- September – Evonne Daniel – Printing Services
- October – Emma Kay Thornton – Computer Science
- November – Sonya Kelly – Psychology
- February – Craig Cooper – Center for Marine Science
- March – Frank Nye – Facilities
- April – Sharon Baucam – Financial Aid
UNCW Staff Senate Report 2009
This year’s 2008-09 UNCW Staff Council unanimously voted to change the name of our staff and EPA non-faculty representative organization to the UNCW Staff Senate in order to accurately describe the group’s purpose. Many of our peer institutions are called Staff Senate and the new name better identifies the group.
Our main goal for 2008-2009 has once again been to endow our scholarship; however, we realized early that in this difficult economic climate our focus needed be the funding of three scholarships awarded to staff this year. Many thanks for the cooperation we received from every area of campus as the group rose to the occasion and secured the necessary funding while spreading much holiday cheer with the annual Poinsettia sale.
The university held a Safety Symposium on September 9, 2008 and September 10th in order to ensure, as much as possible, the safety and security of our students, faculty and staff. UNCW’s safety plan is multi-faceted with an emphasis on prevention, support and education.
The newly formed Legislative Committee got organized quickly and kept everyone spot on informed during a year when information, both real and speculative, was flowing from many different sources. Mentoring by our administration was greatly appreciated as communication at UNCW was thorough, transparent and readily available to be disseminated to our constituents. Kudos goes to Mr. Mark W. Lanier, Assistant to the Chancellor for his guidance.
The Top Ten Committee is pleased to announce two of our ten issues have already been addressed. This fall a requested faculty/staff meal plan is to be implemented, as well as, additional earlier and later routes added to the shuttle system.
The Public Relations Committee honored the following staff employees -- shining the “Teal Spotlight” by interviewing and highlighting them on the website:
Each recipient was given a complimentary lunch from ARAMARK. The Senate thanks each participant for taking the time to share their work experiences with the campus.
The Fund Raising Committee, working with the Public Relations Committee, proved instrumental in making sure the Staff Senate was well represented at the perks fair for employees and helped the group as a whole host a booth open for questions about us. Drawings were held at the perks fair for prizes donated by local area merchants.
Tammie McKenzie, Sherri Batson and Nancy Jones attended the only face to face UNC Staff Assembly meeting held this fiscal year at General Administration in Chapel Hill on Oct 9 and 10th. President Bowles warned of the challenges to come during this difficult budget year. He told us it was going to be a flat year meaning employees would not receive any salary raise and would be lucky to see a one-time bonus. He also expressed concern that our health care plan would be impacted and told us staff should be vigilant in trying not to lose ground. We now have employee health coverage at no charge to the employee and we have one of the few defined benefit retirement plans left in the country. The Staff Senate is very appreciative of the Chancellor’s and her Cabinet’s support for keeping staff employed and their benefits in tact as we face these budget challenges together.
The Senior Management Budget Committee was formed in November by the Chancellor to address the budget cuts necessitated by the current economic woes. Committee members are: Chief Operating Officer (Dr. Cathy Barlow), Chief Financial Officer (Mr. Charlie Maimone), Senior Associate VC–Finance (Ms. Kay Ward), Director of Budgets (Mr. Bob Russell), Faculty Senate President (Dr. Bruce McKinney), SGA President (Mr. Mark Blackwell), and the Staff Senate Chair (Ms. Nancy Jones).
Human Resources hosted two Financial Education Seminars in November partnering with the State Employees Credit Union to provide helpful information to employees in an effort to provide current strategies to employees who may need this type of information in addressing their personal financial situations.
The Communications Committee set up a virtual suggestion box where staff can ask questions, answers are gathered from the appropriate person and shared quickly. This committee was very busy this year and has made our website a very useful place to visit. A SharePoint site has also been created to enhance communication and archiving of all Staff Senate documents. This year the first UNCW Staff Senate Newsletter was published and received high praise from both administration and employees.
We received visits this year from the Chancellor, Dr. Rosemary DePaolo, the Chief Financial Officer, Charles Maimone, and the Interim Provost, Dr. Cathy L. Barlow. The Director of Human Resources, Mr. William Fleming, and the assistant to the Chancellor for Marketing and Communications, Ms. Cynthia Lawson were at most every meeting to assist and answer questions. Ms. Sharon Boyd, Associate vice Chancellor of Business Affairs, worked with our delegates and produced a parking fee schedule in which 80% of UNCW employees experienced no increase in cost for the coming fiscal year.
Mr. Max Allen, Chief of Staff, has been and was again this year a mentor for employees and deserves our special mention for his time and effort in always being our advocate.
Respectively Submitted by Nancy B. Jones, Staff Senate Chair 2008-2009
