“Leadership is a team sport, and this group [Staff Senate] plays an important role in shared governance at UofL,” said Schatzel.

She added that issues raised at the listening sessions so far have included housing and dining options, staff’s desire for more engagement with students, accessibility to services for non-traditional students, among others. Schatzel emphasized that her listening tour is just that – an opportunity to understand how to best align the university’s culture with its strategic plan and vision for the future.

See the president’s for updates and information about upcoming listening sessions.

The Staff Senate was also introduced to Kelvin Thompson, the university’s new vice provost for online strategy and teaching innovation. Thompson came to UofL in January after 25 years of service at the University of Central Florida, where he most recently served as executive director of the Center for Distributed Learning.

Thompson said that he was drawn to UofL by how the university positions online strategy and teaching innovation, a construct Thompson said is not common in many organizations. In his role, Thompson will assist with establishing online courses and academic programs, provide faculty development opportunities for teaching face-to-face classes, provide support for the Blackboard learning management system and more.

Learn more about Thompson’s role on the provost’s .

In other news, Senate President John Smith reported that Provost Lori Gonzalez will reassume her role as co-chair of the Shared Governance Workgroup following her service as interim university president. Smith also noted that he now serves on the university’s Legislative Advisory Committee, which reviews bills submitted to the Kentucky General Assembly which may impact the university.

Officer reports and other information from the Feb. 14, 2023, Staff Senate meeting are available on the Staff Senate’s . The next Staff Senate meeting will take place Tuesday, March 14, at 2:30 p.m. on Teams. Email staffsen@louisville.edu for questions.

Five days later, March 11, the World Health Organization classified the virus as a global pandemic. That same day, UofL President Neeli Bendapudi sent a campus-wide email introducing a dedicated website for COVID-19 updates and announcing immediate changes to the spring semester, including the extension of spring break and the suspension of international and non-essential domestic business travel.

Further, classes were to be delivered remotely starting March 18 through April 5. As we know now, that remote class model continued through the duration of the spring semester and even spring commencement was delivered virtually. Though our campus remained open and functioning, much of our operating model was turned on its head.����

When the first coronavirus patient was admitted to UofL Health on March 17, the global headlines that had peppered newspapers since the beginning of the year became deeply personal.��

“Each day seems to bring with it new issues and new complications,” President Bendapudi wrote to the campus community. “And yet each day also brings hope and confidence and resilience because it is clear we are working together, and working with one singular purpose: to keep everyone healthy and informed as we move forward.”

During those early and dark days, the CDC issued a laundry list of precautions to stay safe against this new and complex threat. Chief among those guidelines was maintaining a social distance of at least 6 feet from another human being, no doubt a challenge on a busy college campus like ours.

As such, the spring 2020 semester became like no other in the 200-plus-year history of the University of Louisville. Remote instruction was extended to the end of the semester, including finals, students were moved out of campus residence halls. Recreation facilities were closed, faculty and staff shifted to a work-from-home model and commencement was postponed. There was confusion and sadness, anxiety and fear.

President Bendapudi urged the UofL community to, “Anchor yourself in what matters most to you. Reach out to someone for help … Reach out to see if someone else needs help. Let us be patient with one another. Together we will persevere through this tumultuous time and come out the other side a stronger, more unified university community.”

Anxiety from the unknown

Staff Senate Chair John Smith was tasked with making sure the needs of UofL’s staff employees were taken care of and that they were as informed as they could be. Those early days were the toughest for him, when things were shutting down “like dominos” and discussions were taking place about budget cuts and staffing.   

“When we saw other colleges and universities shutting down for the rest of the semester, we knew right away there was going to be a tremendous financial hit to the university and we were going to have to navigate that in some manner,” he said. “Knowing how much of our budget is dedicated to personnel costs, I knew we were going to be looking at furloughs and pay reductions. I hated every second of those discussions.”

Those discussions lasted for weeks. Solutions were largely elusive.

