Staff Council
Meeting Minutes
September 21, 2006

I.	Guest Presentation by Dr. Robert Warrington
Dr. Robert Warrington presented Staff Council with an update on the
Pavlis Institute for Global Technological Leadership. Highlights from
the presentation included:

-	The Pavlis Institute will be housed in a new "Institute for
Interdisciplinary Studies" that will also house the Enterprise program
and other interdisciplinary education and research initiatives.

-	A task force from across campus has put together a draft
curriculum for the program (a handout was provided). Overall, the program
will be a 25 credit hour certificate program.

-	Eight incoming students have been selected, seven additional
students will be added during the school year. A full cohort of 20 will
make up the first Institute group.

-	Once the program is established, a high school component will
be added, giving the undergraduates experience mentoring younger students.

II.	Call to Order
Chair Becky Christianson called the meeting to order at 12:40 pm.

III.	Members Present
Members present:  Bev Auel, Ramona Backman, Becky Christianson, Peggy
Gorton, Rob Greehoe, Peter Larsen, and Karen Salo.

IV.	New Business
a)	Becky announced that future Presidential Open Forum dates have
        been set: November 7, January 25, and March 22. All will be held from
        2-4 pm in the MUB)

V.	Old Business
a)	Becky reminded us of the 2006-07 meeting dates:

-	Thursday, October 19, MUB Alumni B. Guest speaker will be Bonnie
        Gorman, Executive Director of University Marketing and Communications.

-	Thursday, November 16, MUB Alumni B. Guest speaker will be Chris
        Anderson, Executive Director of Educational Opportunity and Special
        Assistant to the President for Institutional Diversity.

-	Thursday, January 18, MUB 105A
-	Thursday, February 15, MUB Alumni B
-	Thursday, March 15, MUB Alumni B
-	Thursday, April 19 (room to be determined)
-	Thursday, May 17, MUB Alumni B
-	Thursday, June 21, MUB Alumni B

b)	Staff Making a Difference Awards update: The awards reception has
been scheduled for Wednesday, November 8, 2006 from 3:00-5:00 pm. The
committee is finalizing plans and notification will go out soon via
Tech Today.

c)	Becky noted that the Staff Making a Difference Awards information
is now posted on the website and encouraged everyone to visit the site
and provide feedback on the information there.

d)	Staff Council Website subcommittee report: Pete Larsen reported
that the committee had not met since the last meeting. Pete will
invite Cynthia MacDonald to come to a future meeting to discuss needs
for content.

e)	Inclement Weather Policy subcommittee update: The committee met
with Ellen Horsch and had a good meeting. Ellen is interested in feedback
from the committee about "standards" for when the University should be
closed. In addition, Ellen is going to draft a reminder statement to
supervisors about the importance of being flexible and allowing employees
affected by inclement weather the ability to use vacation time and/or make
up time lost. The committee will meet again to review Ellen's draft and
make further recommendations about guidelines for closing the University.

f)	Rob Greenhoe suggested that Staff Council look into ways to
encourage the MUB food establishments to be open during student breaks
when many staff and graduate students were here. Many expressed agreement.

VI.	Finance Report
Bev noted that we currently have a negative balance of -$598.50 because budgets for the new year have not been loaded yet. The current charges reflect

VII.	Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 1:00 pm.
Minutes submitted by:  Peter Larsen, Secretary