President Bendapudi addressed Staff Senators and highlighted recent accomplishments from members of the UofL community. In September, a surgical team with UofL Health – Jewish Hospital performed the world’s first total artificial heart implantation in a female patient, for example.

“In September, the first artificial heart transplant for a man in the United States was performed at Duke University. A week later, the second artificial heart transplant for a man in the United States was here at the University of Louisville. We followed that up by performing the very first artificial heart transplant for a female patient in the world right here at UofL,” Bendapudi said. “I mention that because going forward, I hope I can share these bragging points with our employees because these are genuine, world-wide accomplishments for the university.”

Bendapudi also addressed Staff Senator’s questions and concerns regarding compensation. She said future annual 1% raises for university employees will be contingent on revenue and student enrollment figures. Student enrollment and retention is the largest contributor to revenue for UofL and also affects state funding. Projections estimate that the number of college students in Kentucky will decrease 15% by the year 2025. For this reason, Bendapudi prompted senators and their constituents to reach out and encourage students on campus.

“The best chance we have of our increasing our revenues – the part of the world that we can control and influence – is student enrollment and retention. It is the biggest contributor to revenue and controls where and when we can provide raises,” Bendapudi said. “I believe that everybody who works at UofL should feel confident that every year they will get a raise. To do that, we’ve got to work on our enrollment and retention.”

Vice President of Human Resources Mary Elizabeth Miles informed senators that will be available Oct. 20 through Nov. 3. Employees wishing to make no changes to their plan will not need to take any actions; however, those with a flexible spending account will need to reenroll to retain their balance.

Kari Aikins, director of Total Rewards for UofL, provided senators with additional information on Open Enrollment. Aikens addressed some of the recent changes made to health care plans, including the transition to Optum Health for HRA and FSA administration and moderate increases to vision and dental plans. Senators and their constituents were encouraged to attend one of the four Open Enrollment Benefit Information Sessions offered by Human Resources via Microsoft Teams. Employees who were unable to attend one of the four sessions may view a or reach out to their designated for additional information.

Committee reports and a of the virtual meeting can be found on the . The next Staff Senate meeting is Nov. 9 via Microsoft Teams.

Executive Vice President and University Provost Lori Gonzalez informed senators of plans to restore employee retirement benefits. Retirement benefits were moved back to 2% at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 and were recently raised to 6%. Gonzalez informed senators that retirement benefits are estimated to be returned to the original 7.5% by July 1, pending approval from the Board of Trustees.

Gonzalez also addressed plans for future health care costs stating, “the administration is committed to not passing any increases to health care costs. There will be no change in premiums for the second year in a row for employees at the university.”

Both Gonzalez and Faculty Senate Chair David Schultz reported that the mass COVID-19 vaccination site at Cardinal Stadium will stop taking first-dose patients in the coming weeks. Gonzalez cited low patient turn out as one contributing factor of the upcoming closure. Schultz informed senators that alternative vaccination site locations will be available.

Senators were presented with the second readings of the revised bylaws for the School of Nursing and the J.B. Speed School of Engineering — both of which were approved unanimously. Two academic certificate proposals, a graduate certificate in Health Care Ethics and an undergraduate certificate in Ethics both through the College of Arts and Sciences, were also unanimously approved by the senate.

Mary Elizabeth Miles, vice president for Human Resources, informed senators on two changes to employee flexible spending accounts. After reaching out to those affected, the decision was made to increase dependent care FSA to $10,500. In addition, there will be a roll over for FSA from 2020 to 2021 and then 2021 to 2022.

“What that means for our employees is that if you had any money left in your dependent care or in your medical FSA at the end of 2020, it will now it roll over into 2021. Whatever you have left this year, you will be able to use that money for 2022 through Dec. 31,” Miles stated.

Schultz later led a senate discussion on the proposed Faculty Accountability Policy, which was presented during last month’s Faculty Senate Meeting. In December 2019, former Provost Beth Boehm charged a committee to make recommendations regarding expectations of faculty behavior and appropriate disciplinary actions. The proposed policy is intended to add consistency and equity in disciplinary actions across departments.

The policy was shared with senators during last month’s meeting to allow time for feedback and suggestions. During the discussion, senators voiced concerns, suggested amendments and recommended changes to the proposed policy. The recommendations of the senate will be shared with the Office of the Executive Vice President and University Provost.

Committee reports and a of the virtual meeting can be accessed on the . The next Faculty Senate meeting is scheduled for June 2 via Microsoft Teams.

Smith will maintain his position after winning the three-candidate election, the major action item on the agenda. The 32-year veteran, including eight as a senator, is UofL’s assistant director of Intramural and Recreational Sports. He was first elected in June 2018.

Andrew Grubb, a senior academic coordinator in the University Honors Program, unseated Marian Vasser for the vice chair position.

Grubb graduated from UofL with his bachelor’s degree in 2005 and his master’s in 2007. He returned to Louisville from Connecticut in 2010 in a temporary role before he was hired permanently in May 2011. During his time at UConn, he first experienced the administrative side of higher education when he was voted president of the graduate student senate.

“What I’m hoping for in fulfilling my duties as vice chair is to highlight the contributions of staff on campus, raise the profile of staff, a distinctive class of human who do invaluable things here to make the university work,” Grubb added.

Rhonda Gilliland held on to her role as the secretary-treasurer in a two-person race.

Each candidate had five minutes to share his or her campaign. Once the group for that position finished their presentations, senators were given time to ask questions about their stances on key issues.

In between secretary-treasurer race, director of gift administration and training for advancement, Judy Singleton, presented an update on Quasi Endowment. She mentioned during her time on the floor that the University foundation is putting out a request for proposal for an investment group, as the current unit has gone unchanged for the last 18 years.

Todd Kneale, director of total rewards in human resources, shared an update on health benefits. He is part of a group of consultants across campus focused on building a four-year strategy for health benefits, restricted to medical and prescription drugs. He said the group is benchmarking not only other institutions but also competing organizations.

The meeting wrapped up with senators sharing updates from their various units.

Smith started his report by informing senators that the strip mall, across from Cardinal Towne that previously housed Gray’s Bookstore, has been sold to a developer. The University is in talks with the new owner, who is proposing to build a more than 400-bed student-housing facility on the south side of that property. The developer is aiming to put a major retailer on the north side of the space. Smith said there is no proposed timeline at the moment.

Smith also informed the senators that an RFP is on the market for a craft beer partner, and the beverage would be sold in areas that have high concentrations of UofL alumni.

Following a notice that was sent out previously, Smith reminded those in attendance that Canon agreed to buy out the remaining leases on Xerox equipment and that more than 200 new Canon machines will be delivered to campus in the near future.

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