July 2023 Executive Board Minutes
APA Executive Board Meeting
Tuesday, July 11, 2023
2 to 3:30 p.m. | Webex
ROLL CALL:
Present: William McQuitty, Erica Martinez, Jennifer Clements, Sara Volmering, Tracey Lawie, Laura Ciccantell, Jhauncey Jacobs, Phillip Koch, David Birkham, Ron Dillard, Anthony Perez, Elena Wood, Ariel Palau, Bonnie Gabriel, Doug Mathews, Jordan Olson, Janice Quakenbush, Malia Roberts, Bonnie Pfingst
Absent: Valaree Kyser, Michelle Loedeman, Eleonora Philopoulos
Land acknowledgement statement: “We would like to recognize Western Michigan University is located on lands historically occupied by Ojibwe, Odawa, and Bodewadmi nations. Please take a moment to acknowledge and honor this ancestral land of the Three Fires Confederacy, the sacred lands of all indigenous peoples and their continued presence.”
I. Call to Order 2:03pm and Approval of Agenda - William
II. Teambuilding Quiz – History of WMU – Fun!!!!
III. Officers’ Reports
a. President – William
i. Meetings with University Leadership
1. Diane Anderson VP of Student Affairs June 6 –
a. Get to know meeting, staff issues and where they stand on them
b. She was very open and supportive of staff. We hope to work with her more often.
c. Big change from this meeting and Jan/Warren meeting is more opportunities to meet with more members of University Leadership.
d. We hope to meet with leadership across WMU with PSSO in future.
2. Jan/Warren meeting July 6 –
a. Major issues: Market calibration including salary reductions, idea can we hold that position in its current grade until position becomes vacant – was declined. Market process was given as a reason, it was discussed that it is a cold way to evaluate.
b. Discussed JCT’s and inconsistencies in how they were written affecting outcome, but we were assured it was a very thorough process.
c. Discussed salary compression, Warren countered that it was not compression. Jan explained we are a market-based system now, so seniority does not equate to higher salary, instead skill set, workload, etc.
d. Additionally, it was brought up by Jan that departments have the ability to give discretionary salary bumps for those they feel deserve/need who may not have gotten a calibration increase, and some areas have already started to do these to address inequities. Additionally, areas have the ability to give one-time bonuses for someone who takes on extra duties or performs above and beyond.
e. FMLA was brought up – concerns about staff who are new and have a crisis, but no recourse and a person hired who is pregnant but can’t take when they need to have time off. What WMU offers is what is laid out by Federal law and is not the University’s rules.
f. They will help us find a solution to have a better list of eligible people for APA and who has left the University.
g. Jan said that every single JCT that was turned in requested a bump in grade/pay.
h. EB discussed the challenges of discretionary raises because if areas don’t have the funds, then they cannot give them. Erica reported that we know that at least two VP areas did exercise this and gave many employees discretionary raises.
3. Julian /Chris meeting –
a. Both were delightful. Julian requested a proposal be written and he will advocate. It is a start.
b. Areas of discussion were giving staff members 8 hours of leave time per year for public service, funding and time off for professional development – mentioned that Academic Affairs can get that now by growing enrollment by 10%.
c. Communication was then brought up regarding staff needing better and more as we get left out of the informational loop.
d. An Associate Vice Provost for Strategic Initiatives (AVP) was chosen, and we expect to hear more soon.
e. We asked him to look into positions that are still on reduced time due to pandemic but is not equitable right now and confusion about how widespread it still is. It was requested that data get pulled so we can approach the issue.
f. President is discussing having fewer people that are paid better – we took that to mean that we would continue to be a lean staff, but better paid for it.
g. Advancement was discussed – if you are not in an admin track, it’s the nature of higher education that you stay in your position until something opens up. This was also discussed with Jan/Warren. Retention will be brought up with new AVP.
h. One idea is getting AVP involved with all of our APA meetings or at least some regular attendance so they can keep the connection with us strong. Erica stated that Provost brought up that his job is to advocate for us. If we bring a proposal to him, he will get it in front of the right people, so are there other things that we need to be putting proposals together for? Parental Leave is one, but we want to make sure we are strategic in what we submit. Sara stated we need to be even more strategic to tie it into something the University wants to grow so that it is good for staff AND the University.
b. Vice President – Erica
Nothing new, all was discussed under President’s Report
c. Treasurer – Jennifer
i. $9,354.18 was starting balance, we had sponsor funds come in and expenses for events go out leaving a balance of $7,417.38. There was no change to the Scholarship balance.
ii. Approval of the Treasurer’s report was made without changes.
d. Corresponding Secretary – Sara
i. Invites went out for Eboard meetings, we have 2 in person with locations TBD
ii. Working with Jennifer to send notices of dues
e. Recording Secretary – Tracey
Nothing to report.
IV. Committee Reports
a. Membership - Sara & Malia
i. Planning for upcoming academic year
ii. Revel & Roll 5:30 – 7:30pm, July 11, open to families
iii. Buddy System – we have work to do to expand our numbers, and we have several members who are currently on a complimentary membership, and we want to become more purposeful in outreach and make it more personal. In teams there is a list of complimentary members, and we are all asked to sign up to reach out to some to discuss APA. We still have several who need to be reached out, so please go to Teams and sign up for some. Sara put some talking points in Teams as well as a starting point to help break the ice.
1. Some confusion over who can be a complimentary member and it’s imperfect as we are reliant on the info from HR and just moving forward as best as possible.
iv. We shared a projected budget at past meetings, today we hope to approve a budget for the entire year as opposed to event by event to make planning easier and allow the committee to work in a timely fashion.
1. Sara reviewed a spreadsheet of projected events and costs totaling $3,800 for 23/24.
2. It was moved to approve the budget, motion passed.
b. Nominations and Elections – Malia
Nothing to report.
c. Awards and Recognition – Michelle
Nothing to report.
V. Old Business
a. Strategic Planning
Working steadily on goals and initiatives. William reviewed and opened each item for discussion. He will email/post the document for everyone to read thoroughly. Feedback requested by 7/21. Thanks to all who helped get this put together.
VI. New Business
a. October General Membership
Meeting falls on the first day of Fall break, so we need to reschedule. Proposed to move it to 10/25 at noon, motion passed.
VII. Announcements
a. Apply for the 2023-24 WMU Employee Leadership Development Program by August 4.
i. William put a link in chat and will be in monthly announcement email, but also linked here.
ii. Highly recommended by those who did in past.
b. New ID Cards, get them done.
i. Heads up don’t put a hole in your new ID to put it on a holder for easier swiping as it won’t use any longer and they will charge you $30 for a new one.
ii. Can use your university photo if you don’t want to take a new one.
c. Bookstore closed during move to the New Student Center. Will reopen approximately August 1st d. Can do walk throughs 10 – 3 at new student center, hoping to have some of the food vendors open end of July.
VIII. Upcoming Meetings
a. Tuesday, August 8, 2 to 3:30 p.m.: Executive Board meeting (Webex).
b. Thursday, September 7, noon to 1:30 p.m.: Officers meeting with Jan Van Der Kley and Warren Hills (In-person, Location TBD). (may change TBD).
c. Tuesday, September 12, 2 to 3:30 p.m.: Executive Board meeting (Webex) IX. Adjournment – Meeting was adjourned at 3:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by the Recording Secretary, Tracey Lawie.