AP Committee Meeting Minutes: Monday, November 25, 2013

Present: Jim Seufert (Chair), Valerie Jones, Kristin Linscott, Elizabeth Lienau, Sienna Mavima, John Rosick, Jamie Schlagel, Jennifer Schick, Josh Stickney, Linda Yuhas (for Scott Richardson)
Absent: Kaleb Klotz, Mike Kluczyk, Kim Walton

1. Approval of 10-21-13 meeting minutes, review agenda
   1. Kristin should be listed as present at the 10-21-13 meeting.
2. Officer and subcommittee reports
3. Report from the chair: Jim reported on the progress of the Civility Policy Task Group. The policy will set standards for civility among all GVSU employees and make civil, collegial behavior a requirement of employment. HR will be the point of contact to report violations of the policy. HR already has programs in place for conflict mediation, and these will continue to be used, but with the authority of the civility / collegiality policy behind them requiring individuals to modify uncivil behavior.
4. Salary & Benefits Liaison: Josh attended the November meeting of the S&B committee. At the time of that meeting, open enrollment was ongoing but has since closed. At the meeting, Dave Smith presented data comparing GVSU health care benefits and wellness programs with other Michigan universities, and summarized the processes by which our healthcare insurance plans are designed. In general, the health care benefits at GVSU compare very favorably with those at other MI institutions. We should, however, expect some increase in what we pay for our healthcare insurance (a per-paycheck deduction toward premiums, higher deductibles, higher co-insurance, or some combination thereof) at some point, as we try to achieve the 80/20 split of healthcare costs mandated by law. The transition from UMR and Cofinity to Priority Health is on-track.
5. AP Luncheon and AP Awards: Kristin reported that the Awards and Luncheon subcommittees had met together. Presentation of the AP awards will continue to be the focal point of the luncheon. They discussed the possibility of forgoing a keynote speaker, perhaps in favor of having a few students share experiences in which staff have been especially helpful to their journeys. The idea of assigned seating was brought up as a way to facilitate engagement among staff who may not know each other, but the consensus was that staff probably prefer sitting with friends. The Luncheon committee will next meet after the new year to begin working out the logistical details for the luncheon. An email was sent out to all the AP groups early in the month, informing everyone that the nominating window for awards is now open.
6. Professional Development Liaison: No report.
7. AP Forum: No report.
8. Webmaster: No report.
9. Communications: Elizabeth reported on her work to upgrade the packaging of emails from the AP Committee to AP staff. University Marketing created a new header for our website and mocked up a demonstration of a newsletter-type email template. While nice, the template is not free. A free alternative is a service called Mail Chimp. Mail Chimp emails would be sent from an [email protected] address (yet to be created) and can be set to direct reply to messages to one of the respondents group representatives.
10. Public Safety Liaison: No report.
11. Speakers: Mary Eileen Lyon and Leah Twilley, News and Information Services
    1. News and Information Services (NIS) is the university's interface with local, regional, national, and social media. They direct inquiries from media sources to the persons most qualified to provide information on a given subject, and they help to shape and disseminate messages from within the university out to the public. Their services and responsibilities include interview training, photography and video productions, assisting President Hass with the development of speeches and talking points, managing the university's official social media accounts, GVNext news alerts, the arts and events calendar, publication of Forum (faculty / staff newsletter) and Grand Valley Magazine, crisis communications, and Clery Act compliance (information regarding crime on campus).
12. We watched the Grand Valley Through the Decades video on You Tube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v88uE9S0keY).
13. AP staff tasked with publicizing events and accomplishments, creating or maintaining a social media presence would find NIS a very useful resource.
14. AP Survey Results:
    1. We viewed drafts of the Power Point slides summarizing the results of the AP Survey. We expect a final product to be ready for posting once we can review them with all of the AP subcommittees at the December meeting.
15. Adjourn. Next meeting: Tuesday, December 17th, KC 2270, 3:00. Guest speaker: Tom Haas.

Minutes submitted: Josh Stickney