April 5, 2000

Agenda — April 5, 2000

9:30 a.m.— Assembly Room of Wilson Library

I. Call to Order

II. Welcome Guests, Members of the Press, New Delegates Maceo Bullock, Andy Johns & Diane Hill

3. Opening Remarks from Chancellor William McCoy (TENTATIVE)
4. Special Presentation

• Peter Krawchyk on American Disabilities Act
• Marilyn Scott Linden of Office of Distinguished Scholarships & Intellectual Life
• Nick Didow of Carolina Center for Public Service

V. Employee Presentations And Questions

VI. Human Resources Update

• Laurie Charest, Associate Vice Chancellor, Human Resources

VII. Approval of Minutes of the March 1, 2000 meeting P

 

VIII. Unfinished Business

• Division 4 Executive Committee Representative

IX. Stretch Time 

X. New Business

• Proposal for Forum Pins P

XI. Forum Committee Reports: Committee Chair Meetings to Continue Permanently

• University Committee Assignments: John Heuer
• Recognition and Awards: Joanne Kucharski
• Personnel Issues: Dave Lohse
• Orientation: Bobbie Lesane
• Nominating: Karen Geer
• Employee Presentations: Kathy Dutton

• Spring Community Meeting

• Communications: Suzan deSerres

• Forum Newsletter

• Career Development: Bobbie Lesane

 

 

XII. Chair’s Report (Executive Committee): Joanne Kucharski P

• Adverse Weather Resolutions Forwarded to Chancellor
• Chancellor’s Response on Staff Training, Geographic Pay Differential, Wage-Hour Issues
• Executive Committee Meeting with New UNC System Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Gretchen Bataille
• Comments from InTouch Newsletter to Forum Office
• Highlights Page

XIII. Task Force/University Committee Reports

• Pedestrian Safety Committee—Jill Mayer/Sheila Storey
• Transportation & Parking Advisory — John Heuer
• Open Space Committee—Joanne Kucharski/John Heuer
• Master Plan Executive Steering Team—Joanne Kucharski
• University Priorities & Budget— Joanne Kucharski
• Faculty Council Liaison—Joanne Kucharski
• Chancellor Search Committee—Jane Stine
• Provost Search Committee—Jane Stine
• Vice Chancellor for Finance & Administration Search Committee—Joanne Kucharski
• Women’s Center Director Search—Joanne Kucharski

XIV. Announcements/Questions

• Invitation to Provost Richardson to Attend May Meeting

XV. Adjournment

P = Included in Agenda Packet

MINUTES

Minutes

April 5, 2000

Delegates Present

Forrest Aiken

Brenda Ambrose-Fortune

Christine Barfield

Terry Barker

Anita Booth

Suzan deSerres

Kathy Dutton

Monisia Farrington

Linda Ford

Jeffery Fuchs

Linwood Futrelle

Kim Gardner

Karen Geer

Sherry Graham

Dorothy Grant

Shelby Harris

Michael Hawkins

John Heuer

Tom Jenswold

Karen Jordan

Ramona Kellam

Joanne Kucharski

Bobbie Lesane

Dave Lohse

Denise Mabe

Jill Mayer

John Meeker

Margaret Moore

Lynn Ray

Cathy Riley

Rickey Robinson

Joanna E. Smith

Diane Strong

Cindy Stone

Sheila Storey

Darian Sturdivant

Joanne Terry

Robert Thoma

Elaine Tola

Susan Toppin

Verdell Williams

Carol Worrell

Laurie Charest“

“ = Ex-Officio

Delagates Absent

Maceo Bullock

Tracey Haith

John Harris

Diane Hill

Charlotte Kilpatrick

Ruthie Lawson

Diana Newton

Rita Stone

Excused Absences

Ken Perry

Alternates Present

Tommy Griffin

Lauren Mangili

Christine Morrison

Guests

Nick Didow

Peter Krawchyk

Marilyn Scott Linden

William McCoy

JoAnn Pitz

Scott Ragland

Nora Robbins

Call to Order, Welcome to Guests, Opening Remarks

Chair Joanne Kucharski called the meeting to order at 9:34 a.m. She welcomed new Delagates Andy Johns, Dianne Hill, and Maceo Bullock. She then introduced Chancellor William McCoy to provide opening remarks. McCoy wished the Forum good morning. He recognized Jeffrey Fuchs of the UNC Marching Band and the work the band did during the men’s basketball Final Four.

