Center
§ Will be participating in the All About You wellness events coming up. There will be two on East Campus and two on City Campus. She will email out the flier so everyone can pass on to their units. The events are open to staff, faculty, and students
§ Will be on a panel led by Career Services on how to pay for grad school on Oct. 27th. All students are welcome to attend
o Kacey- VCSA Office
§ Very busy in the office right now
§ Dean of Students office is getting ready for their review
o Paula- ASUN
§ Not much new stuff to report, homecoming went well
o Melissa- SSD
§ Busy as usual with tests and registration for classes
o Le- Trio
§ In need of college students to mentor high school students
o Amy- Nebraska Unions & Student Involvement
§ The Big 10 room is pretty much done. It will be locked at all times since it is on the first floor.
o Linda- Center for Civic Engagement
§ The German Fulbrights are here now, Argentina students will come next
The next meeting will be Wednesday, November 16th at 1:30 pm