I. Intro and Welcome – Alex Teal

II. Health Center Update – Jennifer Combes

• Health and Counseling Centers offer free services to students
• Mental health, anxiety, depression, sexual health, immunizations etc.
• If you are concerned about the health of a student, please contact Jen and they will follow up with the student
• Infectious diseases – Jen did a great job of summarizing and explaining infectious diseases like ebola, flu, measles and whooping cough – how they are different, similar and preventable
• Her take-away message was: “Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands” and “if you’re sick, stay home.” 

III. Student Commission Update – Cameron Goodall

• Talked about the Innovation fund which awards $5000 to a group/project based on their application. This year’s fund went to a Biodiesel Project for vehicles on campus. Some of the other applications included Solar Panels on the Wellness Center and Tedx talks
• May 16 is the Kalamazoo College Triathlon – if you are interested in volunteering or participating, contact Cameron
• Monte Carlo – can still used volunteers
• DOGL – Cameron wants to bring back the service component of the day, give students the opportunity to volunteer and give back to campus/community
• Wants to host a conversation/dialogue about Admission tours issue/sexism/racism that has been in the campus news lately
• Cameron will be going to the City Commission meeting this month as well to address any concerns from campus to the City.

IV. Open Discussion

• Have Renee come back and update on Employee reviews, consistency and issues we brought to her last year.
• Could there be an option to opt-out of personal day buyback?
• Option to also donate personal hours to someone who needs them?
• Continuing education benefits? – there is a committee that meets sporadically
• Show appreciation for providing dental benefits – to BRG and President’s Staff
• Spring potluck – yes, let’s do it again
• Maternity leave inequality

I. Intro and Welcome – Alex Teal

II. Building Update – Paul Manstrom – Associate VP of Facilities Management

• Fitness and Wellness Center
• Plan to begin construction in August of 2015
• Goal is to be finished in July of 2016
• $7 Million budget
• Will be connected to existing Markin Racquet Center and include 2 racquetball courts, locker rooms, 4-5 multipurpose fitness rooms, lounge, weight room, etc.

• Natatorium
• Currently waiting for funding before moving forward
• Budget is $13 Million

III. Grounds Update – Victor Garcia – Head of Grounds
Currently using organic fertilizers on part of campus – mainly the quad
Goal is to increase the area until they are using organic fertilizers over entire campus within 2 years
Initial cost is higher, but by the time you have used it for 3 year, you need less fertilizer so the cost is less
Benefit is a decreased dependence on fossil fuels, healthier plants

December 12, 2014 – Holiday Party held in Fine Arts Lobby

Intro and Welcome – Alex Teal

Title IX – Stacy Nowicki

• Stacy is the campus coordinator for Title IX – all things related to Sexual Harassment and Gender Discrimination
• Title IX directives apply from application through graduation
• All faculty/staff are mandated to report any info regarding sexual harassment or assault
• Stacy handed out resources with contact information for who to report to, as well as who to refer students to if they need to talk confidentially
• If you have any questions about Title IX policy, please contact Stacy at x5750 or stacy.nowicki@kzoo.edu

Ministry with Community – Kitty Momburg

• Kitty talked about MWC and what their mission/goal is
• MWC provides: food and daytime shelter, haircuts, flu shots, phones, showers, laundry facility, ID program, mailing address, job assistance, shuttles to jobs, computer lab and more
• Always looking for volunteers
• Open 7 days a week, have 4 social workers on staff
• K College has boxes on campus where you can drop items to donate and then those boxes are emptied and taken to MWC.
• Boxes are located in the library, Humphrey House, Admissions, 2nd floor Mandelle, CIP/CCPD, Olds Upton, Anderson and Bookstore
• If you would like to volunteer to empty a box and bring the donations to Kitty, please contact Kitty at x7158 or kitty.momburg@kzoo.edu

Wellness – Ken Wood

• Fit Kits – goal is to have one in each building on campus, Ken is working on adding, if you would like one in your building, just let Ken know.
• Each kit has exercise equipment and instructions for use, as well as ideas for how to get in a few minutes of exercise during your work day
• Ken will come to you if you ask and he will explain the equipment and show you how to use it.

Arcus Center – Lana Lewis

• There is an online resource center through the Arcus website
• Grant program available to faculty/staff and students
• Fellowship program
• Events coming up: Social Justice Basics presentation – Thursday November 20 4-5pm. What social justice is and what they do
• Workshop – Understanding Race in Society – 2.5 days over MLK weekend

Intro and Welcome – Alex Teal

Homecoming – Kate Yancho

• Students like to see Staff/Faculty involvement
• Spirit week – each day a different them to dress up to
• Office decoration competition
• Pep rally – Thursday 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
• Homecoming calendar is online
• Nest Fest – carnival Saturday at Athletic Complex