McCoy noted the Forum’s very thoughtful work on the subject of the snow makeup days last month. He said that the administration was working on a response to the Forum’s resolutions. He would let the Forum know of any responses it received from General Administration and the Office of State Personnel on this subject.

A legislative study committee, the Joint Select Committee on Capital Facilities, visited the University last month to take a tour of campus facilities. A number of State senators and representatives make up this committee, along with three non-legislative members. The committee is making trips to campuses throughout the University System, and held a kick-off meeting earlier this month in Raleigh. At that meeting, System President Molly Broad and Community College System President Martin Lancaster spoke, as well as Phil Kirk of the North Carolina Citizen for Business and Industry. The committee visited UNC-Chapel Hill a couple of weeks ago for a couple of hours; the committee visited the medical science research building and Hill Hall to demonstrate capital needs plaguing the campus.

During these sessions, Jim Robertson spoke of the tremendous impact that System institutions had made on the development of the Research Triangle Park. McCoy told Robertson that UNC was proud to be the best public university and the first public university. However, the University had built up its history over a period of 205 years, and thus had to maintain a number of old buildings. Twenty-one percent of its 230 buildings had been constructed before 1930. Therefore, Chapel Hill needs a great amount of money for repair and renovation work. Eva Klein’s ten year study detailed a System need for $1.6 billion in capital facilities, of which $700 million would be devoted to building repair, renovation and refurbishment.

Klein’s study found that System campuses are facing space shortages (classroom, office and conference) of 200,000 square feet. With plans to increase enrollment by 15% by 2003, the University will be short of space by 450,000 square feet, a number which will increase to 850,000 square feet by 2008. McCoy emphasized that these estimates do not include needs for laboratory space, which are also believed to be vastly short.

The legislative committee toured the medical research building and Venable, which lack adequate ventilation to remove dust and debris. Following these visits, the committee heard a PowerPoint presentation from Provost Richardson, School of Medicine Dean Jeffery Houpt, and Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences Risa Palm. Following these presentations, the committee toured the music facility Hill Hall, at which State senator Eleanor Kinnaird used to work. Hill Hall contains a valuable music library which is exposed to steam pipes and leaking ceilings due to lack of renovation funds. McCoy reported that the study committee was very sympathetic to the University’s concerns, but stipulated that there are no spare dollars available for expenditures this year. He hoped that the situation for funding would improve in the next couple of years.

McCoy said that there was still a prospect for a University bond package this year, and hoped that some effective bond approach would occur this year given campus needs. The approval process for University bonds will begin in May. The University has hosted members of the legislative advisory commission at the House Undergraduate library. Following a brief tour, the University presented its short version of its expansion budget request. While McCoy noted the number of friends the University has in the Legislature, he was not optimistic about the prospect for dollars this year. However, the University would endeavor to tell its story effectively. McCoy said that the University’s presentation emphasized the need for support, library and technical needs, as well as faculty and SPA salaries.

In its expansion budget, the University has also made an interdisciplinary request of $5.6 million to support a genomics medical research facility. It has requested a matching pledge of $1 for every $2 raised for a campus endowment for professorships, up to a sum of $500,000. McCoy noted that the University had requested fifteen line items in its expansion budget in all.

Apart from budget issues, McCoy noted the many good things happening at UNC. He recalled that last Friday the University invited the top third of all students admitted for next fall to a campus tour. McCoy had spoke with these prospective students and their parents in order to sell Carolina, and was enthusiastic about the prospects for the upcoming class.

In the recent US News & World Report ratings, McCoy was proud the University had done well although he looked at these ratings with some circumspection. UNC-Chapel Hill had ranked 43 of its graduate programs in the top 25 ratings, and a number of programs, including the Schools of Nursing, Social Work and Public Health, ranked nationally in the top 10. McCoy praised the work of these departments and said that Employees should share the pride of these accomplishments.

Last Friday, McCoy joined deans and contributors to look at the Charles Kuralt Learning Center. The Center contains Kuralt’s replicated New York office. McCoy encouraged listeners to venture over to see the office for themselves.

McCoy also officiated at the ribbon cutting for Carroll Hall, which cost over $11 million to refurbish with half raised from private sources. McCoy felt a twinge of sentimentality since the very year Carroll Hall was first put into service he was a junior at Carolina and took courses in the brand new building. McCoy held a meeting later that day to dedicate Graham Memorial, which contains the wonderful new Institute for Arts & Humanities and cost $7.4 million to refurbish. He was pleased to be a part of these operations.