“There was so much unknown. How is the state system going to function? What happens to people who receive a furlough? It was a very real roller coaster,” Smith said.

The furlough and pay-reduction conversation was just one challenge, however. Employees also had to navigate NTI, VPN, internet connections, child care, their own health and the health of their families. The one topic employees revisited most with Smith was how much anxiety they were experiencing – anxiety about getting the virus from pumping gas, or about how long it was going to be until they could see their friends and family, or about how long their child would be out of school.

“Usually you can see the other side of something, but this was new for the entire world,” he said. “The not knowing was the hardest part. It just seemed so overwhelming for so many people at the same time.”

For senior Sabrina Collins, UofL’s SGA president, the toughest decision early on was whether or not we should bring students back to campus for the fall 2020 semester without knowing what the state of the pandemic would be.

“Last spring, most people thought COVID would be long gone by the fall,” she said. “As we approached the start of the fall semester, it became clear that would not be the case.”

Like employees, students were also hit hard in a number of ways. Collins said many were impacted financially, unable to work and struggling to navigate the unemployment process. Many were also not included in the 2020 stimulus package.

“In addition, students today are facing unprecedented mental health challenges, which have only been exacerbated by the pandemic,” she said.

Points of pride

UofL worked to address some of those challenges, adding counseling sessions, hosting “coping with COVID” webinars and virtual group workshops and ensuring critical social networks didn’t dissipate. A number of traditional campus events continued in a virtual format, for example.

As the pandemic raged on through those early days and into the summer, we started to learn a little more about how to navigate this relentless virus. At UofL, we took an all-hands-on-deck approach to research, care, prevention and community.

For example, from the onset, our nationally networked lab  to safely study coronavirus, our engineering students  shields for healthcare professionals, our  started a company to meet demand for reusable face masks, 3D printed swabs developed at UofL  and we launched a  to alleviate a mask shortage for health care workers.

In April,  believed to block the coronavirus from infecting human cells. In July, UofL began a clinical trial on a  COVID-19 patients meant to lessen some of the most severe respiratory effects. In early December, UofL received funding from the  to develop and test a nasal spray to prevent COVID-19.

This is nowhere near a complete list of UofL’s work against the COVID-19 pandemic, yet all of this work that should incite plenty of pride.

For Smith, however, his pride comes from a place that’s a little more personal. He’s most proud of the way UofL staff employees “dug in” during the crisis. A few volunteered to take furloughs to protect others, for example.

He is proud of President Bendapudi and the board of trustees for raising a “significant” amount of money for our employee SHARE program, and Physical Plant for keeping campus sanitized, Public Safety for keeping campus safe, Housing and Dining for keeping students sheltered and fed, the fitness centers, our academic advisors, our researchers, our enrollment management staff, our Delphi Center that moved classes online quickly, and so forth.

“These are examples that really show what we are all about,” he said. “The concern for each other was tremendously apparent and encouraging. Hope is a powerful thing. Staff did a great job giving hope to each other at a time when so many things were unknown.”

As this past year has poignantly proved, our collective challenges were created by more than the global pandemic. The global protests for racial justice in the wake of the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd also hit home, particularly for many of our students. It was those students’ response that made Collins most proud.

“Our students really showed up for one another and for the Louisville community,” she said. “It is inspiring to see UofL students demanding change and working to peel away layers of institutional racism at our university in our city.”

Post-pandemic changes

Without question, the pandemic has changed so much more than just pedagogical models and some of those changes are predicted to stick around.

Smith said remote work – at least a hybrid model – might linger for some employees and he would advocate for such a model.

“The ability to work remotely or in a hybrid situation may help us retain some valuable people. Aside from that, the ability to work remotely can really make a positive difference in someone’s quality of life,” he said. “Obviously there are some jobs that can’t be accomplished remotely, but I hope we take this opportunity to embrace the opportunity for those that can.”

He also hopes we continue some virtual meeting components to allow more opportunities for people to engage if they have restrictive schedules or travel.