Human Resources Office – Jenn Williams

• Questions regarding all benefits – direct to Jenn
• Questions regarding employers/student workers – Miasha
• November 11 – Emeriti benefits meeting, for those close to or already retired
• Miasha – collecting United Way Forms
• Open Enrollment will be online this year – November 1 -15
• TIAA Cref beneficiaries can be changed online at any time

Committees that need representatives

Community Council – needs 1 more member from Support Staff
Sustainability Committee – new committee being formed, will need 1-2 support staff members
Contact Alex if you are interested in either committee

September 25, 2014 – 2:00pm – Cupcake Social

I. Intro and Welcome – Alex Teal

II. Upcoming Elections

• Elections historically happen in the Spring, so we will be holding elections within the next month or so.
• An email will go out detailing the nomination process

III. Potluck Feedback

• Positive response – “It was awesome”
• Interest in having another one – maybe encourage everyone to attend, even if they can’t bring a dish to pass
• May begin having a gathering after each term.

IV. General suggestions/comments:

• Start tracking attendance at meetings so we can see if the alternating times are effective and allow most to attend a meeting occasionally
• Invite Students to attend meeting – such as Student Commission president – to talk about what is going on with our students on campus.
• Volunteers always needed for Community Garden – contact April Van Lester-Thuma
• Add list of current Support Staff to website
• Pursue idea of having the option to sign up for emails when positions at the College are open.

I. Intro and Welcome – Kate Willard

II. Faculty/Staff Giving Campaign – Laurel Palmer, Director of Kalamazoo College Fund

• The Faculty/Staff Giving Campaign is a little different this year with 2 ways to participate:
• Gift through Kalamazoo College Fund (funds are for immediate use and will be used right away)
• Designated gift through the Campaign for Kalamazoo College (3 different funds and funds are paid out over time.

-You can give through payroll deduction or by check and should have received a letter in your campus box with information.
-Contact Laurel Palmer or Kate Willard with questions.

III. Spring Potluck: Thursday March 27, 11:30am-1pm in Light Fine Arts Lobby

• Support Staff will receive email from ‘Punchbowl’ allowing you to RSVP and sign up for a dish to bring

IV. Diversity and Inclusion Mini Grant – NaShera Sutton

• $1500 grant you can apply for, designed to get campus involved and further training/ideas from Visions.
• Application is on website
• Forums, movies, panels are a few ideas that you could apply for

V. Safety and Security begins at the Front Desk Webinar – Jennifer Combes

• Webinar will be shown Thursday, March 20 at 10am. Hicks 111

I. Intro and Welcome – Kate Willard

II. Organ Donor Competition – Pat Ponto

• Current student Skylar Young is organizing an organ donor competition through Gift of Life Michigan. Go to Gift of Life Michigan-College Competition
• Organ Donor Competition – Pat Ponto

III. New Human Resources Director –Renee Boelcke

• Performance reviews-she believes there is a lot of value in them, definitely a priority although the format, etc is TBD

IV. Staff questions for Renee

• Concerns over timing of reviews with pay increases
• Better explanation of how and why for Emergency time buyback
• Concerns over different benefits for support vs administrative staff
• Clarification of titles for support staff
• More transparency of level/pay rate for new positions

I. Intro and Welcome – Kate Willard

II. Open discussion of topics/questions/concerns for Renee Boelke – new HR director

• Results and follow up of staff survey from 2013?
• Differences between support staff and administrative staff benefits – reasons why some benefits (maternity leave, leave time…) are different.
• Do we have categories or set pay ranges for positions, to provide clarification when positions open as to whether they are a step up or down
• How do we compare with peers as far as pay ranges
• Possible to clarify and create consistency in titles – currently there are a wide range that don’t seem to be consistent between departments (Office manager, office coordinator, secretary, administrative assistant etc.) This goes along with creating pay ranges/scale
• Clarification of job descriptions
• Performance reviews and lack of in some departments
• Vision and dental insurance
• Current budget for Support Staff

III. Committee updates:

Benefits Review:

• working on dental, trying to find the money for it in the budget – hoping to have it available next year (2015)
• Vision insurance will be pursued next

Joint Staff Groups:

• Book club is going strong
• Wellness group is meeting regularly
• Welcome Committee – Miasha Wilson (HR) will be stepping up to help lead this group
• Service Committee – Kitty Momburg(Provost’s office) positive response and feedback to donations over the holiday – all donations were taken to Ministry with Community

IV. Holiday Party Feedback:

• Do we want more social gatherings – some feedback supported this
• Generally people desire to keep the gatherings on campus, during lunch time
• Idea of having another party or gathering during Spring Break when students are gone

V. Other announcements:

• Dotty Richardson – promoting RAD self defense course being offered for first time at K. 2 weekends in February, cost is $50. Sign up with Dotty in Registrar Office
• Jennifer Combes – promoting Week of Wellness January 27, Wellness Fair is Wednesday with lots of prizes and food and information tables, schedule is on the Health Center website under ‘Week of Wellness’