Summary of February 14, 2005Staff Senate Meeting

The meeting was called to order at 2:38 PM.

Senate Chair Bill Forman wished everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day, but said Cupid was not going to visit like Santa did in December.

The Senate approved meeting minutes from December 13, 2004. Bill reminded Senators that the March meeting will be held on the Health Science Campus in B102 on March 14th. He also passed out Report Cards since only 10 were completed on line.

Faculty Senate Representative- Dr. Bob Staat reported on issues discussed at the February Faculty Senate Meeting.

  • Library – the Librarians will be back on the tenure track as soon as approved by the Trustees. The Ekstrom Library will receive its 2 millionth volume in February or March and the Library expansion is on track to open on time.
  • Provost Willihnganz reported on Professor McTighe and said that at U of L, academic freedom will rest with the faculty, not the institution.
  • Searches: VP Health Affairs – Candidates selected and were flown in for “Airport Interviews” in January. Then finalists will be selected for campus interviews. The A & S Dean Search Committee is about to make a first cut. The Acting Law School Dean Search has not been named. The Medical School Dean Search is on hold until VPFA is selected. DentalSchool Dean is going to University of North Carolina, no acting Dean named as yet.
  • Council for Postsecondary Education Strategic Planning – New twist – they want to double the number of baccalaureate degrees awarded in KY by 2020. If anyone has ideas on how to translate Associate degrees or other programs to Bachelor’s Degrees, contact Dr. Billingsly.

They also said that 46 programs at U of L are not meeting goals as set by CPE. This has gone to Academic Programs for additional review.

Approved the Ph.D. in Nursing.

  • Council for Postsecondary Education has also approved our aspirational benchmarks.
  • Dr. Ramsey said the budget situation is still frustrating and he is working with the State in an effort to restore millions in budget cuts. There is nothing in the proposed budget for capital projects.
  • SACS Accreditation is underway.

Student Senate Representative– Justin Morehead

No Report

Senate Chair Bill Forman reported that the Executive Committee had decided in the December meeting that we would conduct Senate business first, before having reports.

Standing Committee Business – Reports should be available on line

Credentials & Nominations – Loren Beard

There is an opening on the Parking Appeals Committee if a Senator is interested in volunteering. Meetings are twice a month.

Bill recognized new Senators:

Senator Kim Holzclaw

Senator Wanda Taylor

Executive Committee – Bill Forman

In December, the committee looked at job descriptions and responsibilities for Committee Chairs. They also discussed the mid-year report card and decided to move the committee business forward on the agenda.

In January, the group met with Mike Curtin and Susan Howarth to see the latest iteration of the budget. Much is unknown due to the legislature meeting this month. Dr. Ramsey wants $3.1 million in permanent cuts restored. We are $14.4 million short for the coming year’s budget.

Finance and Economic Welfare – Sherry Robinson

No Business

Plans and Policies – Beverly Daly

Senators, check your email accounts to make sure that you are on the senate listserv. Please make sure that you forward appropriate questions to constituents so the senate can receive input.

Services and Facilities – Angela Lewis-Klein

Working on SickBuilding and Construction issues with DEHS and Mr. Owsley. Alternative workspace plans are being discussed with the administration, the UBM’s and UPDC. Group is rotating attendance at the UPDC meeting. They are touring Minardi Hall in March.

Staff Policy Review – Bridget Burke

Working on revisions to the RIF Policy, will bring recommendations to March Meeting.

University-wide Committees

There are reports from some of the committees that were distributed to the listserv, but Chair Forman said that reports can also be made at the Senate Meetings.

Vice President for Business Affairs - Larry Owsley

Mr. Owsley paid tribute to Bill Guy, who died this month after a brief illness. He discussed the variety of contributions Bill made to the University, the Senate and the past university employee picnics. He will certainly be missed and Mr. Owsley's office will memorialize him by planting a tree or group of trees on campus. Bill's family suggests he be remembered with donations to the School of Medicine or St. Bernard's Catholic Church, which is planning a PeaceGarden in his honor.

Q & A

  1. Parkway Field Bricks – Some are being used at the new baseball field, some are being made into mementoes for sale. In addition, dirt from the Parkway Field will be brought to the new stadium for incorporation into home plate and the Pitcher’s Mound.
  1. The Old field will have several things done to it. There will be a sidewalk from SpeedSchool to Brook Street. There are intramural fields and a Marching Band practice field that will be built.
  1. New Baseball Stadium – The team will be practicing there to get familiar by the end of this month and the Stadium will open for the March 5th and 6th games.
  1. Library Expansion is on track to open in September as planned.
  2. Cardiovascular Innovation Institute – construction is underway between the MDR and the InstructionalBuilding as a cooperative venture between Jewish Hospital and U of L. Dr Layman Gray will be researching cardiovascular assist devices. It is slated to open in September 2006.