Collins said some students have done well in an academic environment where there are more options for course modality, while acknowledging others have struggled in an online environment. The future should therefore reflect a range of needs, she said.

“I am glad to know our decision to change the online course pricing to match the in-person rate will persist into future years,” she said. “This change allows students to have more flexibility regarding the courses they are taking. I hope that as UofL moves forward, we continue to collect student feedback on hybrid courses so we can provide course options that best meet the needs of our students.”

Of course, in light of a global pandemic, UofL Health is also experiencing tremendous changes. UofL’s chief medical officer the pandemic will change the delivery of health care, for example, among other things.

“This is going to be something that we are going to take lessons learned, both good and bad, and begin to adapt it to all areas of our lives,” he said. “And I don’t think it’ll ever quite be the same after COVID … Delivery of health care is going to be different. The science behind vaccinations and the use of vaccines is going to be very different. How we disseminate information is going to be very different. We are probably just on the cusp of beginning to understand the impact of this.”

That said, one year later, we also seem to be on the cusp of a post-COVID world, with plenty of reasons for hope and optimism. We were the first hospital in Kentucky and one of the first in the country to start administering the , for example. We’re planning an in May at Cardinal Stadium after enduring two virtual commencements in a row. And, we’re resuming an  in the fall. We’ll do all of this fully aware of how this crisis changed our community – individually and collectively.

“There was a point in time where it was like the entire university said, ‘OK, we have got to start moving forward again,’ I have seen it with our students. I have seen it with our staff. I have seen it with our faculty. I have seen it with our administration,” John Smith said. “Witnessing that synergy has been very powerful and encouraging. Seeing it happen across the board has been inspiring.”

Amber Peter, director of Web in the Office of Communications & Marketing, presented on a three-year plan for a re-haul of the university’s website.

“The goal is to unify the university.��A web experience that is audience-centered and an authentic representation of our brand,” she stated during her opening slides.

Currently there are about 255,000 different webpages that live on the website and very few follow a consistent format.��Peter has been working with a steering committee to consider the many ways in which to make the site more intuitive so that resources can be found faster.����

An ITS staff member asked how this project will affect their work. Peter responded that it will eventually replace Plone. Another staff member asked about the timeline and if training is being planned. Peter assured senators that there will be numerous opportunities for training and that it will take a minimum of 2 months to kick off, followed by a series of implementation phases which will take a total of three years. Peter closed with an invitation to any staff members who have questions about the project to contact her directly at amber.peter@louisville.edu.����

Jason Beare, Staff Grievance committee chair, reported that the health benefits design group met earlier this month. He  that is being used to plan out the next 3 years of the Strategic Plan.��No decision has been made yet on 2020-2021 benefits yet. Decisions will be made by this June.��

Carcyle Barrett reported on several bylaw revisions, .��

They also reported that the executive committee voted to go back to having one of their meetings in the fall and the other meeting in the spring, with the requirement that every meeting be posted at the beginning of the academic year.��

John Smith, Staff Senate chair, both met recently, and that the S&P issued an A+ rating to the Foundation which is a high level of distinction for a foundation.��Additionally, the Provost search committee submitted their top eight names. There were over 50 applicants.��Glenn Gittings and John Smith are representing the Staff Senate on the Provost Search committee.��

Groundbreaking for the new Miller Hall, “Dorm 1,” is scheduled for April 21.��Additionally, there is an RFP out for a new, 120 occupancy resident hall that would be constructed on Floyd Street across from the Kueber Center. The project would be spearheaded by Athletics and not involve any University funds. It would become the residence of teams that utilize the Kueber Center for their practices, such as men’s and women’s basketball, field hockey, and lacrosse.��Per NCAA rules, however, a minimum of 51% of the beds available must be for students who are not athletic team members.��

A motion was brought to the floor to make Staff Senate meetings available via teleconference. A lengthy discussion followed, weighing the pros and cons.��An amendment was added to the motion that in-person attendance at least be required for the election meeting. Senators requested more information about the logistics of this teleconferencing and suggested a test run of the system. A vote was held to table the discussion until the next meeting, when more officers and senators are present.��

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The next Staff Senate meeting is April 13 via teleconference.��

For Fiscal Year 2019, revenues were up by 5% to about $1.1 billion, and UofL’s net position increased by $23 million, a significant increase over the prior year’s performance of $3 million.

