Staff Advisory Council

Annual Report 2008

The Notre Dame Staff Advisory Council (SAC) completed its 12th year of existence in 2008. During 2008, SAC held 12 regularly scheduled monthly meetings. In addition, several members of the SAC served on various ad hoc and standing committees, including: SAC Promotions, elections, executive, web-page, parking appeals, parking, compassion fund and benefits and ECDC. Several of these committees often met after work or on lunch hours. We wish to thank all those SAC members who served on committees. The input generated by their additional effort was invaluable to the various ends of each committee and to the overall function of the Staff Advisory Council.

Accomplishments of the 2008 Staff Advisory Council:

Promotions of Staff Advisory Council:

• Relay for Life
• Fundraiser held at Hacienda on April 16th where $277 was raised
• Held April 25 &26 on the South Quad. SAC raised $700.
• Food Drive
• Beginning November 3rd several bins were placed throughout campus for donations to the Food Bank of Northern Indiana. The food drive lasted through the week of Thanksgiving.

Presentations to the Staff Advisory Council:

• January: Dan Skendzel, Office of VP-Business Operations
• Campus Shuttle

• February: Denise Murphy, Director, Compliance & Benefits, HR
• Benefits/answered insurance questions brought up by staff members

• March: Denise Murphy, Director, Compliance & Benefits, HR
• Benefits/FMLA Process/Retiree Health Insurance

• April: Dan Skendzel, Office of VP-Business Operations
• Campus Shuttle

• May: (1st Presentation) Building Services Representatives
• Presentation of Vacation Proposal

(2nd Presentation) Denise Murphy, Director, Compliance & Benefits, HR

• Vacation Policy

• June: Denise Murphy, Director, Compliance & Benefits, HR

               Chris Sterling, Manager, Retire-Leaves, HR

• Benefits

• July: Dan Skendzel, Office of VP-Business Operations
• Finalization of the campus shuttle schedule

• August: Jim Mazurek, Director of Sustainability, Office of VP-Business Operations
• Recycling on campus

• September: Keri Kei Shibata, NDSP, Campus Safety and Education
• Campus safety

• October: Dee Dee Sterling, Supervisor Events & Education, Human Resources
• Update on United Way

                     Mary Warner, Manager Benefits-Work Live, Human Resources

• Update on Open Enrollment

• November: Jack O’Brien, Applications Analyst/Developer
• Campus wide communications (using inside ND)

                         Denise Murphy, Director, Compliance & Benefits, Human Resources

• Non-exempt compensation survey

Recommendations, Concerns and accomplishments of Staff Advisory Council:

• Recommendations/feedback given to HR regarding the Health Questionnaire
• Recommended that “Main Building” Administrative Shuttle be re-routed to serve entire campus. (exempt and non-exempt) After several meetings with University Management a new schedule was put into place on January 21, 2008 on a six month trial basis. In the summer a schedule was agreed upon and the shuttle now serves the staff/faculty that park in the Library Lot through the North/West ends of campus to the D6 lots.
• The committee worked with Jeff Korros and Doug Marsh to have speed bumps looked at across campus. In addition a portion curb in the library lot was removed to allow standing water to drain, thus causing less chance of an accident during cold weather
• The committee listened to Representatives from the Building Services departments who have concerns regarding the universities vacation policy. The committee asked for an official report to be reviewed with the possibility of a recommendation to university management. An official report was never submitted.
• The committee began the process of having a list-serv for all campus staff (exempt and non-exempt). Examples of the use of such a list-serv would be: communicate with each other to share rides, sell/buy items. The idea continues to be developed.
• The Notre Dame Staff education benefit was revised with input from SAC. This benefit provides reimbursement for: 1. Tuition for courses taken at an accredited institution towards an undergraduate or graduate degree.  Maximum reimbursement for the benefit year is $1,500. 2. Job related certification, skills or trade training.  Maximum reimbursement for the benefit year is $750.

Committees with SAC Representation:

Ongoing SAC Committees:

Executive Committee

Election Committee

Promotions Committee

Web-page Committee

Ad Hoc Committees:

Compassion Fund Committee

Benefits Committee

Parking Committee

Parking Appeals Committee

ECDC Committee

Respectively Submitted,

Patricia Smith, Chair

Kathy Stopczynski, Vice-Chair

Amie Davis, Secretary