McCoy was also proud of the progress of the men’s and women’s basketball teams through the ACC and NCAA tournaments. He had missed the games in Birmingham but had attended the games in Austin and Indianapolis; unfortunately, he had been unable to get out to California for the women’s games but had watched these on television. On this note, McCoy offered to answer questions.

Robert Thoma noted the shortage of lab space and a tendency among some laboratory buildings to convert primarily laboratory space into office space. He asked if there was a similar concern for office space on campus. He noted that Burnett-Womack had faced a similar problem recently. McCoy said that he could not answer Thoma’s question on a specific basis. However, he knew that the University was facing a shortage of lab space and that it would need to find more lab space soon. As the University runs out of lab space, it will find its grants share diminished. He had heard of cases of lab spaces which were closed down because they could not be made useful or efficient. He agreed with Thoma’s point.

The Chair thanked McCoy for his responses to the Forum’s statements on staff training, wage-hour issues and geographic pay. She noted that these documents were included in the Forum’s routing files, which were circulated around the room. Delegates can access these files following the meeting if they like.

The Chair introduced Peter Krawchyk to speak on the American Disabilities Act and its implementation on campus. Krawchyk said that the American Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted in 1991 to guarantee access to all facilities for all citizens. Existing buildings must make plans to accommodate needed changes in a future time frame, but new buildings must work to accommodate the law now. The Act is a part of Civil Rights legislation. On July 1, 1999, the University adopted a building code change which is more stringent that the ADA. In this change, owners of buildings cannot commit to a future plan and must comply with building code changes as they renovate.

Areas affected by the ADA include doors, elevators, toilets, and water fountains. While we tend to think of people with major disabilities when considering the law, the intent of the ADA also covers those on crutches temporarily needing to reach a front door and children wanting to use urinals which are too high. Because the University is a public facility, it must accommodate all types of people.

The University has a disabilities advisory committee of faculty, staff and students to review new building projects to ensure that these comply with the building code and even exceed the code to meet the needs of the community. This committee also reviews the staging areas for major building projects to insure that disabled people can safely negotiate these projects in their daily lives.

Krawchyk noted that various small projects may affect everyone for a brief period of time in their work days, for instance when facilities services renovates a bathroom or installs an elevator to meet code. Oftentimes these projects lead to space taken away from a department. The facilities assessment program determines what space is utilized.

With $27 million in approved remediation projects on the University’s construction list, the committee must work hard to determine which areas should be addressed first. The committee dictates which projects should have higher priority in the remediation list. For instance, insuring access through a front door has higher priority than installing drinking fountains on the 3^rd floor of that same building. All money for these projects comes from the University’s repair and renovation budget. Currently, there is $1 million in the 1999 fiscal year repair and renovation budget to address $27 million in needs.

Krawchyk estimated that the $1 million available this year could address around 20 projects. On the list this year are the addition of elevators and the replacement of toilets in Dey, Saunders, and Gardner Halls. As always, it is the nature of UNC-Chapel Hill that older buildings demand the most renovation.

Once the advisory committee forms a project list, it must make sure that these projects are constructed. The University hires a designer and architect and sets up a process to contact workers in a building to notify them of upcoming work. (He noted that in previous years workers had not been given adequate notice.) Krawchyk encouraged Employees in an affected building to set up a building committee to address Employee concerns. He noted that sometimes considered projects will affect Employees’ daily lives for up to six months, and so Employees should take advantage of the chance to provide input before a project is begun. However, desired changes must comply with available budget and building code strictures. Construction can last any time between six weeks and six months, depending on the complexity of the work. He hoped that Employees could come to understand the reasons for these projects.

Krawchyk noted that the space in any University building belongs to the State of North Carolina, and so is subject to these types of changes. He stressed that these changes are carried out to benefit those who need these facilities and cannot otherwise attend classes.

Elaine Tola asked if there were plans to renovate Hanes Hall to extend the building’s elevator to the 4^th floor. Currently, the building’s freight elevator is difficult to negotiate and only reaches the 3^rd floor, excluding disabled people from the computer training services on the 4^th floor. Krawchyk said that this project was on the committee’s list of tasks.

Cindy Stone asked how the University places its alerts for blind people. Krawchyk said that the University has so much to do that it has chosen to concentrate on major projects first, namely the path of travel for an individual from their car or bus through the front door of a building, to different floors, to toilets and to drinking fountains. Krawchyk said that the committee was concerned about placing signage for the blind, but had been charged to deal with issues having the greatest impact on the greatest number of students, then faculty and staff.