Durbin said the university’s financial position remains strong with total assets and deferred outflows of $1.3 billion.

One area UofL has struggled with in recent years has been with liquidity, or cash on hand. But that has also improved and our current ratio has increased from 1.32x from 1.11x, Durbin noted.

“We are continuing to make progress in all areas. We have had some revenue decreases, for example with state support and foundation numbers, but all other revenue sources were higher than they were in 2018, which is all good news,” Durbin said. “Especially at the HSC campus, which has turned a corner. 2019 was a critical year and everything is pointing in the right direction.”

Durbin also noted that Q1 revenues so far are up by about 2% year-over-year, despite some challenges from enrollment numbers.

“We have more students, but they’re taking less credit hours,” he said.

A budget planning and monitoring committee has been charged to advise the president and her leadership team about the allocation of current and future financial resources and ensure they are in alignment with the university’s mission and strategic plan. Durbin is a co-chair along with Provost Beth Boehm. Three subcommittees have been formed, including a funding request subcommittee, budget model allocation and administrative activity review.

University-wide budget goals, policies and priorities that the committee is exploring include:

• Corrective budget actions to avoid deficits
• University enrollment targets
• Employee compensation changes
• Fringe benefit changes
• Evaluation of university investments in programs and activities (cost vs. benefit)
• Other changes identified by the provost and CFO
• Investments in design and use of space
• Items recommended by subcommittees
• Enhance peer understanding of our budget by being involved

For the final bullet point, Durbin said the administration is working hard to involve more people in the budget planning and monitoring process.

“The more people involved, the more people will understand the budget and be able to help and provide input,” he said.

Heidi Cooley-Cook provided an update about the inaugural Cards Come Together event in October. She said the collection drives were particularly successful, and most of those donations stayed on campus. The Cardinal Cupboard collected nearly 2,000 pounds of food, which should get the pantry through winter break.

Conservative estimates indicate that 500 students, staff, faculty and alumni were involved in the week of service. The executive committee recommends that the event continue, but to also consider other dates and times that are not associated with homecoming.

Carcyle Barrett provided an update on the bylaw revisions, noting that they are not quite ready for a first reading, but senators’ opinions about the live document are invited prior to the February meeting.

The , and includes an update from President Bendapudi and a summary of the new internal budget model. Additionally, a student wellness committee has been formed to help create a healthy environment for all students.

Chair John Smith’s . He pointed out the increasing challenge of filling committee vacancies and encouraged senators to consider volunteering for those positions.��

“As leadership continues to advocate for a ‘seat at the table,’ we need to ensure we have people willing and desirous of filling those positions,” he said.

Vice Chair , as are most standing, ad-hoc and university-wide .��

The Staff Senate won’t meet in January. The next meeting is Feb. 10 in Chao Auditorium.

That is intentional. According to John Smith, assistant director of the Department of Intramural and Recreational Sports, while many universities are trimming their intramurals programs to include just traditional sports like basketball and volleyball, UofL offers 34 different leagues, tournaments and special events comprised of 26 different sports.��

“We take a lot of pride in our offerings, like sand volleyball, putt putt golf and a swim meet. Not many other intramural departments offer a track meet to their students. We are only aware of one other department in the nation that has a day similar to our Canoe Regatta. Our calendar of intramural activities is much more diverse than most other universities,” Smith said.��“We have started offering online activities like NCAA Bowl Pick ‘Em and NCAA March Madness bracket contests.”

