Annual Report of the Education and Career Development Committee
of the Employee Forum
June 25, 2020
Members of the Committee:
L.E. Alexander
Adrienne Cromwell
Clinton Miller
Joe Ormond
Allison Standard
Laura Pratt, Chair
Members Who Left the Committee During the Year:
Emma Beckham
Karlina Matthews
Hoi Ning Ngai
Meetings of the Committee During the Year (June 2019-June 2020):
Wednesday, June 5, 2019 — 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Wednesday, July 10, 2019 — During Employee Forum Retreat
Wednesday, August 7, 2019 — 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Wednesday, September 11, 2019 — 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Wednesday, October 2, 2019 — 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Wednesday, November 6, 2019 — 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Wednesday, December 4, 2019 — 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Wednesday, January 8, 2020 — 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
February 2020 – no meeting
Wednesday, March 4, 2020 — 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Wednesday, April 1, 2020 — 11:30 am – 12:30 pm (Zoom)
Wednesday, May 6, 2020 — 11:30 am – 12:30 pm (Zoom)
June 2020 – no meeting
Report Prepared By:
Laura Pratt (Chair) with the review of the committee.
Committee Charge:
The committee is tasked with advocating for and supporting the professional development needs of employees across campus.
Committee Goals/Objectives for the Year:
This year, the committee had the following goals:
- Administer two rounds of Professional Development Grants – fall and spring.
- Administer the Carolina Family Scholarship in the spring/summer.
- Increase awareness of the Carolina Family Scholarship as a donor option for UNC employees.
- Begin planning a Professional Development mini conference scheduled for the following year.
Previous Forum Concerns Continued:
None
Report of Activities
Looking at our goals (from above), here is the progress we made this year:
- Administer two rounds of Professional Development Grants – fall and spring.
- In Fall 2019, we received 61 applications and were able to provide funding to 12 employees. In Spring 2020, we received 20 applications and were able to provide funding to 11 employees. Individuals who were selected to receive Fall 2019 funding had to use their funds by May 31, 2020 to coincide with the end of the fiscal year. Because of COVID 19, a small number of employees were unable to use their funding (canceled conferences, not allowed to travel, etc.). This left a small amount of excess funding that was not able to be rolled over into the coming year. In Sparing 2020, prospective applications were informed that they were unable to apply for funding to travel or opportunities that were conflict with current university policies. This addition led to a small number of applicants that usual, but of those applicants, they were still highly qualified.
- Administer the Carolina Family Scholarship in the spring/summer.
- The committee elected not to change any aspect of the 2019 CFS application. The 2020 application opened on April 15 and closed on June 1. We received 48 applications. At the time of writing this report, applications were still being scored. However, the committee anticipates providing approximately $17,000 In funding to this year’s scholarship recipients.
- Increase awareness of the Carolina Family Scholarship as a donor option for UNC employees.
- Emma Beckham was spearheading this goal before departing from the committee. Emma had the idea of creating short videos about the recipients of the scholarship to be used in publicizing this as a worthwhile cause for individuals to donate to on the university’s annual giving day. Emma was working closely with Gwen Norwood, Senior Accountant in the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid on this goal. (Gwen is our primary contact for determining how much money is in the fund). However, since Emma resigned from the Employee Forum, this goal was put on the backburner. Before her departure, Emma was successful in having the “Give now” buttons added to the CFS website (https://employeeforum.unc.edu/awards/carolina-family-scholarship/).
- Begin planning a Professional Development mini conference scheduled for the following year.
- The committee wanted to determine what professional development needs were not being addressed for UNC employees. To do so, we developed a Qualtrics survey to gather feedback from employees. More than 900 employees responded to the survey. The committee is still in the process of analyzing the results and will use that to develop the schedule for the mini conference. The current working title of the conference is “Growing.Connecting.Thriving@UNC”. Possible workshop ideas include individual development plans, mentorship, leadership and motivation, and changing jobs within UNC. The committee shared the survey results with Mark Haapala from UNC HR and looks forward to partnering with Mark’s team for some of the conference offerings.
Recommendations/Motions of the Committee and Action Taken
None
Suggestions for Next Year’s Committee
- Professional Development Grants:
- No suggestions for changes.
- As an FYI, next year’s committee has $10,000 to spend on these grants. $4,944 has already been allocated to Spring 2020 recipients.
- Carolina Family Scholarship:
- Start in March to get application reviewers on board. It was difficult to get multiple faculty members to agree to this task when the semester had come to a close in May.
- Continue publicizing this fund as a great option for Give Day or as part of the State Employee’s Combined Campaign.
- Mini conference:
- The conference is tentatively scheduled for Spring 2021. We are not sure how COVID will impact the spring semester, so consider changing the date or looking at virtual options.
- As an FYI: next year’s committee has $2,000 to spend on the conference. This money should go towards room rental, catering, swag, speaker fees, etc.