An Employee asked if there were plans to do classroom renovations to the New East building. Krawchyk said that there were no current plans to renovate this building but said that this might change if the University could obtain a better price from relevant contractors.

An Employee asked about the connector between the Dental School and MacNider. Krawchyk said that approval of this connector had been delayed by questions about who would pay for the hardware and materials for the door. He noted that a graduate student on crutches had requested help in this area. Negotiations between the schools and departments involved are taking place through Al Eisenrath.

The Chair introduced Marilyn Scott Linden to speak on behalf of the Office of Distinguished Scholarships and Intellectual Life. Linden is a professor of Germanic Languages??? She noted that in January, the Provost had presided over renovations at Carroll Hall and Graham Memorial in association with Dean Risa Palm and the Honors College. This building has been wonderfully renovated and will inhabit honors and Johnston Scholars programs. The Center is located next to Memorial Planetarium.

Linden brought some brochures detailing the work of the Office of Distinguished Scholarships. The Office works to advertise the availability of graduate scholarships to students, such as the Gold, Luce, Churchill, Truman, and Fulbright scholarships. University students have had success in winning these awards this year and previously.

The Office was started as part of the initiative to improve the campus’ intellectual climate. Ideally, students, staff and faculty will work together to improve the campus intellectual climate. The Office has funds to support discussions, coffees, field trips and attendance at cultural events. Linden noted that an announcement to this end had been sent via email to all faculty, staff and administrators, but only a few Delegates could recall receiving this announcement. Linden invited Delegates to take a copy of the printed announcement and to submit a short application for funds. She would also respond to inquiries at

Current funds support publication of The Fifth Estate, a campus literary magazine, as well as field trips to Mount Mitchell and Washington D.C. for a class on museums and political science. The funds also support Jim Ketch’s jazz group, as well as funding digital cameras for use by an English 29 class. Students studying abroad in Salzburg also have used the cameras to take pictures for a class website.

In particular, funds are available to pay for attendance at weekend seminars on humanities and human values. These seminars take place on Friday evenings and half the day on Saturdays. Faculty participate in these seminars, which are composed of informal talks, concerts, and meals. Berlin will be the subject of the April 14-15 seminar and Sigmund Freud the subject of the April 28-29 seminar. If a staff member can recruit a student to attend the seminar, the Office will pay the attendance fee for both. Interested parties should contact Linden for more information.

Joanna E. Smith asked if there was a list of current seminars available on the web. Linden directed her to . From there, she should select “Current Seminars.” She confirmed that staff must register with a current student at UNC-Chapel Hill, and said that faculty are also free to take a student to the seminars.

The Chair welcomed Nick Didow, the director of the Carolina Center for Public Service. Didow noted that Rachel Windham had previously addressed the Forum on the Center’s work during the effort to assist survivors of Hurricane Floyd. He thanked everyone who had been involved in this effort and encouraged Employees to continue their efforts on behalf of those Down East. He particularly praised Anne Montgomery for her work this year.

Didow noted that the Center has grants and awards available for public service projects which engage the University and other community agencies across the State. In the last round of grants, awards ranged from $400-5,000. Staff, faculty and students are eligible to propose combinations of grants. The deadline for submission of proposals is April 19.

Secondly, Didow noted that the center was awarding for the first time fellowships recognizing faculty, students and staff who had performed extraordinary public service. Staff are welcome to make nominations for these awards. A second category of awards comes from the Office of the Provost to faculty and staff performing outstanding public service, or who motivate students to do the same. These awards are $1000 each. Five fellowships of $5,000 each are available to students who would like to pursue a high-impact public project.

Didow invited Employees to submit nominations for these grants before April 19. As a sideline, he noted that the recently renovated Graham Memorial had been named for Edward Kidder Graham, one of the University’s distinguished presidents and the first real advocate of the public service role of the University.

John Meeker asked if there was an example of previous winning service projects. Didow said that there are examples of these proposals on the Center’s website. The range of these projects is broad in scope, from a video detailing end of life decisions made by the School of Medicine to community theater projects in Pittsboro. These grants typify a broad definition of public service, namely the engagement of of people and campus resources with organizations with groups beyond the border of campus. Didow offered to take further questions following the meeting.

There were no Employee questions or presentations.

Human Resources Update

Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources noted that changes in the University’s term life insurance program had met with a very positive response. Reductions in fees due to the change should been visible in Employees’ March paycheck.