The Department of Intramural and Recreational Sports has a long and colorful history on campus. The first homecoming event of the intramural program was a mile and a half inter-fraternity cross-country race, named by Ellis Mendelsohn after he became the head of intramural sports in 1953. Participants literally ran for birds — first, second and third place finishers won a live turkey, a goose and a chicken, respectively. The last place finisher received a goose egg.��In 1970, a women’s race, the Hen Waggle, was added.��

This race, now called the Turkey Trot, is the oldest, consecutively run road race in the state.

Although there are no longer livestock prizes for intramurals winners, the department continues to provide a fun outlet for students. According to its website, its goal is “to improve the quality of life and sense of belonging for all members of the University of Louisville community” through community via sports and fitness activities.

Few have such a deep perspective as Smith, who has been at UofL for 32-plus years. He breaks the department down into two parts: Intramural Sports and group fitness/club sports/recreation.��

“Most people know our department as the Intramural Department but within our profession, the word Intramurals refers specifically to the structured leagues, tournaments and special events like Flag Football, Soccer, Racquetball etc.,” he said.

The Intramural Sports program included 8,140 students participating in the past year.��

The department also includes group fitness, club sports and recreation where facilities like the Student Recreation Center and HSC Fitness Center are made available for people to use on their own schedules. About 15,000 people participate in these opportunities. The SRC and HSC Fitness Center combined average around 550,000 hours of use from those participants, according to Smith.��

To meet demand, the department is one of the largest student employers on campus, something Smith takes quite a bit of pride in. Staffing levels depend on the time of year, but typically there are between 110 to 120 students employed at any time. Their roles range from checking people in to providing instruction on equipment use.��

There are also students who serve as event assistants during intramural games. EAs get teams signed in, keep score and time, and assist the supervisor on duty in any way needed. Those supervisors are also students who have typically come up through being an EA or who have been involved with the program in another way. They have the responsibility to administer the intramural activities throughout the year, Smith explains.

“Plus, we have sports officials in every sport. We provide that as well as ongoing instruction/training for anyone interested in becoming an official. Becoming involved as an official can open the doors to a considerable amount of opportunities around the city as other agencies come to us regularly for help in that area,” he said.��

Another critical component of the department is the Intramural Council, which is made up of a representative from every team/organization in the program and acts as an advisory group or focus group. The council meets every month and makes recommendations about adding sports, or taking some sports off the calendar that aren’t popular. The list of events is continually being modified.

“We’re happy to provide so many different opportunities for our students,” Smith said. “We hope that anyone that participates in our program, whether on an intramural team or in any other program area, develops a sense of belonging between themselves and the University of Louisville. Being involved with something you enjoy is maybe the best way to cultivate that sense of belonging. We know many lifetime friendships come from being on intramural teams together.”

More information about the department and its programs is .��

Senators broke out into a work session to develop a starting point. The shared governance workgroup will begin meeting in September to develop a framework. The workgroup will include three faculty senators, three staff senators and a representative from a diverse group of departments across campus.

“Our charge is to define what we’re included in, what we’re not included in and what our expectations are,” said Chair John Smith.

As part of this initial discussion, senators were asked questions like how university issues should be communicated, what the Staff Senate should be expected to vet, which committees senators should be a part of, which issues should be managed without shared governance (such as personnel) and more.

For the communication piece, senators offered the following suggestions: UofL Today, a daily report from the chair, summaries with links to additional information, senator distribution to constituents, livestreaming meetings, the creation of a senate newsletter monthly, a Staff Senate blog, social media and more open forums.

Other discussion points brought up during the meeting include:

• Allowing all staff members to have input into line-item cuts and other decisions that affect their departments.
• Staff should not be expected to vet personnel decisions, tenure decisions, legal issues, student issues or faculty issues.
• Staff should be involved in decisions about their own departments and should sit on search, HR, hiring and policy committees. “If faculty are involved, staff should be involved too,” one senator noted.
• If a specific issue is taking up too much time in a Staff Senate meeting, a special meeting should be called to address it at length.
• Meetings should include voting on items, not just information.
• Survey Monkey should be used to gain input before committees make recommendations.

