April 2021 Meeting

The Motion for Changing UAF Staff Council Unit Structure was approved by the Staff Council at the April meeting.

Chancellor Cabinet update: Commencement will take place on a stage at the Patty Center and include a drive parade. Departments can take a place along the parade to congratulate graduates. Martha Mason gave a reminder about the computer outage in May. The outage will happen on the weekend and will affect systems that rely on the internet. If your department has not started talking about it, make sure your department has a plan in place for the outage. Chancellor White sent out an email highlighting the importance of and encouraging governance involvement. Mathew shared that there is still more that needs to cultivate a culture of shared governance. We must all prioritize participation in shared governance. Staff are strained and departments must allocate time to staff governance. 

COVID-19 update: The Post-COVID Workplace & Remote Work/OST has a website with project updates. UAF is planning to move to phase C by the end of the spring semester.

System Office updates: The staff governance group for the UA System Office has changed their name from the Statewide Assembly to the System Office Staff Council.

The Staff Alliance ad hoc committee on shared governance is meeting weekly and discussing the issue of staff governance and staff voices not being heard. The committee is working toward refining this message in preparation for the June Board of Regents' meeting. 

Guest Speakers:

Amanda Wall and Amanda Lash presented on the new UAF Travel Customer Service Office (TCSO). See the presentation for more information about this new office.

Jennifer Harris presented the Budget Options Task Force report.

Jeanette Okinczyk shared about April security awareness. Complete the Security Awareness Training by 11:59pm AKDT April 30th and be entered in for drawings!

Feedback opportunities:

The Expedited Administrative Management Review report is now available. Feedback can be submitted via this form.

The feedback period for the new UAF Strategic Planning Goals 2019-2025 is open until May 7.

The deadline for completing the Morale Survey is April 16.

The deadline for completing the Campus Climate Survey for the Strategic Plan for Inclusive Excellence is April 30. In some cases this email is being marked as a phishing attempt. OIT is working on resolving this, but it is a legitimate survey coming from Chief Diversity Officer Margo Griffith. 

See the proposed Travel Regulations change with depend care. Send feedback or questions to Julie Queen within the next few weeks.

Upcoming Events:

The 2021 Blood Bank of Alaska blood drive will take place April 22-23 in the Wood Center ballroom. You can sign up for a time slot between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Staff Recognition and Development Day is Friday, May 7 from 9am-Noon. Register using this Google form.