Human Resources has posted Transmittal #17 to the Human Resources Manual online. Charest reminded Delegates that the on-line manual is now the most current version. She hoped that Employees would take a moment to view the Human Resources website at ???

Employees will have the opportunity to recognize their fellow faculty and staff by making nominations for the Chancellor’s Award. Nominations must be made by April 20. For more information, contact Anne Aldridge at 962-8829.

Finally, concerning adverse weather, Charest said that the Personnel Directors Roundtable had finalized recommendations to take forward to the System President and the Office of State Personnel. The Roundtable recommended that when universities can continue to operate, the adverse weather policy should remain as it is. However, when offices are closed for safety reasons like the situation during the recent snowstorm, the University should not require these days to be made up. In addition, critical Employees working during these catastrophic conditions should receive additional compensation in some form. Additionally, the Roundtable recommended that a committee be formed to handle consistency in closing decisions—for example, if the Department of Transportation remained open in Wilmington, it would be inappropriate to allow “catastrophic” conditions to cause closing at UNC-Wilmington.

General Administration has named Charest to the search committee for the new System Vice President for Human Resources. This is a newly created position.

Cindy Stone asked what date the Employee Appreciation event would occur. Charest said that this event would take place May 24. Suzan DeSerres said that further information about the event is to be revealed in the April edition of the Forum newsletter, InTouch.

Unfinished Business

The Chair noted that Maxcine Barnes’ retirement from the Forum had led to a double loss; Barnes had served as the Recognition & Awards committee chair and the Executive Committee representative from Division 4. The Chair had sent a message to Division 4 members Dianne Hill, Ruthie Lawson, Joanne E. Smith, and Joanne Terry asking for one to step up as the new Executive Committee representative. These members said that they had discussed the appointment but had yet to arrive at a decision.

At this point, the Forum took a five minute stretch break.

Approval of the Minutes

Due to an illness of the Forum Assistant, the Chair asked for a delay in approval of the March minutes until the next meeting. She thanked Tommy Brickhouse and University Mail Services for serving as a special courier to deliver the minutes in time to members without email. Dave Lohse made a motion to table approval of the minutes until the next meeting, seconded by Kathy Dutton.

Chair’s Report

The Chair noted that University Priorities and Budget committee hearings would continue through the month of April, in up to 27 hours of scheduled meetings. She had included other aspects of her report in News & Notes, and encouraged Delegates with questions to refer to that document.

The Search Committee for the director of the Women’s Center has submitted a recommendation to the Provost’s Office.

New Business

The Chair noted that the Executive Committee had made a proposal for the purchase of ornamental pins from the Forum budget. The 1999 Executive Committee had arrived at this idea after meeting with the North Carolina State Staff Senate and seeing their pins, but had decided to postpone plans due to cuts in the University budget last June.

The Chair considered this proposal to be an internal matter of the Forum and thus not subject to the two-meeting “proposal of substance” rule. She asked the Forum its feelings on proceeding with these plans, given that the Forum budget is able to absorb the expenditure. Dorothy Grant voiced her approval of the proposal. The Forum generally approved of the proposal, leaving details about retroactive awards to the decision of the Executive and Recognition & Awards committees.

Committee Reports

John Heuer, Chair of the University Committee Assignments Committee, said the group had met March 21 to create a statement of goals and objectives. The committee hoped to nominate SPA and EPA non-faculty Employees to all pan-university committees. The committee plans to create an objective catalog of all University committees and to secure voting rights for staff serving on these committees. The committee plans to secure periodic reports from serving members and to establish a committee appointment protocol.

The committee has been able to get its revised committee interest and appointment forms on-line on the Forum website. The committee hopes to create a comprehensive list of University committees for the website detailing descriptions, rosters, meeting schedules and so on to inform interested candidates.

The University Committee Assignments Committee nominated Chris Barfield to the Transportation and Parking Advisory Committee, and Joanne Kucharski to the Excellence in Management Award Committee. The committee is still looking for nominations to the Facilities Planning, Space Use, Buildings & Grounds, and University Grievance committees. Interested Employees can use the Forum’s on-line committee interest form. The committee will meet this month to review candidates, to secure advertisements for other open positions, and to begin work on an article for the Forum newsletter.

Dave Lohse asked if only Forum members could serve on these committees. Heuer said that non-Forum Employees are encouraged to serve as a matter of policy, because Delagates have so many calls on their time. However, some committees because of their importance are reserved for Forum members.