Todd Kneale, director of total rewards, provided an update on the benefits workgroup that was formed recently. The group is working to come up with a three-year plan that takes a more strategic approach to benefits. He mentioned there will be an increase in 2020, but doesn’t know what that looks like yet.

Last week, faculty senators met to discuss some issues including how to increase a focus on student mental health, which is a major issue across campuses. .��

John Smith provided the chair’s report, providing a brief overview of recent changes from UofL’s letter of intent with Norton to move our existing pediatrics operations to Norton Hospital. As part of the agreement, 82 employees will move to Nortons. Smith assured the senate that all employees from pediatrics will have their positions secured in the transition. He also noted that move could potentially generate a revenue stream of $30 million annually. .��

Other reports, including the vice chair’s report and the secretary/treasurer’s report, are . The Staff Senate will not meet in August. The next meeting is Sept. 9 in the SAC Ballroom.

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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The S&P recognized the numerous changes made in the past year, including governance reform to include three non-constituency representatives on the ULF board – Faculty Senate, Staff Senate and Student Government Association. The S&P also recognized ULF’s restructuring and improved transparency.

Smith also announced that UofL employees will have free access to Louisville area YMCAs from Dec. 17 to Jan. 2. .��

Marian Vasser provided a brief vice chair’s report, ensuring senators that the buyout money to replace UofL’s football coach came from a designated endowment fund, not the academic budget.

Rhonda Gilliland, secretary-treasurer, noted that there were no expenditures in the past month to report.

The remainder of the meeting moved to a format that included a broad overview of all 30 committees available for senators to join to help facilitate change on campus.

Some highlighted information about some of those committees is included below:

• Credentials and Nominations: There are currently 10 vacancies on committees.
• Policies and Economic Development: Advises on salary and compensation issues, insurance, staff development and more.
• Services and Facilities: The committee is currently looking into a safety issue on the pedestrian bridge behind the SAC.
• University Planning, Design and Construction: Looks at renovation plans on all three campuses; currently there are about 60 different projects in the works.
• Staff Grievance Committee: There has only been one meeting this year, which “says a lot about the university,” according to Donna Bottorff, committee chair. The committee reviews grievances and makes recommendations.
• Staff Help and Relief Effort (SHARE): Employees who are in crisis situations can apply for financial help ($500), as approved by this committee.
• Staff Morale and Community Outreach: A discussion was brought up as to whether or not this committee needs to revisit community outreach efforts.
• Bookstore Advisory Committee: A new Bookstore Advisory Council is being formed to replace the old committee (which had been inactive).
• Awards and Designations: This committee reviews requests for building and program name changes, such as the recently-named Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute.
• Student Government: A Staff Senate member serves as an ex-officio member of this group.
• Legislative Monitoring: The Legislative Monitoring and Action Committee is active but only meets when the legislature is active. There is a 30-day session starting in February.
• CODRE: The Commission for Diversity and Racial Equality works on efforts to recruit, retain and promote underrepresented employees.
• COSW: The Commission on the Status of Women works on friendly policies, such as ensuring feminine products are accessible across campus. It also works to train women on advancement and self-recognition techniques, among other topics.
• Faculty Senate Academic Programs: This committee reviews program, degree and certificate proposals that are put up for a vote during Faculty Senate meetings.
• Faculty Senate Planning and Budget: This committee participates in long-range planning and budgeting and makes recommendations on priorities.
• HRAC: Human Resources Advisory Committee works with HR on HR initiatives, from pharmacy costs to FSLA implementation.
• Day of Service: This is a new group created to revisit UofL’s Day of Service, which has historically included more than 1,000 employees and students working on various service projects throughout the community. There are three focus areas – fundraising, logistics and communications.��
• EVPHA Search: Has not yet met
• EVPRI Search: Has not yet met
• Health and Welfare Benefits: This committee analyzes a wide breadth of topics. .��
• HR Staff Compensation: It is recognized that there are inconsistencies in UofL’s compensation policies and HR is working toward streamlining those processes. .��

The Staff Senate does not meet in January. The next meeting is Feb. 11 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at a location to be determined.

