February 2022 Meeting

Updates from Chancellor White

Legislative and Budget - The legislative session is currently underway. The board asked for $8 million dollars to be added to our general fund, the governor included $4 million in his budget. That is a good sign that suggests that he would not veto that funding request. A number of budget items are under discussion that the governor included in his budget, including $10 million dollars for our drone program, $7 million for our critical minerals program, and about $5 million for our oil research. This would be supported by one time COVID relief funds. The $20 million dollars requested to update Moore-Bartlett Hall are being held in a bond initiative, there is a lot of effort in Juneau trying to get those funds moved into the capital budget. If our team is successful we would be able to start construction right away.

Compensation Increases - In November 2021, the Board of Regents approved a 2% increase for staff beginning FY23. The Chancellor reported that it is still to be determined exactly how it will be distributed, but the conversation is converging around 2-step across the board increases.

COVID Masking Requirement - The Chancellor acknowledged that COVID cases are dropping in Fairbanks, but until they are below 50/100,000 in 7 day average there will be no change in the masking requirement. For reference the 7 day average earlier this week was ~1,400/100,000. Chancellor White sent an email update addressing UAF plans for this in early February. 

 

Informational Presentations/Updates

We had two inspiring presentations at the February meeting:
  • Dr. Charlene Stern, Vice Chancellor for Rural, Community and Native Education, gave a presentation on the progress and next steps of the Alaska Native Success Initiative. Specific to staff, she mentioned the priority of getting UAF to 20% Indigenous staff, a workforce that would reflect Alaska’s population. We currently have ~10% Indigenous staff.
  • Dr. Peter Webley, Associate Director of Research at the Geophysical Institute, gave a presentation on UAF’s Center for Innovation, Commercialization, and Entrepreneurship (aka Center ICE) and their role at UAF to promote innovative ideas and solutions. They have deadlines coming up for mini grants, a spring cohort to accelerate projects ready to move toward commercialization, and internships for students.

 

President Pitney’s Official Title - You may have seen that the Board of Regents plans to consider removing ‘interim’ from President Pitney’s title and make her permanent at their meeting later this month. There has been disappointment in the process on this, as there was not any consultation with faculty or staff governance, nor a comment period. As a result, Staff Council voted to support a UAF Faculty Senate resolution that included the following relevant verbiage:

…The UAF Faculty Senate requests that the Board of Regents keep Interim President Pitney in the interim role for such time as is needed to gather input from the various governance groups and other partners across the UA system

RATIONALE: The University of Alaska Board of Regents is proposing to appoint Pat Pitney as President of the University of Alaska system without any review of her performance as president to date and without input from other important constituent and shared governance groups.

Professional Development – There will soon be funds available for professional development. Each staff member will be eligible for up to $500 for costs such as professional memberships/dues or conference attendance, so get your ideas ready and watch the Cornerstone for how to apply.

Staff Recognition Development Day  - This year Staff Recognition and Development Day will take place on May 5, 2022.

Thank you to Rachel Potter for providing updates on the February Staff Council meeting.