Associate Vice President of Human Resources- Julien Carter

  • The RFP of the 2006 Health Plan is going out this week or next. HR has been working with Aon Consulting and is soliciting what Staff wants through the Staff Senate. Right now the question is what is preferable…lower cost or more choices if administrators? The next question will have to do with plan design changes…co-pays, what is covered, etc. After the RFP comes in in late spring, HR will publish early bird estimated health plan rates which will be finalized and confirmed with the plan design by fall 2005.
  • There will be a supplemental benefit RFP for benefits such as Dental, Group Life, Long Term Disability, etc., that goes out this spring as well.
  • The Campus Health Initiative's first class, Weight Management/Healthy Eating, will start in Mid-Feb. The classes are scheduled during business hours and a question was asked about allowing employees the time to go. Mr. Carter said that departments were being asked to be flexible with scheduling to allow employees to attend. Also, Crawford Gym is being renovated and new exercise equipment is being installed for future Campus Health Initiative exercise classes.
  • Fidelity to Offer new service – They will allow employees to use their personal financial consultants to manage their U of L accounts and the charge can come from the 403b funds. There is an application process.

Q & A

  1. Benefits enrollment. There are default enrollments and if an employee does not cancel previous coverage, they are going to carry it for another year. Mr. Carter said that HR would consider how the defaults are set and would consider changing them, just have people make suggestions to .
  2. Short Term Disability cancellations- the company took money from first pay check of this year, when could employees expect the refunds? Mr. Carter to check on this.
  3. The HRAC has been active with a full agenda looking at benefits and policies.
  4. Employment Verification Service – this is a new on-line service that will soon be available. Lender’s needing verification of salary or employment will pay a fee to access information. Employee will be able to provide them with an ID and a password for quicker information transfer. Will use employee ID rather than social security number.
  5. Vision Benefits on the Humana Website – there are vision benefits through health insurance and also Delta Vision for employees with Delta Dental.
  6. RIF – It appears that the University is not rehiring RIF’ed employees back at as high of a rate as past years. Is there a group in HR that helps them become re-employed? The numbers can be misleading because they are always several months behind but the deviation from past years is really no different. There is no group within HR to assist RIF’ed employees.
  7. Mental Health Co-pay – Different therapists and doctors are charging both rates. Mr. Carter to check.
  8. Why is HR trying to hire a pharmacist? We spend over $7 million a year on pharmaceuticals and this is part of the health management plan which will help employees understand the pharmacy piece of the health plan and work with employees on utilization, i.e. mail order vs. local pharmacies. It is not an attempt to change the prescriptions to something cheaper than what an employee’s physician prescribed.
  9. U of L Clinic/Doctors – Can they be incorporated into the health plan? Student Health is not just for students. The U of L Pharmacy and government plan has been investigated and continues under evaluation with HRAC.
  10. Retirement Benefits – they are located on the HR Web Page under the Retiree button.

Review of Waiver Process - Harvey Johnson and Melissa Long Shuter

Report is available on line at:

Staff Senate Chair’s Report – Bill Forman

  • Budget – the University is seeking ways to increase revenue and looking at aligning the mission, involvement and procedures of the University with what we are actually doing. We are being given the opportunity to provide active input in the process.
  • There is a concerted effort to improve Customer Service coming from President Ramsey. VPs and Deans have selected people to take training and then train more employees. This does not appear to be an optional focus; Dr. Ramsey wants everyone to be customer service oriented.
  • State of the Staff – the data is coming! There is a small group of people working on making the numbers understandable.
  • Executive VP Health Affairs search – first round of interviews complete and 4 to 5 will be invited to the University for more interviews.
  • FEW is looking at the state retirement system but is not finding compelling reasons to join for most employees given some recent changes.

Q & A

Blackboard Site – Staff Senate has not gone to this since so many Senators don’t use listserv.

Bill Guy – the Share Program is discussing a Book Fund for employees, like the Anna Mae Tobbe, as a way to memorialize Bill and his work with the Senate.

Customer Service Training – This is coming from the top and will be implemented university wide. The trainers who have been selected will develop a training plan.

More to come as the Customer Service meetings continue.

Having no more business to discuss, the meeting adjourned at 4:28 PM.

Staff Senate Officers for 2004-05

Chair – Bill Forman 852-0996

Vice Chair – Bev Daly 852-8360

Sec/Treas. – Brent Fryrear 852-2956

Senate Office - Robin Emond-Durham – 852-6713

Web: