Senators were joined by Executive Director of Campus Health Services Phillip Bressoud, who provided information on the positivity rate of COVID-19 on campus. Bressoud reported that positivity rates declined from 4.1% on Jan. 4 to 1% as of March 1.

Bressoud also informed senators of the new guidelines issued by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The guidelines state that fully vaccinated individuals should still wear a well-fitted mask and practice physical distancing when in public, adhere to preventative measures when visiting with unvaccinated individuals, avoid medium and large in-person gatherings, and get tested if they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. Other CDC guidelines about vaccinated individuals can be found . At this time, all the university’s health protocols and the required testing program, are still in effect.

The commonwealth, in cooperation with Campus Health and UofL Health, will be opening a in the purple lot of Cardinal Stadium on April 1. Vaccinations will be more readily available to faculty and staff as a direct result of this new vaccination location.

Bressoud stated, “Our plan is that all university faculty and staff who have not been vaccinated by April 1 will participate in the first couple days of that operation, and we will finish vaccinating faculty and staff at that time. If you can get the vaccine somewhere else, you are free to do so, but you will be able to receive that vaccination there if you have not already.”

Katie Partin, director of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, and V. Faye Jones, senior associate vice president for diversity and equity, presented senators with information on the Employee Climate survey. The survey was redesigned in 2017 and is divided into two modules that are administered to faculty and staff on an alternating annual schedule. Data collected from previous surveys has been used to measure improvements on campus, create and implement action plans and increase accountability and transparency to the campus community.

The survey was initially planned the fall 2020 semester; however, it was postponed until spring of 2021 due to overlap with the Wellbeing and Resilience Survey. For this reason, invitations to complete the survey were sent out by the Office of Institutional Effectiveness via email on March 15. The survey is scheduled to close on March 28 but could be extended past this date depending on response rates. Findings will be available approximately 30 days after the close of the survey. Previous results from the Employee Climate Survey can be found .

Committee reports and a of the virtual meeting can be found on the . The next Staff Senate meeting will be held on April 13 via Microsoft Teams.

According to , Postel’s term began with 19 top academic and administrative positions filled with interims. That number is down to eight, not including Postel’s own role or any athletics positions.��

Postel said UofL hopes to name a new AD by the end of March or early April, which is at least a month before a permanent president is expected to be chosen. Once an AD is in place, a search for a men’s basketball coach will take place.

Other roles expected to be filled soon include dean of the Speed School of Engineering, dean of the School of Nursing, the head of health affairs, research and innovation, HR, communications and marketing, and advancement.

Postel also provided an update on the campus climate survey. Both the 2014 and 2017 surveys have been released so employees can all see the issues that must be addressed. Dr. Mordean Taylor-Archer is undertaking the development of an Action Plan and will host a series of forums around the survey to gauge the work that needs to be done.

Finally, Postel discussed where we are in the budgeting process, noting that February’s budget forums provided an abundance of information on priorities and how to improve. The budget survey yielded 1,699 respondents and hundreds of narrative comments, he said.��

Other budget considerations include: CPE’s decision on tuition caps; recommendations from the Tuition and Fee-Setting Task Force; some kind of raise for employees; a matching pool of funds for deferred maintenance; and, the potential of another round of state appropriations cuts. All these pieces must come together by May to be presented to the Board of Trustees.

John Elliott, interim VP for HR, introduced Todd Kneale, director of Total Rewards. Kneale provided updates: an audit of the ��FLSA determinations will be conducted by an outside source, the JDF process is being reviewed, a committee is being constituted to oversee the administration of UofL’s retirement plan and his 2019 objective to launch a Total Rewards study.

Dr. Joseph Han, UofL’s new COO, was introduced to the senate. He began his role two weeks ago, and said the operations unit is working on a 5-year plan that includes making data-based decisions, improving communication within units and getting staff involved in decisions.

The Vice Chair’s report is .��

Credentials and Nominations provided a list of seats expiring in 2018, . Also, Senators John Smith and Marian Vasser were elected to the Presidential Search Committee. Senator Sandy Russell has been placed on the Retirement Committee.

The Policies and Economic Development Committee put the telecommuting policy up for a vote to present it to leadership and it was passed unanimously. The purpose of the policy is to meet the changing needs of a diverse workforce. The entire policy suggestion is .��

In other reports, no grievances were filed to the Staff Grievance Committee within the past month, and no applications for SHARE assistance have been submitted. An article highlighting the SHARE program was published in February on .��

According to the treasurer’s report, the Staff Senate SHARE account has an uncommitted balance of $16,910.27; the Staff Senate operating account has an uncommitted balance of $5,073.77. The Staff Morale and Community Outreach Committee reminded senators about the UofL Day of Service, which is April 13 and 14.

The next Staff Senate meeting is April 9, 2:30 p.m. at Ekstrom Library’s Chao Auditorium.