John Elliott, said two policies are currently under review in his department – a lactation policy and a telecommuting policy.  

Salaries are now posted on the HR website and will be updated quarterly. The tuition policy was changed by state legislators recently, but UofL will continue to adhere to the old reciprocity policy through the spring semester with an extension to be determined. UofL will also move from a smoke-free campus to a tobacco-free campus.

There were a few questions about compensation policies. Elliott said the compensation process is dated, but HR is working to implement a more modern system.

“Part of the problem is we grew too fast to keep up and now we lack consistency,” he said.  

A senator went on record to state that it is “unacceptable” that employees have not received raises in three years, while the board is approving pay raises for certain administrators, per Chair John Smith’s report below. Elliott said the goal is to get to a point where employees receive merit raises every year.

Bob Knaster provided an overview of the recent transition from university print and mail services to Canon. The changes include new MFDs in libraries, labs and public spaces; new print and mail center in the SAC; upgraded HSC copy center in the C Building; upgraded HSC mail mailroom; optimized “print anywhere” network of MFDs in offices; and service and supplies for department-owned print devices.

Managed print has moved to a cost-per-impression utility, versus monthly. The updates are also now able to provide data for each department to better help manage their print spend. Knaster said the transition to Canon is expected to yield about $770,000 total savings.

There have been some growing pains. New hire employees have been able to gain access to printing only to lose that access the next day, for example. Knaster said employees must be found with a search tool versus just being added. Added employees are deleted when the system cycles. Also, when printing is paid for by the department, color can be turned off. However, when color printing is turned off, the employee cannot print in color using their personal funds.

Some departments have also reported no access to print billing information to monitor. Knaster said this issue will be resolved quickly, as Canon can’t get paid until it is fixed.

One senator noted that, despite some minor hiccups in the transition period, the overall transition has been very positive and efficient for his department.

Gary Lewis, who was named police chief in July, said his first observation on campus is that the university has grown faster than the safety and security forces and technologies have.

Throughout all campuses, UofL has 39 officers and 30 security officers. He would like to triple that.

Aside from being short on resources, Lewis noted that another major challenge is that we have four campuses (the police department counts HSC and dental separately) with different security needs. Still, Lewis said that there was a reduction in crime in 2017-18.

John Smith provided the chair’s report, including a board of trustees meeting in October in which he made a statement about the approval of pay increases for top-level administrators during reorganizations. The raises were part of an “agenda by consent,” which means the entire agenda is voted on in a single motion. Other parts of the agenda he believed to be positive, such as a restructuring of debt on residence halls that will save UofL $700,000 and declaring a building that has been vacant for years and in need of serious repairs as “surplus.” Smith also thanked HR for rescinding two new policies that were set to go into effect on Jan. 1 – a 30-day wait period for benefits to begin for new employees and the elimination of two-employee benefits package for new employees.

A senator asked Smith how much the inauguration for President Neeli Bendapudi cost. The answer is about $80,000, which is “less than half of a typical inauguration,” according to Smith. The average cost of presidential inaugurations are about $150,000.

Chris Tillquist provided the Faculty Senate report, which is .��

Rhonda Gilliland provided the , noting no additional expenditures outside of standard operating costs for the month.��

Marian Vasser provided the vice chair report, introducing a new system in which senators can submit comments and questions anonymously during Staff Senate meetings. The program is called Mentimeter.

She added that a Physical Plant work group has been formed to address the unique needs of that department, including off hours.

