Newly elected UC Staff Senate to hold inaugural meeting
UC staff can make their voices heard at the Staff Senate meeting July 31
Event Information (passed)
As part of the university’s Next Lives Here strategic direction to enrich its staff and help nurture a culture that is owned, not rented, UC’s first Staff Senate was formed in the fall of 2018.
New senate members were elected in early June, followed by the first senator orientation where the more than 45 new members gathered to form committees and prepare for their new role as the first elected staff senators.
The senate’s inaugural meeting will be held on July 31, from 10 a.m. to noon in TUC rooms A, B & C, and the meeting is open to the public. All UC staff are encouraged to attend to make their voices heard.
UC's 2019 Staff Senate officers from left, Cindy Treacy, secretary; Lacey McCarthy, vice chair; Chris Collins, chair; Renee Hargrove, treasurer and Janet Staderman, past-chair.
"Our overall goal is to be a representative voice for UC staff, so a top priority will be establishing a variety of channels to make it easy for staff to communicate their ideas and suggestions," says Chris Collins, UCIT senior manager and newly elected chair of the UC 2019 Staff Senate. "When the full senate convenes in July, we'll need to evaluate and prioritize the suggestions that have already been submitted by staff during the formation process and begin to establish benchmarks and goals for the coming year."
Chris Collins, chair of 2019 UC Staff Senate.
With an active agenda already underway, the new senate is prepared to work collaboratively across departments, colleges and campuses to help UC move forward, says Lacey McCarthy, vice chair of the new organization.
“The first senate orientation was a huge success, and we have many enthusiastic and dedicated senators ready to get to work on behalf of all UC staff,” she adds.
Within the election, the candidates received a combined total of approximately 31,000 votes. “We were very excited with the high staff participation in both the running for senate positions, as well as the election,” says Janet Staderman, outgoing staff senate co-chair. “We are pleased to welcome 44 new senators and four newly elected officers.”
Michael Southern, member of 2019 UC Staff Senate.
Currently there are five standing committees in order to conduct staff senate business more efficiently. New senate members will serve on one of the committees and will meet in the interim between formal meetings:
- Membership and elections committee: will execute the staff senate election process as outlined by the governance committee, provide nominees for open positions on standing committees and develop the new member orientation and training program.
- Budget and human resource committee: will support the strategic direction of the university with an emphasis on the staff experience, and in doing so may consider all financial, planning, human resource and economic welfare matters affecting the university to ensure a supportive environment that will provide personal and professional growth opportunities for university staff in collaboration with the offices for finance and human resources.
- Information technology committee: will consider and represent staff views on all significant information technology initiatives, issues and policies that impact the university; create and maintain the staff senate website and electronic voting systems; offer technology consultation and training for staff and consider all information technology matters brought to its attention by the staff senate or the university administration in collaboration with the University of Cincinnati office of information technology.
Dy'an Marinos, member of 2019 UC Staff Senate.
- Communication and recognition committee: will organize and coordinate outreach and community engagement activities, staff recognition functions, public and special events; performs responsibilities related to communications of the staff senate, including the distribution of publicity and information relating to the staff senate and considers all outreach and communication matters brought to its attention by the staff senate or the university administration.
- Governance committee: will annually review the bylaws and propose amendments; determine membership, nomination and election procedures for senators with final approval by the senate cabinet; annually review the number of staff senate representatives and reapportion the area representation as needed based on information received from University of Cincinnati human resources; monitor governance policies and practices to ensure effective staff involvement in university decision-making and consider all governance matters brought to its attention by the staff senate or the university administration.
“The encouragement and guidance by senior leadership the past 18 months and enthusiasm of the staff and UC community have been a driving force in getting to our first full senate meeting on July 31,” says McCarthy, also manager of UC-Blue Ash business affairs. “It's an exciting time to be a staff member at UC.”
More about:
Anyone may submit ideas and feedback online via the Staff Senate Suggestion Form or by emailing staffsenate@ucmail.uc.edu.
Save another date: Dec. 12, 2019
Staff Senate is planning a recognition and awards ceremony in December. More details will be forthcoming but all staff are encouraged to save the date.
Join the listserv for staff senate news or events. Go to the website and click on Join Staff Senate Listserv.
Featured image at the top: Members of theUniversity of Cincinnati's 2018 Staff Senate Advisory Committee: front row, Chris Collins, senior IT manager, UCIT; Christine Gilliam, HR director, College of Medicine; Nicole Blount, executive director, Board of Trustees; Lacey McCarthy, business manager, UC Blue Ash; Renee Hargrove, director Business Affairs, Office of Student Affairs & Services; Maria Keri, formerly Linder College of Business and Kerry Overstake, asst. director Web Communications, Marketing + Communications. Back row: Janet Staderman, Program Director, Communiversity and Tamie Grunow, senior associate vice-president and chief human resources officer. photo/Joseph Fuqua II/UC Creative Services
Not pictured: Lauren Lantz, senior director Labor Relations; Larry Caras, director of Business Affairs, Finance-Accounts Payable; Deb Peters, executive staff assistance, Office of the Bursar and Evans Finklea, housekeeping coordinator, Finance-Facilities-Building Services.
UC's 2019 newly elected Staff Senate.
Innovation lives here
As part of UC's Next Lives Here strategic direction, university staff continually investigate problems and create innovate solutions with real-world impact.
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