Joanne Kucharski, chair of the Recognition & Awards Committee, called the group together to meet in her office on March 29. The group revisited the committee’s charge and settled on Kucharski as committee chair until another willing delegate could be found. Kucharski will study the Forum’s files on this committee through the next month. The committee will concentrate on Employee recognition events in May and planning for University Day in October. In between, the group will revisit a number of ideas to increase recognition of Employee achievement. She invited Employees to submit their ideas in this area.

Dave Lohse, chair of the Personnel Issues Committee, reported the group had held a spirited meeting in March with attendees Elaine Tola, Dorothy Grant, Cindy Stone, Brenda Ambrose-Fortune, Jeffrey Lohse and himself. The group found it had comments on so many things that it decided to invite Laurie Charest to a question and answer session for the next meeting, to be held April 10 at 9:30 a.m. in the Dean Smith Center press room. All interested Employees are invited to attend.

Bobbie Lesane, chair of the Orientation Committee, reported the group had reserved the Toy Lounge in Dey Hall on October 20 from 8:30-noon for the annual new delegate Orientation. The committee is looking into hiring a different caterer for the event. The incoming and outgoing delegate reception is scheduled for December 6, and the annual retreat is scheduled for January 19, 2001. Dave Lohse said that he had written UNC women’s soccer coach Anson Dorrance about being the motivational speaker at the retreat. Dorothy Grant asked that a reminder email be sent to all members that week about the status of the retreat.

Karen Geer, chair of the Nominating Committee, reported the group had not met that month. She asked that interested Employees from Division 2 contact her if they would like to accept an emergency appointment to the Forum.

Kathy Dutton, chair of the Employee Presentations Committee, thanked Nick Didow, Marilyn Scott Linden and Peter Krawchyk for speaking. Dutton announced that the spring community meeting would take place toward the end of the month. She encouraged Employees to look for additional information soon. (The community meeting will take place Thursday, April 27 from 10-11:30 a.m. in the Wilson Library Assembly Room.) Ayres Saint Gross are tentatively scheduled to make a presentation at the meeting.

Suzan DeSerres, chair of the Communications Committee, noted that the group had met March 2 to discuss the layout and editing of the March edition of InTouch. She hoped that Employees had received the newsletter by this point. The April newsletter will contain a report from the Transportation and Parking Advisory Committee, a short note on the spring community meeting, and a “Policy Response” concerning the Employee Appreciation Event. Responses to the last issue included questions about the high cost of State health insurance, a clarification on adverse weather, and a long letter on pedestrian safety concerns. DeSerres welcomed Deedra Donley and Ramona Kellam to the committee, which will meet again April 6 in 01B Brauer from 8:30-10 a.m.

DeSerres said that the committee will continue work on the University Gazette insert, which will be published in June. Committee chairs will need to write articles on their work, and all articles will be due by the beginning of May. She encouraged Delegates to submit articles to her. Dave Lohse complimented DeSerres and the committee for their work on the newsletter. The Chair noted that she had received a number of compliments as well.

Bobbie Lesane, chair of the Career Development Committee, said that group was looking for ways to distribute Chancellor McCoy’s comments on the staff training statement. The committee is working on a flier with the statement for distribution to all Employees. The committee will meet again April 20 from 2:30-4 p.m. in 102 Rosenau, preceded by the Orientation committee’s meeting in that same room from 1-2 p.m. The Chair noted that the training memo had been sent to all deans directors and department heads.

The Chair noted that the Forum Highlights page should arrive in Employees’ mailboxes next week. She noted that the Faculty Council will select a new chair this month. She also raised the possibility of inviting new Student Body President Brad Matthews to address the Forum this year.

Sheila Storey of the pedestrian safety issues committee reported that the group had dealt with many problems and issues, such as creating an educational campaign for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists. The committee has spurred the experimental improvements in pedestrian access on Manning Drive, Columbia Street, Raleigh Road and Pittsboro Street. She asked Employees with further concerns about this topic to email either her or Jill Mayer.

The Chair noted that Provost Dick Richardson will join the Forum for his last meeting preceding his retirement from the University in May. She added that the Daily Tar Heel had written three articles on the challenges facing staff Employees at the University. She encouraged Employees to read these articles and submit their thoughts and questions to the editors.

John Heuer noted that the child care advisory committee needs more staff members to serve on that group. The committee oversees child care center operations, care subsidies, and administration of the Carolina Kids’ Summer Camp.

The Chair thanked Delegates for their hard work to this point, and encouraged them to keep going. In the absence of further discussion, the meeting adjourned at 11:30 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Matt Banks, Recording Secretary