Wyatt Harris provided an update on the Student Government Association, which is currently working on its 2025 plan. Priorities are retention, student services and facilities. The SGA is also working with Athletics to reduce fees. Athletics fees were reduced by half last year and the SGA is hoping to eliminate them entirely this year.

The next Staff Senate meeting is scheduled for Dec. 10.

“I need your input on how to do more for this so we can truly make this a great place to work,” she said.

Bendapudi also noted that some donors are coming back, as indicated by a .

“I feel good about our trajectory,” she said. “There are challenges still, however. The problems we have were not created overnight and they won’t be solved overnight. But I’m here for the long run and we will solve them.”

Bendapudi asked for staff senators’ input on how to best communicate with employees. Email, videos, open office hours and brown bag lunches with administrators were all pitched as ideas. She also hopes to start the ideation process for a strategic plan in January and will create committees that will look at how to make UofL a great place to learn, work and invest.

Although we’ve done 10-year strategic plans in the past, Bendapudi noted that this might not be the best approach anymore.

“The world is changing so fast and a 10-year goal may not be the best idea. Or, it is but we check in every year or two. I want it to be a living plan so we’re constantly working on it,” she said.

Open enrollment

Todd Kneale, director of Total Rewards, provided an update on open enrollment, which runs for two weeks beginning Oct. 24. He said there are minimal changes to the plans this year, but rates are going up ().��

Also, starting this week, employee salaries will be posted online on the HR and president’s websites as a way to be more transparent and proactive. This information is already available to the public, but will now just be more accessible.

Custodial and parking updates

An update on the custodial staff was provided by Mark Watkins, AVP for Business Services. He said some employees were shifted from HSC to Belknap to balance out the square footage they were responsible for as we face an employee shortage. Custodial employees are now responsible for about 26,400 square feet per person. Prior to the shift, in which 10 employees were moved from HSC to Belknap, some employees were responsible for more than 36,000 square feet.

Watkins said only five employees have expressed requests for accommodations during the middle-of-the-night shifts. Forty-six employees were impacted by the scheduling changes.

“It’s not perfect, but it’s a change we felt we needed to make for the sake of employee safety,” Watkins said.

He added that UofL has less than 130 employees in this department right now and the goal is to get to about 160.

Gary Becker, from the Parking Administration, provided an update on the Chestnut Street Garage. With the opening of the Novak Center for Children’s Health, this garage has had to increase its visitor space to accommodate the center’s thousands of patients.��

“But we didn’t want to kick any employees out, so two years ago, if you weren’t in the garage, you weren’t getting in the garage,” he said.

Employees and patient parking areas have also been separated and more signage has been added to effectively communicate these changes.

“We still have issues, especially at lunch and the end of the day when everyone’s trying to leave,” he said. The garage is adding new equipment that should cut the transaction time in half to expedite cars exiting the garage.

UofL Day of giving

Amanda James and Michael Jester from the alumni office provided an update on the annual Raise Some L Day of Giving, which coincides with homecoming. This year’s event begins at 6:02 p.m. Oct. 23 and runs for 1,798 minutes (UofL was founded in 1798). The goal for the fifth annual event is to generate 1,200 donors.��

James and Jester encouraged staff senators to sign up as Raise Some L ambassadors (raisesomel.org) as the campaign relies heavily on social media and word of mouth.

Other reports

Chair John Smith provided his report, noting that there are five committees within the board of trustees and he sits on two of those committees – audit/compliance and risk and HR. .��

For the treasurer’s report, there were two expenses this month: $560 for the staff retreat and $417 for a banner.

Marian Vasser reported that focus groups have been formed for the campus climate survey, and Physical Plant will also host focus groups.

The themes that emerged from the recently-held staff retreat include:

• Asking for a new meeting order: sending reports in advance to open up more time for Q&A and discussion.
• Promoting the Staff Senate during new employee orientation.
• Reminding any employees who have concerns to voice those concerns to their senate representative.

The next Staff Senate meeting is Nov. 12 at 2:30 p.m. in Chao Auditorium.