The ballot for the CLAS Staff Council 2025-2026 academic year contains two sections:
- Voting for new members and those seeking reelection
- Open comments and voting for updating the CLAS Staff Council Bylaws
Member Statements
CLAS Staff Council Candidates (includes new members and those seeking reelection). We have more open seats than volunteers for the upcoming year, so please select all candidates that you would like to vote for on the below ballot.
Michelle Médal - It has been my pleasure and honor to serve as the Chair of the CLAS Staff Council for the last two years, and I would like to continue to lead our amazing council. We have worked hard to bring staff concerns out of the shadows and shared survey data about the issues that matter most to staff satisfaction, such as flexible work schedules, hybrid modalities, opportunities for promotions and better pay, and a sense of respect in the workplace. Although we sometimes face barriers to real progress, I am passionate about advocating on behalf of the roughly 105 staff in CLAS. I hope to find ways to support and recognize our staff, through offering professional development opportunities, such as funding to travel or pay for training, and presenting workshops that make use of the broad knowledge and skills that our staff incorporate into their invaluable work. I also love bringing our staff together for fun social events that allow us to know each other better and help build community. I hope you will allow me to continue in my role as Chair of the CLAS Staff Council. Thank you for all you do in our college!
Kristen Salsbury – I have been an active member of CLAS Staff Council for the past three years and have served as Vice Chair for the past two. I'm interested in continuing as a member of the council in the upcoming year so that I can continue to support many of the important initiatives that are currently gaining momentum. For example, I have been tracking our CLAS staff survey data from the Campus and Workplace Culture (CWC) and the University Staff Council job satisfaction surveys for the past several years and have helped coordinate CLAS staff surveys and focus groups, to provide a comprehensive report to CLAS leadership on where we might improve. I'm currently part of the institutional "staff compensation workgroup" that is reviewing the work of the CCC, as well as a small subcommittee within CLAS that is working to uncover pay equity processes and concerns with an intention of increasing transparency. I requested an inclusive excellence grant on behalf of the council to fund a series of 5 collaborative workshops this past year with the goal of elevating staff expertise and providing a space for cross-sharing of information among our staff and faculty. I'm really proud of the progress we've made and how CLAS Staff Council has really stepped up as an advocate and voice for elevating staff concerns, increasing professional development opportunities, encouraging staff shouts outs, and providing an inclusive space for networking, social connection, and sharing among our peers. I look forward to serving another term!
James Salmen - I have served on the council previously and would like to continue serving the staff of CLAS.
Jill Hutchison - After working for 13 years(!) as a working retiree, I've decided to volunteer to serve on CLAS Staff Council to help in its mission to advance CU Denver staff opportunities for job promotion, professional development and salary equity. I served on the UCD Staff Council as member and co-president in the late 1990s, so am familiar with the kinds of activities SC works on. I admire the progress this CLAS council is making toward staff involvement in shared governance and seeking to correct staff salary compression as well as college-wide salary increases.
Bylaws
During Spring 2025, CLAS has engaged a working group of CLAS faculty, staff, and administrators to review the CLAS Bylaws. As a result of this process, CLAS Staff Council has done a thorough review of the CLAS Staff Council Bylaws with the goal of replacing them as “Article III” of an inclusive and newly revised CLAS Bylaws document that recognizes our shared governance.**Note: The newly revised CLAS Bylaws will be up for a vote by all CLAS constituents in Fall 2025.
At this time, we are asking all CLAS Staff to comment and vote on the new “Article III” as a replacement for our existing CLAS Staff Council Bylaws adopted in 2020. You will notice that significant changes have been made to the bylaws including but not limited to: The removal of professional research assistants from staff definitions (PRAs have been relocated to the faculty sections of the CLAS Bylaws since HR defines them as faculty); elimination of term limits for CLAS Staff Council members; simplification of election processes; increased flexibility among officer duties; increased flexibility of committees and overall administrative tasks; reformatting edits to match the style of the newly revised CLAS Bylaws.
The ballot below contains space for both comments and voting on the new Article III bylaws.