Attendees: Anne Beard, Michelle Médal, Maria Rase, James Salmen, Kristen Salsbury, Angela Schmitt

Opening remarks & Introductions 

Michelle Medal welcomed new and continuing council members. She acknowledged that this year’s 7-member council is a small group and we may put out a call for more members perhaps with ex officio status. She will check the bylaws for rules related to this. 

Michelle Medal (Chair) - has worked for CU Denver for 13 years as the Program Assistant in the Communication Department. Her particular interests are related to staff job categories, titles, compensation, and advancement opportunities. 

Kristen Salsbury (Vice Chair) – has worked in the CLAS Dean’s Office for 5 ½ years and is most interested in advocacy for staff. She helped lead the advocacy committee last year. 

Maria Rase (Finance Officer) – has worked for CU Denver for 14 years and is currently in the Health and Behavioral Sciences Department, after stints in the Math and Philosophy Departments and in the College of Engineering. She is particularly Interested in transparency around staff jobs, titles and compensation and helped lead the professional development committee last year. 

James Salmen – has worked for CU Denver in the Integrative Biology Department for 21 years. He is interested in helping and advocating for staff in many ways. 

Angela Schmitt (Entering council member) – has worked for CU Denver for 1 year in the Political Science Department. She is Interested in advocacy and transparency in jobs for staff. 

Anne Beard (Secretary) – has worked for CU Denver for 12 years; 11 in the Psychology Department and 1 year in the Sociology Department. She is interested in advocacy for staff and transparency in decision-making that affect staff salaries, advancement opportunities, and working conditions. 

Kayla Spencer (Entering council member) – has worked for about 1 year in the Mathematics Department. She was out sick and did not attend the meeting. 

Job Satisfaction Survey 

Anne Beard noted that the staff job satisfaction survey of December 2022, was done in conjunction with University Staff Council and will be reissued annually. She said that this data will be a good basis for making council goals and subcommittee decisions. Kristen Salsbury added that the impetus for the survey was in response to Todd Haggerty’s “return to work” email from summer 2022, and then shifted to job satisfaction as development of the survey took the full fall semester. The survey went out in December, which was a low morale point because it coincided with budget cuts. 

Subcommittees  

The Secretary will handle the website and all council members will be part of discussions and decisions on all matters that were handled primarily in committees last year. There will still be two or more point people who will have greater responsibility and decision-making capability for professional development, advocacy, and other council work. Maria and James will continue as point people for professional development and Kristen and Anne (or Angela or Kayla) will be point people for advocacy.  As in the past, ad hoc subcommittees for council elections and CLAS staff awards (which are handled by the staff council) will be formed in the spring.   

Goals for the Year - This item will be picked up in the advocacy and full council meetings in July/August.   

Logistics - Kristen Salsbury will arrange an advocacy committee meeting for July or August. Michelle Medal will schedule the next council meeting for Monday, August 7 at noon.