MINUTES
Employee Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
12:15 - 1:30 p.m.
316 Day Hall

I. Call to Order

T. Grove called the meeting to order at 12:18 p.m.

Present- D. Brooks, K. Coldren, P. Dongtoe, C. Ferguson, T. Grove, L. Croll Howell, L. Meyerhoff, L. Morris, G. Osborne (phone)

Absent- T. Denesevich, C. Philips, J. Seymour, G. Stewart

Also Attending- P. Beach, A. Epstein, B. McKinney, A. O’Donnell

II. Call for Late Additions

There were four late additions added to the existing agenda. The additions were as follows: L. Meyerhoff added an update on EA elections, B. McKinney added her Board of Trustees report, D. Brooks added an update on the Transportation Advisory Committee, and L. Croll Howell added an update on “Soup and Hope” into the “New Business” portion of the meeting.

III. Business of the Day

a) Peggy Beach, guest

P. Beach gave a PowerPoint presentation on the website titled “myCornell”. She explained the group who created “myCornell” believe “uportal” is out of date, and not well maintained; therefore, they created a tool that would become a single point of entry for internal Cornell services including both information and communication. The group envisions “myCornell” will eventually become the site most people go to instead of using “Cornell.edu” since “Cornell.edu” is a site directed more for people who are prospective students, staff or faculty rather than current students, staff or faculty. P. Beach explained that “myCornell” allows people to personalize their site by adding certain tabs and portlets that they find interesting or valuable.

P. Beach stated once a person logged in using their Cornell netID their personal page would appear. For different people, such as student and faculty, there would be different tabs at the top of their home page. Staff would have two specific tabs labeled “Admin” and “Employee Resources”, which would allow employees to access other programs, such as COLTS and Kronos, more efficiently. T. Grove questioned whether logging into “myCornell” would also log the user into other websites as well, such as COLTS? P. Beach answered that it depended on the user’s personal settings but said she would look into this question further. P. Beach also noted users could create personal tabs. B. McKinney asked if certain things could be added that were not Cornell affiliated? P. Beach said there are some sites available however most of the portlets featured are from Cornell. However, P. Beach mentioned if there was a specific site someone was interested in; they could request it from P. Beach’s office.

P. Beach said it is the goal of the group in charge of “myCornell” to make the site into a largely used site by student, faculty, and staff. She explained to start using “myCornell” is as easy as going to the webpage and logging into the site. B. McKinney asked if once the EA was more accustomed to the site how much push should the EA members do to promote the site? P. Beach answered the EA could do as much promotion on it as they would like. L. Morris stated she will announce “myCornell” in the next EA e-news. The website for interested staff is — my.cornell.edu.

IV. Report from the Chair

T. Grove said they had met with M. Opperman on March 15, 2011. One topic discussed at the meeting was the Staff Survey Engagement. M. Opperman explained Marin Clarkberg is currently working on the survey and believes it will be complete by the fall of 2011. The survey will be fairly simple with the idea that focus groups can be created afterwards for feedback on the survey. M. Opperman said she let M. Clarkberg know the EA could provide assistance if it was needed.

T. Grove stated the second topic covered with M. Opperman was the Board of Trustees breakfast with the EA last Friday. Although she was not in attendance, M. Opperman said she believes the breakfast went very well and it might be a catalyst to help set the EA up to meet with the deans. T. Grove said she believed that meetings with the deans would be beneficial. K. Coldren stated the deans meet once a week and it might be possible for the EA go to one of the meetings. M Opperman mentioned it might be good to do a breakfast event with the deans also. C. Ferguson said he felt this meeting should take place before the Staff Engagement Survey is released.

The final topic discussed with M. Opperman was on staff concerns. M. Opperman stated she would like to speak with staff in Organizational Development and would like the EA to help publicize more information about the “Workday” and “Kuali” programs. She knows that many staff are fearful and anxious because of all the changes and she thinks that more publicity and information will help them become more comfortable with the programs. T. Grove also mentioned the EA’s Kudos website and the small awards the EA is beginning to give to employees.

T. Grove thanked all the EA members who attended the breakfast with the Board of Trustees last week, and hopes this can become an annual event. She said many important issues were covered such as: transportation, workshop fees, difficulty maintaining staff of color, trends, generations, challenges to staff, sustainability, mental health, the impact of the economic crisis, and improving flexibility in the workplace.

V.Approval of Minutes

a) March 2, 2011

L. Morris made a motion to approve the minutes for March 2, 2011. L. Meyerhoff seconded the motion. The EA voted and the minutes for March 2, 2011 were approved.

VI. Committee Reports

a) Elections Committee — C. Ferguson

C. Ferguson stated he is attempting to get the EA elections dates into the Cornell University events calendar. The election committee will be putting up flyers and creating Facebook adds. C. Ferguson added it would be good to bring elections information to the next Soup and Hope event as well as putting information in the EA news for April.

b) Academic Calendar Committee — L. Meyerhoff

L. Meyerhoff noted the committee now has a draft of the calendar and that currently parameters are being added. The calendar will be taken to the associate deans and then the VPs, DJS, and then the public for comments.

c)University Diversity Council — L. Meyerhoff and T. Grove

The committee members said there is now a web-based program to report bias incidents. This service can also track patterns and is anonymous. The committee will continue to accept paper forms for those who do not have computer access. The committee would also like to hold a one-day forum on March 24 for staff.

VII.Old Business

a)Budget discussion - G. Osborne

G. Osborne sent out the budget and asked the EA members to send any feedback or changes they might have. The EA members agreed social time among the members should be built into the budget.

b)Cornell Connections — L. Howell and C. Ferguson

This topic will be discussed on the April 6, 2011 meeting.

VIII.New Business

a)Transportation Advisory Committee

D. Brooks brought up the subject of the increasing motorcycle permit cost. There was a brief discussion and the EA members decided they will draft a resolution about this issue.

b)CARE Fund

The EA members think the advertising is working and that more advertising could occur if a “Hardship” fund was created.

c)Emotional Assistance - D. Brooks

D. Brooks asked if anyone knew anything about this group? He knows this is not a Cornell University group but they are using the initials “EA” so he will find out more information and report on it later to the EA.

IX. Open Forum

There was no open forum.

X. Adjournment

T. Grove made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded and the EA meeting was adjourned at 1:35 p.m.